"It's not what you've got; it's what you use that makes a difference." - Zig Zigler
At a time when people are looking to create in a sustainable way, and thinking about where resources are coming from and how we use them, many quilters are rediscovering a range of traditional patchwork and quilting techniques that, at their heart, are based on recycling and reusing materials. A style of patchwork that is true to this ethos, and which has been around for centuries, is string patchwork.
A string quilt is made from fabric strips, longer than they are wider and often thinner at one end that the other. In the past these were often off-cuts from clothes making, but today they often are made when we trim off fabric to even it up before rotary cutting. These strings of fabric are sewn together (often on a foundation) to make a new fabric. This in turn is made into the patches in the quilt.
These types of quilts have a wonderful jauntiness about them, owing to the many angles the fabric strings create and the amount of different fabrics used. Due to the scrap nature of string quilts, they are good for using a wide range and eclectic mix of fabrics that, otherwise, would have gathered dust in the corner of a room.
In her brand-new book, best-selling author and quilter Carolyn Forster will show you how to transform old clothes and bedding, off-cuts and once-loved furnishing fabrics into 10 beautiful string patchwork quilts. All the quilts feature traditional blocks, so you can see how easy it is to create your favourite designs with an array of scraps. In addition, Carolyn has included 8 little gifts and accessories to make with the leftovers from your quilt-making (!), so that nothing goes to waste from a needle case and a quilt-notions pouch to a table runner and duffel bag.
Along with a small section on all the materials and notions to get started, plus an invaluable techniques chapter, quilters will have everything they need to create planet-conscious quilts, and in the process celebrate old quilt and patchwork methods from quilters of yore.
Table of Contents
*TBC*
Introduction
What is a fabric string?
History of string quilts
Materials
Fabric sources, How to cut up a shirt, Wadding/batting choices, Threads for sewing & quilting
QUILTS
Vintage Crumb Log Cabin, String Snowballs, Blue Stars Quilt, Basic String Block, Half Log Cabin, Wonky Squares Quilt, Stars & Spider's Web, Stars & Spider's Web: Group Quilt, Vintage Embroidery Quilt, Housetop Sawtooth Star, Tulip Appliqué Frame Quilt
GIFTS & ACCESSORIES
Selvage-edge Scrap Basket, Snowball Pincushion, Threadsavers Notecards & Gift Tags, Tulip Table Runner, Denim-bottom Duffel Bag, Tile-quilted Shirt-backed Pillow, Block Scraps Needlecase, Project Pouch
TECHNIQUES
Sewing basics, Cutting your own strings, String piecing on a foundation, basic block designs, sew then cut, what holds a string quilt together?, Tacking/basting, Quilting, Binding, Labelling
Index
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About Carolyn Forster
Carolyn Forster is a best-selling author on quilting. She started making quilts when she was a teenager and went on to study Textiles at the University of Bath. Since graduating, Carolyn has taught patchwork and quilting both in the UK and the USA and has had her quilts featured in a number of books and magazines, including Fabrications, Popular Patchwork and Patchwork and Quilting. Carolyn lives in Tunbridge Wells, UK with her husband and son.
Visit Carolyn's website www.carolynforster.co.uk
