My favorite quilting books

I love quilting books, I admit that I buy at least one every month. For those who live in USA or the UK you are very lucky because you can buy online at  Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk all the books you like and have them home very quickly at very good prices and usually with free delivery. I live in Spain so I have to pay delivery, but sometimes even that is totally worth it.

Sew Pretty Homestyle: Over 35 Irresistible Projects to Fall in Love with:
This my favorite quilting book right now, Sew Pretty Homestyle: Over 35 Irresistible Projects to Fall in Love with. The Tilda’s are very fashionable at the moment. With her simple designs and very pretty home-style decorations Tonne  Finnanger has become a great seller. From this quilting book I got the idea and instructions to make a very pretty handbag. I personally recommend it because the instructions are clear, it comes also with pretty and inspiring pictures and it makes you want to quilt and fill your house with pretty things. The book is filled with great ideas, I also have done from this book the easy blanket with some nautical theme fabrics I brought from Canada. It cheers me up every time I put in on my bed.
If you want a bit more about the author here is some information from the Amazon website about Tonne Finnanger : “Tone Finnanger is the designer and owner of the brand Tilda. She grew up in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Always fond of art and craft, inspired by members of the family she soon began to explore how she could make a living from her talent. The dream was to make dolls and scenery for animation films, while in real life she was working in a craft shop. This combination is what eventually led to the idea of Tilda. Tone started Tilda in 1999, 25 years old.” Her designs are beautiful and if you are like me an enthusiast of sewing and quilting you will love this book.

Born to quilt by Véronique Requena is a beautiful quilting book with the most extraordinary designs. Two sisters on my patchwork classes have finished the house handbag from this quilting book. Everybody is fallen in love with it, the design is so beautiful, with all the tiny details and with the tiny quilt hanging from pegs. The dog with the collar and the medal. It is definitely a beautiful quilting project to take with time and love.

This book is in French. I personally don’t speak any French but I just follow the pictures and the measurements are understandable. My colleges at patchwork classes don’t speak French either, and they managed to sew the most spectacular handbag from this book with every detail. The sewing projects in this book are so beautiful and inspiring that even if you can not understand a thing, the patterns are there, just drawn for you and is so beautiful stuff that like me you will want to have a go and use your expertize to do some of those magnificent designs.  Véronique Requena has other books that come in two languages, English and French.

 

Melly & Me Kaleidoscope Project Pattern Sewing Book. If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or children around you this is definitely the book for you. I am preparing the back-packs for my children. They really are beautiful and as you can see in the front page the design is fun and cheerful.  This quilting book comes with twelve fun and easy projects to make.  Some dolls, stuffed dragon called Drake, handbags , Kokeshi dolls to do in stitchery and other just as beautiful projects you should not miss. I am having a lot of fun with the backpacks, I have chosen very bright reds and pink fabrics for my little girl’s backpack and some really fun blues, green and yellows for my baby boy.  When I have a bit of time I must make the Bella-boo doll, she’s simply gorgeous. And a good thing is that they are not complicated quilting projects at all and the result is brilliant.

 

Another quilting book I simply love is this Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z.

This quilting book includes a CD featuring print-at-home patterns and templates,with full-size clothing patterns as well as templates that can be easily produced on a home printer. For beginners and experts, Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts will open your eyes to an irresistible range of ideas. The book covers everything a home sewer wants: the basics of sewing by hand or machine, along with five other time-honored crafts techniques, and step-by-step instructions for more than 150 projects that reflect perfectly Martha Stewart’s crafting expertise and her unique style.

This quilting book is divided in two parts to guide you through the basics of quilting and patchwork. The first section guides you through the Techniques of Sewing, Appliqué, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing. In the second part you will find many projects  from A to Z with more than 150 brilliant ideas with simple detailed instructions typical of Martha Stewart’s  magazines, books, and television shows.

 

The Encyclopedia of Quilting and Patchwork Techniques. I bought this book in 2006 and I still go back to check something every now and then. It’s a lovely quilting book with an ample directory of quilting techniques like how to do the cathedral window. Another section is how to do block constructions like four patch blocks, nine patch blocks, irregular blocks and the log cabin. In another section of this quilting book you can learn how to do the rotary cutting, here from cutting basic shapes, speed piecing, Seminole patchwork and string patchwork. In the next section of this book you can learn about special effects in patchwork like piping, Suffolk puffs, etc.. My favorite section of this book is the one about the appliqué, shows unusual ways of doing appliqué like the shadow or reverse appliqué. Then it has a few more chapters about different ways of quilting like Sashiko o Trapunto and how to assemble a quilt, the binding , display and maintenance of quilts. As you see is a very complete book, I strongly recommend it along with this other very sort after book of the same author Katherine Guerrier, Encyclopedia of Quilting & Patchwork Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques

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