About the Author

Don Linn lives in Redding, California, with his wife and high school sweetheart, Donna. He and Donna have a grown son and daughter who also live in California. Since childhood, Don has loved to make things and to work with his hands. His first sewing projects involved automobile upholstery and making clothes for himself and his wife while in college. Don had an entire career working in various manufacturing facilities as a draftsman. It was here that he dealt with a wide array of geometric shapes while doing machine design work before returning to college. After college he worked in upper management in both the forest products industry and the precast concrete industry. During this time he drew upon his experience as a draftsman in designing machinery and doing production drawings. Don's journey in quilting began after a corporate downsizing. He started out with a longarm machine and not a clue how to operate it. Since then, he has taught himself how to machine quilt, design, and piece quilts. He is now a well-known teacher of machine quilting and piecing classes.

Reviews

In olden days a glimpse of stocking Was looked on as something shocking, But now, God knows, Anything goes. Cole Porter This verse aptly describes the general attitude of most people during the twenties and thirties, according to Don Linn in Design Art Deco Quilts. During that time, between the two world wars, designers worked in two diverse schools of thought. One area of design was in the use of florals; nearly all of these designs were highly stylized or abstract. The other school concentrated on making designs clean and uncluttered as a way of divorcing themselves from the preceding art nouveau era. Mass production was becoming commonplace. Some referred to these designs as machine arts. Other designs attempted to capture the futuristic streamlined look of what was yet to come. Here one would see more flowing lines as the designers tried to capture the feeling of flowing motion in their work. Now readers can make a bold artistic statement with their own one-of-a-kind Art Deco quilt. Linn shows readers how to create masterpieces in Design Art Deco Quilts, from choosing the right fabrics for an authentic look, to estimating yardage, cutting fabric and planning their piecing. Linn is an award-winning professional machine quilter, affectionately known in the business as Mr. Quilt for his magnificent heirloom machine quilting. Readers learn to mix and match simple shapes into bold, stylized quilts. They learn to design striking, stylized quilts inspired by 1930s Art Deco style. Simple geometric shapes mix and match into original, one-of-a-kind designs. Complete instructions for a sample quilt take readers step by step through planning, designing, and piecing their quilt. The book includes a photo gallery of 11 stunning quilts created by student quilters, plus a visual history of Art Deco style and architecture. Chapters of Design Art Deco Quilts include: 1. Art Deco Design Concepts 2. Tools, Supplies, and Fabric Selection. Many of which readers probably have on hand. 3. Design Steps. Explains the process. 4. Piecing Sequence Gallery. Breaks it down to make it easier. 5. Curved and Inset Seam Piecing. Lots of tips to take the anxiety out of it. 6. Quilting Ideas and Tips. Tips on choosing designs in relation to goals. 7. Design Components. Provides tools to spark readers imaginations in designing. Linn says he first became interested in art deco designs when he was working with fused glass while taking a break from quilting. The simple geometric designs readily lent themselves to cutting and fusing glass. It occurred to him that these simple geometric designs might lend themselves to some new and unusual quilt designs, and that inspired this book. Design Art Deco Quilts has a lovely gallery of Linns students art deco quilts. His design technique encourages readers to try something new and create their own works of art.--Sirreadalot.org, April 1, 2010
A career in drafting has no doubt heavily influenced Don Linn's approach to designing quilts. This is very much a technique book, not a project book. It's likely to appeal to quiltmakers who enjoy the arithmetic and the technical challenges that arise from starting with graph paper and pencil, sketching a design, then working out how to piece it together. Don regularly uses curved and inset seams in his work, so these techniques are explained in detail. He also covers quilting ideas and includes a gallery of his students' art deco quilts and some geometric motifs in the art deco style to inspire you.--. "Australian Homespun Magazine, August 1, 2010 "