The perfect companion for anyone new to machine sewing, or looking for a little extra guidance, this book is packed with friendly advice, stylish projects and expert sewing tips. Sewing machine guru and popular author, Wendy Gardiner, brings you this invaluable guide to getting up and running with a sewing machine. She includes all the basics, including machine anatomy, how to thread up, and how to check stitching and tension. Once you have built up your skills, there are 12 great projects to make, including: a patchwork placemat, a drawstring bag, an appliqued pillow, a clutch bag, a tablet cover, tab top curtains, a quilted pot holder, and a notebook cover - there is something for everyone. Each project is designed to teach techniques such as sewing seams, adding buttonholes and zips, blind hems, quilting, free-motion embroidery, using an alphabet and making pleats, trims and pockets. There is also a glossary of all the important terms, and an excellent trouble-shooting guide. Revised, updated and expanded edition of The Very Easy Guide to Using Your Sewing Machine (9781844488285).

Tilly and the Buttons: Stretch! offers perfect proof that easy-to-wear clothes can be seriously stylish with a collection of outfits that combine the comfort of stretch fabrics with Tilly Walnes' signature look. The book includes complete, full-size patterns. Even experienced stitchers are often wary of working with stretch knit fabrics, but in this book Tilly demystifies the techniques needed and shows how to sew stretchy makes on a regular sewing machine - no need for a fancy overlocker. However, if you are already an overlocker owner, the book offers a user-friendly introduction to threading and stitching with this machine too. Aimed at dressmakers who have grasped the basics and want to expand their sewing horizons, Tilly's tried-and-tested, learn-as-you-make approach is structured around five made-to-measure, speedy-to-sew garments. Tilly's friendly instructions and the clear step-by-step photographs are accompanied by lots of tips and tricks to make your sewing a breeze, and the multiple variations and ideas will help you customise your garment to suit your own style.

An irresistible felting book for cat lovers! From playful tabbies to fierce black cats, this book shows you how to create felted felines in every shape and posture: crouching, preening, stretching, napping and ready to pounce! Master Japanese felting artist and teacher (and a great cat lover himself) Housetsu Sato shows you how to become an expert in capturing a cat's essential form and character--especially at the kitten stage, when they are full of surprises. In this book Sato teaches you how to: Form the basic shapes and cat body parts Create a variety of familiar cat poses and postures Add realistic textures and markings to the fur Give unique expressions to your cat faces Along the way, he shows you how to infuse your felted friends with a playful sense of "cattitude," including how to incorporate fur from your real kitties into your felted models. Detailed instructions and photos for each cat piece, fur texture and marking make these projects friendly even if you are new to felting. Full-size templates help you form the correct shapes and proportions, and brief lessons in cat anatomy help you make your felted cats truly lifelike. Photos showing variations on the poses and markings make it easy to envision your own cat's likeness emerging from your hands.

In 176 pages of gorgeous color and black-and-white photographs, Nancy Schiffer pays homage to baskets as functional objets d'art and includes hundreds of baskets from all over the United States and some from abroad. This pictorial survey of splint, wicker, and coil baskets will familiarize you with baskets used for storage, carrying, winnowing, gathering, and trapping. A section on baskets in use as decoration provides ideas for those who love the warmth and character provided by baskets. Updated prices are included with the captions.

A comprehensive guide to more than 30 circular weaving techniques perfect for crafting unique and modern home decor. Artist and educator Emily Nicolaides demonstrates the wonderful possibilities of contemporary circular weaving in this one-of-a-kind guide for beginners and beyond! Before jumping into the projects and patterns, Emily gives a thorough overview of the basics, including detailed instructions on how to select materials and what tools you will need. She even includes instructions on fashioning and using DIY cardboard looms and shuttles. The projects are broken down into two parts: functional circular home goods and decorative circular wall hangings. In the introductions for each project, any necessary specifications like the number of warps or style of loom are noted. Budding weavers have the option to either follow projects exactly as they are laid out or to put their own unique twist on the concepts presented to craft something truly unique. Projects are marked beginner, intermediate, or advanced, making it easy for the everyone to progress through the book as they become more familiar with circular weaving.

