Quilter's Academy Vol. 5 - Masters Year: A Skill-Building Course in Quiltmaking

THIS IS THE FINAL BOOK OF THE FIVE BOOK SERIES AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS SERIES TO EVERY NEW QUILTER. I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH AND MADE SOME REALLY NICE QUILTS. I ALSO LEARNED TO SO SOME FREE MOTION QUILTING WITH THE PHOTOGRAPH SUGGESTIONS. CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THESE BOOKS. GREAT REFERENCE ALSO.

Please Note: Some of the projects in Quilter's Academy Master's Year may require purchase of or access to previous books in the series.After dismissing pretty much the entire community of Modern Quilters in the introduction to Quilter's Academy Master's Year, the Professors Hargrave present a curriculum based specifically on Medallion Quilts. Beautiful historical examples are well-photographed and of sufficient size for proper admiration. Accuracy is critical at the master's level, and Medallion quilts exemplify this. Their long rows of joined pieces must be further joined with other long rows of perfectly joined pieces. Lots of stretchy bias can be result, especially when on-point blocks make up the rows. The instructors point out that bias plus the weight of a quilt top can cause significant distortion if you rely on a vertical design wall.Hands-on drafting is introduced via the most basic medallion project. Skill levels of the 12 projects/courses range from graduate basic to graduate advanced. The ultimate goal is to acquire sufficient design skills so you can create your own unique medallion project ... a master's thesis, as it were.Instructions are quite detailed and lengthy. Some are traditional step-by-step with exact cutting and yardage specifications. Others involve deriving measurements from actual quilts, while others extrapolate dimensions from photographs. Our teachers implore us to act responsibly, ethically, and legally by adhering to copyrights. This topic can and perhaps should be its own full length quilt book. Simply crediting a source is not necessarily sufficient. Public domain is not to be assumed just because something is seen "in public" in a store, through a class, or on the internet. Purchasing a book or pattern or paying for a class does not transfer any rights unless specifically stated by the copyright holder. Even then, it is typically for a single personal use only and often with prohibitions against seemingly benign charity and/or auction use. The fact that no money changes hands does not exonerate the reproducer. Reproducing includes making a physical quilt, not just reproducing the written content.Sizes range from 48"x48" to 98"x98". Only a few alternate colorways are shown. Quilting stitch designs are suggested through illustrations. Abundant photographs are of high enough caliber to show the gorgeous quilting lines. In fact, the photographs do justice for all the amazing quilts here. Most stunning is Harriet Hargrave's "Softly Spoken". It exemplifies an exquisite sensibility for balancing white space against well-proportioned pieced blocks. Its drafting requires a 9/16th-inch measurement. Even though this can be fudged, all other measurements are "non-negotiable". It's a perfect example of why this book is challenging enough to be considered graduate level.Postscript aka Minor Rant aka "Why Not 5 Stars?":To start with, I am resistant to a craft book whose projects require purchasing earlier books. I understand it, especially for a curriculum-based series like the Hargraves', but I don't like it. For example, to make the log cabin-intensive "We're Going to the Chapel", you must have access to Quilter's Academy Vol. 1. If you are very experienced or quite mathematically inclined, you might be able to make do, but that is an outside stretch.Then there is that auspicious "us versus them" introduction to Quilter's Academy Master's Year. The Professors Hargrave straddle both offensive and defensive lines, and it is rather off-putting in a craft book. First, they disdain and dismiss modern quilting as an unchallenging fad. Frankly, I spiritually barfed a little when I read that they think this new style - with its "chronic mediocrity" - mirrors an underlying social problem. Then they go on the defensive by asking readers to be tolerant of errors in the Quilter's Academy series. They invoke The Teflon Deflection by attributing errors to their editors, "we all do it", and/or a deliberate feature of their program.So that was the harumph. I took a calming breath and a big swig of quilting rainbow ideology and kept on, hoping the hurrah moment would be just around the turn of a page.But I became alarmed at the seemingly narrow focus on one very specific quilt layout: the medallion quilt. That struck me as an odd choice. During the "blended quilts" phase, I made several. They were the easiest and fastest quilts I ever made. Or I thought so at the time. So why use the medallion layout in a graduate course?Well, the "hurrah" moments began about 20 pages in with the first photo of Harriet Hargrave's "Softly Spoken". Its apparent simplicity is a masterful - and master's level - illusion. It shows how that one basic skill of accuracy (in piecing, joining, and maintaining a scant 1/4-inch seam allowance) makes all things possible. I have attended several classes where the instructors kept saying accuracy is not as important as consistency. I've never agreed with this, but left it as an unchosen battle. The medallion quilt, and how it is used in this book, should make believers of all of us students.Now, if we could just get Harriet and Carrie to believe that modern quilting is more than just a "fast and simple" fad involving "few skills". Really, in quilting, it's all good. Maybe not perfect, but still quite good.

I have taken classes from Harriet here in Colorado, and she's an amazing teacher. Unfortunately she is retiring and moving to Missouri, but at least I have her wonderful and precise directions in her Quilter's Academy books. She goes into great detail about every aspect of quilting in her series, and they are wonderful guides with lots of examples. I hope she continues to publish more volumes in this series; I have all 5!

Truly well laid out book. It may have the title of Masters but it's really working with borders, setting squares around squares. It teaches design, puts borders at your figure tips and shows you how to put it all together.

Excellent book about designing your own medallion quilts. Most quilt books are just project books but this one focuses on design skills. Highly recommended for any quilter wanting to take her skills to the next level.

Any of the Quilting Academy books are very good. They are easy to understand & use.

I have all four previous Academy books. Harriet is an awesome instructor and her "lessons" are great! Her instructions have helped me in so many ways in my quilt-making projects.

This is a great reference book. It will stay on my shelf for use for many years to come. I did not take the course as I was already an advanced quilter, but glancing through the books, they do look like a good guide to learning. This one is a keeper.

This is an excellent book for traditional quilters and beginners. I've been quilting a long while but I learnt at least 5 things in the first few pages that have really improved the quality of my quilts. I thoroughly recommend the whole course from books 1 to 5, and the last one when it's available. I've learnt and improved from every one.

An insightful creative and knowledgeable guide for the advanced quilter even further into the quiltiverse.

The binding of this book is weak. Amazon replaced the first copy and the replacement looks like it will fail again.

I now have them all. A great learning experience and resource.

Great resource