Tara Miller - The Quilt District

06/25/2026

06/25/2026

Please join me in stunning Alsace, France for a transformative handwork journey.

You will build imagery into your small quilt through applique, embroidery, and big stitch quilting. But this retreat is more than that.

In our 4 days together, I'll teach you color theory basics and my principles for mixing printed fabrics, and these lessons will inform every quilt you ever make again. Forever.

Plus, we'll be in a lovely village in Alsace. The world slows down a little in this mountainous area of France. I find it renewing.

Easy access from Frankfurt or Zurich (this is my 4th year going, 2 x through Zurich and 2x through Frankfurt).

Get all the information at the link in (IG) my bio, or (FB) in the comments.

06/23/2026

A little leaf here, a little leaf there.... a little leaf wherever it lands. I'm up way past my bedtime, slow-stitching some improv leaves onto my blue, appliquéd tree. I'll build more layers later; this stitching is just the start.

Hand sewing feels healing for me right now.

🫶 Tara

06/22/2026

This 19th-century quilt has stories to tell. The label (on the front!) gives us names to start with, but there's so much more to uncover.

At the Research Rave Syndicate, we teach you the hands-on methods for uncovering the stories behind the quilts. With a combined over 30 years' experience, Lisa Erlandson and I (Tara Miller ) walk you through the questions to ask and the tools you can access to do what we do. It's a 3-day intensive workshop in investigating the stories, uncovering the tales in the cloth.

You don't need a degree for this. You just need a few tools and your curiosity.

Join us August 18-22 in Denver to learn how.

Researchravesyndicate.com

06/21/2026

My Dad and me,1973. He won't see this post, because his dementia has all but ended him. Thank you, Daddy, for giving me an intense curiosity--about everything, a deep annoyance of things rattling in the car, a love of used bookstores, the excitement of travel, and a fierce independence that has served me well my entire life. Happy Father's Day. I miss you.

06/20/2026

The pattern so many of you have been asking for - SOVEREIGNTY - is now available for download in my shop at quiltdistrict.com!

I've taught this pattern for over two years already now, so it feels SO good to now have it out in the world.

You'll find the FPP simple and straightforward, the curved piecing gentle and easy, and the options plentiful. Lots of ways to make Sovereignty yours.

I can't wait to see your makes!

06/15/2026

Crazy quilts were at their height of fashion in the 1880s and 1890s. One of the reasons for this might surprise you. Hint: it involves tariffs.

There are 43 quilts in this exhibition. I researched 39 of them so I could tell you the stories. (The other four are modern-made and we have those stories, so my research on them wasn't needed.)

Some quilts have a lot to say about their maker, the place they were made, the conditions of the day. Other quilts hold onto their secrets a little more tightly. But even then, there is a wealth of information you can get from them.

A quilt is a material record -- not only of the life of its maker, but also of the world in which the maker lived.

Would you like to know what I discovered about these quilts? Visit *The American Quilt: Cloth & Commerce* at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California before it closes on August 30! (🔗link in comments)

And if you, too, want to learn how to conduct research on a quilt, join me and my quilt historian bestie Lisa Erlandson for our Research Rave in Denver, August 18-22. (🔗link in comments). We'll teach you how.

And yes, I was lying on the floor next to this (it was on heavy paper). The things I'll do for quilts!

06/15/2026

My friend, historian Ronda McAllen aka Baltimore Album Quilts is on a research road trip for a couple of months. Give her a follow to go along!

06/11/2026

Things I learned in Longmont, Colorado:

1. Dust will fly into your sandals. There is nothing you can do about this.
2. The sun is intense.
3. The Rocky Mountains out my backdoor for a few days was a surreal change of scenery.
4. The members of the Longmont Quilt Guild are full of joyful exuberance. Several of them (including a few not pictured) attended my workshop for Mixing Prints and Legacy Wheel and were rocking and rolling with fabric selections on their own very quickly.

Thank you for having me, Longmont! Hope to see you again sometime.

Tara

06/11/2026

We’ll guide you step by step as you explore the history of your quilt and its maker(s), using accessible tools like census records, newspapers, maps, and more. You’ll work alongside fellow researchers in a supportive, focused, and inspiring environment—one filled with encouragement, curiosity, and community.

You don’t need to have any prior research experience. You just need your interest and your questions.

This isn’t just a workshop—it’s an invitation to connect more deeply with your quilt’s story, and to the lives and hands that made it.

Tara & Lisa