If you’re getting started with quilting, or looking to improve your skills, there are a huge number of incredibly detailed books that can help you to elevate your craft and your practice.
In the past few years, many novice quilters have published quilting guides and collections that are not as reliable as you might hope – though many of them are very affordable. We’ve put together some of the best quilting books available – many of them written and relied on by world-famous quilters. If you’re looking for the perfect guide to enhance your skills, or a gift for the quilter in your life – you’ll find the perfect book here!
10 BEST QUILTING BOOKS for BEGINNER and ADVANCED QUILTERS
Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to Machine Quilt: Learn the Basics of Walking Foot and Free-Motion Quilting
Pat Sloan is a radio host and expert quilter with a cult following online. Her tutorials have become wildly popular among the quilting community for their patient, friendly, and easy to follow instructions. In Teach Me to Machine Quilt, Pat Sloane provides excellent advice on machine quilting for both novice and experienced quilters.
Anyone who is looking to elevate their craft should take a look at this collection, and the other books available in Pat Sloane’s Teach Me collection. These guides provide in-depth and invaluable experience on many different aspects of quilting, and are almost as good as having your own personal guide.
Quiltmaker’s 1,000 Blocks: A Collection of Quilt Blocks from Today’s Top Designers by Carolyn Beam
Compiled from favorites selected from Quiltmaker Magazine, the designs in this collection of 1000 quilting blocks cover a huge range of styles and approaches. Complete with beautiful photos, this beautiful collection also provides invaluable information on block-making techniques, and bringing your creations together into a completed project.
The information in this book may be slightly too advanced for a beginner quilter, but it makes a perfect tool for anyone who has mastered the basics and is ready to truly get creative.
Better Homes and Gardens: Complete Guide to Quilting, More than 750 Step-by-Step Color Photographs
Anyone who is interested in getting started with quilting but unsure where to begin is sure to love the Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting. This affordable collection features detailed and helpful color photos that allow quilters to learn at a reasonable pace, and truly take the time to absorb information about each stitch, method, and tidbit that brings together the art and crafting of quilting.
The Better Homes and Gardens Guide is among the best quilting books for anyone who is just getting started with quilting, and provides an excellent knowledge base to develop into enhanced skills.
Oh, Scrap!: Fabulous Quilts That Make the Most of Your Stash
Many beginners get started with quilting by purchasing completed blocks that they can put together into a quilt. This is an excellent way to get started, but quilting actually began as a way to bring together scrap fabrics in a beautiful, functional and memorial way.
In Oh, Scrap, readers are able to learn how to make the most of their scrap fabrics, including old clothing and leftovers from previous projects. Anyone who has spent time quilting or working with fabrics knows how quickly scraps can accumulate. For this reason, learning to quilt with scrap fabrics is an essential skill for any seasoned quilter, and Oh, Scrap! helps quilters to take advantage of their leftover materials.
The Complete Guide to Machine Quilting: How to Use Your Home Sewing Machine to Achieve Hand-Quilting Effects
There are many different approaches you can take to quilting, and many people prefer the look of hand-sewn works. But, anyone who wants to be very productive in their quilting, or wants to move quickly through their projects will find it hard to resist the desire to use a sewing machine.
In the Complete Guide to Machine Quilting, the authors will teach quilters how to achieve the look of hand-sewn quilts on a sewing machine – even a standard sewing machine they may already have at home. Many beginners have caused damage to their sewing machines by diving into quilting projects without researching beforehand, and we recommend that you read this complete guide before diving in to machine quilting.
180 Doodle Quilting Designs: Free-Motion Ideas for Blocks, Borders, and Beyond
Seasoned quilters can draw inspiration from anywhere, and having a place that can help you be inspired, while containing your ideas into the confines of a quilting square is an invaluable tool. This guided design of 180 doodle pages is more of a creative exercise tool than a standard quilting book, and one that many quilters adore.
This collection of 180 Doodle Quilting Designs is a perfect gift for a quilter at any level, allowing them to tap into their creativity, get inspired for future projects, and consider their project-planning in new ways.
