More William Morris Appliqu [Paperback]

I bought the original William Morris in Applique a while ago, started on a sampler project, and it stalled. Nonetheless, the moment I saw that the follow-up book was available, I pre-ordered it. Even if I never DO get around to making these projects, I like to sit on the couch and pretend I will... quilter's porn, perhaps. Because this book (and its predecessor) are so incredibly beautiful that they inspire me.

If you are a fan of the Arts & Crafts movement, you probably know who William Morris is: one of the dudes who inspired it all in the late 1800s. As the author writes, "His express aim was to restore traditional crafts and methods to a society that was being denigrated by mechanical industry, destroying '...man's natural purpose and sense of life.'" The Arts & Crafts movement was (and is) characterized by natural elements, hand crafting, and design elements inspired by nature. Everything in one's life should be beautiful or functional, preferably both. Morris designed furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, and other "decorative elements." His wife did a lot of embroidery, too -- needlework that will take your breath away.

What Michele Hill did in these books is translate Morris designs into something you can put on a quilt. Since these are all nature-inspired (birds, flowers, etc.) that means applique -- and OH BOY is this impressive applique. No cutesy Little-Bo-Peep here: The 10 projects (with 55 applique designs, all of which are provided on full-size pattern sheets) are elaborate grown-up designs. If you like the idea of Baltimore Album quilts though its traditional flower-pictures aren't quite your style (and the scale of those projects doesn't scare you), you may very well like these.

Hill provides a solid history of Morris and the early Arts & Crafts movement, especially from an artistic viewpoint, as well as a lot of photos of tapestries, wallpaper, and embroidered hangings; you get a good sense of the originals. Then she riffs off them for inspiration with quilts of varying sizes. There are a few small projects (a pillow, a book cover, a bell pull), as well as larger ones (a good-sized wall hanging, a tablecloth, a baby quilt, a few full-size bed quilts). Many are embellished with embroidery, and some have beadwork. This is not the "30-minute meals" of quilt projects.

Hill's instructions cover everything from fabric selection (though I wish she was more specific about how much would be needed for some of the intricate applique -- perhaps that's impossible) to cutting layouts to the order of work. She's very specific: "Work machine triple stitch around all edges of the rabbits using dark brown machine embroidery thread on top to enhance the shapes." She also includes how to quilt the quilt (something that most authors leave out, grrr) though in many cases there's so much applique that stitches around the applique pieces is all the project needs.

Twenty pages are devoted to the "how to" of quilting, from applique basics to machine quilting. Nonetheless I am a dork when it come to applique. I like hand-quilting (because it can be done in front of the TV while watching baseball games) but it goes slowly, especially when I cuss at the poor quality of my workmanship. It'd take forever to do one of these quilts by hand, so I'm going to HAVE to get comfortable with fusible applique before I tackle one of these projects.

Since I do have both books, perhaps you're wondering which to choose. Hmm. Each stands alone, so this isn't like a mystery novel in which you really have to have "done" the first before trundling on to the second. The first collection is similar in structure (historical/photo essay, 20 pages of general instruction) but is a little more closely tied to famous Morris imagery such as Bird or the coverlet that Morris' wife Jane embroidered for a bed at Kelmscott Manor. But both are inspirational and gorgeous; if you like one you are certain to like the other.

I love this book. I have created the tablecloth using the starch and press method. I know that it took 5 weeks to prepare it for stitching, but it was worth every minute. You can see pictures on the OVQG.com show and tell for January 2012, last 5 pictures. I recommend buying this book. It's great. I'm doing the block quilt next with the bunnies in the center.

Since I am an appliqué artist, I had to take a look at the second book of William Morris designs. Both these books are part of my collection. The book contains an excellent short biography about Morris in the front of this book and it really illustrations that Morris was ahead of his time!! The author really shows the actual museum carpets and tapestry of Morris then she interprets the design into modern works of art. This book makes an interest coffee table book, excellent read. The book includes 10 new projects plus 55 appliqué designs, but this book is not for a beginner, it does contain a bunch of good illustrated techniques in the back of the book. If you are and intermediate quilter this might be a challenge you need. The modern projects can be done with any appliqué method you choose, but most of the projects are shown in machine button-hole stitch with beading and embroidery added. A couple of really cute baby are shown, but the project that I consider by far the most gorgeous is the table cloth. I want to make all these projects; they are so striking in a modern updated look, but when to find the TIME! A must have for a lover of all things appliqué!

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