Use and The History and Future of Improv Quilting invites crafters to open the door to creative freedom with free-spirited quilter Nick Ball’s improvisation techniques.
Throw away your patterns and let your imagination soar! Nick Ball’s techniques will offer a liberated approach to sewing and open up a world of creative possibilities. As you experiment with textures, shapes, and colors, you’ll find your own creative way of quilting.
Use and Ornament is a great resource that takes the reader through a journey of the many facets of quilt-making expertise, from preparation, through the elements of design, to completion using the perfect balance of guided instruction and creative freedom.
(The author's name is Nicholas Ball. ) This book is really several quilt-related books in one: an introduction to the author, a brief history of improvisatory quilts (Welsh quilts, crazy quilts, Gee's Bench quilts), eleven interviews with contemporary quilters, a brief section on tools and notions, eight quilt processes (not patterns, but illustrated by specific quilts), and a word about collaboration focused on working with the long-arm quilter who finishes Nicholas Ball's quilts. Accompanied with lots of full-sized colored photographs of quilts and details, this is definitely an inspirational not-just-for-your-coffee-table book.
"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Thanks to the public library I've had this beauty around to read little by little about improv quilts. I'm still on my hiatus from Insta, so I went straight to the quilter websites. Fascinating. Very intrigued to try some of these approaches featured in this book.