Craft Challenge: by Nathalie Mornu, Lark Books, 2010 With so many sewing books currently on the market, and even more free tutorials available online, it is getting increasingly difficult for authors to distinguish themselves and earn some coveted space on your (or my) bookshelf. But Nathalie Mornu manages to accomplish just that with her latest [...]
Horrockses Fashion: Off-the-Peg Fashion in the ’40s and ’50s by Christine Boydell V&A Publishing, 2010 The Horrockses Fashions label grew from the fabric company Horrockses, Crewdson & Co. in early-to-mid-20th century Britain. They helped pioneer ready-to-wear, mass-produced fashion, and helped establish the popularity of cotton as a fashion fabric. V&A Publishing (distributed by Abrams in [...]
{ Anna Maria in her maybe-award-winning-again booth at Spring Quilt Market } I’m sure you’ve learned all about Anna Maria Anna Maria Horner’s new book, Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby, on all the fantastic blogs that have hosted her earlier blog tour stops. If not, well. Let me tell you. Handmade Beginnings, [...]
V&A Pattern Four-Volume Set V & A Publishing, 2009 (distributed in the U.S. by Abrams) This was a great year for pattern sourcebooks, and I don’t think it can get better than the new series from The Victoria & Albert Museum. The first series, available individually or as a box set, includes the Fifties, Indian [...]
The Sewing Bible: A Modern Manual of Practical and Decorative Sewing Techniques by Ruth Singer Potter Craft, 2009 It used to be that if you asked for my recommendation on a good comprehensive sewing guide, I would say the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing (RDCGS for short) –hands down, no hesitation. (Aesthetically, I don’t [...]
Twinkle Sews: 25 Handmade Fashions from the Runway to Your Wardrobe by Wenlan Chia Potter Craft, 2009 Linen Wool Cotton: 25 Simple Projects to Sew with Natural Fabrics by Akiko Mano Trumpeter/Shambhala, 2009 Like Susan Wasinger’s Fabricate, which Mary Beth reviewed last week, today’s books both are great for sewists wanting to explore different kinds [...]
Sew Liberated: 20 Stylish Projects for the Modern Sewist by Meg McElwee, Interweave Press, 2009 If, like this reviewer, you had a baby a few years ago and revived your interest in crafting at the same time, you might remember seeing patterns on a blog called Montessori By Hand. Ring a bell? Meg McElwee was [...]
Fabricate: 17 Innovative Sewing Projects that Make Fabric the Star by Susan Wasinger Interweave Press, 2009 The beauty of Susan Wasinger’s Fabricate is the way she shows you how to create beautiful fabric, not just shop for it. For some of us living in the wilds of the American Midwest (far from a Bolt or [...]
Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified by Cal Patch Potter Craft, 2009 When I read about Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified by Cal Patch (ooh! She has a blog!) on Disdressed and on Angry Chicken, I knew I had to have it immediately. You see, I sewed my first dress a couple months ago, and it turned out [...]
Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys by Kate Fletcher Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2008 Most of us consider the growing and harvesting of fibers and the production, printing, and finishing of the cloth in our assessment of whether a fiber is a “green” choice. But too often, oversimplification, myths, and greenwashing by marketers cloud the truth. [...]
During book month, we’ll be following our longer reviews of recent titles with mini-reviews of similarly themed books. Mary Beth wrote about Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules With Fabric yesterday, so today, here are a handful of other surface design books, both new and old, that we think you’ll enjoy. And don’t forget, if you [...]
Bend The Rules With Fabric: Fun Sewing Projects with Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More, by Amy Karol, Potter Craft, 2009. Bend The Rules With Fabric is Amy Karol’s second book, the followup to the popular Bend The Rules Sewing and every bit as fun. I assume you all know who Amy [...]
2009 was sure a fantastic year for craft books, wasn’t it? Over the next two weeks we’ll be running reviews of all the recent textile and pattern-related titles we could get our hands on. You might notice that we will be linking profusely to Amazon. As you might know, we receive a small commission if [...]
Kata Golda’s Hand-Stitched Felt: 25 Whimsical Sewing Projects, by Kata Golda, with photography by Frank White, published by STC Craft, October 2009, 128 pages. Some people have comfort food. Me, I have comfort reading. So Kata Goldman’s Hand-Stitched Felt is like mashed potatoes in craft book form, a book I’d like to crawl into on [...]
Kevin Kosbab of Feed Dog Designs, our senior PC-using correspondent, reviewed Electric Quilt’s Stash software for us last month. He’s back today with this very helpful and thorough review of Amy Butler Softwares, which was released in May 2009. Amy Butler Softwares is a collection from the Electric Quilt Company of 22 quilt, home dec, [...]
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