The Improv Handbook For Modern Quilters
A Guide to Creating, Quilting & Living Courageously (2015 Abrams)
The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters breaks free from the copy-this-pattern structure and introduces an innovative approach to patchwork not found in other books. It is the first comprehensive guide to the process of improvisational quilting.
The Improv Handbook presents a flexible approach to quilt making that breaks free of old rules and expectations in a fun, accessible way. It’s a comprehensive guide to improvisational patchwork featuring:
- over 15 innovative ruler-free sewing techniques
- tips for accessing intuitive color
- mind tools that cultivate presence, spontaneity, and risk taking
- experiential design exercises on scale, line, borders and more
- 10 “scores” for improvisation that free quilters to create quilts unlike anyone else’s
The “scores” are not step-by-step instructions like a traditional quilt pattern, but parameters, leads and limits that allow improvisation to occur—much in the way a lead sheet provides a jazz musician parameters for improvising during a performance.
The book features my quilts and a gallery of 22 quilts chosen from among the hundreds submitted by volunteers who tested the scores before publication.
STC Craft | A Melanie Falick Book
U.S. $27.50 | Can. $31.50
Paperback with flaps | 176 pages, 9″ x 10″
ISBN: 978-1-61769-138-6
If you have a copy join The Improv Handbook Facebook Group for support as you work through the techniques and project scores.
Check out the quilts I made for the book in more detail.
Visit the test quilt galleries to see what others made following the same scores.
