(Not Your Average) Book Review: Machine Quilting with Catherine Redford – Fons & Porter
When a really good book comes along offering excellent instruction on how to quilt your quilts, we want you to know about it. Modern Machine Quilting by Catherine Redford is one of those books—we give this one 5 stars! Not only is the information indispensable, you’ll find it uses a dynamic visual approach to innovative finishing techniques.
Catherine offers details on walking-foot quilting and free-motion quilting, but she also tells us how to make good quilting choices for successful outcomes, offers projects to put your new skills to use, and includes a gallery of quilts for inspiration. The book is designed to optimize learning how to use your home sewing machine for quilting and to be used as a journal, recording your stitches, making notes, jotting down ideas, etc. It covers all of the quilting bases—the perfect quilting companion. But, raving about this book isn’t going to give you a complete picture. We need to show you why we love it…
Walking-Foot Quilting
Catherine starts from step one and works her way up from there. She covers machine basics, getting started, quilting straight lines, incorporating more elaborate designs and she includes special details that make a big difference in how you quilt, like how to stitch over nesting seams. She answers those questions that don’t always get answered in books like this, such as, “What do I do if the standard hand position doesn’t work for me?” Finally, some options!
Free-Motion Quilting
Catherine covers the basics of free-motion quilting so you feel you have a strong grasp on the concept. She also discusses, and illustrates, unusual designs that you may enjoy. And, after she’s given you the tools, it’s time to practice! As she notes in the image below, “A good way to practice your free-motion stitching is to use a suitable printed fabric on the back of your quilts and quilt from the back, using the printed design as your route map.”
Designed for Quilting Success
You’ll find charts included in this book; remember, it’s meant to be a workbook, a one-stop shop. You’ll find charts, like the one below, for recording tension settings and stitches used. Referencing this information for future projects, alongside your quilting guidelines and instruction, will be a snap—it will all be waiting for you in one place. Brilliant!
Inspirational Quilt Gallery
You’ve practiced your new skills, now it’s time to apply them. If you’re anything like us, you have plenty of UFOs awaiting finishing touches—in the unfinished pile because, other than stitch-in-the-ditch, we weren’t sure how to quilt them. After all, a Log Cabin quilt represents hours upon hours of hard work and we need to be sure that we have a solid plan when we go to quilt it. Catherine’s gallery shows you complimentary designs for your quilts, and now that you have the skills, your UFOs will become beautiful finished quilts!
Still Not Convinced? Try This.
We’ve raved. We’ve explained. Now you’ll just have to try it for yourself.
She recommends changing out your table runners according to the season and varying your quilting motifs for some valuable practice.
We can’t wait to see your designs! Share your machine quilting photos with us on our Facebook page.
Happy Quilting!
The Fons & Porter Team
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