Create unique improvisationally based block designs using the traditional paper piecing methods and use them to build repeatable patterns just like traditionally pieced quilts. As the first to explore the possibilities of this technique, Amy Friend shows quilters how to introduce the repetition of an improv sketch that results in secondary patterns. This repetition of shape causes the eye to move across the quilt top and creates unity instead of the chaotic jumbled appearance found in some improv piecing. The book is divided into three sections where the blocks are designed based on traditional blocks, shapes, and objects. Because new techniques are best understood after following a pattern, each of those is illustrated with 3 quilts. Although 12 patterns are included for those who want to use this as a pattern book, the goal is to teach others how to design their own blocks using this exciting modern technique.

'The exercises are very good and Amy walks you through the whole process. An excellent book for those who love to play with design.' www.yarnsandfabrics.co.uk

About the Author

Amy Friend is an award-winning quilter and former museum collections curator. A member of the Modern Quilt Guild, Amy has an online pattern shop and many of her patterns have been published in magazines. She lives in New England with her husband and three children. duringquiettime.com

Reviews

How do you create impact in a simple way? Paper piecing is a traditional quilting method whilst improvisational paper piecing takes that idea and turns it modern. You can now simply create one of a kind blocks to design your own quilts with stunning effects. This book shows exercises to explore scale, symmetry and grids to create contemporary quilts. An approach to design that will work for most producing repeatable patterns by thinking of the secondary shapes created by block design. It's a bit like drawing negative space instead of the object itself. The exercises are very good and Amy walks you through the whole process. An excellent book for those who love to play with design. Fabric selection, design ideas and templates are all included.

* yarnsandfabrics.co.uk *

I was excited to get my hands on this book having seen quite a buzz about it in Blog-land for a couple of months. Amy is a former museum curator and trained art historian who has designed for the likes of Art Gallery Fabrics and Sizzix as well as well as quilting, sewing and raising her three children. (Have you noticed how generally clever and multi-talented quilters tend to be? There's a pattern forming here...let's discuss). In Improv Paper Piecing Amy sets out to combine two approaches to quilt making that are seemingly at odds with one another.
One reviewer even described the book's title as an oxymoron. Improvisational quilting relies on a journey of instinct and experimentation with unpredictable and sometimes startling results, whilst paper piecing is a much more mathematical process relying on accuracy and pre-planning. To marry the two, Amy has set one simple guideline, which is that the quilter needs to have straight stitching lines and a sewable order. In doing this, it's possible to sew
asymmetrical shapes, pieces cut on the bias, and hard to measure acute angles. She uses sketches to create improvisational designs and encourages her readers to doodle using interlocking squares or stacking triangles that can later be neatened up into block designs.
There are 12 quilt designs that you can follow with playful names such as 'A little to the Left' and 'Wonky' that might suggest a rather haphazard end result but fear not, the designs are asymmetrical variations of traditional blocks. You won't be totally thrown in at the deep end as templates are provided for all of the quilt projects but Amy's ultimate aim is that you use her guidance to create your own works of art. This is a good-looking book with photography throughout by guess who? Amy herself. Now back to our earlier discussion...

* Popular Patchwork *



Book Information
ISBN 9781940655239
Author Amy Friend
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Lucky Spool Media
Publisher Lucky Spool Media
Weight(grams) 510g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 182mm * 11mm