Essential Quilting Books - Quilting Design

So the top is pieced and you have a flimsy. How to quilt it? Even if you send most of your tops out to a longarm quilter, you will find plenty of guidance in these two books.

A Fine Line : Techniques and Inspirations for Creating the Quilting Design, by Melody Crust and Heather Waldron Tewell - This book covers both hand and machine quilting techniques but the main focus is on how to select a quilting design that will enhance your piecing or appliqué and is achievable according to your skill level. There are lots of examples and what I particularly like is how the authors have shown the different effects achieved by quilting identical tops in different ways. Quilts used as examples include both traditional pieced and appliquéd as well as contemporary pictorial and abstract designs.

Quilt It! by Barbara Chainey – This book uses illustrations to show the different effects achieved by using different quilting designs on the same pieced top. It is a fabulous resource for different quilting designs, leaning towards the designs found in traditional, hand quilted quilts. If you want an alternative to meandering or pantograph designs, you will find it here.