Totally Tubular Quilts: A New Strip-Piecing Technique [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Rita Hutchens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

Fantastic, dramatic, geometric quilts - they're Totally Tubular! Totally Tubular and totally brilliant! Combine easy strip piecing with clever methods for cutting, rearranging, and sewing again. Quilt designer and teacher Rita Hutchens' innovative Totally Tubular technique will have you creating dynamic geometric quilts before you know it! • 5 projects - choose from Rainbow, Lightning, and 3 more bold, graphic quilts • Template-free technique produces diamonds, spirals, kaleidoscopes, and other intricate geometric designs • Complete, step-by-step instructions walk you through the Totally tubular process • Rita's colorful quilt gallery will inspire your own creativity

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rita Hutchens developed her Totally Tubular technique for sewing, cutting, and rearranging fabric to create dramatic and unique quilts. She lives in Sandpoint, ID.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publishing; illustrated edition edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571202080
• ISBN-13: 978-1571202086
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Frustrated, February 1, 2006

By 

likes books a lot (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Totally Tubular Quilts: A New Strip-Piecing Technique (Paperback)

This book is a big dissappointment! I saw Rita Hutchens on Alex Anderson's quilting program and was intrigued with her technique, if not always the results. I downloaded the directions after the show and wanted to see more so I ordered the book, even though I did not care for the work on the cover.
The photo illustrations for turning the tubes are pathetic, especially the diamond tubes, a very step by step DRAWING is an essential addition, that will probably not ever be added. The photos show various views of wadded up fabric strips. While it may be useful to see that this is indeed what you will have to work with, it is of no help in achieving the goal. The later drawings are adequate, but where we especially need them is in the very beginning.
The projects for which there are directions are not the ones which intrigue me, rather the examples in a long section, at least a third of the book, at the end, are those that are most fascinating, many, many kaleidoscope quilts with no directions for how these were achieved. If only they coulld have included the directions for just one kaleidoscope quilt! Very, very frustrating!
She seemed like such a nice woman on the show, It is too bad she was not better served by her publishers! A strip of errata is wedged in at the end, so who knows what they haven't caught yet! Altogether not C&T Publishing's finest production!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different way to think about quilt designs, February 25, 2006

By 

Kate (MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Totally Tubular Quilts: A New Strip-Piecing Technique (Paperback)

I loved this book!
It was very useful to get me thinking about quilt patterns differently. I enjoy making my own designs on graph paper, and this has inspired me to try some new ideas and techniques.

One of the things I don't enjoy about making a quilt is trying to get the seams to line up perfectly! With these designs, it doesn't seem to matter so much (although I haven't actually made one yet). Looking closely at the pictures of some of her quilts, it seems small mismatching doesn't detract from the design.

I don't particularly like many of the choices of fabrics - but they do help show the design.

Some additional pictures at the beginning, explaining the technique, would have been helpful. I needed to read a few times, and play with cutting up & coloring paper, before I really understood it.

If you've never made a quilt before, I wouldn't recommend starting with this book. It really only teaches about this one technique. But if you enjoy quilting, and want to start thinking of some different designs, this could be a great choice.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Creative Book and Full of Great Photos, May 7, 2008

By 

Quiltndollmaker (Mom of the South) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Totally Tubular Quilts: A New Strip-Piecing Technique (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book and very well written. Plenty of photos and drawings to get this exciting quilting method across to any quilter who wants to learn. Totally Tubular is eye candy to the quilter and brain food for future quilt ideas! Rita even has a seperate CD you can purchase to go along with the book to help create your own dynamic quilts. Go to her web site [..] for more information.

It is a shame this book is out of print. But the good news is, you can still get an autographed copy from Rita! Shipping from Rita was super fast and very well packaged!

Great work Rita, I can't wait to get started!!!