Customer Reviews

Divide & Conquer: Quilt It Your Way

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm an intermediate quilter who has been struggling to make larger bed-sized quilts for over a year. This book makes it SO much easier to quilt large sized projects! I highly recommend this book! In particular, the method described for the "Vanilla Ice Cream" quilt is a method I intend to use over and over!

I had two peeves with this book which are minor, but worth mentioning. One: the format. Quilt instructions and photos are spread throughout willy-nilly. I HATE books where I must page through text to find the picture and back again to the instructions. I much prefer the photos of the finished result to be near the instructions. Second, the quilts aren't photographed well so that you can see the final result. In particular, the vanilla ice cream quilt is photographed draped over a chair, and it is very difficult to see the end result. I prefer quilting instruction books to have photos so that the finished quilt is clearly visible

Overall, however, this book is worth ten other books on machine quilting which tell you how 'easy' it is to run a queen-sized quilt sandwich through your sewing machine! The instuctions on how to back your quilt are worth the cost of the book alone!

Think again. With the methods in this book you divide your quilt into parts, quilt the smaller parts and put the quilt together. It takes much of the strain and tension out of machine quilting large quilts.

Using the simple techniques in this book I have made up huge quilts for Christmas and wedding gifts, start to finish, so fast it's incredible. I have done quilt-as-you-go before buying the book, using two of the three methods included, but the third method which so far I have done in some dazzling strip quilts (REVERSIBLE!) is wonderful. Quilt-as-you-go invariably has a lot of hand sewing - almost as much work as hand quilting. With a little thought (and ironing) you can machine sew this whole thing. Since the large (king) quilt is joined diagonally, you always have the buik of the quilt to your left as you join the sections. I love this book!

This is the book on quilting that I've been looking for ! I really like the approach the author takes to quilting in sections. I found the book to be easy to follow and full of excellent suggestions and instructions.

This is a fantastic book for people who want to quilt in many various ways. The examples of "how to" and the diagrams illustrated in this book are very well written. I would highly recommend this book.

This book has been a HUGE blessing to me. I've make 2 big quilts by this method and they both came out great.

This is a very good book for machine quilting and has great tips and really can help you. I encourage all future quilters to purchase this book.

Let me start by saying I'm not an accomplished quilter. Neither do I have the finances to own or send my pieced quilt to a shop for long-arm, professionally designed detailed-looking quilting. I bought this book because I wanted to find a way to quilt my tops in small sections at home on my basic sewing machine without the bulkiness.

If you're looking for a book with 18 patterns that can be done using either the authors' Divide & Conquer method or the traditional way, this might be the book for you.

This book will NOT teach you the basics about piecing a quilt, how to choose fabrics, how to quilt a design on the top after you finish piecing your quilt, or how to bind a quilt. If you're new to quilting, and want to use their Divide & Conquer methods for a larger or bed-sized quilt you may want to buy another book for that first and then make at least a few small quilts the traditional way before trying one from this book. Of the only 88 pages in this book, here is the breakdown of what's covered: Pages 1-5 are 1) the Title Page, 2) Acknowledgements, thanks, credits, & copyright info; pg 3) Photo Index; pages pgs 4-5 General Directions. Pages 6-9 are their four Divide & Conquer methods. Pages 10-68 are patterns and colored photos for their quilts pictured. Pages 69-87 are templates for the appliqués used for their patterns; and finally, p. 88 is an ad for 12 other books they've written.

