Heirloom Machine Quilting: A Comprehensive Guide to Hand-Quilted Effects Using Your Sewing Machine [Spiral-bound]

Harriet Hargrave (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

The acknowledged "bible" of machine quilting, this book made the sewing machine an acceptable tool for quilters.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 176 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publications; 3rd edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0914881922
• ISBN-13: 978-0914881926
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908,200 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

189 of 189 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent quilting reference and guide., December 12, 1998

By 

Marcia Sakrison ([e-mail]) (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heirloom Machine Quilting: A Comprehensive Guide to Hand-Quilted Effects Using Your Sewing Machine (Spiral-bound)

Harriet Hargrave writes as if she is looking over your shoulder watching you work. This is an easy and entertaining read, packed with practical information on threads (I didn't realize it was possible to choose a thread stronger than my fabric!), needles, grain direction, quilt assembly, binding, etc. I am a beginning quilter, and learned a great deal of beginning information from this book. Harriet even addresses how to package or bundle a quilt you plan to machine quilt, so that it is easier to handle and unfolds as you work.

There are beautiful photographs of antique and contemporary machine quilted quilts for inspiration. There is an excellent section on how to modify quilting patterns for machine quilting.

A side note is that Harriet is one of few quilting authors who addresses the ergonomic needs of the quilter and sewer, with more suggestions about worktable height, chair types, back support, and support for the quilt "package".

This is just a great book, and spiral bound too!

125 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heirloom Machine Quilting : A Comprehensive Guide to Hand-Qu, July 8, 2001

By 

Judy "historyofquilts" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heirloom Machine Quilting: A Comprehensive Guide to Hand-Quilted Effects Using Your Sewing Machine (Spiral-bound)

Even if we use a sewing machine to piece the quilt we are left with the daunting task of hand quilting the layers together. There is a solution to this problem and the book "Heirloom Machine Quilting" contains the guidance you need. Using easy to understand instructions it covers every tiny step you need to take from setting up your machine to the final binding.

Learning to machine quilt is not an overnight process. You can learn some basic techniques like stitching "in the ditch" quickly enough and you will find the detailed instructions on this simple procedure to be invaluable. But the true challenge and joy of machine quilting comes when you learn "free motion quilting". So many possibilities are open to you when you can follow your favorite stencil patterns or even create your own freestyle movements to fill in an area. The first key to making "free motion quilting" work is to set up your machine correctly with help from the book. Then you are ready to practice, practice, practice. Be sure to read all the tips provided and try the exercises that Hargrave suggests.

The book includes several beautiful full page pictures showing how a variety of quilts have been machine quilted. You will be amazed how machine quilting can give the look of the original handwork. Don't let the beauty and detail of these quilts scare you away. You can have a wonderful time machine quilting on a far simpler level. Just keep on quilting and perhaps some day you will be ready to take on a quilt much like the ones pictured.

87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent book on machine quilting techniques., June 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heirloom Machine Quilting: A Comprehensive Guide to Hand-Quilted Effects Using Your Sewing Machine (Spiral-bound)

This book covers everything from what tools and accessories are needed, how to choose the batting for the quilt, to how to accomplish simple to elaborate machine quilting. Beginners through advanced quilters will appreciate the straightforward manner in which this is written. It is a well-organized compilation which takes the quilt maker step by step through the machine quilting process. This book is a must for anyone who is interested in machine quilting.