My talented friend Amy Smart (from Diary of a Quilter)  just released her first Craftsy class and it’s right up my alley! It’s called Pre-Cut Shortcuts: Quilt Tops in Less Time.

From now until June 9th, you can get 50% off using this link, available only from me!

As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of precuts and run The Precut Store with my husband, Jason. In fact, we stock many of the precuts shown in the class!!

Amy’s class is chock full of information as she walks you through how to make several different patterns from precuts. In addition to the Q&A sidebar and easy to follow class materials, a new feature to this class includes animated illustrations.

For each pattern, Amy does a voiceover of the steps she’s going to perform while images move around the screen showing what the final layout will look like. Then she hops on the machine and shows each step of the process. It’s a great way to learn!

My personal favorite quilt from the class is the Gumball Quilt which is hanging behind her in the picture above. Watching this one come together was so fun to see. I picked up a few tips that I’m definitely going to incorporate in my piecing from now on!

The camera angles in the class are fantastic – you can really see what she’s doing!

The Basket Weave Quilt in Progress – No you don’t have to cut any little pieces!!

Amy cleverly starts with precuts, sews them into units which are then cut up into other units, using shortcuts like disappearing blocks and strip piecing. In fact, after viewing this class, there are several quilts I want to make!

I really liked the Crosshatch quilt Amy made using the Valley Collection by Sheri and Chelsi for Moda. In fact, I recently made a quilt from these fabrics, and they are in stock now!

Pre-cut Shortcuts is broken down into a total of 6 segments, of about 15-20 minutes each. It’s the prefect length to watch a segment and get a little sewing done at the same time! And the last section of the class is worth the entire price of the class!

Amy walks you through step by step how to bind your quilts. It’s very similar to the way I bind mine, but she throws in a a few speedy tricks which I’ve never seen before and definitely plan to incorporate going forward.

Check out that yummy Elizabeth Hartman Pacific rollup! We have it at The Precut Store!

Amy also includes tips on working with multiple precuts and how to measure them or deal with inconsistencies between different precuts.

I’ve known Amy for several years now and can truly say she’s a cheerleader for fast and fun quilting. She’s also a great teacher with a very calming voice that you can listen to for hours on end.

I hope you’ll give Precut Shortcuts a try. Click here to save 50% off until June 9!