Nelson - Dreamy quilts: 14 timeless projects to welcome you home

Publisher: Amy Marson Creative Director: Gailen Runge Art Director: Kristy Zacharias Editor: Monica Gyulai Technical Editors: Debbie Rodgers and Julie Waldman Cover / Book Designer: April Mostek Production Coordinator: Zinnia Heinzmann Production Editor: Katie Van Amburg Illustrator: Aliza Shalit Photo Assistant: Mary Peyton Peppo Photo Stylist: Lauren Toker Style photography by Nissa Brehmer and instructional photography by Diane Pedersen, unless otherwise noted Published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549 dedication To my darling husband, Tony, who always believes in me. You are my best friend and the absolute love of my life. acknowledgments Thank you to my husband, Tony, for supporting my artistic endeavors, whether this means encouraging me to take a night class in graphic design, buying me a new sewing machine, or paying no mind to the fabric and threads that festoon our house. Thank you to my three beautiful boys for sparking creativity in me. To my parents, for all things big and small that parenthood requires and for doing it with so much love.

To C&T, for breathing fresh air into the world of quilting and sewing and for believing in my vision. introduction Welcome to Dreamy Quilts! The idea for this book evolved from my combined passion for quilting and interior design. I use quilts to satisfy my craving for a unique home. My family used to move often because my husband was in the military for 11 years. Together with our three sons, we lived on military posts where the homes themselves were quite generic. I made them ours by carefully selecting the paint colors, furniture, linens, throw pillows, framed art, photography, and, of course, quilts that filled the rooms.

Draping a new quilt over a sofa can add a fresh look to any home, as can hanging a quilt on the wall of a drab apartment. Even a dorm room or a long-stay hotel takes on your personality when you add a handmade element. And the bonus is that youre not committed permanently. You can make new quilts to suit your evolving taste or the seasons and swap them out effortlessly no matter where you live. That approach to decorating is the idea behind this bookdreamy patterns for a dreamy home. My idea of a dreamy quilt is a quilt that is soft and soothing to the eyes, with a palette drawn from nature.

It is a quilt that is not overly complicated by an abundance of prints and colors. When I spend hours making a quilt, I dont want the print of the fabrics to be the focus. Instead, I want the patchwork and piecing detail to stand out. The key to achieving a dreamy quilt is to choose just one or two main prints for your quilt and select coordinating solids and neutrals for the remaining fabrics. I hope you will make these quilts your own. Switch out white fabric for a crisp buttercream or pastel batik.

Customize the size of your quilt by adding a border or subtracting a row of blocks. With all this in mind, have fun picking out fabric for your next project and dont try to cram tons of prints into one quilt. Make the most elegant quilt youve ever dreamed of. getting started tools of the trade Quilting, like all hobbies, requires a few essential tools. Buy the best quality you can afford and they will last longer and perform better. For example, I notice a huge difference in the neatness of my cutting lines when I use an Olfa rotary cutter instead of a thrifty off-brand one.

Here are some essential tools you need to get started. Thread and Needles For both piecing and quilting I recommend 100% cotton thread. Piecing is best with 50-weight thread, and quilting is best with slightly heavier 40-weight thread. I use a 70/10 microtex needle, which is a sharp midsized needle. Be diligent and change your needle regularlyat least once per project. Rotary Cutter Rotary cutters come in a variety of sizes from 18mm to 60mm and are indispensable to quilters.

I use my 60mm Olfa cutter most frequently and change the blade at least once per project. As the blade dulls it can drag on the fabric and fail to cut straight, neat lines. Rulers Most quilters use a wide assortment of rulers while working. If you are just getting started and only buy one, start with a 6 24 Omnigrid Quilters Ruler. The 24 length makes it ideal for cutting strips from standard-width fabric folded in half. Cutting Mat Rotary cutting requires a trio of tools that work together.

A self-healing cutting mat is the final tool in the arsenal. The bigger the better, though bear in mind the size of your table. A mat that measures 24 36 is good to have. Piecing Foot Not all sewing machines come with a piecing foot, but its a really important tool for quilters. The standard quilt seam allowance is , and a foot designed for quilting allows you to align the edges of your fabric with the edge of the foot. I recommend investing in a piecing foot if you dont have one.

However, a piece of painters tape placed on your machines throat plate to the right of the needle will work too. Pins My absolute favorite pins are flower-head pins, sold under various brands. The flowers on the ends of these pins make them easy to grab and easy to spot when they fall on the floor. Iron Investing in a heavy-duty iron is an excellent idea if you will be doing a lot of quilting. A good iron usually costs around $100 but works far better than a $15 iron. My six-year-old Shark is heavy, which makes pressing fabric easy.

An added bonus? It has survived the dozens of times Ive dropped it on the floor! Scissors Quilters need at least one good pair of scissors that is reserved only for cutting fabric. You will use yours for everything from snipping corners to trimming frayed fabric. Dont let fabric scissors find their way into little hands for craft projects. Glue and fabric are a bad combo! prepping fabric Prewashing I generally do not prewash my fabric unless it is highly pigmented (think solid reds or blues) and will likely bleed when the quilt is later washed. If you decide to prewash, allot some extra time for pressing and trimming. Washed fabric becomes wrinkled and the cut ends unravel, requiring lots of snipping.

Pressing Begin by pressing your fabric. Open it up and press out any wrinkles and fold lines. Use an up-and-down motion and push the steam button frequently. Do not drag your iron back and forth across the fabric. Squaring Up Squaring up fabric perfectly takes some practice, but it is an important step. If the lengthwise and crosswise threads in the fabric are not perpendicular, the edges of straight-cut pieces can stretch and distort.

Here are the basics: Squaring up fabric After pressing, align the selvages on a horizontal line on your cutting mat. Shift the top layer of the fabric right or left so that it lies flat and the selvage ends line up perfectly. Do not expect the cut ends of your fabric to line up too. They will be trimmed. Align a clear, gridded ruler with the horizontal lines on the cutting mat and trim off enough from a cut end to get a clean edge. Afterward, cut a small test strip about 1 in width and check whether the strip is straight or crooked, especially where it was folded in half on the bolt.

If the strip is wavy, square up the fabric again. This is a very important step. Perfect squaring up allows for perfectly cut pieces. dreamy color schemes Personalize your quilts by choosing fabrics and colors that suit your style. Its amazing how dramatically the look of a quilt changes when you swap one fabric for another. For the dreamy look, use only one or two patterned fabrics together with neutral solids.