Stunning 3-D Quilts Simplified: Create Dimension with Color, Value & Geometric Shapes

PUBLISHER: Amy Barrett-Daffin

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Gailen Runge

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR: Roxane Cerda

MANAGING EDITOR: Liz Aneloski

EDITOR: Karla Menaugh

TECHNICAL EDITOR: Del Walker

COVER/BOOK DESIGNER: April Mostek

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Tim Manibusan

PRODUCTION EDITOR: Alice Mace Nakanishi

ILLUSTRATOR: Mary E. Flynn

PHOTO ASSISTANTS: Gregory Ligman and Kaeley Hammond

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY by Windborne Studios, Inc.

SUBJECTS PHOTOGRAPHY by Windborne Studios, Inc.;

INSTRUCTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY by Estefany Gonzalez

of C&T Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted

Published by C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, C 94549

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband, David, who quietly and patiently tolerates the quilting thing that he just doesn’t understand.

Acknowledgments

Every creative spark requires a steady breeze to fan it into flame. Greg Barner is that whirlwind. He shapes brainstorms into reality and as Chief Stitch Master has pieced all the quilts for this book.

Introduction

I am captivated by any kind of artwork that is displayed on a flat surface but has the appearance of being a three-dimensional object.

To me, sidewalk chalk artists are the epitome of 3-D magicians. A little shading here, a little tweaking of perspective there, and a dimensional landscape appears on level pavement. Isn’t it magic how the eye can create depth where there really isn’t any? How fascinating that light and shadow applied with pencil, brush, or chalk can create dimension on a flat surface.

I have often wondered if a similar effect could be translated into fabric. Then I discovered isometric graph paper! Who knew?! If you draw an object on it, decide on a direction of an imaginary light source, and apply three values of shading … Voilà!—a dimensional object materializes.

I noticed that 60° paper really is just vertical stacks of equilateral triangles. The triangles could easily be fabric in light, medium, and dark values to mimic the