From Fiber to Fabric: The Essential Guide to Quiltmaking Textiles [Perfect Paperback]

Harriet Hargrave (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2009

Harriet Hargrave presents the definitive resource guide to selection, use, and care of today's textiles. Includes easy-to-understand directions for testing fiber content, thread count, colorfastness, lightfastness, washfastness, and shrinkage. You'll find information on the effects of water and detergents on different fabrics and dyes. Thread compatibility and batting selection charts. Recommendations for storing quilts is also included. With a better understanding of how textiles are made, what to consider when buying them, and how to care for them once you bring them home, you will have much more enjoyment and less stress as you create your wonderful quilts. Note: The printing quality in this copy may vary from the original offset printing edition and may look more saturated due to printing on demand by a high-quality printer on uncoated paper. The information presented in this version is the same as the most recent printed edition. Any pattern pullouts have been separated and presented as single pages.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book is based on the author's popular "Stretching Traditions" workshop, during which she guides students in manipulating traditional quilt blocks to create striking and innovative variations. A gallery of more than 200 color illustrations demonstrates how "playing with blocks" by rotating, staggering, squeezing, blending, and merging elements can resulting in gorgeous quilts that build on their classic origins. Quilting teachers using this work as a resource for quilting classes will appreciate the "Activities and Extended Learning" sections at the end of each chapter. Recommended for quilting collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An abundance of books on how to quilt are available, and Hargrave starts an interesting new thread, with this guide to textiles. Written for those already involved in home sewing and quilting, the guide provides extensive details on every aspect of the world of fabric. You'll learn about the history of textiles, how fabrics are manufactured, prepared, and dyed; and how they are printed and finished. Particularly useful for the careful and cost-conscious consumer is the information on the pros and cons of pre-washing and how to test fabric. Indeed, the book offers numerous tests to help you determine the quality and consistency of your purchase, thus avoiding such problems as fabric shrinkage and color changes. You'll also learn about different types of threads, how to avoid stitching problems, and how batting is made, and how to care for your finished quilts. -- From Independent Publisher

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 146 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publishing (August 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571200258
• ISBN-13: 978-1571200259
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harriet started quilting seriously in 1974, working alongside her mom. Her early quilting career included producing baby quilts for craft shows and teaching adult education classes. In 1981, harriet opened her quilt shop, Harriet's Treadle Arts. Her specialties at the time were free-motion embroidery, machine arts, and machine quilting. In 1982, Harriet attended one of Mary Ellen Hopkins's seminars. Mary Ellen's streamlined techniques and innovative design ideas led harriet to a new way of thinking, which caused her to give up the machine arts and to teach only quilting. Today, she is world renowned for being a true "mover and shaker" in the quilt world. In the late 1990s, she was voted one of the "88 Leaders of the Quilt World." Harriet created and inspired a whole new generation of machine quilters with her bestselling book Heirloom Machine Quilting, which has enjoyed 22 continuous years in print. She is also the author of Mastering Machine Appliqué and From Fiber to Fabric, and co-author of The Art of Classic Quiltmaking. She is responsible for a myriad of products pertaining to machine quilting, and she has developed batting with hobbs Bonded fibers and designed fabric for P&B Textiles. Visit Harriet's web site at www.harriethargrave.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Older children can see how fabric is made, May 4, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Fiber to Fabric: The Essential Guide to Quiltmaking Textiles (Perfect Paperback)

As a quilter, I enjoyed the information in this book. It is especially useful in helping make decisions on purchasing and using our fabrics. An added extra is my showing children the process by which cotton becomes fabric - the machinery is well photographed and helps children get a visual picture.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for serious quilters, December 11, 2004

By 

Anonymous "Anonymous" (Oklahoma City, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Fiber to Fabric: The Essential Guide to Quiltmaking Textiles (Perfect Paperback)

This book goes into detail about how fabric is made, and the differences this causes. I consider it a must have book for the library of anyone who is serious about making quality quilts and recognizing quality fabric.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If only it would be reissued, August 9, 2007

By 

reader and maker (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Fiber to Fabric: The Essential Guide to Quiltmaking Textiles (Perfect Paperback)

This is a well researched and written book on an important issue for quilters who care about their work lasting for future generations. I hope the publisher will consider asking the author to update it and reissue the book for the current generation of new quilters who would benefit as well.