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Book Review: Inspired to Quilt: Creative Experiments in Art Quilt Imagery by Melanie Testa
OH MY! It isn’t often that I get a book and immediately want to go run dig out my dyes and cloth and start playing! The sad news is that three-plus months later I STILL haven’t had time (and now it is winter, the basement is too cold to dye, etc), but boy do I want to! That is what Melanie Testa‘s Inspired to Quilt has done to me, and that is a very, VERY good thing! You can order it from Melanie, Interweave or Amazon.
I’ll also be honest… Melanie’s art and quilting inspire me, blow me away, make me think—all of these are wonderful things! The book, published by Interweave, is well laid out, with great page layout, graphics and color inside, truly enhancing Melanie’s work, words, and instructions. No boring white pages here, but creative inspiration all around.
One of the things I need to do a lot more is play, work in a sketchbook, and suss out different ideas, images and concepts. I am usually so overwhelmed with stuff “to do” that I never give myself this freedom. It is work, Work, WORK all the time, and then scramble to make any quilts at all. Mostly for the past couple of years it has been samples for the book or classes, and not nearly enough creative development time. Now that this book has sat for a while waiting review here, I think I need to go through it again, inspire myself all over again, and more than anything, follow Melly’s example and work with my sketchbook. The book covers:
- The Fabric Foundation
- Technique Application
- Creating Quilts Inspired by your Journals
- Sandwiching and Quilting
- Embellishment
- Finishing
- Smallworks, Series, and Exploration
One of the things I like best is how the illustrations show how Melly builds her cloth and designs, from white to finished, as in the example above of the leaves. The same goes for this bird, where progressive washes of color create the image, just as she did in her sketchbook:
I love that she shares her notebooks and sketchbooks:
One of Melanie’s signature techniques is to screenprint and dye a sheer overlay fabric to work with the base fabric. She has detailed information on dyeing, printing, creating stamps and screens–plenty of information to get you going without having to buy a separate book on surface design (tho it may whet your appetite for more!). The photo below shows four steps in creating the transparency layer that brought the sketchbook work on the left to life…
There are several projects that are just plain fun (merit badges for grown ups, including one that is a hippo–I love it!) and help you try out these techniques on a small scale to get a feel for them. I particularly like how she combines hand stitching with machine, and there are also many examples to inspire.
In sum: If you are or want to be an art quilter, and are willing to just do it on your own, this is a great book for you whether you are a beginner or moving on to (or at) advanced! There is plenty of instruction, more than plenty inspiration. If you want your hand held…well….. buy the book anyway! Be inspired, find out if Melly is teaching anywhere that you can reach, and give it a go.
Definitely need to put this one back on the (re-) read pile by the sofa before tucking it onto the shelf….or into the DO NOW pile!
December 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Melanie’s book hasn’t made it to the bookshelf in my house. I keep re-reading it when I need a creative hug. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and much creativity in the new year. (Your book is wrapped under the tree and I am trying not to rip off the wrappings to at least look at the pics!) Cheers.
December 20th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Thanks for giving us a sneak peek at the book. I think I may have to add this one to the list as well.
I brought Thread Work Unraveled with me to read / look through while in South Africa!!!
Beth- Near Chicago
December 20th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Thank you so much Sarah! This is a great review!
December 21st, 2009 at 12:12 pm
As usual, you gave us a great review. You really let us know what a book is about and that helps in making a decision on purchase…but does it seem to you that more and more people are trying to do textile art projects rather than traditional quilting? Or is it just catching my attention because that’s what I’m into?