Bookcase / Bookshelf Quilt

[Flobear]

I know several people have made these but as the search facility is a bit hit and miss** unless there is a precise title available I thought I'd try and gather information all in one place.

Having never seen one in real life, I bought and downloaded a simple pattern just to get me started with every intention of 'doing my own thing'. I understand that I need to make blocks and have made one so far!!
I'm unhappy that the leaning books don't have right-angled bottoms
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and I've solved that one. Above is not my block.


However, I'd like to know:

1)  if I need to make all the blocks then piece them together before sandwiching - it doesn't seem to tell me on the instructions. Blocks will all be the same height but not necessarily the same width though I know what the total width needs to be. I'm wondering about QAYG (quilt as you go) in strips using the bookshelves as sashing.

2) how I embroider titles on the spines of some books. Elvistoo is keen to help! Presumably I use backing 'stuff' but I'm still not confident with the thickness required. Also, is it better to embroider before cutting the book shape, after the block is assembled or at some other time?

3) for an appliqué item, what is the best way to fix it on to the block?

I am happy to be pointed in the direction of YouTube especially for item 3 but I'm hoping a TSPer or two will have some hints too.

Here's the pattern I'm basing my quilt on.

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**Query for @Mr Twingo  please?  Or anyone else who knows the ins and outs of this site.
Is it possible on TSP to limit a search with two words so when searching bookcase quilt it doesn't return every occurrence of both words individually? In the olden days we'd put bookcase +quilt in a search engine so the results contained both words together.

[Diane]

I like the idea of a bookcase quilt as you can really personalise it    another one on the to do list i think. Are all the of books appliqued on? I'm sure @realale will be able to help seeing as she made that lovely bookcase quilt recently 

https://youtu.be/-4nn9ygaqxc?si=JW76Sz8Ffl8pJ6Ph
https://youtu.be/-Q5q5qt47tA?si=2LcXSNg67Lrxugzn

[Acorn]

That's lovely - but I do agree with you about the leaning books, they definitely need an adjustment.

[grndkntrl]

I know several people have made these but as the search facility is a bit hit and miss** unless there is a precise title available I thought I'd try and gather information all in one place.

....[snip]....

**Query for @Mr Twingo  please?  Or anyone else who knows the ins and outs of this site.
Is it possible on TSP to limit a search with two words so when searching bookcase quilt it doesn't return every occurrence of both words individually? In the olden days we'd put bookcase +quilt in a search engine so the results contained both words together.

Hi @Flobear, Yep I can help out on that one.


You'll want to enclose your search phrase within the "" quote mark characters (the ones you get by holding down the Shift key and the number 2 {above the letter Q & W keys} on the keyboard), like so:


"bookcase quilt"

[Acorn]

In addition, you might want to change the search from 'most relevant results first' to 'most recent topics first'.  I have no idea how search engines decide what is relevant, but it isn't by the same means as I do!

[Flobear]

Thks @grndkntrl fr th hnt  nd @Acorn s wll 
nb Not on a Mac keyboard they're not!

I'd forgotten about the quotation mark thing.

No, @Diane the books are not appliquéd on. They are pieced patchwork-style.

[grndkntrl]

Thks @grndkntrl fr th hnt  nd @Acorn s wll 
nb Not on a Mac keyboard they're not!
...

Oh it's been so long since I've used a MacOS machine, I'd forgotten they have slightly different keyboard layouts (other than the unique Command (⌘) & Option (⌥) keys). 

[Ploshkin]

@Flobear could you combine standard piecing and some fpp to get satisfactory leaning books?

[Flobear]

I'm happy with my leaning book solution but I hadn't thought about using fpp for certain other items - as yet to be decided!

eta Looking at pictures of other bookcases it was easy to see how to solve the leaning books satisfactorily. Just a straight piece of bg fabric at the bottom then make sure that one corner of the book sat a quarter-inch up from the bottom of the block.

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[realale]

I used a bought design from Sweetpea - remember I'm not a quilter! Here's the link bookshelf quilt
It was all done in the hoop on my embroidery machine.

PS I waited for one of their many sales to buy at a discounted price!!

[Flobear]

Thanks @realale.  I thought it appeared that the books all had satin stitch edges, I see that now.

[Acorn]

Excellent solution to the leaning books @Flobear