Create Your Own Improv Quilts

A natural follow-up to the best-selling Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts, this book applies Rayna’s no rules, no mistakes, no worries style to modern quilting. Starting with strips and geometric shapes, you’ll cut and sew without patterns, required yardage, or complicated diagrams. This freeing method lets you create modern quilts organically as you follow your instincts, ask "what if...?", and experiment with scale, color, value, and placement.

Discover there’s no such thing as a mistake when you learn how to create original designs with this no-rules method of quilting. • Create one-of-a-kind quilts with free-form cutting and piecing • Discover how to spontaneously combine your own original units and design as you go! • Blend hand-prints and hand-dyes with commercial fabrics to create truly original quilts Enjoy the freedom of free-form! In this follow-up to Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth, Rayna shares her “can’t make a mistake” approach to designing quilts. Learn how to how to trust your instincts so you can work more intuitively, and develop a new appreciation for the therapy of sewing without a plan. With these new skills, you can create new work from leftovers and scraps, dig into those favorite fabrics, and transform all those unfinished projects!

An exciting new approach for beginning to advanced quilters who want to improvise on their own, with a friend, or with a community of fellow makers. Forget step-by-step instructions and copycat designs. In The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, Sherri Lynn Wood presents a flexible approach to quilting that breaks free of old paradigms. Instead of traditional instructions, she presents 10 frameworks (or scores) that create a guiding, but not limiting, structure. To help quilters gain confidence, Wood also offers detailed lessons for stitching techniques key to improvisation, design and spontaneity exercises, and lessons on color. Every quilt made from one of Wood’s scores will have common threads, but each one will look different because it reflects the maker’s unique interpretation. Featured throughout the book are Wood’s own quilts and a gallery of contributor works chosen from among the hundreds submitted when she invited volunteers to test her scores during the making of this groundbreaking work. “Wood offers a series of techniques, guidelines and lessons on color choice for those ready to explore improvisational quilting. Her book is loaded with full-color photos and examples to inspire.” —Dallas Morning News “Despite how it may “seam,” quilting isn’t all about rules! Quilting can be an exhilarating way to channel your creativity and express yourself. This book is focused more on exploration than explanation—a perfect mindset for beginners!” —Powell’s Books Staff Pick

Learn how to create twelve stunning contemporary quilts and develop your own designs using improvisational methods. Take inspiration from simple objects to create twelve beautiful, contemporary quilt blocks. Create original quilts from each block design and adapt them to your own style. Learn how to interpret print, pattern and shapes into unique quilting ideas and experiment with a range of innovative techniques for impressive, professional results. Inside you’ll find techniques such as square piecing, basket weave, half-square triangles, chevrons, quarter circles and portholes. So, if you love fabric and color, take a step into the world of improv quilting.

Explore new options in improvisational piecing and empower your creativity! Cut and combine solid-color fabrics to create your own “prints”—stripes, polka dots, chevrons, plaids, and more. Forget the rules (and even your ruler) as you piece colorful solids into compelling quilt designs. Use color, pattern, and repetition to develop your personal design aesthetic as you stitch freely to create unique quilts that pack a punch!

Take on color and creativity with improv quilting! Find inspiration in Improv and start your journey with bold colors and unique designs! Improv expert Cindy Grisdela shares the design principles and construction strategies for successful quilts every time. Explore three different ways to create improvisationally, from the easiest—using one block in different colors and orientations—to combining block units using various techniques—to aspirational, free cutting the entire quilt and designing it on the wall before sewing. Finished creations result in one-of-a-kind artwork! Master three different improvisational styles to create original works of art Design and construction process made easy with expert strategies Guided exercises will have you creating stunning Improv quilts in no time!

An original and unique process for designing and constructing improvisational quilts developed by Irene Roderick. This book appeals to beginning and advanced quilters who are looking for a new creative and artistic method of quilt design and construction. A handbook for quilters who want to expand their skills and make unique, personal expressions instead of following traditional quilt methods. The author's approach is fluid and intuitive, inviting you to tap into your imagination and ingenuity in order to create one-of-a-kind quilts in your own creative voice. The book provides instructions for design and construction accompanied by tips and tools to enable you to work freely without preconceived ideas of where the process leads. She will ask you to learn to trust your personal experiences and instincts so that you can develop your own personal style.

No patterns here, but definitely a plan! Explore the freeing power of improvised piecing with Nicholas Ball in his first book, Inspiring Improv. Learn his step-by-step technique-based process to explore six fundamental piecing structures. Practice how to stitch fabric together in an improvisational manner to create blocks or sections before using them to sew unique quilts all your own. Improv piecing doesn't have to mean chaotic end results. Look to the eight original projects included to see how to create sophisticated quilts with structure focusing on repeating blocks or large-scale scrappy designs. Follow along as Nicholas walks you through his original inspiration and follow his plan through to finished pieces, as he discusses which combination of his core piecing methods he used, and how to achieve showstopping, exciting work. From simple strip piecing through to complex circles and rings, you will be eager to experiment with making slabs, gentle curves, insets, triangles and even 9-patch and Log Cabin stacks. In no time, you'll be using them as a stepping stone to sewing original full-sized improvisational designs.