July 16, 2012
Blue roses in rows, red cherries in bunches, brown pots and pans in golden squares—anyone who has ever been enticed by the colors and styles of vintage tablecloths, like ones produced in the 1920s by Wilendur, will be further delighted by the thought of quilting them. Sheifer, graphic designer for more than 100 quilt books, and Aneloski, longtime editor at C&T, have reinterpreted mid-century tablecloths into 12 quilt patterns. They use the entire tablecloth, as in the vivid blue “Nostalgic Wholecloth”; they marry two tablecloths, as in “Field & Stream” and “Dena’s Delight”; or they cannibalize the usable bits of worn, stained cloths for new quilts, like “Delicate Daisies” and “Moda Fruit Basket.” All methods work under Sheifer’s sensitive graphic eye. The book’s first section addresses the tablecloths themselves: finding, choosing, cleaning, embellishing, measuring motifs, etc. Section two covers making the quilts, which is more complicated than it first seems. Sheifer and Aneloski cite fabric requirements, measurements, colors, and they clearly describe blocks, construction, and borders with clean graphics for finishing these beauties.