Copyright Quilter’s Academy Vol. 1—Freshman Year Copyright © 2009 by C&T Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1-60705-106-0 Published by C&T Publishing, Inc., PO Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549. www.ctpub.com All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be used in any form or reproduced by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without written permission from the Publisher. Acceptable uses of this ELECTRONIC PRODUCT: 1. Purchaser is entitled to print out as many copies of this ELECTRONIC PRODUCT as they wish for personal use. Photocopying, digitizing, and all other forms of copying to “share” or “distribute” the ELECTRONIC PRODUCT, whether for profit or not, is strictly prohibited. 2. 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Your exclusive remedy under this Section shall be, at C&T Publishing, Inc.’s option, a refund of the purchase price of the ELECTRONIC PRODUCT. Contact us at 800-284-1114 or www.ctpub.com for more information about the C&T Teachers Program. We take great care to ensure that the information included in our products is accurate and presented in good faith, but no warranty is provided nor are results guaranteed. Having no control over the choices of materials or procedures used, neither the author nor C&T Publishing, Inc., shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. For your convenience, we post an up- to-date listing of corrections on our website (www.ctpub.com). If a correction is not already noted, please contact our customer service department at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549. Trademark (™) and registered trademark (®) names are used throughout this ELECTRONIC PRODUCT. Rather than use the symbols with every occurrence of a trademark or registered trademark name, we are using the names only in the editorial fashion and to the benefit of the owner, with no intention of infringement. DEDICATION We would like to dedicate this book to a very important woman who has influenced the world of quilting in untold ways, but whose name is unfamiliar to today’s new quilters. To Barbara Johannah, one of the earliest innovators of strip piecing and a passel of other fantastic ideas that we take for granted today— continuous-curve machine quilting, the use of mirrors for design, sheet method half-square triangles…the list goes on. Thank you for your inspiration and ideas. We would also like to dedicate this book to all the thousands of Harriet’s students who have influenced her desire to be the very best teacher she could be during the past 32 years. We hope the passion for quilting runs as deep in them as it does in us. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special thanks to everyone at C&T Publishing for giving us the opportunity to build a true study program through this series of books that brings us back to the very basics (and beyond) of great quiltmaking skills. Sincere thanks to SewEzi for providing us with one of their wonderful portable tables and to Dream World, makers of Sew Steady tables, for providing us with a sewing table. A big thank-you to Harriet’s Treadle Arts for providing all the fabric, thread, and batting we could possibly use. Shopping after hours is such a joy! Also to our employees—Linda, Cindy, TJ, Georganne, Shar, and Kari—who kept the store going strong so we could stay home to write and sew for endless hours. The authors take full responsibility for the contents of this book, including the technical accuracy of the information. Please direct any questions to [email protected]. Contents PREFACE A NOTE FROM HARRIET CLASS 110 Lesson One: Setting up a sewing area Lesson Two: Sewing machines Lesson Three: Rotary cutters and cutting mats Lesson Four: Ruler basics CLASS 120 Lesson One: All about fabric Lesson Two: Washing your fabric Lesson Three: Preparing fabric Lesson Four: Working properly with a ruler Lesson Five: Cutting straight strips CLASS 130 Lesson One: Why ¼″ seams don’t work Lesson Two: Measuring for accuracy Lesson Three: Sewing for accuracy Lesson Four: Pressing for success Lesson Five: Let’s sew! Lesson Six: Cutting segments accurately Lesson Seven: Your first quilts CLASS 140 Lesson One: Upgrading your sewing area Lesson Two: Cutting and ironing area refinements Lesson Three: Useful gadgets Lesson Four: The next step CLASS 150 Lesson One: The basics of base grids Lesson Two: Determining the grid size needed for a block Lesson Three: Beginning drafting Lesson Four: Making fabric mock-ups of blocks Lesson Five: Planning a quilt layout Lesson Six: Expanding piecing skills with Four-Patch blocks Lesson Seven: Four-Patch quilts CLASS 160 Lesson One: Fabric collecting basics Lesson Two: Choosing fabrics for a quilt Lesson Three: Constructing perfect Nine-Patch blocks Lesson Four: Continuing with precision piecing CLASS 170 Lesson One: Understanding terminology Lesson Two: Reading the blocks Lesson Three: Working through the Double Irish Chain baby quilt Lesson Four: Combined grids CLASS 180 Lesson One: Checking the quilt for squareness Lesson Two: Using a ruler to straighten edges Lesson Three: Measuring for border lengths Lesson Four: Borders with mitered corners CLASS 190 Lesson One: Quilt backing Lesson Two: Preparing the quilt for binding Lesson Three: Basic binding Lesson Four: Quilting design ideas YOUR FINAL ABOUT THE AUTHORS RESOURCES Preface note We do not address the quilting process in these books. The most thorough book available about machine quilting is my Heirloom Machine Quilting (see Resources, page 112). I strongly recommend that you study it as you are learning to piece and that you learn to do simple quilting as you progress with your quilt tops. Nothing is more satisfying than finishing the projects as you go. By the time you are into the more advanced techniques, your quilting will have evolved, and you will be creating wonderful quilts. You are holding the first in a series of six books. The purpose of the series is to build your quiltmaking skills—from beginner to advanced—on a firm foundation. This first volume is to be used as a workbook. It contains a complete sequence of classes, lessons, exercises, and projects that will build your skills from one project to the next. We highly recommend that you make the quilts in the order presented, as we have placed them in order of complexity. Each quilt offers new challenges and involves new techniques that will help you continually build your skill level. We have chosen designs that are timeless and very adaptable to traditional fabrics as well as to more trendy fabric and color choices. Use these quilts to explore your color and style preferences. This book and the next in the series deal with quilts made of strips and squares. By mastering the techniques presented in these first books, you will be laying a foundation for precise, high-quality piecing. There are hundreds of quilt designs based on strips and squares, so you can spend a long time exploring these stunning quilts before you jump into the more complex piecing featured in the following books.