Transparency Quilts: 10 Modern Projects • Keys for Success in Fabric Selection • From the Modern Quilt Studio

Jan 12

Transparency quilts are particular kinds of quilts: they effect the look of layering with translucent chiffon over cotton, the fabric-sandwich version of encyclopedia pages with overlays or scrims in scene design. With transparency quilts, the additional details and information result from careful selection and juxtaposition of color. That’s why the husband-and-wife team of Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr (Quilts Made Modern), co-founders of FunQuilts.com, spend time in the book’s first part defining and employing such color terms as “value” and “saturation.” Unfortunately, words on a page, even accompanied by Figs. 1 through 1,000, may not serve as well as personal instruction to explain why “yellow plus blue doesn’t have to equal green.” After covering how to create transparencies, Ringle and Kerr discuss how to select fabric and what doesn’t work and why. The second half of the book offers 10 patterns, including tips, skill grades, machine-quilting suggestions, and instructions for assembly. Patterns replicating tartan and madras are most effective. The couple’s writing style is practical, edged a bit with cutesy.

― Publishers Weekly

March 12

I thought this would be all about sheer fabrics, but it’s not. When you look at these superb designs, you understand that good design appears simple using colour, shape and stitch to combine in perfect harmony. Ringle and Kerr take you through an understanding of colour and how to use it. This is all about the relationships between colours. They look at transparency and simple but effective palettes. This book will teach you to look at colour and the building of a quilt in a different way. In addition, there are 10 great projects for you to try. I really like Mint Julep, Share and Shake Alike, Whisper and Tartan. Another great book from this team.

― Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts

Weeks Ringle teaches a class on designing modern quilts at Craftsy.com and has written articles about modern quilting for American Patchwork & Quilting, American Quilter, Quilts Japan, and American Quilt Retailer. Weeks and Bill Kerr are co-founders of Modern Quilt Studio and have been making modern quilts since 1999. They are the authors of The Modern Quilt Workshop, the first book ever published on modern quilting, as well as Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop, Quilts Made Modern, and Transparency Quilts. In 2011 they launched Modern Quilts Illustrated, the first magazine dedicated exclusively to modern quilting, which is sold worldwide. Weeks, Bill, their daughter Sophie, and their cat, Mies, live in Oak Park, Illinois.

When he’s not working in the studio, Bill Kerr is a professor and head of the art department at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. Weeks Ringle and Bill are co-founders of Modern Quilt Studio and have been making modern quilts since 1999. They are the authors of The Modern Quilt Workshop, the first book ever published on modern quilting, as well as Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop, Quilts Made Modern, and Transparency Quilts. In 2011 they launched Modern Quilts Illustrated, the first magazine dedicated exclusively to modern quilting, which is sold worldwide. Bill, Weeks, their daughter Sophie, and their cat, Mies, live in Oak Park, Illinois.