Learn to make Luna Lapin's friends and their exquisite wardrobes. This collection of sewing patterns features four of Luna's best friends and their clothes including Reynard the Fox, Clementine the Cat, Freddie the Badger and Wilhelmina the Wood Mouse! Author, Sarah Peel, takes classic garments and recreates them on a miniature scale and with exquisite fabrics including Liberty cottons, wool tweed and French lace. Full sized patterns and step-by-step instructions are included - as well as a collection of charming stories about the characters and their adventures.

The latest stunning book from whitework specialist, Yvette Stanton, Portugese Whitework featuring an exquisite style of needlework from Guimaraes in northern Portugal will inspire and delight you. Drawn thread work and bullion embroidery combine to create a strikingly beautiful style. You will learn all you need to know to create your own masterpieces and heirlooms with the in-depth step-by-step instructions. A range of projects, large and small, for beginners through to advanced stitchers.

Sakiori is an approach to rag weaving used by Japanese peasants to cope with the scarcity of new cloth for clothing and household textiles. In modern times, there is instead an overabundance of cloth filling up thrift stores and being discarded. Weavers can use this source of "rags" to make useful and surprising new cloth. Depending on the fabric used, results can be rugged and utilitarian (like cotton rugs) or fashionable and delicate (like silk scarves). The book begins with an overview of the history and context of sakiori in Japan, followed by methods and tips for successful rag weaving with a variety of materials and looms, including rigid heddle looms as well as floor looms. Charts and worksheets make it easy to find the information weavers need to get started, and 21 projects with instructions and drafts provide inspiration and ideas.

Pattern Cutting Techniques for Ladies' Jackets shares the trade secrets from the world of bespoke tailoring and haute couture, alongside procedures from the ready-to-wear industry. Written by a trained Savile Row tailor working in the fashion industry, it explains how to make a basic pattern for a jacket by flat pattern cutting or draping on the dress form. It introduces a broad range of techniques with clear detailed instructions, and emphasizes the importance of an individual and creative approach.

Get cosy with a warming drink and a new sewing project for autumn. In Tilda Hot Chocolate Sewing, bestselling author Tone Finnanger returns with a stunning new collection featuring the Tilda BirdPond fabric range. Featuring over 20 projects, you can choose from quilts and softies, bags and dolls, pillows and purses. Autumnal motifs include reindeer, mice, apples, butternut squash, ducks, birds, houses and more. This heartwarming collection will bring warmth and magic to your sewing, with beautiful lifestyle photography and step-by-step instructions and diagrams to ensure success.

In the '50s and '60s, Simplicity released their popular line of Jiffy sewing patterns, which had minimal pattern pieces and simple constructions, yet were chic enough for fashion-conscious customers. This approach appeals now more than ever as stylish women are continuously looking for ways to fit their love of sewing into busy lives filled with family, work, school, and countless other obligations.Gertie Sews Jiffy Dresses is Gretchen Hirsch's modern reinvention of this simple idea, focusing on easily mastered sewing skills, minimal pattern pieces, and fabulous designs. And the best part? Readers will end up with a sparkling wardrobe of easy-to-wear, fun-to-style dresses that will fill busy modern lives with retro charm.

Masako Wakayama shares 12 feel-good projects in the American design aesthetic. Sample techniques feature sewing, wool applique, punch needle, quilting, and embroidery!

Complete Book of Sewing Techniques, Updated Edition provides an ideal introduction for beginning sewers, and is also a useful reference for those who already have sewing skills. Featuring step-by-step instructions and photographs, plus friendly advice from internationally accredited sewing expert, Wendy Gardiner, you'll learn a wide variety of skills, from hand stitching and hemming to adding darts for shaping, inserting buttonholes, and so much more. Along with clear instructions on everything from making seams, sleeves, and collars to attaching linings and zippers, Wendy also includes comprehensive information on fabrics, threads, needles, and other equipment. Her clear directions ensure that even beginners will get great results. With the techniques you learn in this must-have resource, you'll soon be stitching amazing clothes with skill and confidence. New edition features updated photography and various technical and general updates

Lovable Felted Animals is--dare we say--the cutest felting book EVER! This book shows you how to make graceful models of a lifelike sleeping lion, a mom and baby koala, a regal deer, a polar bear with cub, a fluffy alpaca, the world's most adorable hedgehog and so much more! Illustrated step-by-step instructions walk you through how to make 43 different projects, and a lesson on basics helps you get started. The animals featured in this book include: A curious panda or a sleepy fox with a flower pot A catch-all tray featuring "swimmy" creatures like a dolphin, seal or otter Friendly bears and a perky hedgehog Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed pen and pencil covers (a dog, a cat, and a few woodland friends) Simple faces to make into brooches or fridge magnets (a cat, a chipmunk and a menagerie of bears) And more! Different projects show how to add details such as clawed feet, antlers, markings and tail feathers. With the variety presented in this book, you can start with something easy and move on to animal figures that let you capture delicate expressions and add a little attitude, making this book an excellent guide to both learning and developing needle felting skills.

