"Anyone who can work through the labyrinthian directions for sewing that accompany the commercial pattern can surely learn the comparatively simple and clear rules for pattern making," says nationally acclaimed sewing expert Adele Margolis. Her profusely illustrated primer allows you to create your own fashionable patterns and personalized commercial patterns. You'll learn how to design and execute everything from skirts, dresses, and blouses to sportswear, jackets, and children's clothing. You'll also find tips for: shaping fabric to your figure; mastering the art of flares, flounces, pleats, and tucks; creating fashionable necklines, pretty pockets, stylish sleeves, and much more.
Simple step-by-step directions and more than 1,000 illustrations show how to successfully complete apparel for work, home, and play that reflects your personal style and taste.

This fresh and scholarly look at a century of rug hooking in Maine demonstrates the significant role non-woven rugs have played in American decorative arts. True Waldoboro rugs are explored in detail and the myth of "Acadian" rugs is explained. Edward Sands Frost manufactured preprinted burlap rug patterns in the mid-19th century that spawned competitions across the country. By the 1880s, summer visitors helped organize cottage industries that turned Maine's rug-hooking talents into income producers. The Arts and Crafts movement in America led to new and exciting styles of rug patterns in Maine, and by the early 20th century, artists pushed the craft of rug hooking in to a fine art, with Marguerite Zorach's designs among the prominent examples. This lavishly illustrated book has over 250 color photographs that highlight the extraordinary story of rugs created throughout Maine and eastern Canada, including popular maritime designs by men of the seas.

They're hot, they're shiny, and they're oh-so-glamorous. The mettle of movie star wardrobes, the spark that lights brides' eyes, and the flash that marks music videos-metallic fabrics have defined glamour for half a century. This book revisits metallics past, with historic fabric swatches from Europe and Japan dating back to the 1950s, and takes us to today's top European couture houses in a visual exploration of metallics' allure. In all, 237 pictures will provide inspiration for designers and insight for fashion historians.

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.

Learn the art of smocking from award-winning cosplayer Maggie Hofmann! With 20 American and English smocking techniques, you can add 3D textures, historical accents, and special effects to your costumes.

From the editors of the popular Making Mathematics with Needlework, this book presents projects that highlight the relationship between types of needlework and mathematics. Chapters start with accessible overviews presenting the interplay between mathematical concepts and craft expressions. Following sections explain the mathematics in more detail, and provide suggestions for classroom activities. Each chapter ends with specific crafting instructions. Types of needlework included are knitting, crochet, needlepoint, cross-stitch, quilting, temari balls, beading, tatting, and string art. Instructions are written as ordinary patterns, so the formatting and language will be familiar to crafters.

With this book you'll create your own gorgeous handmade gifts, stitched with love using the extra fabric scraps that you couldn't bear to just throw away. My Handmade World includes 15 original sewing patterns that incorporate Giovanna Monfeli's eye for detail and her unseen mastery in shaping fabric into amazing objects. The patterns range in difficulty, so beginners may easily complete projects from start to finish, while other patterns will challenge a more advanced sewer to learn some new techniques. Projects include gorgeous nursery mobiles, cute keychains, soft pillows, an adorable doorstop, a handy paperweight, as well as toy animals and poufs that will decorate your living room, and many more. Instructions are thoughtfully hand-illustrated throughout in a clean and simple style and the inspiring photographs showcase the possibilities using different color combinations or fabrics. My Handmade World is sure to become every sewists go-to project book for one-of-a-kind gifts. * Full-size templates * Clear illustrations accompanying almost every step * Beautiful photography by Giovanna showing her creation process

Make, mend, and customise your own wardrobe with this highly photographic beginner's guide to machine sewing. A sewing book for beginners that's actually helpful. It's love at first stitch! This highly photographic, easy-to-use guide to machine sewing features more than 200 step-by-step techniques to help you master every stitch in the book! Inside the pages of this sewing reference book, you will find: - More than 200 sewing techniques, all clearly and closely photographed and explained in sharp detail - Discover how to read a pattern, use a sewing machine, and sew basic stitches, seams, and hems - Explore how to put your new-found skills to use to create, personalise, up-cycle, and re-purpose your clothes and soft furnishings. - Photographs and explanations of essential sewing equipment and materials - for both hand and machine sewing - A guide to sewing jargon and terminology that describes when, where, and how to use each tool and technique - Techniques to create something new or to customise things you already have Whether you're a seasoned sewer or just starting to learn how to sew, a fashion design student or sewing for yourself at home, Sew Step by Step will guide you through every hand stitch, machine stitch, and sewing technique you will ever need. With fully updated text and a refreshed design, this is an essential sewing handbook that you will want to keep next to your sewing machine to come back to time and time again. Close-up photographs accompanied by crystal clear instructions take you through everything from cutting out patterns to inserting collars, sleeves and pockets into garments. Explore how to put those skills to use to make, mend and customise your clothes and home furnishings. You will also learn how to find a suitable fabric for every project with an easy-to-use guide to different materials. It also makes a wonderful gift for beginner sewers and expert stitchers alike.

