This week it has been about quilting--machine quilting. Today I am going to share two books that will help you with machine quilting skills. The first book is for beginners as well as anyone who wants to learn some new skills and designs. It is Walk, Jog, Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout by Dara Tomasson.
This book starts with the equipment you will need from sewing machines to drawing implements as well as things like understanding your machine's bobbin tension. Then it goes into fabrics, battings and threads. It talks about how to set up your space and basic skills and some exercises. Then it gets to specific free-motion quilting patterns and a project or two to go with each one. The basics of practicing each free-motion quilting pattern is to do it on a scrap 15-inch square quilt sandwich so you can get to know how to do it and let it become habit. I did not practice enough and highly recommend that you do the practice. Here are my attempts at practice on a much smaller square and I combined different patterns on my smaller piece. Oops!!
I looked through the projects and loved the computer sleeve. Hazel has to take an iPad to and from school every day starting this year and I thought it would be great for her to have something with a bit of protection. After sewing the blocks I cut the pieces by two-inches because it was meant for a bigger laptop than her small iPad.
Since she was bringing it to school every day I wrote her name on the square around the butterfly on the front cover.
This project was in the Quilting Circuit Boards chapter. I tried the circuit boards on my practice piece but wasn't happy with them and also didn't think they matched my fabric. I did the Quilting Paisleys instead on the purple stripes. I did some stippling on the butterfly fabric but I didn't look at her instructions on stippling since it is about the only free-motion quilting I have ever done previously.
I found the instructions for the computer sleeve and the various quilting very easy to follow. The only thing I struggled with was her binding instructions and the specific binding instructions for this project. I am not sure if I just did not read them carefully or not but was not too impressed with my binding. I had wished I had done it without reading her instructions. Otherwise I love this book and am looking forward to trying some of the other quilting patterns in it.
The photos in this book provide such inspiration. It is making me think about investing in the equipment needed to make some of these beautiful quilting patterns. The first chapter is spent talking about machines and the special ruler feet. It is very informative for someone about to try this method of quilting. The next chapter is about the rulers. She gives suggestions on what rulers to begin your collection with and goes into different quilting designs that can be done with them.
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| This is a long arm machine! |
The next chapter is about planning the quilting with rulers. She shares some good advice as well as some beautiful quilts in this chapter. The final two chapters are executing the plans with a regular sewing machine and with a long arm. Each of the last two chapters also share some troubleshooting and wonderful photo tutorials. This book looks very easy to follow and has information about everything you need to try rulerwork quilting.
The quilting designs are simply gorgeous with the rulers and you can achieve a greater stitch control in the patterns than you could hand quilting. If you want to attempt some beautiful quilting patterns this book is definitely one for you to check out.
