Super Easy Quilting for Beginners by Editors of Quarry Books
| Super Easy Quilting for Beginners by Editors of Quarry Books | |
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| Category: Crafts | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A good place to start if you want to quilt - and you could add a star if you're not as familiar with a sewing machine as you'd like. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 144 | Date: August 2022 |
| Publisher: New Shoe Press | |
| ISBN: 978-0760379912 | |
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I learned patchworking from necessity: old or outgrown clothes needed to be turned into something new and usable when I was in my twenties. It would be a while before it became a pleasure rather than a chore but I've never felt completely at home with quilting. I needed something a little more stylish than my usual buttons or knots. Super Easy Quilting for Beginners seemed like a good place to start. So, how did it stack up?
We begin, as you might expect, with the basics. I've been using a sewing machine for well over sixty years so I found the space devoted to how to operate a machine - about 13.5% of the book - a little excessive, particularly as machines differ and you would need to refer to the manual for your own machine to be certain about what you were doing. I am being picky here - as there are some useful reminders that even old hands like me tend to forget.
Details of the supplies you'll need are good - it won't cost a fortune to get started and if you do sew, you may well have some of them already. Choosing fabrics and batting also confuses beginners but anyone reading the information here would come away with a sense of confidence. You don't just get instructions - you get the reasoning too, which always helps.
I've never felt completely confident about rotary cutting - I'm nervous about slippage - but the instructions are clear and they're supported by excellent illustrations. (The images throughout the book are all brilliant and there are some pictures of the projects which are absolutely stunning.) I'm convinced that I must master rotary cutting as it's accurate and a considerable time saver. Moving onto the quilt itself, there are all the instructions you'll need for layering and basting, quilting and binding. If you want more help, the book is supported by online content and there are boxed-out tips throughout the book, some of which are absolute gems.
You want to know about the projects, don't you? Well, they're organised roughly in order of difficulty and for each quilt you'll start with what you'll learn and what you'll need. We begin with a raw-edge appliqué hot pad but beware; the batting is only thin and it's more decorative than useful. More useful is the hand-appliquéd zippered bag and the quilt-as-you-go Christmas stocking. Staying with the Christmas theme, I loved the paper-pieced holiday coasters and I've already printed out the patterns, which you'll find at the end of the book.
There's a good selection of nine-patch and checkerboard projects with something for everybody's taste. My absolute favourite is the churn dash wall hanging - but I couldn't find details of the finished size. I'm going to have to work that one out because I'm pretty certain I have the fabric to do it!
The book is rounded off with a good glossary and an index. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.
For more on patchwork quilts, we can recommend Modern Patchwork Home: Dynamic Quilts and Projects for Every Room by Vivika DeNegre (Editor), The Complete Guide to Quilting Techniques: Essential Techniques and Step-by-Step Projects for Making Beautiful Quilts by Pauline Brown and Stash-Busting Quilts by Lynne Edwards.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Super Easy Quilting for Beginners by Editors of Quarry Books at Amazon.com.
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