This full-color look at the patterns that Dr. William Bateman developed and studied over 50 years ago will help intermediate to advanced-level weavers think more innovatively about their craft. With hundreds of color draft diagrams and photos of Bateman's sample weaves, artists can experiment with his innovations on their own looms. Bateman, a chemistry professor turned weaver, analyzed traditional patterns and extended them in completely new directions. The samples included are Dr. Bateman's originals, and detail the yarns and setts he outlined in his documentation. The drafts are organized into weave groups, ranging from those with their origins in traditional structures like twill or overshot, to the one-of-a-kind new weaves Bateman invented. After she completed her monographs on the Bateman weaves, Virginia Harvey donated his nearly 1,500 samples to the Seattle Weavers' Guild. His original weaves, and the ways he manipulated more traditional weaves, form a fascinating resource for today's weavers.

This book features 25 inspiring and original felt projects to create at home. It is a comprehensive guide, including an introduction to the history of this craft and information about all the materials and equipment you will need. It features examples of the finest feltwork from contemporary craft artists. It explains and demonstrates all the basic techniques such as preparing the wool, rolling and hand carding. The satisfying art of feltwork celebrated in attractive designs and inspirational projects, all shown in more than 250 photographs. Whether used to make hats, slippers, blankets or jackets, felt is a wonderfully flexible, resistant, pliable and versatile medium. It can appear in the subtle hues of natural fleece, or be dyed in rich, vibrant tints. In this book, felt can be used to create objects as diverse as accessories, clothing, hangings, sculptures and toys. A comprehensive techniques section includes all the basics, such as carding your own fleece, flat felting and rolling. The book contains 25 specially designed felt projects illustrated with step-by-step photographs to instruct the reader in every stage of preparation. Each project is an inspiring and original work in its own right, and collectively the pieces represent a complete course in working with felt, from beginner level to advanced.

Textile Landscapes demonstrates how to develop your approach to textile art with a focus on using found objects and paint and stitch on cloth and paper. Cas explains how to exploit the contrast between the hands-on textural quality of working with fabrics and threads and the spontaneity and movement of brush marks to lend a painterly quality to your work. She begins with the basics - keeping a sketchbook to generate ideas, painting and stitching on cloth and on paper and working digitally; Inspiring Landscapes looks at natural and urban space, the changing seasons and great landscapes as well as intimate spaces and travel diaries; Painting and Marking with Cloth explains the practical aspects of painting and dyeing cloth and how to make connections between paint, print, dye, stencil and stitch; Stitch-scapes looks at the different forms of landscape, experimenting with photographs and prints and how to translate those images using ink, stitch, abstract and collage techniques and then at how to transform the image using digital techniques; On Closer Inspection covers using elements and details from landscape and the environment as found objects and for research; finally People and Place explores the relationship we have with the outdoors and the built environment, as well as personal interpretations of place. The book includes artworks by the author that explore the UK, USA, Europe and Australia, as well as works by other internationally renowned textile artists. A creative guide ideal for textile artists of all levels - students, teachers and practising artists and makers - to make unique and beautiful work inspired by the world around us.

This delightful planner is designed especially for sewists so that you can track multiple projects throughout the year - because let's face it, who doesn't have lots of projects going at once? Set your project goals, track your progress, and manage your time and works-in-progress.

