Piece by Piece: My New Patchwork Book

Two weeks, two big announcements. Last week, the London System, this week: the best thing (imho) I’ve ever made. It’s been hard keeping this one quiet. As you’ve been so kind as to sign up to Things to Make I thought I’d tell you first. It’s been nearly two years in the making (and almost twenty since I first sat down at a sewing machine); I’ve written a book about patchwork and quilting, called Piece by Piece.

First of all, I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to you for being part of the Working Cloth and Things to Make community. I wouldn’t have been able to make this without you.

The Holly Quilt.

There are 20 projects in the book, all made from second hand materials, all designed and written and illustrated by me. I wanted to make something joyful and colourful; a friendly guide to hold your hand if it’s your first time sewing and to challenge you to take your practice farther if you’re a pro already. It’s the culmination of a decades’ long obsession with fabrics and quilts and making things, and to say I’m proud of it would be an understatement.

As you can probably guess, it’s a sentimental book. The projects are named after influential women in my life and there are anecdotes from students I’ve taught sprinkled through out. It was photographed by my good friend Charlie McKay, designed by Tegan Hendel (the wizard who did my first book, In Pursuit of Color, too), and the models are my best friend and her family.

The Alice Jacket. Named after and modelled by my best friend Alice.

Piece by Piece is published by Hardie Grant books/Quadrille Create (big thanks to them too). And it’s out:

April 1 in Australia and New Zealand

April 24 in the US and Canada

May 8 in the UK. If you’re in the UK, you can pre-order signed copies from my website, here.

If you’re elsewhere in the world, you can pre-order from all good bookshops. Here’s a neat one in Seattle, one in San Antonio, Texas, and a cool spot in Gisborne, New Zealand. If you’re Canadian, shout out to my favourite local bookshop Magpie Books in my hometown, Edmonton, Alberta.

Preorders really help me. If you’ve got the means to do so, I would deeply appreciate if you did. Preorders tell bookstores that people are interested in the book, which means they might stock copies in their shops, which means more people might come across it. Basically, it shows there is demand for my work, which will also help me convince my publishers to invest in making more of it (which I’d love to do).

The Toadstool Jacket. One of my absolute favourite projects from the book (looking even cuter thanks to Alice’s niece Edie). This one’s made from an old skirt, a linen beach towel, and a too-short dress.

I will be announcing events and a little book tour in the coming weeks. I’ll be in Australia and New Zealand (combining a book launch with a visit to see family) in early April, and galavanting around the UK in May. If you have a book shop or fabric shop in either place that you’d like me to come visit, do drop me a line. I’m very excited to see this book out in action and would love to share that with you.

Thank you again for being here and for supporting me. It means a lot. I’m so excited to share the next few months with you and see some of you in person to celebrate.

In other links:

This documentary about three quiltmakers: American Seams.

Soften Studio’s smocking videos.

David Lynch: Czar of Bizarre (a Time Magazine interview from 1990).

Carving Melon Sculptures: The Art of Turning Ordinary Melons into Elegant Sculptures. My favourite is the ‘Classical Swan’.