Meet our 2023 Regular Teachers
Be inspired by the very best teachers from near and far! We run a diverse program of regular and special one-off workshops, hosting experienced tutors who work in a wide range of styles, approaches and media. Their work is exciting, inspiring and designed to begin or extend your sewing or quilting practice. The following teachers are running monthly or bi-monthly classes with us this year. Check our Class Calendar and sort by one-off classes to find out who else will be visiting us throughout the year. You will find, amongst others, that Michelle Marvig, Lynn Hewitt, Chris Jurd, Danni Reynolds from EPPIFLEX , Jo Dixey and more… all have one-off weekends planned through out the year.
Alison Burgess
Alison, mostly known here as Ali, joins us as a Dressmaking teacher. Ali has TAFE dressmaking qualifications and extensive home sewing experience with a broad range of materials! Being both TAFE and self taught, she has the skills and experience to troubleshoot most garment making pickles and can see them from your point of view. She is a warm and encouraging teacher who loves to pass on her joy of garment making and skill building.
Sheena Chapman
Sheena has been teaching patchwork and quilting for over 20 years and has an irresistibly exuberant style. Her quilts draw inspiration from vintage quilts and textiles and she has a great eye for combining op-shop finds with contemporary fabrics in improvised designs. She’s a prolific maker coming to each class with plenty of show and tell! New makers and makers wanting to loosen up will enjoy Sheena’s approach to quilt making.
Jennifer Corkish
Jennifer is an exhibiting textile artist with many years of experience in the embroidery, quilting and textile art fields as a teacher, practitioner, technical editor and designer. She enjoys trying her hand at everything from antique reproduction to traditional applique as well as many art quilt and contemporary textile art techniques, making her a very versatile teacher. Jennifer’s classes are appropriate both for beginners and those up for a challenge.
Carol Culey
Carol is a popular, generous and helpful staff member at Berry Quilt & Co. Carol loves teaching and has developed a range of patterns and classes for us. Her no-fuss, fun-to-make, usable quilting projects are perfect as gifts, for a teen leaving home or anyone who needs to be wrapped in a bit of love! Beginners and timid makers will find them selves relaxing and creating in Carol’s classes.
Helen Draper
Helen has been a making quilts, teaching and contributing to quilting magazines for countless years. Many of Helen’s original quilt designs are based on traditional pieced blocks and she admits her first love is teaching hand piecing and hand quilting. Helen’s classes are perfect for experienced quilters who want a welcoming group without being locked in to a year of classes or new makers who don’t know where to start. She has a gently generous teaching style that gives everyone confidence.
Lisa Johnson
Lisa is a local prize winning textile artist and quilter known for her innovative ideas and exquisite stitching and broad knowledge of dressmaking, patchwork, quilting, needlework, knitting and ability to turn her hand at anything. She was the craft editor for Better Homes and Gardens and a founding editor of Country Craft Magazine and is also a trained secondary school Design & Technology teacher. She is the perfect teacher for our evening groups where anything goes.
Deborah Louie
Deborah Louie is an expert multi-award winning quilter and domestic machine quilting tutor accredited by the NSW Quilter’s Guild. She teaches widely at shops, groups, retreats and symposiums. Highly experienced in teaching students with a wide range of sewing machines and varying levels of quilting skill, Deb’s classes are always well organised and very detailed. Everyone learns loads from a class with Deborah Louie.
Sharon Thomson
Sharon is a long term maker of anything & everything. She’s a quilter, sewist, trained visual arts teacher and the owner of Berry Quilt & Co. Sharon enjoys teaching basic skills and starting people on their sewing journey without fear. She wishes there were more hours in the day for sewing but is overjoyed to own such a lovely bright and welcoming shop.
Lorena Uriarte
Lorena is an award winning quilter and pattern designer known for her original ideas and clever techniques, she specialises in finding a number of ways to employ one technique and to push it as far as it can go, often employing fabric in clever, unexpected ways. In class, Lorena gives you tools to explore your own creativity and the know how to get you making at a high level.
Lyn Weeks
Lyn is a technical perfectionist, fabulous with details and with a broad making experience! Lyn joins us as a Dressmaking teacher. She enjoys helping people find a fit that works for them, she works easily with beginners and those without much experience to develop skills in a relaxing unstructured environment. Lyn’s previous private teaching engagements, pattern design training and past life as a fine fabric retailer all add to the range of experience she brings to class.