The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters

A Guide to Creating, Quilting & Living Courageously

 Break free from the copy-this-pattern structure. Sherri Lynn Wood introduces an innovative approach to patchwork not found in other books: the first comprehensive guide to the process of improvisational quilting.

The Improv Handbook presents a flexible approach to quilt making that breaks free of old rules and expectations in a fun, accessible way. It’s a comprehensive guide to improvisational patchwork featuring:

• over 15 innovative ruler-free sewing techniques
• tips for accessing intuitive color
• mind tools that cultivate presence, spontaneity, and risk taking
• experiential design exercises on scale, line, borders and more
• 10 “scores” for improvisation that free quilters to create quilts unlike anyone else’s

The “scores” are not step-by-step instructions like a traditional quilt pattern, but parameters, leads and limits that allow improvisation to occur—much in the way a lead sheet provides a jazz musician parameters for improvising during a performance.

The book features Wood's quilts and a gallery of 22 quilts chosen from among the hundreds submitted by volunteers who tested the scores before publication.