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I’ve been having fun reading Amy Karol‘s new book, Bend the Rules with Fabric, and dreaming up ways to, well, bend the rules with… you get the picture.
Amy has created a very thorough and user-friendly textbook for altering fabrics so they express your unique personality. There are lots of interesting techniques here.
Pushkin found it very interesting, too.
The first part of the book covers all the techniques, and gives a nice crash course in basic design principles and color theory. You can learn to paint freehand on fabric, stamp it, stencil it, print from your computer onto it, make iron-on transfers, dye it, and do decorative stitching. Wow. That equips you for an enormous array of creative applications.
As you can see here, the technique instructions are mostly text, but are expressed clearly and with Amy’s personable, encouraging voice.
The project range is fun, and includes some no-sew things for beginners along with more complex ones. I’ve loved these Aunt Sarah and Uncle Pete dolls ever since I first saw them on Amy’s blog a while back.
Here’s a great beginner project – taking a readymade garment and overdyeing it to give it new life. Fun!
This is a favorite of mine – adding a cool filigree to a skirt with a bleach pen. What a pretty idea.
…And here’s one of the stitching techniques – couching some bulky fiber over the surface of another fabric.
This book is another example of a direction I’m really happy to see emerging in craft books – a book that’s more about giving you building-block techniques than a series of projects to copy.
Bend the Rules with Fabric is a book you’d keep on your shelf year after year, because it would keep inspiring you in new ways as your creativity evolves.
Hi, FTC! Just so you know, Amy was kind enough to send me a copy of this book.
I love that “over dying” is popular!
I have many a pair of socks that met their “overdying” end when a red sock committed suicide in my pile of whites.
love that bleach pen filigree! wow. so pretty & such a simple idea.
I was very close to buy it online the other day (I love “technical” books !), and then I hesitated because someone in a review wrote that it required tons of unusual supplies, and the kind that may not be not so easy to find when you don't live in the US. What do you think ? (I know, sometimes I shouldn't read reviews on am…on, and perhaps this has something to do with one of your recent tweets, but as I can't leaf through that kind of books in the french book stores…)
I didn't think I'd like this book as much as the first (Bend the Rules Sewing) but once I got into it I was delighted! Having just moved far from family – including little ones- I plan to make the “aunt and uncle” dolls to keep us in front of them whether they like it or not!
Oh well. Don't know how this happened, but I think I saw myself clicking on the “buy in one click” button this morning. Now I just have to be patient before this book is finally in my hands ! Thank you for the pictures of the inside of the book and the stats with the number of technics, I think that's what helped me decide if I wanted to buy it, eventually.
My friend and I are going to be doing the watercolor painting on fabric tomorrow. I was really glad I could make it to her book signing so I could hear all about the book, that is really what sold me on it. There were so many techniques in the book that I wanted to try, but wasn't sure where to start. She gave a great, simple explanation of everything that I felt like I could now take the plunge. :)
Heh – that “One Click” buy button has captured me many times! Please let me know if there any supplies I can help you find online.
This is an excellent question, Adelie. Some supplies are very simple, like fabric paints and paint brushes. But I'd guess that others, especially the supplies for printing on fabric from a computer, may be harder to find outside the U.S.
Hmmm, this is an excellent question, Adelie.
I'm guessing that certain techniques, like painting on fabric with a
brush, could be done easily without special equipment. But it's true
that some of the other techniques – and especially, the ones involving
printing computer images to fabric – may involve supplies that you
can't get easily outside the U.S. It's so hard to know how to give a
complete answer to this without having a clear understanding of what
kinds of things you can get in French craft stores.
If you'd like, though, feel free to email me, and we can talk in more
detail.
Aw, I love that idea!
Oh, that One-Click button! I've fallen victim many times. :-)
When you get it, let me know if I can help you find any of the
materials online. Enjoy!!
I just added it to my book list. I have got to read this book.
Hmmm, this is an excellent question, Adelie.
I'm guessing that certain techniques, like painting on fabric with a
brush, could be done easily without special equipment. But it's true
that some of the other techniques – and especially, the ones involving
printing computer images to fabric – may involve supplies that you
can't get easily outside the U.S. It's so hard to know how to give a
complete answer to this without having a clear understanding of what
kinds of things you can get in French craft stores.
If you'd like, though, feel free to email me, and we can talk in more
detail.
Aw, I love that idea!
Oh, that One-Click button! I've fallen victim many times. :-)
When you get it, let me know if I can help you find any of the
materials online. Enjoy!!