Rulerwork Quilting Idea Book: 59 Outline Designs to Fill with Free-Motion Quilting, Tips for Longarm and Domestic Machines
Any experienced quilter who enjoys working on machines will fall in love with this collection of outlines put together specifically for free-form machine quilters. This guide provides a space for creative design and free-form play, set within ruled gridlines. This interplay of creative work and design allows quilters to dream up new and inspiring block patterns, while keeping the needs of their block sizes in mind.
This idea book is a wonderful tool or gift for any quilter who is looking forward to planning their own projects. Any quilter who loves designing their own blocks and working by machine will fall in love with this perfect collection of creative designs.
Block A Day: 365 Quilting Squares for Patchwork Inspiration!
Anyone who has ever spent time quilting knows that even a simple quilt is a massive undertaking. For some people, quilting is a hobby best taken in piece-by-piece, allowing them to work step by step before taking on a full creation.
This inspiring Block A Day book provides wonderful inspiration for any quilter who is looking to do their own blocking design, and gives the reader the option of taking in each piece a day at a time. If you’re a quilter who is committed to learning quilting, this collection makes the perfect support for a New Year’s (or mid-year) Resolution.
The Quilting Arts Idea Book: Inspiration & Techniques for Art Quilting
The Quilting Arts Idea Book is a truly unique quilting guide that combines elements of many other quilting books into an unbeatable, all-in-one resource. Parts of this book may be slightly too advanced for a quilter who is just beginning, but much of the advice is helpful to a crafter at any experience level.
One of the best parts of the Quilting Ideas Book is that it leaves the reader with expert advice on taking next steps and expanding their craft once they have reviewed the book. Anyone who is looking to move from beginner to expert quilter will find The Quilting Arts Idea Book to be one of the best and most inspiring quilting books available.
The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them
The Farmer’s Wife is a truly unique and inspiring quilting book, unlike many others that quilters may typically own. In it, readers will find a truly unique look into the lives of Farm women who lived during the great depression, highlighting the struggles of their lives in their own words.
Alongside each letter in this collection is the pattern for a quilting block, designed specifically to honor the women whose stories make up this book. Each quilting block is creative, colorful, and made from reproduction fabrics that replicate the styles of the 1930s. This is a truly unique book for any quilter, and makes a perfect gift for anyone interested in both history and the art of quilting.
What Should I Look for in a Quilting Book?
When it comes to selecting a quilting book, there are a few things you should keep in mind:-
Pictures:
Believe it or not, there are some quilting guides that are available with minimal, or no pictures. If you’re purchasing a new quilting book, be sure it comes with fully illustrated diagrams. Sometimes, it can be impossible to follow along with photos alone.
Source
There is an endless number of quilting books available on the market. Be sure to consider the authors, their knowledge level, and their style to be sure you’re getting the best advice.
Specifics
The best quilting books vary widely by subject, and you should consider the specific topic being covered by each book. Some quilting books provide a general overview of the full quilting process, while others cover specific skills and patterns.
What’s included
A quilting book is only as useful as the information it contains. Be sure you review the contents and review of any given book before making a choice, or you risk reading about skills that you already have.
Wrapping Up!
When it comes to finding a book on quilting the good news is that there are a huge number of books to choose from. So many, in fact, that it can be difficult to make a decision. The quilting books on this list are tried, tested, and true favorites among professionals and new learners, and make a perfect learning guide or gift for any quilter.
P.S.
In this article we’ve listed books for both beginners and advanced quilters together. For your convenience, we’ve also published two separate articles for beginners and experienced quilters, i.e. Most Education and Fun Quilting Books for Beginners which will guide you step by step on books that you should read & follow as beginner quilters, and the other one is Best Quilting Books for Experienced Quilters for those who want to go to the next level as advanced quilters. Knowing your level of skill and knowledge you can check which one is better for you. Here’re those in case you would like to take a look.
Most Educational and Fun Quilting Books for Beginners
Best Quilting Books for Experienced Quilters Who Want to Go to The Next Level
Hope, you’ll find both very useful.
Good luck and happy quilting!!
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