Fame & Fortune!

No not really. Well maybe a little bit of fame. My friend Grace Dobush's sequel to her widely popular craft business book "Crafty SuperStar" has just been republished. It still has the same great content with a good number of additives and I am proud to be one of them!

I  chimed in on my experiences on Regretsy. Yes that was plural, I've been on Regretsy more then once and not ashamed of it at all. In fact let's take a gander back at those links here and here. It's nothing personal just bored people who love to flame. I'm not upset by them at all in fact it gave me some amazing traffic on my etsy site and resulted in a good number of sales. You can read more of my opinions and lemons to lemonade philosophy in the book!

 

It was super exciting for me to have a little Bio in at the end with a shout out back to my blog. I can easily say this year has been one of the best years of my life, Craft Wars to another publication credit. There was a good reason I wasn't able to get into Grad School. Let's hope the good things keep happening and I can bear the work that is coming up for festival organizing and personal art/fashion projects.

To help with all of that I finally started to move into my shared studio space with Stinky Bomb Soap maker Megan Green over at Junctionview Studios! I look forward to some long nights in silence getting some work done.

So the studio has been my excuse from doing blogging, among other things. I have a lot of catch up work to do and embroideries planned. I need to put my mind to the grindstone and since all the festivals are pretty well formed it's just a matter for me not getting distracted. My biggest distractions are starting new projects when the old ones need desperate attention. ONWARD!

Carry me - Book Review

 I'd been battling back and forth if this book would be worth it to get and finally just found it through my local library. My library is amazing that it connects to about 100 or more others so if they don't have it someone else can send it to my branch. Anyways back to this book. From the cover I could tell this was clearly a Japanese translation, their books just have this certain clean look about them. As much as I like Amy Butler's books and all their pretty colors it can also get me distracted from working on the project at hand. This book was also suggested by Interweave magazine so I thought it would be a worth a gander.

As expected from a Japanese craft book, even though it is translated it still has all the exact some clean beautiful photos. The detail photos are always important to me to see the pockets and notions used to make it complete.

I was very intrigued with this bag and it's multiple rivet's. In another picture it shows how the smaller bag clips inside the larger one with the rivets and some alternative strap and accessory attachments using the rivets as well.

Per the style of Japanese craft books all the pretty pictures are at the front and the meat and bones of the making is at the back of the book with a small picture of the project.  The instructions were very clean and direct with some nice illustrations to help understand where you are at.

 This book is perfect for someone who wants everything exactly step by step handed to them but a bit dry for the more creative person since it is very word heavy and all the illustrations are in black and white. But that is only half the book, the first half is still all the pretty pictures to inspire you.

Another nice thing is that all the patterns for the bags are included with the book. The Translated version is a bit different then how I am used to seeing them in the Japanese Craft books. Usually the patterns are all crammed into one sheet only identifiable by their different types of lines (dashes, dots, diamonds, circles, etc) and turned every which way. But in this translated version everything is laid out nicely such as a typical garment pattern would be laid out.

Over all I think this is a great book but if you follow them for materials you might have a tough time. Some of the bags require special notions that you can't just run down to Joanne's and get. These bags are also very nice and well made from good materials so if you want to do the exact project step by step plan ahead to be ordering some things online and that it might be just as costly in materials as it would be to buy a bag on your own. I think that can be said with a lot of nicer sewing projects though.

Not a keeper for me but I will be checking it out from the Library again so I can make the square bag and perhaps the rivet bag for my own personal uses.

The Art of Couture Sewing - Book Review

To tell the truth I have avoided this book for a long time.  After the last book with "couture" in the title it made me shudder with shame at the misuse of the this word.  This book however was a happy turn around.  Although it did not give me any new information or great detail on actual couture sewing it did explain it very well and go into examples, details and the History proper which made me feel much less angry about the title.

For the Introduction to Couture it had several different designers spotlighted with a brief history of them.  I really appreciated that and found it informative. 

The pictures throughout the book were great and modern.  The illustrations however were a bit generic.  I would of preferred a more plain mannequin type figure then these California sassy girls.  The how-to illustrations however were spot on and gave good details.  Sometimes I prefer the illustrations on how-to's then pictures.  You can exaggerate and add more detail in a drawing that can help further explain the process. 

This is on my list of books I must get.  It has such a wealth in instructions and tips.  It covers pattern drafting, draping and even illustration.  If I were a full time teacher I would even consider to make this a required text book for my students.  It is that good to me.  I think aside from the scary title it is a great book through and through.  I mean it does into great detail in Bias draping in the photo above, better then I have seen in any other book so far.  I will say that this is no book for beginner's you need to already know basic/intermediate sewing skills and might have to brush up on your fashion terminology before taking on this hunk of a book.

Book Review- The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques

 First I want to point out that this title is misleading and harps on one of my most hated misinterpretations of the word "couture".  What I was hoping for in getting this book were some wonderful finishing techniques of hand sewing done in couture.  What I found was vastly different yet still useful and good in it's own right. 

 Still having that initial bad taste in my mouth it continued to beat the dead horse by repeatedly using the word "couture" in bad context.  Those first pages made me really want to Hulk Rage but I battled through it and kept an open mind as to what the real contents of the book were and not their misgivings. 

Yes still beating the dead horse but the book showed potential with clean photos showing examples of what the contents were.  It was also helpful in explaining some different sewing room tools and perhaps some uncommon tools that the hobby seamstress was not aware existed.

