For my darling son Rory, who puts up with piles of fabric all over the house and always seems to find pins with his bare feet before I even know I’ve lost them. And for my dear sister Jan, who waits patiently (not) on the car while I pop into yet another fabric shop for ‘just a minute’ (hour).
Foreword
For many years Linda Clements has edited a wide range of patchwork and quilting books, including my own, and I couldn’t work without her. Her knowledge and experience of so many techniques has resulted in this thorough and comprehensive reference book – anything you need to know about, it’s here.
This is my specialist craft area, but just leafing through the book I found whole sections that I knew very little about and strategies for dealing with them that I will immediately adopt.
Within the three broad definitions of patchwork, appliqué and quilting, traditional techniques and designs lie alongside contemporary textile treatments plus fabric manipulation, decorative stitchery and embellishment – so much inspiration!
A bonus is the series of small projects dotted throughout the book, each one based on the technique that is being described and placed with it in the text.
The step-by-step diagrams are clear and helpful, while the ravishing photography (always one of David and Charles’ strengths) makes this book both lovely to look at and an essential resource for every quilter’s library.
Lynne Edwards MBE
Quiltmaker, teacher, author and quilting journalist
Combining patchwork, appliqué and quilting can create striking designs, and panels printed with attractive scenes are a quick way to create a quilt. This koi and waterfall panel has been edged by a braided border (see Sewing a Braided Border) and two plain borders. Fusible web appliqué was used to add flowers over the borders and the wall hanging is finished with simple machine quilting and a narrow binding.
Introduction
Patchwork, appliqué and quilting are crafts that have endured over centuries and continue to be re-invented as more and more people find pleasure and satisfaction from creating something for themselves, their family and friends. This book is a comprehensive guide to creating beautiful work with fabric, with an encyclopedia of techniques to inform and inspire everyone, from the complete beginner to the more experienced stitcher.
There are so many wonderful effects that can be achieved with patchwork, appliqué and quilting and this book provides plenty of inspiration – so dip in and enjoy!
The Quilter’s Bible covers a vast subject area and is divided into five sections, although there is much overlap between patchwork, appliqué and quilting.
Getting Started – This first section describes the tools and materials you may need and basic techniques such as choosing fabrics, working with colour, marking methods, using templates and drawing and cutting shapes.
Patchwork – Here we look at quilt design using blocks, and then at specific shapes, building from simple squares and rectangles to triangles, diamonds, polygons and curves. Many styles of patchwork are described and illustrated.
Appliqué – This section explores some of the many forms of appliqué, including traditional needle-turn, fusible web, shadow appliqué and bias-strip appliqué.
Quilting – All you need to know about hand and machine methods of quilting is covered in this section, including free-motion quilting, sashiko, corded quilting and other decorative forms of quilting.
Finishing Off – This final section shows you how to add the finishing touches to quilts and other projects, describing various edging treatments and how to display and care for quilts.
How to Use This Book
You can use this book in many ways. You can dip into it randomly to explore some of the many techniques covered or use it as a workbook, working through it and building up your skills. Throughout the book there are small projects, called Make It Now, which are intended to provide practice for some of the techniques described.
The book has hundreds of detailed diagrams, explaining the techniques and giving ideas for designs. The abbreviations ‘rs’ and ‘ws’ have been used to indicate the right side and wrong side of fabric. Where possible, both imperial and metric measurements have been provided. These are not interchangeable so use one or the other. Imperial inches have been used as first choice – see Imperial to Metric Conversions for converting imperial to metric. There is also a section on Useful Stitches which contains descriptions of the specific stitches mentioned in the book. To increase your knowledge further please see Further Reading, and of course there are many more wonderful books and magazines available to help you.
It is hoped that this book will become a treasured resource, answering questions you may have about patchwork, appliqué and quilting and, above all, encouraging you to make lovely quilts and other projects you will be thrilled with. Although there is detailed guidance throughout, there is no ultimate right or wrong way to sew and new ways of doing things are being devised all the time. The most important thing is to have a go, explore what takes your fancy and enjoy what you create.
Features of a Quilt
The techniques in this book can be used to create whatever lovely projects you choose. For those new to quiltmaking the diagram below identifies the main features of a quilt, explaining the basic terms you will encounter in the book.
Getting Started
This section contains useful information on the tools, materials and basic skills needed for successful patchwork, appliqué and quilting. We begin with descriptions of some of the equipment that is available to make our quilting lives easier and more fun – those wonderful gizmos and gadgets that help us design, mark, measure, cut, sew and press.
Moving on, we look at some of the fabulous fabrics we can use in our work and how to choose them, make colour selections and prepare them for sewing.
