Carrie Hall Blocks

If you are a long time quilter or new to the craft, this book is for you! If you want to know about about the predominate craft of women from colonial times thru the civil war, then about its resurgence in the 1920's and 1930's, this book is for you! Have a quilt and trying to date the fabric, this book is for you! In the 1920's Madame Hall (her preferred name), lovingly and painstakingly started gathering, from around the United States, all the quilt patterns she could lay her hands on. By 1935 she had about 850 patterns. From the collected patterns she made a quilt block of each, using fabric representing that era! Today she is known for standardizing the quilting patterns used today! In the back of the book there are, also, over 200 full patterns of some of the blocks with piecing diagrams! I've spent hours preening over this fabulous book and had to think hard for any criticisms. The first, is for older people reading this book, you may want to invest in a magnifying glass with a light on it. Although, the pictures are in wonderful full color, they are small and the fabric detail may not be as sharp without the glass. The second thing, which may seem petty, is that some of the photos are in black and white. They may be from her original book from the 1930's. And yes, you can clearly tell the difference between a block made with black and white fabric and a block that is a black and white photo of a block made in different colored fabric! To critique this wonderfully, fabulous book was hard. I would encourage everyone who has an interest in quilting and its history in the U.S. thru its patterns and fabrics to have this in your library. I find myself referring to it all the time and you will too!

Wonderful book of Vintage block patterns, makes cataloging some of those old orphan blocks great or making that wonderful vintage look quilt. If you like vintage designs you need this collection of designs.

Carrie Hall Blocks are a great resource to have. There are 800 different pattern blocks to look at with 200 having the templates completed in the back. But if you wanted to make a block not templated all you would have it do is xerox the picture to a desired size and then draft it. But with 200 templated you have more than enough to chose from. I have made some of the blocks and used this resource to research block names. Not only does she have a copy of blocks, but she also will have copies of blocks that have the same name but different patterns. This one feature has cleared up many confused moments. istanbuljoy

If you are interested in quilt history or in the names of traditional quilt blocks, this book is an invaluable tool. Carrie Hall sewed and collected various quilt blocks along with their names in what is now an encyclopedia of quilt history. I have used this book both for inspiration in my own quilt block making and also for historical interest (which blocks were named after political events, etc). Definitely one to have on your quilt book shelf.

This is an excellent resource book for those interested in quilt history. The more than 800 blocks were made between 1900-1935. Both pieced and appliqued blocks are shown in color. The pattern section of more than 200 blocks range from easy level to difficult. The template section is very easy to use. Each block is shown in color and then in sections with all template numbers listed. All blocks in this section have been converted to more standard sizes and could be converted to other sizes with relative ease by any quilter. A fantastic book and a must for any quilter's personal library!

An excellent collection of blocks. The book shows color thumbnails of each block. A section of the book has construction diagrams and there are also pattern pieces for many of the blocks included. A wonderful source of inspiration for use with the reproduction fabrics available today and for those people who belong to quilt block exchange groups.