The Handbook of Quilting

Sally Millner is emerging as a Down Under publisher of top-quality crafts books. First, the approach is different, with expert contributors "drafted" to supply one or more projects, thus imbuing the particular craft with a variety of styles--not just one. Second, basic directions are shunted to the back of the book, with the assumption of an easier-to-reference source. In this handbook, the purview is quilting, traditional and contemporary, hand and machine, and it features 27 very unusual patterns and resurrects some little-known techniques (foundation piecing and broderie perse, to name two). The pattern called In the Red mimics a bargello needlepoint and its undulating waves of graduated color. Amish Baskets, on the other hand, borrows the best of this sect's handiwork and hues. The only problem? It's impossible to produce exact copies of any of these stitched works, since patterned fabrics vary so dramatically from country to country. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved