Young quilters stitch their way to a national stage

Cut and Sew studio sends five students to prestigious Phoenix show

by Barbara Sheehan
Posted 1/16/25

Forget your grandmother's traditional patchwork – today's young quilters are creating abstract art with fabric, exploring digital-inspired designs, and tackling social issues one stitch at a time. This February, five Philadelphia-area students, ages 9 to 13, will showcase their modern quilting vision at QuiltCon 2025, the world's largest modern quilting event in Phoenix, Arizona.

The students' journey to QuiltCon began at Cut and Sew, a Mt. Airy quilt shop and sewing studio where owner Melissa Clouser-Missett is teaching young people how to approach the craft. "There are so many …

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Young quilters stitch their way to a national stage

Cut and Sew studio sends five students to prestigious Phoenix show

Posted

Forget your grandmother's traditional patchwork – today's young quilters are creating abstract art with fabric, exploring digital-inspired designs, and tackling social issues one stitch at a time. This February, five Philadelphia-area students, ages 9 to 13, will showcase their modern quilting vision at QuiltCon 2025, the world's largest modern quilting event in Phoenix, Arizona.

The students' journey to QuiltCon began at Cut and Sew, a Mt. Airy quilt shop and sewing studio where owner Melissa Clouser-Missett is teaching young people how to approach the craft. "There are so many possibilities with modern quilting," says Clouser-Missett, a former middle school art teacher who opened the shop after the pandemic, seeking a more community-based venture.

Located at the intersection of Germantown and Mt. Pleasant avenues, Cut and Sew offers an extensive selection of classes for all ages, from basic sewing skills to advanced quilting techniques and the use of "long arm" sewing machines. The shop stocks both new and "previously loved" fabrics, tools, patterns and threads, making the craft more accessible to young creators.

Clouser-Missett's own journey with modern quilting inspired her to encourage students to enter QuiltCon. 

"I was incredibly inspired by the quilts in my first show two years ago," she says. "Quilting today extends beyond traditional patchwork techniques like Amish quilts. There's improvisational quilting, use of negative space, and solid colors – it's more like painting with fabric."

For 13-year-old Iris Van Orden of East Mt. Airy, modern quilting offered a perfect canvas for her artistic vision. After attending QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh, N.C., she was inspired by a "maximalist" style quilt to create her own black-and-white piece titled "Me and My Quilt."

"I saw this maximalist quilt, which means a lot of pieces with a lot going on," Van Orden explains. "I have this abstract way of drawing, just starting with shapes and lines that are intertwined. It's an amazing feeling to look at your quilt hanging and think, 'I made this, and here it is in a national exhibition.' It is the most uplifting feeling in the world."

The young quilters' works reflect both personal expression and social commentary. Twelve-year-old Annabelle Vincent from East Falls, who attends Greene Street Friends, created "Imperfect Orange," a wavy-shaped quilt that challenges perfectionism. "If you look closely, it's definitely not perfect," Vincent says. "There were a lot of bumps in the road. But it makes it work like a 'beautiful oops.'"

In quilting, Vincent sees parallels with life.

 "Mistakes happen in quilting and sewing, just like they do in life," she explains. "It may not look like what you were planning, but it's still going to turn into a one-of-a-kind piece that you can't get anywhere else."

For Ava Badstubner, 14, of Chestnut Hill, quilting became a medium for storytelling. Their quilt "A Snapshot of Who I Am" features embroidered poems and personal symbols within traditional square blocks. One block contains an avocado honoring their brother's nickname "Joely guacamole," while another includes the inscription "We are all gifts under the tree" beneath an evergreen. Several blocks invite viewers to touch felted fabrics, reminiscent of a children's "touch and see" book.

The group's youngest member, 9-year-old Kira Bauman from Manayunk, a student at James Dobson Elementary, explored color relationships in her "Purple Galaxy" quilt, blending purples and lavenders with yellows and oranges in a patchwork pattern. Her Saturday classes at Cut and Sew have become a highlight of her week. "Starting to sew here is really fun," she says. "There are lots of fabrics to choose from and projects you can do."

Hadley Woods, 11, of Chestnut Hill, created "Beach Sunset" as a tribute to a friend's grandmother who taught her to sew. The Ancillae-Assumpta Academy student describes her work as having "a variety of colors, from blues to reds to pinks to sandy beiges. You can just picture the waves, the crashing sound of the water hitting the sand."

Like many of her fellow young quilters, Woods finds that the craft offers a welcome respite from screen time. "It helps me get off my iPad and my phone," she explains. "When you get into it, you don't want to stop. You have conversations with people, make new friends, and express yourself in ways you really can't do if you're just on your phone."

The five quilts were among 460 selected from 2,269 submissions for QuiltCon 2025. Fundraising efforts are underway to support travel expenses for each student and a parent or guardian to attend the February event, which runs from Feb. 20-23.

For more information about Cut and Sew's programs or to support the students' QuiltCon journey, visit cutandsewphl.com/pages/about-us.