Reverse Appliqué with No Brakez is truly a delightful book which I'm sure is going to be one of the most popular in our library! Whether you are a brand new quilter or your hands have stitched up many gorgeous quilts...whether you aren't particularly fond of any of the traditional appliqué methods or your heart is sewn with all fondness to all of them...whether you piece and quilt by hand or by machine, and no matter what types of quilt designs you prefer most, the reverse appliqué method offers something for you!

The term, "Reverse Appliqué" sounds intimidating, but the actual process is not complicated at all. Have you ever, as a child, colored a lot of colors on a piece of paper, and then colored them over with black crayon? When you scratched away the black crayon, all of those wonderful colors magically reappeared with your design! That simple concept is the basic principle behind "Reverse Appliqué," and was actually the inspiration for Jan Mullen's reverse appliqué method. To explain the method in fabric terms, with Reverse Appliqué you start out with two layers of fabric. The "secret layer" is the colors to be revealed. The "top layer" would be the "black crayon." Instead of "scratching", your design is snipped from the "top layer" with scissors to reveal the "secret layer" underneath. The "Appliqué" is how the two layers of fabrics are then stitched together, for example: running stitch if you turn the edges of your cut out design, or button stitch if you choose to leave your design with a raw edge. And yes, machine appliqué stitching is allowed! The fun comes in when you read through Mullen's book and discover the limitless possibilities this simple process offers. Besides walking us through the "reverse appliqué" method, Mullens does a great job of showing us how to get the most out of design resources, whether they be cookie cutters, simple drawings, or even more traditional pieced or appliqué quilt patterns. Then there are the "secret layers." They can be a single layer of fabric, multiple layers, and even pieced (a great way to use up scraps!). Mullens shows how to make the most of each method, supplies tips for creating them the simplest ways, and provides guidelines for using fabric colors and textures to achieve the creation you are aiming for. Of course she also includes different appliqué and quilting techniques to enhance your designs. And, she also offers guidelines for creating truly unique quilt borders, sashing, and even joining blocks together. She includes 6 "getting started" projects in her book to get us familiar with the reverse appliqué method, and a gallery in the back of the book of students works which demonstrate a few of the many different, awesome results which can be achieved.

Perhaps one of the best elements of the "Reverse Appliqué" method is that it is anything but "rigid." Hopefully many of you got to see Jan Mullen on "Simply Quilts" last Friday. If you did, you found out that while she was quiet spoken, she was bold and free in her designs and quilting, and she is all about making things crooked that we typically, as quilters, would strive to keep straight. I mention this because at first her book may sound a little technical, but don't let that distract you. I encourage you to look past her words to the pictures she includes. You'll see that she is all about helping us re-release the creative child within us and helping us to enjoy the process every step of the way. (As a side note...the reverse appliqué method would be perfect for making up some truly unique "baskets" for our Guild's 2004 challenge.)