But I wasn't looking for new patterns or appliqué templates. I wanted in-depth instructions and illustrations of their D&Q methods; unfortunately they only include 4 pages for this (one page per method) and about 4 basic drawings for each page. I needed color pictures to distinguish the different layers of quilt top, batting, backing, and seam-covering strips. There just weren't enough details or pictures on the instructions for me to understand these alternative methods for what similar methods call Quilt As You Go (Marguerita McManus' book, Crazy Short Cut Quilts shows the easiest method that uses strips that go between blocks - and she has videos on Youtube). So I continued to search the internet for better instructions - and finally found them - free videos by the authors of this book! Go to HGTV's site for Divided Quilting where the authors did four segments on Alex Anderson's show, Simply Quilts demonstrating these four D&Q methods. If you're like me and need more detailed instructions to do the patterns of your choice, or the ones in this book, check out the short 5-10 minute-each videos of these four methods at the HGTV site. Click on: Decorating, Handmade, Quilting, Scroll down on left side of page for Search This Topic, then search for "Divided Quilting" and you'll see 4 different methods for how to do just about any kind of QAYG project. They don't teach you how to piece or quilt the top, but they do teach you how to connect/sew together sections of what you've quilted in a very attractive way. Method #3 of the book and video show how you can even piece together an entire bed-size quilt and then connect the batting and backing in sections without the bulk from the other sections while doing the quilting. Sounds impossible, doesn't it? But it's surprisingly simple. This is what I'd been searching the whole internet for. I also found another site with a very simple method called Fun and Done; it's not quite as professional looking, but great for simpler block quilts or those practical items that probably won't become heirloom quilts.

Pros:
1. This could inspire experienced quilters to save their money and quilt their own tops at home, giving them the satisfaction and fulfillment of stitching the ENTIRE quilt by themselves. This makes for a more meaningful experience when you give it to someone or keep for yourself.
2. Full-page colored pictures of finished quilts.

Cons:
1) The book's binding is less than satisfactory. I bought the book new, and multiple pages came loose from the binding the first time I just thumbed through it. I wish they'd chosen better publishers and quality binding.
2) There is no actual table of contents, just one page that lists where the colored photos of the quilts are but not the patterns! You have to go to the colored photo and then at the bottom of that page it indicates the page number the pattern is on (and it's not on one of the pattern's adjoining pages).
3) The authors missed the mark when only giving four pages of instructions for their Divide & Conquer methods. The title implies (to me at least) that there would be much more details step-by-step on these pages. At the price of quality quilt fabric in 2010, I don't like ripping out seams because of minimum or sketchy instructions.

Once again, I'm not an accomplished quilter; those with more experience might find the instructions in the book all they need. Now that I've watched the authors demonstrate the instructions on the HGTV videos, I can finally see how these methods can work for me.

[[ASIN:1880972433 Divide & Conquer: Quilt It Your Way],by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan, offers money-saving and innovative ideas for every quilter. I purchased this book because I wanted to know how to use the strip method to quilt at home so I would not have to send larger quilts out to be quilted by a longarm marchine, requiring me to pay a fee in addition to the purchase of fabric, batting and a pattern. This book gave me that and much more.

It begins with detailed, illustrated explanations of four methods of joining quilted sedtions that hand quilters and machine quilters can use for different situations or at various stages of quilting: joining large quilted sections; joining quilted blocks or panels with strips that cover seams; quilting with part of the batting temporarily removed; adding borders or quilted center sections.

The middle section contains step-by-step instructions and illustations for 16 different quilts including yardage and cutting instructions. These quilts are gorgeous and unique, definitely not a repeat of blocks around for centuries. A full-size color photo is included of each, and these photos are shining examples of color theory.

Many of them include bold and eye-catching applique, which may cover entire strips of the quilt as the cover photo shows or a center or corner. Applique patterns and instructions complete the last 19 pages of this 88-page book. Drawings of other ways one might use the same applique patterns such as on sheet tops and pillow cases, shower curtains, etc. are sprinkled through the pages. If you have never included applique in a quilt, this book is the one to help you stretch your skills.

The only improvement I could possible think of is that the quilt might have been graded as advanced beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc.

Excellent techniques, which I shall find very useful. The quilt patterns were reasonably inspiring too; a bit quirkier than usual with some good (to my taste anyway) use of colour.