Modern Quilt Magic: 5 Parlor Tricks to Expand Your Piecing Skills - 17 Captivating Projects

INTRODUCTION

Parlor Tricks

A parlor trick, historically, described a simple magic trick performed as a way to awaken and encourage curiosity in an audience. The trick pulled the crowd in, bent their mind, and made them ask, "How was that done?"

Why parlor tricks in this book? When I’m teaching, I try to find the one thing that will take the fear out of learning. Most of the tricks I show are quilting tricks that people missed in their quilting education—or have simply forgotten. Surprisingly, many of these tricks take no more than fifteen minutes to learn! That’s what I want to share with you in this book.

Making what some call difficult quilts is really not hard to do at all. Taking just a few minutes to learn a new quilting or sewing trick can take your quilting skills to a whole new level.

Want to make a quilt that can knock the socks off of the friends and family you share your work with? Does seeing something that looks impressive and difficult (but isn’t) inspire you? Do you want to know how? Here are the answers!

With a tiny bit of know-how, you will see that these quilts are easier than you think. The ability to make a powerful quilt statement lies in your hands. We don’t have to share all our secrets to those outside the quilt-obsessed community; just say, Thank you! when they applaud you for your work!

This book also serves as a reference of standard quilting techniques that help make your quilting process easier. Having taught so much these last few years, I have come to realize which quilting tricks many people have not learned or are afraid of, even though they may have been sewing for 30 years. Nothing in this book is actually difficult to do. With some simple instruction and a release of fear and negative thinking, you can take on new challenges and have some fun!

When I first started quilting (feverishly? obsessively? joyfully?), I wanted to learn everything I could. Having come from a sewing family, I did not know I should be afraid of any technique. I’d already sewn curves and partial set-in seams when I was making clothes. It’s standard practice! So making more complex quilts didn’t seem like a big stretch for me. Making quilts that look complicated—without actually being difficult—is very satisfying and a great part of what I love about quilting.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink, by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, quilted by Linda Sekerak, 2009, 89″ × 93″

Herringbone Strip Quilt, by Nancy Carpenter Hixson (1844–1927), late 1890s, 88½″ × 83½″

Cotton top and back, hand-pieced, tied. Private collection. Rhode Island Quilt Documentation Project #96. Illustrated in the book Down by the Old Mill Stream: Quilts in Rhode Island.

When I first saw an antique herringbone quilt, someone asked, How on earth was this quilt made? I quickly jumped in—because one, I didn’t know any better as far as my quilting practices went, and two, I had just made Everything but the Kitchen Sink, which is assembled completely with partial seams and incorporates curves, Y-seams, and miniature piecing (everything that I want to cover in this book). So figuring out how to piece the quilt in question didn’t seem like a big mystery to me.

I want to focus mostly on partial seams, but I’m giving you the information you need to master curves and Y-seams, to boot! Once you have conquered those techniques, you’ll be able to join all your leftover blocks into your own Everything but the Kitchen Sink style of quilt. I give you permission to make it up as you go along!

So here we are ... you’re going to be pushed visually. You will learn new skill sets, take a few baby steps, and then be able to play out all the options! Soon you’ll see how you can make a "Wow! How did you do that?" quilt.

Why would you want to learn something that looks difficult? Because what looks hard at first glance is often not as challenging as you think when you take a closer look. Looking is a big factor in learning a new trick. Instead of discounting it as something really difficult and thinking, Why waste my time with it? take a few minutes to learn something new. You’ll build your confidence and patience: two things we all need a little bit more of, right? Self-doubt lies heavily in each of us, but we can change that by embracing and conquering a new challenge. Learning a new task can quickly retrain your eyes to see things differently and widen your horizons creatively. Plus, better construction of your quilts makes your confidence soar!

Get clear about your artistic integrity. Visually you can make a fabulous looking quilt, but how is your piecing? Before you think I’m going all quilt police on you, let me say this: You are your own quilt police. You care if the point matches or doesn’t; you care or know that a seam did not line up! No one else will care. (And if they do, tell them, Lighten up, Sunshine; it’s just fabric.) You get to decide how much of that is important to you, but my job is to show you how to get awesome results.

If you’re taking the time to learn a new trick, the more quilts you make, the more your skill set grows. When I’m teaching, I have learned it’s often very basic sewing elements that people are missing. When I hear, I can’t keep my points on stars. ... and the like, I know that one quick little tip can take your skill set leaps forward!

Want to know a secret? Patterns and templates are usually designed with a ¼″ seam. If you don’t want to cut off your star points, you do need to sew a precise ¼″ seam. After the seam is sewn, you should have ¼″ of fabric beyond your point. Pinning is also key. (I hear all those groans!) Pinning your seams to line up and pressing your seam allowances in opposite directions so they nestle together (all of those things we learned and often ignore) make for a better-constructed quilt. There will be more on that later, in the Y-seam parlor trick.

I want to focus on two things with the quilts and instructions in this book: techniques (or tricks, as I like to call them) and looking. It’s not just sleight of hand; a well-played parlor trick and a fair amount of looking will take you far, not just in these quilts but also in every other quilt you make.

LOOKING

How to Look

I find that we are trained to look at what is in front of us but get stuck because our brain tells us something different. We have our preconceived ideas about what we like and what we don’t. Often, people can rattle off a long list of what they don’t like but a shorter list of what they do.

I often hear people say in class, Oh, I don’t like orange, or, I don’t like brown. But that might be just what their quilt needs! If you take the time to retrain your