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Quiltmaking Essentials I: Cutting and Piecing Skills
This information-packed book of tips and techniques is a must-have resource for new quilters And a handy refresher for not-so-new quilters. Author, teacher, and piecing expert Donna Lynn Thomas covers all the basics in this easy-to-use guide to successful quiltmaking.
Have concise info at your fingertips in a low-cost format an excellent value Understand the importance of careful pressing, why you should care, and what effect it has on your piecing Find tips for fabric preparation, accurate and efficient rotary cutting, block construction, machine piecing, and more- GenresQuilting
66 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 19, 2014
This book, the first volume of a planned series of two, is a thorough overview of everything a beginning quilter needs to know to piece just about any quilt block. Although there are lots of beautiful quilt photos sprinkled throughout the book for eye candy, there isn't a single project in this book. I LOVE THAT! Here's why.
Quilting magazines can be a great "point of entry" into quilting, especially for those who don't know any other quilters. Barnes and Noble, Michael's craft store, and even many grocery stores sell a variety of quilting magazines these days, just waiting to catch a would-be-quilter's eye with tantalizing cover quilts running the gamut from traditional to modern, in trendy of-the-moment color schemes and seasonal themes. However, due to space limitations, the instructions in magazine projects tend to assume that readers have a basic understanding of the quiltmaking process. This can be confusing and frustrating to someone who might never have touched a sewing machine and has no idea what terms like QST, SOG or 9-Patch means. A beginning quilter's odds of successfully completing a magazine quilt project without any outside help or additional instructions is usually pretty slim -- and once that beginning quilter has wasted money on fabric and hours of his or her time just to end up with a frustrating mess, that first quilt is liable to be their last.
That's where Quiltmaking Essentials 1 comes in. This book explains everything you need to know to get started with any quilt pattern, whether it's a standalone pattern, a magazine pattern, a project from another quilt book, or an idea you came up with on your own. It's a book that will help establish good habits and techniques from the very beginning, that you'll dog-ear and highlight and refer to again and again.
There are a lot of how-to quilting books on the market, and I've read most of them. So, what makes this one a must-have?
•So many books geared towards beginners downplay the need for accuracy in cutting and piecing. How many times have you heard quilters comforting one another by saying, "there are no quilt police" or "as long as I can't see the mistakes when I'm galloping by on horseback it's fine"? Yet, as Thomas points out, tiny inaccuracies in cutting and piecing have a way of compounding into a great deal of frustration and disappointment, and quilters who never learn to cut accurately and piece with a precise seam allowance are doomed to remain beginners forever. Quilting Essentials 1 will help beginner quilters establish good skills and habits with their very first quilt, and will help many veteran quilters to correct bad habits that have may have been holding them back.
•The section of this book on pressing is worth its weight in gold. Those who were born in the 1970s or later grew up with permanent press fabrics and missed out on the home economics classes of earlier generations, and we don't know how to use an iron. I have read so many quilting books that warn me to "press, not iron" and that I should "be careful not to distort the bias," but I had no idea what that actually meant. I thought "press" and "iron" were synonyms, and naturally I'm not going to distort the bias on purpose! Thomas explains how to press seams open properly with handy little diagrams showing which way the iron should be pointing in relation to your half-square triangle seam, and it was NOT the way I had been doing it. When I pointed my iron like the iron in the book illustration, lo and behold -- my half square triangle unit looked much more like a square after I pressed it open. This book is also very thorough in explaining the hows and whys of creating a pressing plan for your block up front. That's another issue I've struggled with in the past as I followed another book's admonition to "always press to the Dark Side" and ended up with lumps and distortions in my blocks where several seams come together. Seriously, this chapter alone could have saved me so much frustration and tears if I'd read it 10 years ago. As it is, I'm planning to go back to my bear paw blocks and press some of the seam allowances in the opposite direction to eliminate the bumps and bulges I created with my "press to the Dark Side" mentality. I don't think I've ever seen another beginning quilting book that teaches you the logic behind how to create a pressing plan for your quilt.
•Directions on how to wash your quilts with quilt soap so the dyes don't fade prematurely -- IN A FRONT-LOAD, HIGH EFFICIENCY washing machine. THANK YOU!!
