Wise Craft Quilts by Blair Stocker

I’ve been reading craft blogs for a long time and one of the first I discovered was Wise Craft. The author, Blair Stocker, has followed her very successful book with a second, called Wise Craft Quilts: A Guide to Turning Beloved Fabrics into Meaningful Patchwork.

Quilts are stories we compose with fabric and thread, providing physical and metaphorical warmth, and Wise Craft Quilts is about creating these stories. Whether making a quilt from baby’s first clothes or from a collection of Tyvek race numbers stored away in a box, sewing pieces like these into quilt form creates a new level of appreciation for what they represent in your life and the lives of the ones you love. Each of the book’s twenty-one quilts gathers a special collection of fabrics, outlines a new technique, spins a story, and showcases a stunning original quilt. Readers will be able to mix and match techniques and inspiration from different chapters to create their own unique project. It’s the reference book they will refer to again and again.

It’s a lovely book and I think most people would agree with the sentiments of the author who says “every patchwork quilt begins with fabric. And to me, quilts pieced from fabrics and remnants that have been saved, collected, shared, or acquired second-hand have a sparkle and uniqueness that simply cannot be made from new…. the ability fabric has to preserve our memories and tell our stories. A particular fabric can immediately transport us back to places that we loved and felt loved in.”

I’ve been reading craft blogs  good few years before I started my own blog in 2005. In that time I’ve amassed a pretty good fabric collection. I loved reading about the Baby quilt as I have a bag full of baby clothes I’ve saved from both my children. I’ve been meaning to do something with these for ages and would love to finally make them into a quilt.

I really enjoyed reading this book as there is so much inspiration to do something with the fabrics I’ve hoarded. The book is set out and I read it in one sitting. Chapters cover the 21 different quilts, as well as a helpful Quilting 101, templates and Quilt labels. As well as baby clothes, there are ideas for using your wedding dress, your husband’s shirts, your gran’s vintage tablecloth and so much more. There are patterns and instructions and I love the overall tone of the book, which just says go for it and give it a try with the author’s approachable quilt making process.

Wise Craft Quilts: A Guide to Turning Beloved Fabrics into Meaningful Patchwork by Blair Stocker costs £23.80 and is available from Amazon and other book shops.

Disclosure – I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley