Teach at QuiltCon

Are you a teacher?

The MQG welcomes and encourages a diverse community of instructors to apply to teach at QuiltCon!

We are always looking for experienced instructors with fresh material, teaching techniques of interest to modern quilters in one of two formats: workshops (three-hour or six-hour) and lectures (45 minutes in content, 15 minutes in Q+A). 


Key Information for Prospective Teachers:
  • All workshops are taught to groups of 24 students.
  • Our lecture hall seats approximately 1200-1500 attendees.
  • Instructors receive a travel stipend for their expenses. The amount of stipend will depend directly on the total number of hours an instructor is contracted to teach.
  • Subjects we are specifically looking to cover, based on student feedback, include:
    • Modern Traditionalism in Modern Quilt Design
    • Domestic Machine Quilting
    • Minimalism in Modern Quilt Design
    • Improvisational Piecing/Design
    • Unique & Challenging Piecing (think y-seams, foundation paper piecing, freezer paper piecing, and more!)

We need YOU!

Are you ready to apply to teach at QuiltCon 2028? Applications will be accepted through December 31, 2026. If you have questions about the application, please reach out to us on the Contact Us form.

Apply now

Tips for a successful application

  • Choose solid fabrics for your sample project photo! Solid fabrics photograph exceptionally well and read very modern.
  • In your workshop description, write about what students will learn from your class. QuiltCon students want to learn techniques, not just sew through a pattern.
  • Try to build some teaching experience - teach at your local quilt shop, your local guild, to get some credit under your belt.
  • Remember that most students travel to QuiltCon, so you may need to rework classes you've taught at local shops or guilds, where a student's sewing room is only a car ride away. Consider that most students fly to QuiltCon and will want to only bring what is truly necessary to have in class.

Types of workshops we look for

  • Sewing machine based workshops that use the machines for at least 60% of classroom time. We currently offer sewing machine workshops in the following categories:
    • Applique by machine
    • Domestic machine quilting
    • Foundation piecing by machine
    • Improvisational piecing
    • Machine binding
    • Miscellaneous, like handbags, zip pouches, etc
    • Piecing techniques
  • Design workshops where students do not use sewing machines, and rather use pencil and paper, or technology, to design quilts
  • Design workshops where students practice drawing free-motion quilting designs
  • Handwork workshops where students sew by hand, such as English paper piecing, hand piecing, hand quilting, and more
  • Due to additional supplies and sometimes the space requirements, we have very few surface design based classes.

Types of lectures we look for

  • Historical lectures that tell us about the quilters who came before us
  • Lectures that explain new and exciting techniques
  • Ways we can take care of our selves while being creators
  • Creativity lectures that share interesting ways to add to our creativity practices
  • Stories about quilters who were overlooked in their lifetime