Here is a selection of inspiring projects including: quilts, pillows, a spring wreath, little deer toy, handstitched pincushions, pretty fabric bags, coasters, charms, and decorations. Helen's work includes extra details and embellishments to inspire your own creativity.

The Book of Decorative Knots illustrates more than 50 beautiful - and functional - knots for a wide variety of purposes. This meticulously illustrated book presents each knot with clear, step-by-step line illustrations that explain each phase of the properly tied knot. Included are lanyard knots for decorative braidwork, bowknots that make loops, 'Turk's head' knots for making decorative handgrips, button knots, sinnets, flat knots, and many, many more.

The unicorn tapestries are one of the most popular attractions at The Cloisters, the medieval branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Traditionally known as "The Hunt of the Unicorn," " "this set of seven exquisite and enigmatic tapestries was likely completed between 1495 and 1505. The imaginatively conceived scenes--displaying individualized faces of the hunters and naturalistically depicting the flora and fauna of the landscape--are beautifully captured in silk, wool, and metal yarns.

Written by one of the world's leading authorities on medieval textiles and illustrated with many lovely color reproductions, "The Unicorn Tapestries "traces the origins of the tapestries as well as possible interpretations of their symbolic meaning. This is an essential book for any lover of medieval art and textiles.

For debonair gentlemen who eschew denim in favour of tweed, and feel that grooming and gallantry should not be consigned to history, this book will prove extremely diverting. Featuring a cornucopia of elegant garments and accessories to sew, this beautifully illustrated tome is full of inspiration and charm. Including beautiful garments such as pyjamas, waistcoat, trousers and jacket, plus indispensable accessories such as cravat, flat cap and wallet there's something for every fellow who's looking to be more urbane than urban. Whether you make these smart projects for yourself or a loved one, this selection of spiffing sartorial gems will put a spring in anyone's step.

One simple stitch can bring new life to hundreds of your favorite things! Boro is the Japanese straight stitch used to repair and reinforce fabrics that is the basis for Sashiko. It is a favorite among visible mending enthusiasts because of its simplicity and because it adds an intriguing textural element to favorite garments and home furnishings. In this new book, Sashiko expert Harumi Horiuchi shares her ideas for using Boro to patch holes and tears, reinforce worn areas, and add fresh details to garments. Her approach is simple--the things you love are worth fixing. Rediscover your favorite items by giving them a new look and feel--while also being good to the environment. Her demonstrations and instructions make the process easy and enjoyable. Here are just a few of the things you'll learn in this book: Discover the pleasure of working with old fabrics and making classic neutrals come alive Be inspired to give old scraps of cloth new purpose, whether patching a well-loved skirt or a pair of jeans Learn to revive a faithful cloth bag, or even something knitted like a favorite pair of worn woolen socks And so much more! There's no need to stop at reinforcement and repair. Remake an entire garment by artfully patching it here, there and everywhere. The more you patch, the more unique your garment becomes. This book will be just the start of giving new life to hundreds of old things!

The world's foremost authority on the history of thimbles tells all, outlining the little tool's long history, from ancient Egypt to today. The thimbles' history is interwoven with that of women, giving glimpses of a private, domestic world that history books often overlook. Meet the poor little Victorian seamstresses with their everyday brass thimbles and the tiny children's thimbles worn by early straw workers. Glance at gold and gem-set thimbles worn by the courtesans of Paris and, on the other hand, learn why the thimble was the perfect romantic gift a proper gentleman could give to a lady. Romance aside, this book supplies practical tips on cataloging, maintenance, and display, along with price guides and a list of thimble collectors' organizations throughout the world. More than two thousand thimbles are illustrated in full color, some of which have never been seen before.

