Woodcraft Folk
regional quilts:
group night
activities
Here are some ideas for a Hands In! group night looking at group identity and making squares
for the Hands In! regional quilts. If you send off the fabric squares from your group afterwards,
our volunteers will sew them all together. These activities are designed to fill a session of 1 hour
30 minutes and be suitable for all ages, but please modify them to suit your group if needed.
Activity 1: Warm up game “I like Woodcraft…” (10 minutes)
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Form a circle (standing or sitting), with one member nominated as the caller in the
middle
The caller reads out a statement, for example “I like Woodcraft because I enjoy
camping” or “I like Woodcraft Folk because the people are friendly” or “I like Woodcraft
Folk because leaders ask me what I think” or “I like Woodcraft Folk because all my
friends come”
After each statement, anyone in the circle
who agrees with the statement needs to
change places
After a few statements from the
nominated caller, invite others to say why
they like Woodcraft or tell the group that
the last person to find a new space
becomes the caller and has to say why
they like Woodcraft
Activity 2: Getting ideas (20 minutes)
This is an activity to come up with some ideas that will later help you to make some quilt square
as a group – about your group. This activity will help you to think about who you are as a
Woodcraft Folk group and what you could tell others about you.
 put out a selection of paper, pens and art materials so that the groups can all find what
they need to complete the task
 Divide into 3 small groups. In each group brainstorm things that make your Woodcraft
group special or makes it enjoyable for you or how it’s made a difference to your life.
 To get a wide variety of ideas, you could imagine you’re trying to explain why Woodcraft
is great to very different audiences. Give each group a different one to think about, for
example: people from school, Martians, other Woodcraft groups. How would they
explain Woodcraft and what they enjoy about their group to each of these groups?
 Come back into a circle so that each group can tell the others what they came up with.
Are there any common themes between groups? What do you think is most important?
Activity 3: Patchwork quilt making (45 minutes +)
Some background information
What is a quilt?
Traditionally, a quilt is a type of bed cover made from layers of fabric joined together with a
quilting technique. Quilts look different from other types of blanket because they are usually
pieced together from several pieces of cloth to make patchwork designs, patterns or pictures.
There are lots of different types of quilts:
From simple patterns…
… to ‘story quilts’…
… and intricate designs involving lots of pieces.
During Hands In! Woodcraft Folk groups
across the country are making squares to
put together into big regional quilts – and
we really hope you’ll join in too.
Each square will say something about the
group who made it (in a similar style to
the ‘story quilt’ above), so the finished
quilts will celebrate our movement and
everyone who is part of it.
How long will this take?
You could all make simple quilt squares in about 45 minutes or so, fitting this series of activities
into 1 group night. But if your group really enjoys craft activities or is likely to take longer, it
might be worth spending 2 sessions on this to allow lots of time to really get into it.
Making patchwork squares for the Woodcraft Folk regional quilts
Materials and equipment
Important things to have for this craft activity are:
 Lots of fabric in various colours or patterns
 Sharp scissors for cutting fabric (several pairs)
 Sewing needles
 Different coloured threads
 Glue and spreaders (PVA or anything else that will stick fabric)
 A4 paper to make square templates and draw out designs
 Pencils
Some other things that might be useful are:
 Felt
 Pins
 Fabric paint or pens
 Things to sew/stick on to decorate the square, e.g. buttons, sequins, beads, ribbon
Size
To make it simple to sew together the squares made by different groups into larger patchwork
quilts, we need everyone to make their squares the same size. To make simple templates from a
piece of A4 paper, follow these instructions:
1. Take a sheet of A4 paper and fold the top-left corner down until it lines up with the
right-hand side of the paper.
2. Now you should have a right-angle triangle in the double layered part of the paper and a
rectangular strip sticking out at the bottom. You don’t need this bit, so cut the rectangle
off with a pair of scissors.
3. Then unfold the triangle to make a square. This shape should be 21cm across and 21cm
down and is the paper template for all your quilt squares.
4. Pin the paper template to the fabric you’d like to use for the background of your square
and then cut carefully around it. Use this template for any squares you make so they are
all the same size.
Theme
Like the story quilts, we’d like the regional quilts to say something about Woodcraft Folk, all the
different groups and people in them, what we do and who we are. So look back at the ideas you
came up with in part 2 and work out what you’d like your quilt squares to say about your group.
Draw your ideas for designs on paper first and work together to decide what images you’d like
to include and plan how your squares will look. You can make as many squares as you like to
send in from your group, so you don’t need to worry about trying to fit all your ideas into one
design.
Techniques for decorating your squares
 Fabric paint or pens – this would be a really easy way of decorating your squares.
Suitable and adaptable for all ages, you could include pictures, words, even hand or foot
prints!
 Patchwork – you could construct your square (to the size of the template) from smaller
shapes in different fabrics to make a quilt within a quilt.
 Appliqué – a technique where you cut out shapes and then sew or glue them onto a
background to make patterns and pictures. You could make your shapes from any fabric
you like but if you can get it, felt is particularly good as the edges won’t fray when cut.
 Embroidery – this might be a little harder, but if you’re feeling crafty you could sew your
design for your square straight onto the background material in a strong, thick thread
such as embroidery silk (the same as used for friendship bracelets).
 Extra decoration – sew or glue on buttons, beads and sequins to add some more detail
to your square.
Hints and tips
 Before you go out and buy fabric, ask around to see if anyone has leftovers from other
projects or old worn-out clothes that can be cut up.
 So that your squares don’t stretch and distort out of shape when they’re sewn into the
quilt, try to find some non-stretchy fabric for the main square shapes. But then you can
use any fabric you like to add detail and decorate them.
 When sewing or gluing your designs onto the squares, leave an empty margin of about
1cm all the way around the edge as this will disappear into the seams when the squares
are all sewn together into a quilt.
 If your group wants to avoid lots of sewing, you could glue your decoration onto fabric
squares, or use fabric paints or pens to create your design. Even the youngest Elfins and
Woodchips can play!
Finally, there are lots of different parts to this activity so there’s something for everyone to do,
no matter what each person enjoys. If there are lots of different skills in the group, you could
have different people working on
 developing the ideas and designs, deciding what to put on the squares to represent your
group
 cutting templates and fabric to the right size
 sewing or gluing the detail onto the background
Or you can swap around so that everyone can have a go at everything!
What next?
You’ll need to send in your group’s squares to the Hands In! team so that one of volunteers can
put the quilts together. Put all your squares in an envelope with a note saying what district
you’re from and which group made the squares. Post it to Hands In!, Woodcraft Folk, Units 9-10,
83 Crampton Street, London, SE17 3BQ. To give our stitchers time to put the quilts together
before Annual Gathering, please post your contributions before the end of March at the latest.
For further information about Hands In! go to www.woodcraft.org.uk/hands-in