Handfuls of Scraps - Pieced into Amazing Quilts
Reviews (48)
At least one of the patterns in the book is wrong and has inadequate instructions besides
Well, I bought this book because I had seen a quilt from it on Facebook and it looked complicated enough that I wanted the book that had the pattern. I am an advanced quilter who has been quilting for at least 30 years. I can only comment on the one pattern that I immediately began to make. The pattern is called Slow and Steady and is a hexagon with Snails Trails blocks. In just two days I discovered that the pattern was had you piece it one way for the first two steps but then reverses so that if you use the picture in the book, you will get it wrong wrong wrong. Luckily I hadn't sewn the pieces together as I always put things up on a design wall and it just looked wrong but I thought it was my color choices but inadvertently turned some pieces around when putting them up. That was how I discovered her instructions were incorrect. I went to her website to look for errata but there were none. I wrote to her and she said I was correct and that it had been corrected -- I bought this book a couple of weeks ago....She commented she had five editors but it is clear to me that she did not have a beta tester try her written instructions or they would have easily seen the problems. I was also appalled by the lack of direction on how to assemble the units. There is a general picture but no directions on the order of piecing. I made up my own and put it on my blog. It was not as difficult to put together as I had anticipated but certainly well beyond the capabilities of a beginning or moderate quilter without more instructions. I won't buy another book from this self-publisher I can't speak for the rest of the patterns. There seems to be varying levels of instructions for the different quilts. The first picture is the way it goes together correctly when using her first two steps of instructions while the second picture shows how it was supposed to go together. You will note the swirls go in the opposite direction and steps one and two were wrong to get the final quilt.
More clues to the Edyta Sitar style
If you love the "look" of Edyta Sitar's quilts, their vintage golden color palette and fabric mixtures from batiks to 19th century prints, each of her books is worth buying. Continuing the style of "Reasons for Quilts" the first section of this book features antique quilts from the Sitar Family Collection. Next a few pages with tips for construction and fabric selection. The third section details Edyta's new quilts inspired by the older ones including the English Paper Piecing method to make the cover quilt. In a style which predates the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts of the 1920s and 30s quilt revival era, this design was called Mosaic in the 19th century. While hand sewing lots and lots of little shapes together may seem overwhelmingly slow, the method is portable and relaxing.
Another winner from Edyta
I am a big fan of Edyta Sitar. I love the way she combines her love of old quilts with her designs of today. My friend is busy working on her cover quilt, while I have chosen to begin with her baskets. And beginning with the cover quilt, who wouldn't want to turn every page in this book? That border is outrageous and the hexies are so much fun.
Lovely Book
Edyta has a wonderful style and her books are very collectable and wonderfull just to read and look at the pictures. Patterns are really easy and look hard.
Lots of Inspiration in this book
The illustrations and patterns are wonderful. Looking forward to hours of stitching from this book. Purchased it for the cover quilt, but there are many that are just as beautiful inside the covers.
Handfuls of Scraps
This was a gift to my sister, who loves to quilt. She is happy with this book.
Omgosh my favorite book of all
I really love this book. I adore antique quilts and this gives you beautiful photos to look at closely of her personally owned and museum quilts. The author then takes you to producing these quilts in today’s world. Fantastic.
LOVE love love!!!
Beautiful book and great instructions!
Five Stars
Very good book. Interesting patterns and easy to understand directions.
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