by Kathleen Barkley
Sensational Quilts
FOR SCRAP LOVERS
Author: Judy Gauthier
C&T Publishing
Sensational Quilts FOR SCRAP LOVERS features 11 colorful pieced projects using three sizes of templates: 3 ½, 4 ½, and 5 ½ squares. Judy’s book also services as a guide for fabric selection as marrying fabric from diverse fabric scraps can present a particular challenge for many quilters. According to Judy, “It just takes a little finesse and some basic understanding of color. If you can arrange scraps in a way in which the eye “expects” to see colors in a grouping or progression, you can hide and also enhance many fabrics from varied genres”.
Many of the scraps we like to use in our quilts are oddly shaped and do not lend themselves to strip piecing. The 3 ½, 4 ½, and 5 ½ square templates Judy uses in her patterns allow the quilter to use up the largest part of your scraps or the smallest part of your scrapes using wherever the template fits. This makes quick work of trimming your scraps. These size templates have a least common multiple of 60. This allows quilters to cut scraps in multiple sizes and know that they will work together.
Some of Judy’s suggestions in her book include: instead of using spray starch to prevent bias edges from stretching as some advocate, Judy recommends using interfacing to prevent stretching on your bias edges, try sorting your scrapes not only by color, but also by size, and shelf anything greater than ½ yard, find your favorite fabric or color from your scrap bin and then use a color wheel to decide if you want to make your quilt with an analogous color scheme, a monochromatic color scheme, a complementary color scheme or a split-complementary color scheme, when cutting circles that will be sewn inside background circles with a ¼” seam always cut the background circle 1” smaller that the circle that goes inside, and if you are unsure if your fabrics are light, medium, or dark, place several colors or fabric pieces next to each other and look at them by using the black-and-white setting on a smartphone. Sensational Quilts FOR SCRAP LOVERS contains many more tips on color and cutting strategies.
Judy Gauthier has written four other books all featuring patterns using fabric scraps; Quilts for Scrap Lovers, Rainbow Quilts for Scrap Lovers, Sew Cuddly, and Tantalizing Table Toppers. She is also the owner of Bungalow Quilting and Yarn, a modern quilt shop in Ripon, Wisconsin. You can visit July online and follow on social media. Website: bungalowquilting.com Facebook: /bungalowquilting Instagram: @bungalowquilting