Customer Reviews

Baby Patchwork: Small Quilts & Other Gifts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book, in every page i found something special i want to do as soon as i can. Theres not only baby work, also awsome projects for kids, and why not, for myself. My friends always ask me to lend them this book, i really loved it.

Baby Patchwork / 0-8069-9933-0

I own quiet a few quilting books, and they tend to all cover a lot of the same common ground - use rotary tools for cutting, sewing machines are nifty, thimbles prevent massive internal bleeding, and so on. This book is no different in that regard, so I'll just note that this one covers the basics well, before moving on to what sets it apart from all the other quilting books.

First of all, the book is very pretty and modern. The page backgrounds exude a crisp, clean, shiny white and there's not very much of the "country quilting" motif here. Definitely, the editors were going for a "not your grandmother's quilting resource" here, so if you like "modern" quilting books, this one will definitely catch your eye.

Second, there's a surprising amount of new ideas here. The quilted braided wreaths are great, and provide a new way to display your craft on the wall besides the standard "quilt on a wall" design. (And they're a great way to make something cool with very little material needed.) There's some decent gift bags here, and plenty of small quilts, and believe it or not there's a quilted "cake" to trot out on birthday occasions. I'm not really sure who would prefer a quilted "cake" to a yummy, messy confection, but it's cute and different.

I recommend this book if you can get it at a decent price. It's got some new ideas in it, and the presentation is certainly very clean and crisp.

~ Ana Mardoll

This book has fabulous project directions for babies. I found it easy to understand and not only does it give directions for baby quilts it has other projects as well--pillows, carrying bags, etc. I would recommend this book to everybody.

I'm glad I took this book out of the library before buying it. On the plus side, it offers suggestions for gifts beyond the straightforward baby quilt; for instance, one quilt design also has instructions for making matching baby bibs, and another has a matching stuffed animal to accompany the quilt. That's quite charming. However, the designs are just a little too "sweet" for my taste.

More importantly, the book isn't quite sure whether it's for beginners or for more advanced quilters. It devotes 35 pages to basics, but the project recipes are surprisingly sparse. For instance, the instructions say to make 6.5" square blocks, but never tell you "you'll need 2 yards of Fabric 1, 3 yards of Fabric 2."

I did get some good ideas from this book. However, to make a baby quilt for my nephew's first child, I'm going to turn elsewhere for guidance.