Quilting magazines can be a great "point of entry" into quilting, especially for those who don't know any other quilters. Barnes and Noble, Michael's craft store, and even many grocery stores sell a variety of quilting magazines these days, just waiting to catch a would-be-quilter's eye with tantalizing cover quilts running the gamut from traditional to modern, in trendy of-the-moment color schemes and seasonal themes. However, due to space limitations, the instructions in magazine projects tend to assume that readers have a basic understanding of the quiltmaking process. This can be confusing and frustrating to someone who might never have touched a sewing machine and has no idea what terms like QST, SOG or 9-Patch means. A beginning quilter's odds of successfully completing a magazine quilt project without any outside help or additional instructions is usually pretty slim -- and once that beginning quilter has wasted money on fabric and hours of his or her time just to end up with a frustrating mess, that first quilt is liable to be their last.
That's where Quiltmaking Essentials 1 comes in. This book explains everything you need to know to get started with any quilt pattern, whether it's a standalone pattern, a magazine pattern, a project from another quilt book, or an idea you came up with on your own. It's a book that will help establish good habits and techniques from the very beginning, that you'll dog-ear and highlight and refer to again and again.
There are a lot of how-to quilting books on the market, and I've read most of them. So, what makes this one a must-have?
•So many books geared towards beginners downplay the need for accuracy in cutting and piecing. How many times have you heard quilters comforting one another by saying, "there are no quilt police" or "as long as I can't see the mistakes when I'm galloping by on horseback it's fine"? Yet, as Thomas points out, tiny inaccuracies in cutting and piecing have a way of compounding into a great deal of frustration and disappointment, and quilters who never learn to cut accurately and piece with a precise seam allowance are doomed to remain beginners forever. Quilting Essentials 1 will help beginner quilters establish good skills and habits with their very first quilt, and will help many veteran quilters to correct bad habits that have may have been holding them back.
•The section of this book on pressing is worth its weight in gold. Those who were born in the 1970s or later grew up with permanent press fabrics and missed out on the home economics classes of earlier generations, and we don't know how to use an iron. I have read so many quilting books that warn me to "press, not iron" and that I should "be careful not to distort the bias," but I had no idea what that actually meant. I thought "press" and "iron" were synonyms, and naturally I'm not going to distort the bias on purpose! Thomas explains how to press seams open properly with handy little diagrams showing which way the iron should be pointing in relation to your half-square triangle seam, and it was NOT the way I had been doing it. When I pointed my iron like the iron in the book illustration, lo and behold -- my half square triangle unit looked much more like a square after I pressed it open. This book is also very thorough in explaining the hows and whys of creating a pressing plan for your block up front. That's another issue I've struggled with in the past as I followed another book's admonition to "always press to the Dark Side" and ended up with lumps and distortions in my blocks where several seams come together. Seriously, this chapter alone could have saved me so much frustration and tears if I'd read it 10 years ago. As it is, I'm planning to go back to my bear paw blocks and press some of the seam allowances in the opposite direction to eliminate the bumps and bulges I created with my "press to the Dark Side" mentality. I don't think I've ever seen another beginning quilting book that teaches you the logic behind how to create a pressing plan for your quilt.
•Directions on how to wash your quilts with quilt soap so the dyes don't fade prematurely -- IN A FRONT-LOAD, HIGH EFFICIENCY washing machine. THANK YOU!!
January 22, 2020
Fantastic and concise
Donna Lynne Thomas does a fabulous piece like a pro Class on bluprint. Loved her 'how to" and trouble shooting teaching style so much . Decided to take plunge and buy and the book., after downloading a sample of it. Great as kindle book.... I love to have kindle next to my cutting mat or near sewing machine. I will be purchasing her second book very soon!
Donna Lynne Thomas does a fabulous piece like a pro Class on bluprint. Loved her 'how to" and trouble shooting teaching style so much . Decided to take plunge and buy and the book., after downloading a sample of it. Great as kindle book.... I love to have kindle next to my cutting mat or near sewing machine. I will be purchasing her second book very soon!
February 18, 2016
Good information but rather limited.
I got the kindle version which is not the best way to read such info. I got it to go with a Craftsy class taught by the same person, Donna Lynn Thomas. There are several helpful diagrams but not enough info for the price. Also contains lots of recommended products to buy in addition. Overall, way, way overpriced!
I got the kindle version which is not the best way to read such info. I got it to go with a Craftsy class taught by the same person, Donna Lynn Thomas. There are several helpful diagrams but not enough info for the price. Also contains lots of recommended products to buy in addition. Overall, way, way overpriced!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews