The Fabric of Remembering: Cyanotype & Quilting

Join artist Bex McCharen for this four-week hands-on workshop, where participants will explore how fabric can serve as a vessel for memory, storytelling, and legacy. We will merge textile traditions with photographic processes to create personal “memory quilts.” Participants will learn to cyanotype print family photographs onto fabric, then piece, sew, and embellish their printed images into small quilted works.

Together, we’ll reflect on how textile-making can preserve family histories and hold emotional narratives that might otherwise fade. The workshop welcomes participants of all skill levels and encourages them to bring images that hold personal or ancestral meaning.

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• Learn cyanotype techniques on fabric
• Explore textile-making as a form of personal and cultural archiving
• Design and complete a small quilt integrating imagery and story
• Practice foundational sewing, quilting, and finishing techniques
• Reflect on how creative processes can nurture memory, connection, and community

Participants’ work will be assessed through self-reflection and group dialogue, with emphasis on the creative process, experimentation, and personal engagement with memory. A final sharing circle will offer supportive feedback and collective appreciation rather than formal critique.

Class Breakdown 

Day 1: Cyanotype Printing on Fabric

• Introduction to the workshop and concept of textiles as archives
• Sharing stories and selecting photographs
• Creating cyanotype negatives using Photoshop and inkjet printer
• Exposing and developing cyanotype prints using the Printshop exposure unit
• Group discussion on the materiality of memory

Day 2: Layering, Composition & Quilting

• Exploring layering and juxtaposition of cyanotype and fabrics
• Composition planning for mini quilts
• Introduction to basic quilting and piecing techniques
• Assembling printed fabric sections
• Machine-stitching the quilt top

Day 3: Embroidery & Hand Sewing

• Finishing quilt top
• Experimenting with hand- and machine-stitching
• Adding embroidery or text

Day 4: Quilt Finishing & Reflection

• Adding batting and backing, finishing edges, and adding final details
• Labeling and documenting the work
• Group sharing circle and reflection on process and meaning
• Discussion of care, display, and preservation of textile memory pieces

About the instructor: 

Bex McCharen (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, fashion designer and founder of the inclusive fashion label Chromat. They studied at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and are based in Miami, FL. They have been sewing quilts since they were a teenager and enjoy working in a medium passed down from the many quilters in their family. 

McCharen was awarded the Smithsonian National Design Award, and was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and the OUT 100 as one of the LGBTQ’s communities’ brightest voices. Their work has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue. Collaborations include Beyoncé, Intel, Disney, and Reebok. 

They gave a TED Talk on inclusive design, and have spoken at SXSW, Harvard, Parsons, MIT, and Tulane. McCharen curated ‘Queer Joy’ at MoMA PS1 and their work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Locally, McCharen facilitates workshops at PAMM, Lotus House, the Miami Workers Center, and the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth, and is currently an artist in residence at the Miami Cancer Institute and Oolite Arts.