March 2015
There are a lot of books on free-motion quilting and the ones that C&T publish are consistently good. If you feel you have seen it all before, this book takes a slightly different approach and there are over 80 designs that spring from nine 'elements'. These are combined and recombined to give endless possibilities. The 'elements' are circle, curvy lines, loops, drops, spirals, leaves, 's' curves, arcs and grass. A brief description of each is given with diagrams and written instructions of how to
sew them. This is a good foundation for moving onto the more complex designs but before you get to those, there are some considerations that are mapped out for you, which look at the practical aspects of these free-motion motifs. Considered here are the way the stitches will work together across a length of fabric. These tips are useful for planning out what kind of pattern you would want to see emerge on your work. The designs themselves are well laid out. Again, you have useful diagrams to show the initial pattern, how to expand on it and what it will look like on a larger scale. The latter is shown on a full-sized page and this is particularly useful, especially when you are encouraged to photocopy these and doodle onto them to create a hands-on practice of a design. A lot of the ease of free-motion pattern stitching comes from being able to get into the flow of one
motif to another and this suggestion is of great benefit to the reader to get their brain working
before starting to sew. It's a great book for getting you to look beyond some of the more traditional stitches you might stick to and to think about how you can adapt these basic stitches to create something more personal.
* Workshop On The Web *
March 2015
If you have not mastered free-motion quilting, this is the ultimate book for you. Even if you are quite good at it, I am sure you will find some inspiring ideas here. 9 simple to draw shapes are turned into 80+ quilting designs. They can be worked on a longarm or on a domestic sewing machine. Great design and practical tips to develop your free-motion quilting. Each design is the size of book with clear illustrations and instructions.
* Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts *
Issue 8
If our guide to free-motion quilting has piqued your interest this issue, then there's a whole world of books to continue your new love affair with finishing your own patchwork projects. This one is a new release from Stash Books and in it are pages and pages of designs to inspire your free-motion adventures. Christina Cameli covers the basics too - leading in with the ideas of travelling, echoing and foresight. It might seem strange to flight through a book and see what seems like a lot of scribbles, but when you start imagining them in quilted for, it's a useful little reference book to have to find a stitch design that matches your patchwork
* Quilt Now *
