Quilters love the look of textural, detailed stitching that adds to the beauty of the quilt top design. This stitching is actually the "quilting" in quilting, and many quilters feel that paying a professional for machine quilting is one of their only options. The walking foot is an accessory for sewing machines that's often used for machine quilting, but many quilters only use it to stitch around their designs.
But the walking foot can do so much more, and author Jacquie Gering shows all of her tips, tricks and techniques to master all of the skills needed to quilt with a walking foot.
This book covers the basics of using the walking foot, in addition to preparing the quilt, marking, managing large quilts, preventing puckers and keeping lines straight. Chapters will include a variety of types of walking -foot quilting, including channel quilting, matchstick quilting, and decorative stitch quilting. Quilters won't be limited to straight line quilting, either! They'll learn how to quilt spirals, simple curves, and marked curves like braids and clamshells.
I am glad to have this added to my small collection of quilting books. There are detailed instructions to create beautiful quilting designs on your domestic machine and I hope to work my way through many of them over time.
I have been making quilts since 1974. Some are so gorgeous it takes my breath away, others are so fugly that I thank the good Lord that even the ugliest quilts still keeps a body warm, and that is why I love to make them. After crafting literally hundreds of quilts over the years, I was pretty sure there was not much new to learn. Then I read this book and a whole world opened up for me. Seriously. This is not just about using your walking foot to quilt. It is so much more.
The title on the cover pictured here and on my copy is actually "Walk: Mastering Machine Quilting with your Walking Foot." I enjoyed this book a great deal and I'm sure I will be referring to it for many future projects. I would have given it 5-stars but I'm pretty irritated by some, admittedly, small details. The page numbers are white numerals in a small black rectangle somewhere near the center on the outside edges of each page. And sometimes that's actually in a black illustration or photo; and then they are not easily seen. Also, many (none?) of the photos are captioned and you have to read the text on both pages to figure out what the point is and try to figure out what's what. With some of the photos, I don't know if it's the resolution of the photo or the composition (or me?) but I couldn't figure out the point of the photo. The schematics are usually easy to follow. But they are labeled in lower case letters, so sometimes in the text, it's confusing, i.e. : "Referring to Figure a and beginning... (p. 38)." I really wish the gallery of photos showing the finished products was more extensive and more with print fabrics. But overall, this is still worth reading and having: the number and variety of quilting designs shown for a walking foot is excellent.
Jacquie Gering's modern quilts span areas of architecture, geometry, and society. Part of what gives them impact is the machine quilting, adding line, curve, and texture. In this book she breaks down her process with plenty of pictures and diagrams. Free-motion quilting is definitely beyond me but some of her ideas might work for me on a small scale.
Borrowed SEVERAL TIMES from the library because this book inspires! I love to sew, and having access to this book all about one machine foot - the walking foot - was a delight. I tried a few of her ideas and have confidence that I will use more. Smart ideas Jacquie!
Gering does an excellent job walking readers through the steps to using a walking foot to quilt. She breaks out of the box giving this stitch-in-the-ditch quilting essential a new lease on life. Clear directions cover the basics and then diagrams and step-by-step instructions show a variety of stitches that include reverse stitches and curves. Readers will not be disappointed by this original text.
I had purchased Jacquie's Craftsy Walking Foot quilting class and used it for much of the quilting on Nora's quilt, which was an excellent learning curve. This book has taken that information to a more professional and polished level, though I know and have done most of what is in the book.