{"id":31996,"date":"2016-04-16T05:45:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T12:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=31996"},"modified":"2016-04-14T15:03:47","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T22:03:47","slug":"book-review-scraps-inc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/book-review-scraps-inc\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Scraps, Inc."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scraps,<\/a>Scraps, Inc.: 15 Modern Quilts Made to Keep<\/a> by Editors at Lucky Spool<\/a><\/p>\n

The best thing about this book is the photos. The colors are great; the photography is great. Other than that this is a project book with projects you have seen before done by ‘names’ in updated colors and fabrics.<\/p>\n

First, I am going to talk about the projects and then will talk about the introductory pages at the end of the review.<\/p>\n

The book has 15 projects by some of the most well known modern designers, including Camille Roskelley, April Rosenthal and Amy Smart. The artists begin each of the projects with a description. I liked it that some of them suggested alternate color options, though I didn’t see alternate color options shown in the book. There might be some examples on the individual quiltmakers’ websites. Each of the designers has a “Scrap Stash Tip” at the end of their chapter\/project.<\/p>\n

I thought the font was really good. Bold headlines are bold. The illustrations in the directions are also excellent. I haven’t made any of the projects, so I cannot comment on the technical quality of the project directions.<\/p>\n

Many of the projects are based on traditional patterns: Bangles, Courthouse Steps, Favorite Things and Richmond, even if the names are different. I realize that everyone has different scraps, but a lot of these projects would not work for my scrap bins, because of the sizes required. Some of the projects require 4.5″ squares and I have very few scraps that size, so I would have to cut from yardage.<\/p>\n

Amy Ellis’ My Favorite Things quilt project (pg. 24-35) is made up of all classic blocks. Her fabric usage would be considered modern, appearing to use a variety of background fabrics rather than just one. The setting is a rectangular medallion style, which is a little different than other classic settings. The complexity of this project is really nice.<\/p>\n

Allison Harris’ Bangles quilt (pg.19-23) is made differently, but is the same pattern as the Jewel Box quilt pattern that was so popular several years ago. I guess everything old is new again? This quilt has a more stereotypical modern feel with its bright white background and no border.<\/p>\n

The usage of many traditional block patterns and settings is a good way to draw in quiltmakers who don’t think the modern movement is for them.<\/p>\n

My favorite quilt in this book, hands down, is Overcast by April Rosenthal<\/a> (pg.5-58). I love this quilt and want to make it. I think it is reasonable use of scraps. In the introduction to the project, Ms. Rosenthal has some good advice. “Be sure to choose a grounding ‘background’ for your quilt. A strong solid here will help the rest your piecing stand out, and provide much-needed contrast to the fabrics with a white background and to the scrappy colored strips.” This pattern requires that colors don’t bleed into one another and the fact that the whites stand out give it a bright appearance that is also complex and interesting. I would have liked a couple of line drawn blocks with the lettered designations she uses for the piecing. The designer uses a glue basting method for piecing the curves, which she describes as being helpful for beginners, but may not be necessary as the maker progresses through the quilt. I thought this was a helpful tip and also acknowledges that sewists get better at skills as they progress through a project. I also like the way she assembles the curved units. She has the maker add on a strip made up of three squares rather than piecing a tighter curve. This allows for greater use of scraps and more success at small curves.<\/p>\n

Unraveled (pg. 77-81) is an interesting pattern and it has that lozenge shape I have not yet explored. The blocks are rather big and I think I would like it better in a smaller size. It uses the flippy corners method to make the lozenges, thus I think could be resized relatively easily.<\/p>\n

Kati Spencer’s quilt, Woven, (pg.89-83) intrigues me. It reminds me of a Jelly Roll Race quilt, but more planned. I like the different arrangement of strips and the coordinating of colors.<\/p>\n

Most of the designers’ Scrap Stash Tips revolve around getting scraps organized immediately after finishing a project. Some cut into certain sizes a la Bonnie Hunter and others.<\/p>\n

Templates at the back must be photocopied. I do not see a link to a downloadable version in the book.<\/p>\n

Finally, we are back to the beginning where there are three pages of text, a welcome and some basic instructions on making HSTs and strip sets. There are templates at the end of the book. I was put off this book immediately in the first paragraph of the introduction, because the language used is deprecating to makers. “…with a love for every inch of the leftover fabrics…” implies a problem with obsessiveness. Later, the author writes “This has likely turned you into a scrap junkie.” While I understand that this was probably used in a tongue in cheek manner and that my own may have affected my understanding of the implications, ‘junkie’ is someone who has a drug problem. I really don’t think that loving fabric and making quilts should be equated with substance abuse. I also think we, as quiltmakers, should be supportive rather than judgmental about fabric purchasing or amounts of fabric each of us own.<\/p>\n

Also in the welcome the author says “….colors we are loving right now, combined with innovative, on-trend designs…”. This begs the question of whether the project designs will be out of style when these on-trend scraps are out of fashion? What if you have scraps from 20 years ago? Are the designs not suitable for someone with a broadly reaching scrap bin?<\/p>\n

I would, as usual, have liked to see more about the inspiration for each quilt. I think it gives readers ideas about where to get inspired on their own. As I have said, I think some of the projects are interesting. This book is definitely worth a look.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scraps, Inc.: 15 Modern Quilts Made to Keep by Editors at Lucky Spool The best thing about this book is the photos. The colors are great; the photography is great. Other than that this is a project book with projects you have seen before done by ‘names’ in updated colors and fabrics. First, I am … Continue reading “Book Review: Scraps, Inc.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-31996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-374","tag-book-review"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}