Hand-Stitched Quilts

Creative Book Awards 2024 Highly Commended Sewing Book – from Crafts Beautiful Magazine

Publisher’s Weekly
“Patchwork instructor Forster (Hand Quilting Techniques for Farmhouse Style) details how to sew quilts by hand in this cozy manual. To follow the block design templates included with the book, Forster recommends gluing each unique shape onto card stock or a thin plastic sheet, cutting it out, and then using the piece to trace and cut that shape from fabric, leaving a quarter inch all the way around for the seam allowance. Forster explains how to make 27 blocks that readers can mix and match to create quilts. The designs range from the relatively simple, including a four-square checkerboard and a “simple block of rectangles around a square,” to the more complex—the “sunburst” design features 48 angular pieces arranged around a circle to resemble the rays of the sun and the 60-piece “carpenter’s wheel” features interlocked concentric rows of squares and diamonds. The author also provides two “quilt sampler layouts” showing how one might assemble the various blocks in a quilt. The designs are visually appealing, and beginners will appreciate the comprehensive photo illustrations showing how to thread a needle, make stitches, and sew seams. Readers will warm to this”.

Library Journal
“Quilter Forster (Hand Quilting Techniques for Farmhouse Style) takes a traditional approach in this introductory guide to quilting. Hand stitching, she rightly states, can allow one to quilt without a sewing machine, which makes it something one can do on the go. It’s also simple enough to give crafters the opportunity to let their minds wander in other creative ways as they work. This technique is an easier way to achieve curved and y-seams, and this book includes patterns for quilt blocks that take great advantage of that. Though some pieces can be rotary cut, quilters can use templates from this book and transfer their work to card stock or plastic for more durability. Excellent instructions are given with pictures on how to transfer these shapes to the backs of fabric, stitch them to join the pieces together, and iron the sewn block. Choosing fabric, preparing the project for quilting (a step missing from many guides), utilizing simple or elaborate patterns, and binding are all noted well in this book. VERDICT An excellent guide for beginning quilters and for those wanting to return to basics.”