Good Quilting books
 

What are some good quilt books to buy and have for good patterns and resources? Thanks for your help with this. I love this site. I have learned so much from this site.

I can pm you. Have a list.

It really depends on the type of quilts you like to make. Do you like to quilt by hand or machine? When I look for books it depends on what I want to do at the time. When I first started (in 1975) I bought the Better Homes & Gardens Encyclopedia of Sewing. It worked for years as it had a little bit of everything and then I branched out as I found quilts I wanted to make. For paper piecing I took a beginners class because the books looked like a foreign language to me. But for English paper piecing (EPP) i just watched the videos on YouTube. I still want to make a cathedral window and bought a book with the patterns and then have watched a few videos - still kind of afraid to start until I finish a few of my UFO's.

I have only made quilts with instructors helping me so I haven't done very much. I love table runners and quilts. I have not tried paper piecing. I am not real sure what I like or don't like yet. So far everything I have done I have liked.

That would be great. When Joanna has a sale on their books or somewhere else, I don't know any good authors to look for that would be easy to follow and not to difficult to understand.

i have found the most helpful resource for quilting techniques to be The Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting. I bought the hard cover spiral edition in 2002 and have used it as a reference for every quilt I've made. It has a section for every area and technique of quilting. I have found it especially helpful for guidance in sizing and piecing quilt backs (and hanging sleeves) as well as quilt binding. Not much in patterns but handy when I forget how to join the ends of binding when sewing it on the quilt.

I used to buy books for what ever quilt I was making..log cabin, pin wheel, stack & whack...etc. Check yardsales...a few years ago I hit the jackpot..I got over 100 magazine & books, a started BOM, fabric, pressing ham, double wedding ring kit with instructions & all the templates, plus more I can't even remember. All for $20..Mag. subscriptions are sometimes hit or miss, I don't always like what's in them. One of my favorite books is 501 Quilt blocks by Better Homes & Gardens. Great directions for binding your quilt.
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I bought the F&P Quilter's Complete Guide decades ago. It is a good basic manual.

Don't forget about the library, they even have quilting magazines available to check out!

Quilt In A Day. This website is Eleanor Burns and she has the easy way of doing quilting down pat.
Have several of her books and all are great. The site also has videos.

Thanks so much for all the great responses. This will help alot.

Judy Martin has some great books with gorgeous quilt patterns, and advice on some excellent quilting techniques.

When I started quilting I thought that surely I would only need a few good books. Now my library has grown well beyond that initial estimate - and is still growing.

Don't forget there are tons of free patterns online. Also, browse quilt books on Amazon and eBay to find the style you like: scrappy, strip pieced, modern style, etc. Once you see one you like, buy the book used. When I first got started quilting I spent hours looking at quilt images online (still do!) to figure out the styles I liked and with an easy level of difficulty. Just Google "easy quilt patterns", "free quilt patterns", "modern quilts", etc. And have fun!

I love Denyse Schmidt's Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration. It's really the book that got me back into quilting after I'd quit for a few years.

I'm a booker. LOL, I have purchased a book for anything and everything I do, that said, I haven't purchased a book in years (except at a thrift shop for a $1). Way too much free info on the internet and many, jmany with video. I find video, where I can see what they are doing, way more helpful.

Darlene Zimmerman has a great book. Many useful techniques and easy to understand. Eleanor Burns' books are great too. Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co. is another good source.

Eleanor Burns books are great. She always has easy ways of doing the more challenging blocks. She also is a lot of fun. She has a lot of videos on her Quilt in a Day site too. Also Jenny Doan is another great one. She is always looking for easier ways of doing things. I love both of them. Her videos are on her site also. Missouri Star Quilt. Good luck & have fun!

Yes, I learned the basics with a couple Quilt In A Day books. Her directions are clear & with pictures. There were no YouTube videos when I started quilting in the 90's.

I have several (make that a lot of) quilt books. But the one that really explains everything in detail is QUILTING FOR DUMMIES. I also like the Crocheting for Dummies and the Knitting for Dummies books.

I too use this and it is wonderful. Mine is paperback, has everything in it.

Beyond the Quilt in a Day books (which some are very good), I like the Quiltmakers Gift. Really beautiful examples of pretty basic quilts. Shows a lot of how to vary fabrics to achieve a completely different look from the same blocks. Has Irish chains to Around the World to many many more. There are two of those books with about 40 patterns I believe in them. These took my quiltmaking to a new height.

tim in san jose

What is the difference between EPP and PP? Thought they were the same.

I have an extensive collection of quilt books and agree with what has been said by others. I started with Eleanor Burns and own most of her books. Missouri Star Quilt Company, with Jenny Doan, videos are very good. You can sign up for their newsletter free and have their latest videos coming at no charge or visit U-tupe to see the older ones.

What has not been mentioned is Quilt Pro Foundation Factory internet site of Carol Doan that offers weekend specials for $9.95 instead of full price of $19.95 to $29.95. Sign up for their newsletter is also free.

Then there is the www.quiltelrscache.com with over 1600 different block patterns free.

I own Maggie Malone's book 5500 Quilt Blocks, excellent for identifying blocks, especially by the blocks known by different names.

Love the quilt magazines, but they tend to pile up and take up so much room.. . I try to limit myself in buying too many magazines now.

No, I have never EPP, just regular PP. Someone on QB will have a good answer, I am sure.

Totally agree! check your library to see what type of books you are interested in--I bought way too many for a single pattern and regret it. But I did find from checking out library books, that I really do like design books. And as far as magazines, take it from a "magazinaholic"--buy several from the rack for a couple of months and evaluate which ones you would really make. You might want to purchase one quilting reference book--like F & P or Better Homes & Garden's, etc.

EPP is all sewn by hand. You baste fabric around a paper shape (often hexagons, but you can do it with pretty much any shape- I made a miniature storm at sea using EPP) and then sew the shapes together.
PP (sometimes also called foundation paper piecing) is all done on a sewing machine, where the pattern is printed on the paper and you sew along the lines.
Hope that helps :-)

ANYTHING by Bonnie Hunter, if you like scrap quilting.