Books and Patterns by Anita Shackelford

  ​Three-Dimensional Applique
​  & Embroidery Embellishment

Whether you are reproducing traditional album blocks or designing your own, this comprehensive guide is sure to provide both the information and the inspiration you are seeking.

​For each technique there is a project, a small block you can refer to as an illustration or actually complete. Work through chapter by chapter or simply turn to the book upon occasion with a particular need. You'll find it easy to use and full of sound information and inspiring ideas.

43 dimensional applique techniques, plus 23 embroidery stitches and suggestions for their use. 150 pages.
Explore the world of trapunto and stipple quilting, starting with the history of the technique, and many antique quilts that incorporated this technique.

Learn step by step how to add corded, padded, and stuffed details to your own quilts, plus six different stipple quilting patterns to complete the work.

​All of the raised work is done from the inside, so there is no damage to the back of the quilt.

Hard cover  135 pages
Out of print, only a few remaining,
​minor cover damage on some of them.
​Applique with Folded Cutwork


Discover how easy it is to make your own applique patterns by folding and cutting a piece of paper snowflake-style. Learn to design more than a dozen different styles of blocks and borders. 143 pages.
Coxcomb Variations

I challenged 9 friends to create quilts based on a magnificent nineteenth-century Coxcomb applique quilt.

The result is 11 new quilt projects for you to sew and enjoy. Each one contains full-sized templates and detailed instructions, along with the maker's description of how the quilt was designed and what makes it unique.

You can sew one of the beautiful quilts as shown or play with the pattern pieces to create your own Coxcomb variation.
63 pages. 
Coxcomb with Birds

The first quilt I made was this careful reproduction of the antique piece. The design is the same and the colors are how I imagined the original must have looked. After this quilt was finished, the challenge was to see what else we could create by changing the color or layout of the pieces to make something new - but with recognizable ties to the original.

Twelve new quilts are pictured, along with the templates and fabric requirements to make each one. I hope they will inspire you to create your own coxcomb quilt.
Infinite Feathers

by Anita Shackelford, includes step-by-step photos and instructions for designing feather quilting motifs and transferring them to your quilt top.  

Working with simple tools, you can learn to create designs that will fit perfectly in the blocks and borders of your next quilt.

Besides ideas for drafting your own designs, you will find a pattern section with over 100 feather designs in traditional, innovative and continuous-line styles.  

For even more inspiration, the gallery contains almost a dozen beautiful quilts made by some of today's top quiltmakers. 160 pages. 
Use the Infinite Feathers template to draw
​the feather samples in this book.
A Modern Mix
​Machine & Hand Quilting

Quilt by machine or by hand? Both! is the resounding answer from Anita

Learn how to successfully incorporate hand and machine quilting in the same quilt to add visual interest to your projects. 112 pages.
​The Feathered Star wall quilt on the cover is both hand and machine pieced, hand and machine quilted, and includes trapunto in the background areas.
Ohio Collection
Create a Little Piece of History!

This book includes 44 historic pieced and appliqued patterns.

​Discover designs that are perfect for you, whether you are a beginner or experienced quiltmaker. Work with templates or rotary cutting instructions to reproduce an antique quilt, or make a new one.
​48 pages 
Pennsylvania Plain & Fancy
Includes patterns for 6 pieced and 6 appliqued quilts with projects for beginner and advanced quilters.

Also includes instructions for special techniques, such as folded cutwork applique, ruching, and trapunto.
​48 pages. 
Teen & Tweens
My daughter Jen and I enjoyed putting together this great book of sewing and quilting projects, perfect for kids or adults of any age.

​ If you have young people in your life and you'd like to share your passion for working with fabric, you'll find lots of projects here.
​100 pages.
For a sneak peek at the kids at work
​click here.
Patterns
Ruched Ribbon Sunflowers
This bird and sunflower motif is appliqued with a combination of hand and machine work and embellished with strip ruched ribbon and beads. Use on vest, shirt, or other garment. 
Order the strip ruching template to use with this pattern.
French Basket
Create a 1920's style basket of flowers
using both strip and circular style ruching.
 
Directions for wall hanging or twin size quilt.
5 pages, plus full size, pull-out templates for
Garden Maze set, and full size border
quilting pattern.
The French Basket pattern uses both
​the strip and the circular ruching guides.
Sunflower Patch
This almost life-size folk art sunflower design is appliqued with a combination of hand and machine work.  

Pattern includes full size templates plus instructions for strip ruching, embroidery, and free-form embellishments. 12 pages.
Use the strip ruching guide to make the dimensional sunflowers on this quilt.
A Quilter's Alphabet
A Quilter's Alphabet is the perfect way to personalize your next quilt.

These are the beautiful Old English letters that I used on our family album quilts and on Little Boy Dreams, which I made for our grandson, Brandon.

Line drawings of letters, numbers and punctuation are full size, ready to use. Capital letters are 4" high; lower case letters and numbers are 3" high.

