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Linda Seward’s new book is out, and I’m so honored to be included in it! That being said, I wondered how she was going to cover the vast topic in her 255 8.5 x 11″ full cover book.  I’m happy to say that she did an exceptional job with it.  The book is divided into 8 chapters — Art Quilts, an introduction; The Basics and Beyond; Surface Design; Patchwork; Applique; Quilting: Embellishments & 3D; and Finishing.  Within each chapter is a wealth of information crammed in, yet clearly explained.  There are over 1,000 step-by-step illustrations in the book along with gorgeous photos of quilts to inspire.

My piece, “Fashion Lines” is included in the Surface Design chapter (page 99; that’s it above on the right).

This chapter provides the essential steps on a wide variety of topics such as dyeing, immersion dyes, direction application dyeing, natural dyeing, indigo-dyed shibori, applying paints & inks, dyes & alternatives, stamping, painting, stenciling, screen printing, monoprinting, discharging, foiling, batik, water-soluble resists, acid etching, marbling, rusting, snow dyeing, cyanotype, image transfer, image transfer ideas, heat distressing, and more!  I know she was through in her research because she contacted me several times relating to my small contribution to make sure everything was as accurate as possible. If she did that with me, I believe she did it throughout her book.

Steps are clearly-illustrated.  You get a good overview of a process and enough information to experiment.  Based on your skill level, you can either do what you envision and move on or you may find that you’re so inspired that you want to dive deeper and learn more about a particular technique.  I’m so impressed with this book that  I find myself periodically picking it up, jumping to a particular area, and thinking, “Oh, that looks interesting. I want to try that!”

Information truly meets inspiration in this must-have book for anyone with any interest in creating an “art” quilt.   It retails for $24.95, but you can get it from Amazon for less.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2014 at 10:22 am and is filed under Book Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.