Customer Reviews

Quick Watercolor Quilts: The Fuse, Fold, and Stitch Method

5 star:		(18)
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Beautiful color pictures of all projects. Clear, concise instructions on fabric selection and on the fold, fuse and stitch method. Dina is an excellent teacher, who conveys her love of color and design in a no-nonsense manner. She simplifies the watercolor process, so even beginners can produce stunning results.

Here are some excerpts from my review of this book. You can see the complete review on the Quilter's Review website, along with a review of the fusible grid that Dina uses.

"If you think you're too busy to quilt, think again. As a mother of two small children, Dina Pappas needed to find a way to quilt that used a minimum of fabrics, could be worked on in short blocks of time, and could be assembled quickly. So Dina developed a formula that does all three.

"Dina chooses just three fabrics for a project. One is fairly plain and serves as background. Another provides strong visual interest....

"The third fabric type serves as a transition between the plain background and the dense floral print. Dina calls this the edge fabric....

"Dina doesn't spend much time cutting fabric -- her method doesn't fussy-cut. She just cuts strips of fabric that she then cuts into 2" squares....

"When it's time to lay out her design, Dina looks through her cut pieces for just the right edge pattern type to place in each spot. By careful selection, Dina creates striking watercolor effects time after time. Seeing how Dina sorts pieces by edge pattern type triggered the "Ah-ha!" I've been waiting for to really understand watercolor quilts....

"To assemble these watercolor quilts quickly, Dina uses fusible interfacing with a 2" grid drawn on it to ensure proper alignment of the squares. After she positions her 2" squares, she fuses the squares to the interfacing.

"Piecing is then a simple matter of folding along a grid line (right sides together) and sewing a 1/4" seam. One long seam along each grid line and she's done. Dina doesn't spend hours chain piecing, clipping threads, and pressing....

"If you have wanted to make watercolor quilts but felt overwhelmed by the work involved or the fabrics required, then these quick watercolor quilts are for you."

I have been watercolor quilting for a year now and have found it difficult to complete the projects in a timely manner. All that sewing! Well, no more! Quick Watercolor Quilts is a wonderful book showing a very quick and easy fuse technique which saves valuable time at the sewing machine. Also, the author goes into great detail in the design of curves and angles, which give my projects a more dimensional look. I love this book and can't wait to get started on the four seasons wreath wall hanging for my bedroom!

I just made my first pieced quilt by following the directions in this book. I made it in just a few evenings, and it is beautiful. Dina Pappas writes very clear instructions and makes it simple to choose appropriate fabrics and design a quilt that works well visually. This is a good book for beginners because she explains the basics of machine quilting, and also how to bind the quilt. All of these were new to me. I am sometimes annoyed by ambiguous or hard to follow directions in craft books. Dina's writing style is very clear and she uses photos and diagrams effectively to illustrate the instructions. I definitely recommend this book!

The concept in this book is simple and easy to follow. Eight years ago I made my first colorwash quilt and found it tedious sewing all of those little squares and trying to get the seams to line up. This book has made the whole process easy beyond belief and great fun. I urge everyone to try the fuse, fold and stitch method.

This is an easy to follow technique for making those beautiful watercolor quilts! This technique allows you to have perfect corners every time, and the result is a beautiful, professional looking quilt! There is something for every level of sewer--Even beginners will find this book easy to follow and time saving! The color illustrations and examples are also very helpful. I would recommend this book to any quilter!

I made my first pieced quilt using this book, and it turned out great. Since then, I have made several quilts of my own design using the same "fuse, fold, and stitch" method. The method works great for baby quilts where you use a bunch of complimentary fabrics (rather than trying to make a picture.) The quilts wash well.
I appreciated the clear instructions in this book, as well as the diagrams. I definitely recommend it to any beginning or advanced quilter who is interested in doing this type of quilt.

I have and have read a bunch of watercolor/colorwash/impressionist quilt books. My head is swimming with theory. They all begin with color and pattern theory (and they are all different) with levels and layers of categories, and when you think you've got it, you haven't. By being very specific and limited, this book enables you to take off on your own successfully. I think it is a better springboard for your own creativity - and initial success as opposed to hits with misses - than the more technically difficult and detailed. They are all beautiful but to actually see one and reproduce it successfully, I'd have to say this is the book to go with, and then go on to the more elaborate ones if you want.

So incredibly easy to do. Instructions are very easy and the results are quick and beautiful. I finished a quilt in just a few evenings and the results were beautiful. You see results immediately and no worrying about matching your corners. A great book for beginners. A must have for your quilting library.

I've never bought a book on quilting before but just *had* to have this one, and I'm glad I did! I used Dina's method of quilting for making a lovely three heart wall hanging, but never thought I was capable of making a whole quilt. Well, that all changed when I read Quick Watercolor Quilts. The author does such a great job of explaining no stitch quilting. Even a novice like me can enjoy quilting with this book as a guide! So many of my freinds have asked to borrow my copy, I'm picking up another one just to loan out! I can't wait to read Pappas' other books! Thanks so much for your insight Dina--you're on my all time favorites list!