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Oh, I love a good open-ended craft book like this! Fabricate, as you can see from the cover, is about manipulating fabric in interesting ways – and then making things from it. There are lots of beautiful projects here, but my brain has been spinning on other ways to use all this glorious sculpted fabric.
(Incidentally, Susan Wasinger is also the author of Eco Craft. Which is also great.)
This amazing shag pillow is made by stitching and clipping felt. I’d love to dig my fingers into these loops. Fabricate also uses a similar technique to build a denim rug, and in that case, the design takes advantage of denim’s unique brand of fraying.
See? Open-ended.
Ever used water-soluble stabilizer? This lampshade employs it to make this airy fabric-scrap lampshade. Imagine how the light plays through all those triangles.
I especially love how this book first presents a detailed how-to for creating a fabric technique, and them a separate how-to for making the project. So you can mix and match a little.
This chenille-making technique, using silks, is sophisticated and lovely. And I’m absolutely going to try it out with some woven cottons, too.
Do not even get me started on how much I love this laminated felt idea.
This does bring up my only point of disagreement with the book – the felt is used here to make a laptop case. Although it’s beautiful, in my own experience, felt (especially several layers of it) may not be the best material for storing a hot laptop – it tends to hold the heat in, so the machine can’t cool down properly and could be damaged. I’d recommend caution with that project.
Moving on from there however, I’ll add that, as with Eco Craft, the quality of the instruction is excellent. Susan Wasinger writes extremely concise and clear directions, and, not to beat a dead horse of anything, but . . .
Every fabric technique and every project is illustrated with step-by-step photos. This is a huge value-add for a book like this, encompassing as it does so many techniques that haven’t been widely covered in other books.
The project set in Fabricate includes wearables, like this gorgeous tufted chiffon skirt, along with housewares and accessories. In each case, the construction is very simple, letting the manipulated fabric shine.
Given the well-illustrated how-to’s, I’d say that an advanced-beginner seamster could handle most of these projects just fine. And some of the fabric techniques require minimal or no sewing, so you can make those and incorporate them into other projects.
Just to whet your appetite, you’ll also find methods for creating stitchless embroidery, freeform fiber lace, a crazy-amazing brand of felt applique, crinkled pleats, and this pretty dimensional-pleat technique.
I only wish I had more than two thumbs to put up for this one.
This book looks really amazing and inspiring, thanks for doing the review. Seeing these techniques really makes me want to play around with some fabric!
This book looks really amazing and inspiring, thanks for doing the review. Seeing these techniques really makes me want to play around with some fabric!
This book sounds fantastic! I’m asking for it for my birthday.
Thanks for the review!
This book sounds fantastic! I’m asking for it for my birthday.
Thanks for the review!
It sounds amazing! thanks for reviewing.
It sounds amazing! thanks for reviewing.
Is it too late to ask for a copy for MY Birthday???? Not many sewing books inspire me simply because I have been sewing/tailoring/stitching most of my life. But This book is blowing my mind1 I’m anxious to get my hands on it and get started – but which project first????
Is it too late to ask for a copy for MY Birthday???? Not many sewing books inspire me simply because I have been sewing/tailoring/stitching most of my life. But This book is blowing my mind1 I’m anxious to get my hands on it and get started – but which project first????
yeah I don’t think felt and laptops should mix o.0 Probably fine if the laptop was cool tho
that is a very pretty top, perfect for spring :)
yeah I don’t think felt and laptops should mix o.0 Probably fine if the laptop was cool tho
that is a very pretty top, perfect for spring :)
Looks like a great book. I’m in love with the tufting on that purple skirt!
Looks like a great book. I’m in love with the tufting on that purple skirt!
Okay, can we talk?
Does that lampshade not just put you in the dirt? It’s FABULOUS! And I LOVE that pillow. If a human can love an inanimate object, that’s my new fiance.
I agree about felt for laptops. Not only have I heard about your iPod, but a friend of mine lost her iPod for a while after lining her case with felt. Felt doesn’t breathe, people! iPods and laptops are living things, and they need to breathe!!
maybe this isn’t a good comment, either…
Okay, can we talk?
Does that lampshade not just put you in the dirt? It’s FABULOUS! And I LOVE that pillow. If a human can love an inanimate object, that’s my new fiance.
I agree about felt for laptops. Not only have I heard about your iPod, but a friend of mine lost her iPod for a while after lining her case with felt. Felt doesn’t breathe, people! iPods and laptops are living things, and they need to breathe!!
maybe this isn’t a good comment, either…
oh guilt, guilt, guilt! I didn’t know I was in danger of suffocating laptops around the globe with my felt laptop case. Dang, I feel terrible. I loved the thick, cushiness of the laminated felt and thought it might even help my beloved laptop absorb a (very) low-altitude drop. Alas, I was being a dangerously over-protective , smothering the poor laptop with all that softness. Don’t know what to say, because I have a laminated felt I-pod case coming out in my next book, The Feisty Stitcher. (Too late to call it back from the printer.)
Okay, but here is a cool fix. How about going ahead and making the laminated felt case but use a hole-punch to punch adorable and graphic ventilation holes in the laminated felt? Just enough to let it breathe and to give the whole thing a retro-polka-dot “tongue-in-chic” vibe. the fabric might be too thick for a standard squeeze-handle office hole punch, but a craft store hole punch you hit with a hammer works great on the layers of felt. Good luck!
oh guilt, guilt, guilt! I didn’t know I was in danger of suffocating laptops around the globe with my felt laptop case. Dang, I feel terrible. I loved the thick, cushiness of the laminated felt and thought it might even help my beloved laptop absorb a (very) low-altitude drop. Alas, I was being a dangerously over-protective , smothering the poor laptop with all that softness. Don’t know what to say, because I have a laminated felt I-pod case coming out in my next book, The Feisty Stitcher. (Too late to call it back from the printer.)
Okay, but here is a cool fix. How about going ahead and making the laminated felt case but use a hole-punch to punch adorable and graphic ventilation holes in the laminated felt? Just enough to let it breathe and to give the whole thing a retro-polka-dot “tongue-in-chic” vibe. the fabric might be too thick for a standard squeeze-handle office hole punch, but a craft store hole punch you hit with a hammer works great on the layers of felt. Good luck!