In Patchwork Quilt Blocks in Split Ring Tatting, Karen Bovard/The ShuttleSmith provides tatters a delightful way to explore color, symmetry & repetition while learning about traditional quilt block patterns. Enjoy quilting/tatting using the myriad colors of the threads we have available today without having to invest hundreds of dollars in a fabric stash. There are 43 historical, traditional Patchwork Quilt Block designs in this 65 page, full-color book. Comprehensive illustrated patterns (featuring color-coded, full-color diagrams) are utilized to get quick, yet thorough working details. Five pages of this book are devoted to not only giving the tatter an understanding of how to utilize The ShuttleSmith’s illustrated patterns, but also gives several construction tips/techniques. Illustrations are provided that show the secondary designs that can be created by repeating the primary design of the individual Patchwork Quilt Block. Quilting (like tatting) is based upon repetition and symmetry–both concepts are soothing in what can seem like a chaotic world. Patchwork Quilt Blocks in Split Ring Tatting allows tatters to venture into a new world…that of COLOR. Never before have we as tatters had so many luscious colors of thread to choose from. One thread line features over 160 colors in the many sizes of thread that tatters use. It seems to me that those thread colors were just waiting for a book of designs such as supplied by quilt-inspired patterns–the variegated threads even mimic printed fabric. All the designs in this book are based on traditional, historic quilt blocks and look like Patchwork Blocks in that the finished piece is square. The color blocks are made of stacked, ‘square rings’ (4-4-4-4) creating shapes that mimic pieces of fabric quilts: squares, triangles. However, unlike pieced fabric, more complex shapes can be tatted as one round. Hallmarks of patchwork quilts is that the block is almost always square (as are the designs in this book) and the use of repeating blocks to produce an overall, secondary pattern. Additional illustrations are included comprised of 4 repeats of the basic patchwork block unit, showing the secondary pattern for that traditional Patchwork Quilt Block. If the original patchwork block has any degree of assymmetry, there may be more examples of a secondary design presented.
