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Free-Motion Quilting for Beginners: And Those Who Think They Can't
Learn the fundamentals of free-motion quilting by working on fabric pieces the size of a fat quarter. Take your skill to new heights as you quilt 10 practical projects to enhance your daily life.
- GenresQuilting
96 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
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22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 14, 2015
Whether you want to make a cozy quilt or read a “quilt cozy,” this “sampler” review is for you. From quilting techniques to the sisterhood of quilters, we’re going to explore it all.
First up is Molly Hanson’s impressive new book Free-Motion Quilting for Beginners: And Those Who Think They Can’t. Machine quilting is trickier than it looks and for some of us (this reviewer included) is akin to walking and chewing gum at the same time. Getting the tension set correctly on your machine, getting your hands to do what is in your mind’s eye, keeping the speed of the machine consistent with the motion of your hands—all of these things contribute to successful, artistic free-motion quilting. Hanson explains, in very clear prose with well -placed photos and illustrations, how to achieve all of these things. In addition, the book provides instructions for 15 projects that build your skills while also constructing something useful. By the time you finish perusing this book, you’ll be hunting down a sketchpad, pens and pencils as well as fabric, thread, and batting because Hanson’s approach takes the fear of “messing up” out of the process. Get that machine humming!
If you feel you want to learn more about the process of designing quilts, make some time to read Katy Denny’s The Quilter’s Palette: A Workbook of Color & Pattern Ideas & Effects. The artistic elements of color, pattern and texture are covered succinctly in the first three chapters. The new quilter will find the author’s explanation of these important principles just enough without being overwhelming and the experienced quilter will appreciate the review. From there the book becomes much more of a tome to thumb through than one to read page-by-page. Each succeeding chapter selects a “color family” (such as “Rich Colors”) and then explores six “palettes” (“Peacock Feathers” or “Red Wine,” for instance) within that family and how texture and pattern, combined with those colors, can be used to create a variety of effects. Along the way, the author adds information on quilt block patterns and piecing, provides eight full quilt designs, and explains how to finish a quilt. The fabrics and quilt designs Denny works with range from the traditional to modern. Study this, practice what she says and you’ll feel more confident next time you walk into the quilt store to select fabrics for a project of your own design.
When you need a break from the sewing machine, and would rather read about quilters who quilt and solve mysteries, there are plenty of books to choose from. The quality, however, ranges as widely as the quilts you’ll find at a quilt exhibit. Common to all of the books are the pattern of a “sisterhood” gathered to quilt—either at an old-fashioned style “bee” or gathered to work on individual projects—and a tendency to make the quilts and quilting a vehicle for gathering the women rather than an integral “character” in the story. Elizabeth Craig’s 2013 Quilt Trip: A Southern Quilting Mystery is a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It reads like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple have landed together in the hills of North Carolina and while a pleasurable-enough read, it is about as original as a panel quilt where all the design work has been done: nice, but not challenging. Annette Mahon’s Bits and Pieces: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery has a similar feel, though its characters are a bit deeper and its setting is Arizona. The author is a retired librarian, so we do get many good references to literature in these pages.
Sadly, Ann Hazelwood’s The Ghostly Quilts on Main, the fifth novel in the “Colebridge Community Series” was a great disappointment. If a quilt’s fabrics are akin to a book’s characters, its piecing the equivalent of plot line and its quilting representative of the quality of writing, Ms. Hazelwood needs to go back to the design wall. She’ll need to choose better fabrics, piece her blocks better, and pay more attention to detail in the quilting. This mystery reads like a daily planner, the characters were flat and the protagonist too self-absorbed. The writing screams for a fierce editor unafraid to use a red pen. Some may find the setting—a small, close knit community in Missouri—an appealing part of the story, but not even that was well enough developed to add depth. Of most concern, this series is published by the American Quilter’s Society; perhaps they should stick to publishing books about how to quilt and the history of quilting rather than novels about quilters.
Conversely, Running Stitches: A Quilting Cozy by Carol Dean Jones was a surprisingly good read. A self-published book, it is tightly written, the characters are deeper and more diverse socioeconomically, and while the ending is not hard to guess, it was still satisfying. As in Bits and Pieces, our sleuths are older women, but they know when to step back from danger and let the professionals take over. The book felt sensible, durable and well-planned, just like the kind of quilt you would be willing to use on a daily basis. It won’t win any awards, but you do find yourself wondering what adventure Sarah, Sophie and Charles may stumble into next.
The last block in our sampler is Linda S. Clarke’s inspirational romance, A Sky without Stars, from the Quilts of Love series. Prosaic in plot, the book does get kudos for having the most original setting and cast of characters. In Sky without Stars we meet Frankie Chasing Bear in 1951, a Lakota woman and single mom trying to make a new life for herself and her son, Harold, in Arizona. Clarke’s description of the treatment of Native American students at an Indian boarding school rings true as do her references to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Relocation Program and termination policies. Granted, what we learn about these programs is no deeper than the water running through most arroyos on the Navajo Nation, but will be introduction enough to many casual readers. Why include a romance in this review of quilting cozies? How and why Clarke chose this setting and these characters remains a mystery, albeit a pleasant surprise. Well, that and any book that has a bookmobile and accompanying librarian who show up regularly in the story will always get a mention from this reviewer.