Join Stuart Hillard as he expands his expertise from quilt-making to bag-making. Not just a sewing book, Bags for Life teaches you the diversity of bags that you can create once you have learnt the basics. With projects for all levels of crafter, you can work your way up from the simpler tote bag to various, more complicated, projects - such as a toiletry bag or overnight bag With 21 stylish projects for every occasion Stuart provides achievable patterns, fast makes for all abilities and professional looking results. Delving into the anatomy of the bag, take a visual tour of the various parts of different bags, before moving onto the specific details of pockets, zips, piping, binding, straps and handles and even metalwork. Divided into 5 chapters, there is much to choose from - whether you want to make re-usable shopping bags or a crafters bag that holds your yarn, there is something for every crafter out there. Chapters include: A Trip to the Market: trolley bags to shop and go; simple drawstring produce bags; expanding market tote; and a wallet. A Day at the Beach: Convertible tote 'n' towel; splash proof sling and book bag; and multi-purpose hobo perfect for carrying food, blankets and even baby essentials. A Picnic by the Lake: Picnic bag with insulated interior; bottle carrier; and drawstring games and play mat. A Meeting in the City: The ultimate workbag with room for a laptop or tables; the overnight attache; and a don't shoot the messenger bag, an everyday essential. A Weekend in the Country: The ultimate weekend bag with plenty of pockets; an absolute essentials roll-up pouch; and a multi-pocketed zippered toiletry bag. A Great Afternoon In (for every crafter!): Knitting bag to store your current project in style; a sewing machine bag; a project pouch; and a drawstring project bag. With 2 pattern sheets, step-by-step illustrations and lifestyle photography, there really is nothing stopping you from creating a whole host of homemade bags in a fun and sustainable way.

More than 300 historic fabric samples from the mid-1920s and 1930s provide a visual textbook of design ideas prevalent during the Art Deco era. These were the everyday fabrics used for housedresses and curtains, adorned with the era's predominate geometric creations and spiced with the exotic inspirations that spurred one of the most popular artistic movements of all times. This book is an invaluable reference guide for costume historians and a treasure trove of inspiration for designers.

Don't let your costumes fall flat! Give them the support they need. Create a capsule wardrobe of foundation garments for cosplay with Casey Welsch. From corsets and bodysuits to hoops, Cosplay Foundations will teach you how to give your garments a professional look that lasts.

This innovative and breathtakingly detailed book from the V&A presents dress patterns, construction details, embroidery, and making instructions (including a knitting pattern and lacemaking) for 15 garments and accessories from a 17th-century British woman's wardrobe. Step-by-step drawings of the construction sequence and scale patterns for each garment enable readers to accurately reconstruct them. There are scale diagrams for making linen and metal thread laces, silk braids, and embroidery designs. Multiple photographs, close-up construction details, and X-ray photography reveal the hidden elements of the clothes, the number of layers, and the stitches used inside. This first book in a new series takes the physical examination and study of historical clothing to a new depth and degree of detail, using the expertise of designers, tailors, and makers from London's Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Create lovely new "once upon a time" keepsakes with these 44 cross-stitch patterns, blending the traditional style of France with a charming contemporary simplicity. The designs are eye-catchingly lovely with their subtle colors, gentle humor, and delicate lines. They're all here: wily foxes, big bad wolves, city mice and country mice . . . not to mention princesses, enchanted worlds, and fun rhymes. Many include multiple scenes and motifs, offering you dozens more components to use in a myriad of ways. Along with the patterns, enjoy instructions for 22 projects to show off your stitchwork: luggage tags, mobiles, cookie tins, quilts, a cuddly toy with its own sleeping bag, and more.

Readers need only to master several simple steps to discover the true pleasure of creating unique, durable baskets. In 284 photos and illustrations, plus detailed instructions, learn to choose and prepare raw materials, and gather and use necessary tools. Find optimal working positions, create basketwork structures, and discover essential steps (splitting, weaving, and peeling) in making closed- and open-weave basketry, rib basket weaving, and border designs. Since the dawn of time basket weaving has been a part of humanity's daily activities. Today, practicing this art, readers may indulge in a historical, yet always evolving and current craft that allows one to create useful, long-lasting articles from various plant materials. The baskets made will remain both gorgeous and useful for many years to come. A glossary of terms is provided for quick reference. This informative guide will be a welcome addition to any basket weaver's library.

Get inspired to elevate your wardrobe with dozens of tips and tricks on creating handmade, fashionable pieces from materials you already have! StyleHacking is designed for every sewist to succeed - there is no time spent on measuring, on decrypting the lines on huge paper patterns, or altering premade patterns. Take five basic pieces (tank top, t-shirt, sweater, trousers, and leggings) from your closet to make templates from which you can create an endless variety of garments including over 30 styles to get creative with.