You'll love these portable projects! Make the most of the moments you spend in waiting rooms, lunch rooms, trains, planes, or cars. Learn Kathleen Brown's unique Double Stitch technique--featuring a simple running stitch--and sew wherever you are. Learn to easily sew by hand to join patchwork pieces and create the look of hand quilting at the same time using the Double Stitch technique 14 charming patterns for beginners, including embroidery designs Delightful table runners, pillows, handwork suitable for framing, and more

Artist and wool crafter Jessica Peill-Meininghaus decided that she needed a project to teach herself follow-through in life. She settled on making one of her popular felted-wool gnomes every day for a year. With pipe cleaners and wool roving, amidst the chaos of raising four children and moving cross-country, Peill-Meininghaus felted her way through hundreds of charming, pointy-hatted, often bearded characters. Lavishly decorated with photos of each charming creation, The Gnome Project is the surprising and magical story of what happens when we commit to something small. (Hint: It's something very big, as in making life more meaningful.) Here is her inspirational tale, complete with gnome-making instructions.

Boasting countless benefits and applications, handmade felt is a chunky, durable and non-fraying fabric that can be used for fashion and home projects. With Complete Feltmaking, any crafter can learn the art of creating felt with a little fleece, water and soap. This exciting book covers all aspects of feltmaking, from making simple flat felt to felting 3D shapes, as well as felting knitted work, needle felting and some slightly more advanced techniques such as cobweb felting. Each technique is carefully explained in detail with step-by-step instructions and accompanied by several projects to keep you constantly inspired. From a cheerful polka-dot bag and cozy felted slippers to a whimsical mobile and heart-warming tea cosy, this spirited primer offers a range of projects for beginner and advanced felters. Once the crafter has become comfortable with basic techniques, they can graduate to more complex felting techniques in the advanced chapter. This book includes everything you need to bring the highly sought after handcrafted style of felt to your wardrobe and your home.

Thousands of natural materials can produce glorious colour-the cochineal insect produces pink, maroon and purple, and more than 500 species of plants produce indigo blue. Now, in The Modern Natural Dyer, expert Kristine Vejar shares the most user-friendly techniques for dyeing at home with foraged and garden-raised dyestuffs as well as with natural dye extracts. Demystifying the "magic," Vejar explains in straightforward, easy-to-follow detail how to produce consistent, long-lasting colour. With stunning photography of the dyes themselves, the dyeing process, and 20 projects for home and wardrobe, The Modern Natural Dyer is a complete resource for aspiring and experienced dye artisans.

In this visually stunning book, Moy Mackay reveals how you too can create beautiful pictures using felt. Characterised by her wonderful use of colour, Moy's work is breathtaking and includes still-lifes, animals and landscapes inspired by the dramatic scenery of the Scottish Borders where she lives and works. Moy takes you through every step of the process, including the materials and tools you need, the feltmaking process itself (which is easier than you'd imagine), and how to put together four fabulous felt paintings of your own. There is guidance on stitching, including both hand- and machine-stitching, as well as how to use colour and introduce texture in the form of different fibres and threads. There are numerous examples of Moy's work through the book, and by the end you will not fail to be inspired to create gorgeous felt paintings of your own. "Moy's passionate use of colour and the deep texture created by felting are what draw me to her work. I also like the way that she concentrates on her surroundings for her subject matter - her work is very free." - Kaffe Fassett

The fabrics here are African designs, made primarily in Africa, commercially, rather than by traditional methods. Most are contemporary, made of cotton; though varieties of rayon, wool, a blend, or synthetic also are present, as well as fabric with metallic thread or surface embellishment. Many examples are printed adaptations of traditional woven textiles, because the pattern and color and their effect are the essential qualities. This volume, arranged visually with a focus on design, color, and pattern, is a pictorial survey, which includes examples of simple, bold two and three-color designs, stripes, grid formats, and overall geometric patterns. The pictures serve as reference and inspiration to artists, designers, and all involved with fashion and fabric. The companion volume, African Prints, complements the designs featured in this book.

Beautiful guided stitchwork for every season—featuring fall pumpkins and mushroom wreaths, winter skiers, spring blossoms, summer vegetables, and more!

​​With 56 unique embroidery pieces to reflect the seasons, this next book from beloved author Yumiko Higuchi takes creatives on a month-by-month exploration of colorful motifs that can be used on a variety of fabrics and surfaces. Each month starts with an emblem of the month number, such as a vibrant poppy wreath for May, a viny pumpkin for October, and sprigs of mistletoe and Christmas roses for December. Each emblem perfectly captures the spirit of the month, and the subsequent patterns for each month follow the seasonal theme.

​Each design in the book is accompanied by step-by-step instructions for recreating it, including stitch types, thread colors by number, and thread type. There is also a detailed section on how to perform certain stitches and knots to guide beginners.

Whether embroidering a new dress, a pillowcase, a bag, or even a jar cover for jam, Stitching through the Seasons has charming patterns that are sure to spark creativity and festivity for embroiderers both experienced and just starting out. ​