Monday, April 22, 2013

Book Review on Embellishments

I recently found a book that I recommend on quilt embellishment. Fabric embellishment has been one of my current interests, so much so that I have taken up art quilts and opened a new Etsy shop to showcase my little embellished quilts.  Embellishment provides character to the usual fabric patchwork design of quilts.

Gallery page from Quilt & Embellish in One Step


The book is Quilt & Embellish in One Step! by Linda Potter, published by C & T Publishing.   Ms. Potter gives simple instruction for hand quilting with perle cotton instead of regular quilting thread. Her method produces larger stitches than the regular hand quilted stitch.



The thicker twisted perle cotton is intended to be easier to use than embroidery floss and to sit on the top of the quilted surface as embellishment, instead of tightening the sandwich layer providing the usual quilted puffing.  Also, besides coming in a large selection of gorgeous colors, perle cotton has long staple cotton fibers that are sturdier for the constant use that a quilt gets; sturdier than some other yarns and threads. I have never tried hand quilting with perle cotton, but I want to.


Ms. Potter also uses applique as seen here (sorry for the lousy pictures, I still don't have a new camera!)






This concept, when applique or beading is added, is the essence of Ms. Potters style.  Her style is not especially abstract but what I love is it is:
non-traditional and creative!
If you are interested in embarking on the new adventure of quilt embellishment, you might want to add this book to your craft library. 

Linking today with Inspire Me Monday 

6 comments:

Kathleen said...

Wow - what fun ideas! I can see using something similar to decorate some dolls. =)

pasqueflower said...

Great review. I definitely need to check this out! Good luck with the new shop!

Natashalh said...

This looks like a great book!

SarahBeth said...

Sounds like an interesting book! I like perle cotton -- I've used it occasionally in cross-stitch designs to give a different texture.

Melissa said...

What a beautiful book! I love finding just the right instructional...the one that takes me further into the depths of "making"!

Erika said...

We have a really terrific quilt shop in town and I like it when they showcase art quilts. The beading and thread painting are so much fun to see and try to figure out 'how did they do that?'