Getting into the instructions in the book was easy enough.  Once again the photos very clearly demonstarted the parts of the process.  The writing was clear but the layout a little haphazard between the wording and the example photos but that is one of the dangers of a pictorial instruction books. A lot of the text gets jumbled or lost or mixed up due to trying to focus on the photos themselves instead of combining the two.  The photos can take over the entire focus of the pages turning them more graphical then informational.

My biggest complaint (after torturing the word couture) was that half the book was spent on necklines in different forms of finishing which after the first two the steps are all the same it is just the fabrications are different.  Then from the neckline they moved to the hemline doing the same thing where it was the same finishing but in different fabrications. 

The overall look of the book was pleasant and the author was a bit obsessed with Christian Dior designed by Galliano & Valentino.  Those seemed to be the prevalent designers she kept referring back to whenever there was a new chapter starting. 

To conclude this is not a bad book (except for the dead horse beating of couture) but I've seen better.  It is a good book if you want some clear examples and pictures of just finishing necklines and for waistbands.  I didn't feel their hem finishing was any better or worse then the Sewing Bible or Martha Stewart. I wouldn't buy this book, I felt I got everything I needed when I borrowed it at the Library.  It just didn't have enough to make it into my collection.

Nordic Knitting - Book Review

This is another one of my favorite books that I have gotten from Japan.  Another great find on etsy through the seller Pompadour. The cover caught my eye instantly and I knew it would hold oodles of secrets or at the least fun patterns.  It's true these techniques could of all been learned separately or through English language books but I also prefer the clear photos and charts in the Japanese craft books.

To my complete surprise and joy I found that this was marked with not only Japanese text but English as well!  Not the entire book or all the patterns but all of the explanations on the different stitches and forms.

Per usual they had great photos first and then they had several pages of instructions and charts with patterns in the back of the book to correspond with everything you were eye candy staring at before.

I've been working on my own spiral scarf, it is really fun and relaxing more so then knitting anything else lately.  Just watching with each set and the spiral get's longer and longer is very fulfilling. 

Pattern Magic #3 -Book Review

Of all three Japanese Pattern magic books this has been my favorite so far.  I think because it hits really close to home for me combining the elements of drafting with draping.  Things that I can describe to other people or draw out but then they question me if that is really the right shape.  This book solidifies that I have been right in 98% of my freehand flat designs.

This book like the previous ones has very simple and clean photos on mannequins or models that show off just the clothing and not anything else.  The language of this book doesn't matter so much because the photos are so well done and the pattern details are clearly pictured.  I find that a lot of English patterns are too wordy and get more confusing to transcribe then they are to actually piece and sew together.

Here is a representation of how to take a plain pants block and spruce it up with some simple slash and spread on one side giving the pants that Ruching look.  Easy to do right?  as long as you get the general concepts and aren't afraid of the weird shapes you can do so many amazing things with drafting off of the simple block.

I like how in the picture below it shows all the different possibilities for the one pattern.  The idea of taking one garment and styling and wearing it in so many different options is something I look for in my personal wardrobe all the time.

 

I would say that if you are really interested in Pattern drafting and fashion design this book, well this entire series of books is a great investment.  The first two books Pattern Magic 1&2 can now be found in translated into English now on Amazon.

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing & Fabric Crafts - Book Review

With the closing of two large Border's stores here in Columbus I was finally able to justify getting myself this book, Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing & Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z.  That is one long title.


I'm not the kind of person to instantly think oh it's Martha so it's perfect.  I like to question the real quality of things and not just take a brand for granted.  It can also be very difficult for me to read through these basic sewing books because I've read so many of them and I teach it at CCAD so I just want to skip the hand sewing basics and machine basic descriptions.  But for those that are newer to sewing perhaps those are just the things you need.  Without Further ado my no holds barred assessment of Martha's long winded titled book.

For starters this is a hefty book.  It is 400 pages with maybe only 150 of that being sewing pertinent.  The rest of the book is focused on projects. Projects that it doesn't get into full details in the book but it does on the CD ROM that comes with it.  I didn't find that very helpful at all.  What if I set myself up to go to a quiet sewing retreat at the Hocking hills with this book in tow and find I can't do a single thing because more then half the patterns are on a disc?  for the first few projects it gives you some detailed instructions but as you move further on it just glances over the projects and shows you pretty pictures of the finished pieces.  Also annoying is all the photos from the sewing basics/examples are for all the exactly same projects so I feel like I got ripped off on new content when I go through the projects.

For example when it describes applique and all the different hand and machine variations they have these Gingko leaves and then these teardrop shaped applique examples.  Then further in the book it get's to home goods and those familiar teardrops are shown once again on a duvet cover project with nearly the same photos and no real instructions in the book.  I don't feel like it even referenced back very well to the applique section of the book.

For me this book just didn't bring anything that innovative or new.  If you are completely new to sewing then this is a nice guide and beginning but I think there are better books out there.  The good thing is that nothing is confusing in the way she describes the different techniques and components.  The CD-rom included has all the patterns so you don't have to deal with a lump of folded paper at the back of the book.  The one thing I did really enjoy was reading her summarized explanation of fabrics and different thread types at the front of the book.


I wouldn't say I regret buying this book because her patterns are pretty timeless and good templates for me to elaborate on for my own uses.  Still to me there are more minus' then plus',  I guess in the end I just feel cheated that there wasn't more original content between the demo photos and the project photos.