Customer Reviews

Fast Patch: A Treasury of Strip-Quilt Projects (Contemporary quilting)

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

 

 

This is the best book on my sewing shelf. A novice sewer can follow the well laid out directions and there are lots of hints and tips to challenge the experienced seamstress to new and innovative designs. This is not a "copy the teacher" type book, you build your own creation using the diagrams and your own sense of style and design. I'm definately going to buy the author's other books.

I checked this book out of the library and was so fascinated with her well-illustrated technique for switching quilt blocks to a diagonal setting that I had to buy it so I could take my time to work through the myriad of ideas. This book can be used like a textbook and is easy to follow. I like learning on the small but useful projects and being able to expand from there. My first small learning projects have become kids' quilts for charity. I have had so much fun with this book!

I've had this book, like many I own, and never really got around to looking at it until the other day. My goodness, what a wonderful reference tool for both beginner & advanced patchwork quilters! The instructions are absolutely perfect with drawings of almost ever detail you'd need to create your own stripped quilt. Definitely a keeper.

I do reserve one star, however for lack of aesthetic value. Most of the book is in black and white, which in today's quilting book market is almost not found anymore, especially at well over $20 per book/leaflet. Although very easy to see and read, I'd love to see a revised edition that looks as good as the content that this book contains. The few color pictures of some sample finished projects are bulked into two or more per picture only allow the quilter an idea of what the full laid-out project would/should look like. If you are spoiled by those publications that give you a full picture of each and every project, you too will withhold a star of two from your own review. Aesthetics aside, the book is great.

Techniques are dated, and do not lend themselves to creative or scrappy use of fabrics. The most fatal flaw is that the cut, sew, cut approach used in this book leaves bias edges on assembled modules, which is always a nightmare to work with without stretching or getting wrinkles.

The main theme of the book is how to use the bias to quickly construct quilts and to do this _after_ you have sewn much of the quilt top together. I haven't made anything in this book yet because I don't understand how you can incorporate the 1/4" for the seam allowance when you cut your work in half on the bias.

This is a great and easy to follow quilting book. I love the rail fence pattern and have made 2 lap quilts following this pattern. I am ready to start working on the 9 patch.

Lucia.

Great book. But it came very distorted at the spine. I dont think I can straighten it out.