The pattern book includes instructions for fused or stitched applique, and padded trapunto, plus suggestions for embroidery or ink work, and several project ideas.
​32 pages. 
Patterns
Filigree Heart
A cutwork applique project, perfect for Valentine's Day or any other special occasion when you want to show love.
Includes instructions for paper folding, cutting, and tracing the pattern, yardage requirements, and suggestions for applique. My sample was hand appliqued and hand quilted but machine techniques will work just as well, if you chose.
Finished piece measures 18" x 20"
Bunnies and Baskets
​21" x 21"
This folded cutwork pattern is an example of a Four Plus Four design. See below for an explanation of the different design styles.
Instructions for paper folding, cutting, applique, and yardage requirements are included in the pattern.
My piece was machine appliqued and quilted.
Four Seasons Cutwork Quilt
​29" x 29"
Applique:
There are many different applique techniques which will work with folded cutwork motifs. Because the pattern is symmetrical, it can be used on top, or underneath the applique fabric, or it can be traced onto the paper side of a fusible web. I prefer to trace the design onto the right side of my applique fabric, remove the paper, and applique the motif using the needle-turn technique and a blind stitch. Use your favorite technique to applique the designs or try something new.
 
The blocks of the "Four Seasons" quilt also demonstrate how appliqued cutwork can beembellished in a variety of ways. In the Spring block of iris, each flower is embellished with small ruched beards. The Summer butterflies have simple embroidered antennae. The Fall grape leaf block includes grapes which have a small amount of stuffing underneath. Winter holly has been embellished with small free-form berries. These embellishments add interest and a sense of realism to the applique in this quilt.
Paper folding:
All four patterns in this quilt are cut from paper which has been folded into eighths. Follow the simple steps to prepare a freezer paper template. 
 
Four Corners:
The simplest shape to cut from a one-eighth fold is one which has four symmetrical motifs
extending into the four corners of the background block. The cutting line for the Four Corners grape leaf design begins near the outside or open end of the long fold and ends near the center of the paper, on the short fold. In order for the pattern to remain in one piece, the cut must begin on one fold and end on the other fold. In this design, the center was also cut away to produce a vine effect. Be sure that the center opening does not touch other cuts along the folds.
 
Four Plus Four:
The next step in making a more complex pattern is to cut motifs from both the long and the short
folds. The addition of a motif on the short fold will produce a design with four main elements and
four secondary motifs as shown in the iris block. The cutting line for the iris and leaf design begins near the outside edge of the long fold, comes in toward the center and finishes at the tip of the leaf, on the short fold.
 
Four Plus Eight:
A Four Plus Eight pattern will be created when half of the primary motif is cut on the long fold, as
before, and a full secondary motif is cut from the body of the paper near the short fold. Begin the cut for the primary motif near the outside edge of the long fold. Bring the line in toward the center. Rather than ending with a motif positioned on the short fold, cut a full design element within the remaining paper. End the line near the center of the short fold. The holly leaves are a good example of a Four plus Eight design.
 
Wreaths:
 
Wreaths have always been a favorite design style for applique work. In most patterns, branches, stems, leaves, and other motifs are cut separately and positioned on the block, one at a time, in their respective places. The folded cutwork technique can be used to create a wreath which is cut as one piece. Butterflies were placed in opposite positions on both the long and the short fold of the paper, so that the tips of their wings overlapped slightly. When this design was cut, it created a ring of butterflies which appear to be in flight. If you plan to cut a wreath of flowers, be sure that the motifs are connected to each other and extend across both folds so that the patten will stay together when it is cut.
Redwork Garden
Charming floral designs work up quickly with a stem stitch and embroidery floss or thread of your choice. 
Arizona Sunflowers
​Arizona Sunflowers

​This pattern was very popular when it appeared on the cover of Love of Quilting magazine, September 2006.

The combination of pieced baskets and flowing applique will make this one of your favorite quilts.
Wholecloth patterns for Hand Quilting
​
Beech Leaf Medallion quilt.  36" x 36"
To order this pattern on full size paper, please send $25 via Paypal to [email protected]
Be sure to include the name of the pattern you are ordering.
Feather Plume Medallion with Cable Border  36" x 36"
To order this pattern on full size paper, please send $25 via Paypal to [email protected]
Be sure to include the name of the pattern you are ordering.
Patterns with instructions for \
piecing, applique, longarm quilting
Boxes and Ribbons
Boxes and Ribbons was one of my first ventures into Modern quilting.
Machine pieced and longarm quilted with my Modern Serpentine pattern.
Twin size.   Pattern is in pdf form.
Cookie Cutter Child's Quilt
Large Cookie Cutter animals are appliqued to the center panel of a sweet child's quilt.

This quilt is one of many pieces I have finished in my Quilt Rescue project. The original textile was two 100 lb sugar sacks sewn together to create a long panel. The sacking had been woven with stripes and was intended to be recycled as dish towels. A creative soul decided instead to applique animals on it. Your center panel can be striped, pieced, or plain, as you like.

For the rescue, I added the pieced blocks and sashes on each side to give it better proportions and to make it a usable size. I machine pieced the blocks and quilted the quilt on my Statler Stitcher. Choose your favorite methods to complete the quilt.

PDF includes instructions for cutting and piecing the Hen and Chicks blocks, full size applique templates and suggestions for applique by hand or by machine.
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