Transparency Quilts

Transparency quilts are particular kinds of quilts: they affect 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. 340 illus. (Dec.)