Sharlene Jorgensen templates
 

Hi! I bought a large collection of Jorgensen's books and templates at a yard sale. As a still new quilter, I wondered if these are still the way to go, or if many of the techniques have been updated and simplified by now. I don't see myself doing a double wedding ring quilt any time soon, but she has a very pretty Irish Chain variation that I'd like to try. So - use the templates? Or look for updated methods? Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!
Margaret

What dates are the books? Also, everyone thinks a double wedding ring is so much trouble, but I did not think so.
I found it very easy. I would go for the Irish Chain.

There is no reason that those templates can't be used. The very first quilt pattern that I ever bought was Shar Jorgenson's Crazy Quilt with the acrylic templates in 1989. They were accurate, quilter friendly and easy for a beginner as there was no way to mess things up. I've made countless quilts from that one pattern and for several years it was the only one I used as I had little time to stitch and bags of scraps that didn't match anything else. Those templates really helped me learn to quilt and at the time were so much better than cardboard patterns and tracing quilt block pieces. Yes there are now other ways to cut out blocks but you won't go wrong trying a few of these to build some quilting skills.

Every quilter should try template piecing at least once, in my opinion. You'll likely either love it or hate it, but you'll have learned something new - which is always a good thing!

Jan in VA

Thank you so much! Technology changes so fast, it's hard to know when to dip your toe in!

Check out You Tube. She has dozens of videos showing her using many of her templates.

So trueJan, learning is never bad.

Quilting with Shar has been around for over 25 years - she is GREAT! <3
Check out her site, she has lots of videos you can watch using her templates. :thumbup:

First time I heard Shar might be outdated.

One simplification has been the introduction of fabric die cutting machines (such as the Accuquilt Go! and Studio cutters). These can be faster for cutting out lots of pieces than using acrylic templates. However, acrylic templates are still a very useful way of cutting pieces for a quilt.