20 to Stitch: One-Patch Quilts by Carolyn Forster

20 to Stitch: One-Patch Quilts by Carolyn Forster

One-Patch Quilts is Part of Search Press’s bestselling 20 to Make Series which gives you bargain priced project packed books at just £499 a book. The books are smaller than most their other books, this one being 48 pages but you do still get full size templates included as well as step by step diagrams.

The concept behind this book is quilt designs that only use a single block, tessellating shapes, making the cutting out and piecing quick and easy.  There is a certain amount of sewing knowledge assumed with only a couple of pages of techniques at the back of the book. The focus is on making the quilt top itself, if you don’t know how to baste, quilt and bind you’ll need another book for those instructions.

The projects themselves introduce you to the shape being used in the block, tell you how to piece it and then give a couple ideas of layouts for the finished quilt. There’s a photo of one of the quilts next to the instructions so you can see how it would look. The instructions are minimal, but to be honest if you’ve made a quilt before you won’t need more. As the series name suggests you will find 20 different quilt designs in the book.

The shapes progress from easy designs such as squares, half square triangles etc at the start of the book to more complicated designs like jewels, hexagons and apple cores (the latter 2 using English Paper Piecing) towards the end of the book. You can see the full table of contents here.

I think this book is best aimed at those who have already made a quilt before but who are looking for ideas of other quilts to make. These quick and easy designs would make great scrap busters and will most likely encourage you to try sewing with shapes you haven’t used before.  Personally I am keen to try the braid design (pictured below) and 45 degree diamonds (at the top of the page).

April 2018

If you still haven't caught the quilting bug, prepare to get wide-eyed and inspired. Although it may seem small, this mighty book unveils the potential magic of shapes as simple as the hexagon, triangle and square. By playing with prints, colour and tessellation, Carolyn Forster creates 20 lovely quilt designs using only one shape each - meaning easier cutting out!

Carolyn Forster started making quilts when she was a teenager and went on to study textiles. Since graduating, she has taught patchwork and quilting both in the UK and the USA and has had her quilts featured in a number of books and magazines, including Fabrications, Popular Patchwork and Patchwork and Quilting. Carolyn lives in Tunbridge Wells, UK with her husband and son.