-Cindy
First up is Molly Hanson’s impressive new book Free-Motion Quilting for Beginners: And Those Who Think They Can’t. Machine quilting is trickier than it looks and for some of us (this reviewer included) is akin to walking and chewing gum at the same time. Getting the tension set correctly on your machine, getting your hands to do what is in your mind’s eye, keeping the speed of the machine consistent with the motion of your hands—all of these things contribute to successful, artistic free-motion quilting. Hanson explains, in very clear prose with well -placed photos and illustrations, how to achieve all of these things. In addition, the book provides instructions for 15 projects that build your skills while also constructing something useful. By the time you finish perusing this book, you’ll be hunting down a sketchpad, pens and pencils as well as fabric, thread, and batting because Hanson’s approach takes the fear of “messing up” out of the process. Get that machine humming!
If you feel you want to learn more about the process of designing quilts, make some time to read Katy Denny’s The Quilter’s Palette: A Workbook of Color & Pattern Ideas & Effects. The artistic elements of color, pattern and texture are covered succinctly in the first three chapters. The new quilter will find the author’s explanation of these important principles just enough without being overwhelming and the experienced quilter will appreciate the review. From there the book becomes much more of a tome to thumb through than one to read page-by-page. Each succeeding chapter selects a “color family” (such as “Rich Colors”) and then explores six “palettes” (“Peacock Feathers” or “Red Wine,” for instance) within that family and how texture and pattern, combined with those colors, can be used to create a variety of effects. Along the way, the author adds information on quilt block patterns and piecing, provides eight full quilt designs, and explains how to finish a quilt. The fabrics and quilt designs Denny works with range from the traditional to modern. Study this, practice what she says and you’ll feel more confident next time you walk into the quilt store to select fabrics for a project of your own design.
When you need a break from the sewing machine, and would rather read about quilters who quilt and solve mysteries, there are plenty of books to choose from. The quality, however, ranges as widely as the quilts you’ll find at a quilt exhibit. Common to all of the books are the pattern of a “sisterhood” gathered to quilt—either at an old-fashioned style “bee” or gathered to work on individual projects—and a tendency to make the quilts and quilting a vehicle for gathering the women rather than an integral “character” in the story. Elizabeth Craig’s 2013 Quilt Trip: A Southern Quilting Mystery is a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It reads like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple have landed together in the hills of North Carolina and while a pleasurable-enough read, it is about as original as a panel quilt where all the design work has been done: nice, but not challenging. Annette Mahon’s Bits and Pieces: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery has a similar feel, though its characters are a bit deeper and its setting is Arizona. The author is a retired librarian, so we do get many good references to literature in these pages.
Sadly, Ann Hazelwood’s The Ghostly Quilts on Main, the fifth novel in the “Colebridge Community Series” was a great disappointment. If a quilt’s fabrics are akin to a book’s characters, its piecing the equivalent of plot line and its quilting representative of the quality of writing, Ms. Hazelwood needs to go back to the design wall. She’ll need to choose better fabrics, piece her blocks better, and pay more attention to detail in the quilting. This mystery reads like a daily planner, the characters were flat and the protagonist too self-absorbed. The writing screams for a fierce editor unafraid to use a red pen. Some may find the setting—a small, close knit community in Missouri—an appealing part of the story, but not even that was well enough developed to add depth. Of most concern, this series is published by the American Quilter’s Society; perhaps they should stick to publishing books about how to quilt and the history of quilting rather than novels about quilters.
Conversely, Running Stitches: A Quilting Cozy by Carol Dean Jones was a surprisingly good read. A self-published book, it is tightly written, the characters are deeper and more diverse socioeconomically, and while the ending is not hard to guess, it was still satisfying. As in Bits and Pieces, our sleuths are older women, but they know when to step back from danger and let the professionals take over. The book felt sensible, durable and well-planned, just like the kind of quilt you would be willing to use on a daily basis. It won’t win any awards, but you do find yourself wondering what adventure Sarah, Sophie and Charles may stumble into next.
The last block in our sampler is Linda S. Clarke’s inspirational romance, A Sky without Stars, from the Quilts of Love series. Prosaic in plot, the book does get kudos for having the most original setting and cast of characters. In Sky without Stars we meet Frankie Chasing Bear in 1951, a Lakota woman and single mom trying to make a new life for herself and her son, Harold, in Arizona. Clarke’s description of the treatment of Native American students at an Indian boarding school rings true as do her references to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Relocation Program and termination policies. Granted, what we learn about these programs is no deeper than the water running through most arroyos on the Navajo Nation, but will be introduction enough to many casual readers. Why include a romance in this review of quilting cozies? How and why Clarke chose this setting and these characters remains a mystery, albeit a pleasant surprise. Well, that and any book that has a bookmobile and accompanying librarian who show up regularly in the story will always get a mention from this reviewer.
-Cindy
January 31, 2015
Molly has you make and quilt small projects. This helps build your confidence as a sewer and your ability as a free motion quilting. She gives encouragement and tips along the way, while you learn to make several types of free motion designs.
June 14, 2018
So far, so good. Instructions are excellent. I wish books like this came with online tutorials. Still, she's very detailed and motivating.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews