Begin an exhilarating journey into the world of drawing and painting with thread and your sewing machine. Thread sketching is a fascinating craft - but where do you begin? This fully revised and illustrated Second Edition of 'Creative Thread Sketching' guides you through everything you need to know. From equipment and tools, fabric selection and setting up your sewing machine, to free motion stitching techniques and problem-solving, this friendly guide shows you how to put all the pieces together. Learn how to create a wide variety of stunning stitched textile art for your home or friends. Popular textile artist, author and blogger Deborah Wirsu includes six free, illustrated projects to help get you started with this comprehensive introduction to creating stunning textile art using fabric, thread, and a domestic sewing machine.

Transform your ideas on creative fabric embellishment for textile art that's full meaning and astounding texture, in this inspiring book by award-winning textile art tutor and artist Jan Dowson. Whether it's a landscape, a garden, an animal or a powerful memory of a place or object, Jan shows you how she develops them all into beautifully stitched representations that exude awe-inspiring detail, colour and expression. Discover Jan's unique sketchbook process, where she stores and collects natural items, and explores different patterns, textures, media and markings to cultivate her final design. See her simple yet effective methods for transforming her fabric for stitching, including dyeing, embellishing and stamping. Then, watch her transform an unassuming square of fabric into a contemporary piece of art brimming with colour, texture and extraordinary stitched markings - all made through the combination of traditional sewing techniques and other media. Following a fascinating, illustrated step-by step chapter on Jan's key techniques, join her as she takes you through the stages of three types of work for which she is most renowned - the stitched landscape, the memory cloth and the bird sculpture. Each project also includes a break down of the materials, tools and techniques used, so that can understand as well as see the development of her astounding, mixed-media creations. Throughout the book, a gallery of Jan's work complements her techniques and projects, showing how to truly push the limits on your stitcheries. These are stunning pieces that will open your eyes and turn your own creative concepts into original, personal work.

To call what Janet Bolton makes with fabric ‘patchwork’ doesn’t do justice to her creations – hers are images, pictures that capture fragments of an imagination that can strike anywhere, at any time. In this stunning and original book, Janet shows you how to create beautiful pictures on fabric. Taking you through her personal method, she will guide you to find the inspiration around you and teach you how to turn your creativity into a textile project and develop your personal ‘voice’. With friendly, reassuring and inspiring guidance, Janet shows you first how to find inspiration and then how to put your ideas into practice, complete with a step by step example that will show you every stage of construction from beginning to end. Once you finish your first project you won’t be able to wait to start the next!

The events of your life, from local walks to exotic trips, can provide endless inspiration for textile art. This inspiring book shows you how to record your experiences, using sketchbooks, journals and photography, to create personal narratives that can form a starting point for more finished stitched-textile pieces. Acclaimed textile artist and teacher Cas Holmes, whose work is often inspired by her life and the journeys she makes, helps you find inspiration through your own life and explains how to record what you see in sketchbooks and journals, which can often become beautiful objects in themselves. She explains how you can use photography, both as documentation and as inspiration, and sometimes incorporate it into the work itself, along with found objects and ephemera. Throughout the book are useful techniques that can be harnessed to add extra interest to your work, such as methods for making layered collages, how to 'sketch' with stitch, and advice on design and colour. If you want to create beautiful, unique work inspired by your life and travels, this is the perfect book for you.

Ann Smalls imaginative use of cutting and manipulating techniques, and her layering and colouring tricks, makes this your go-to guide for bringing form and texture to your fabric artwork. This book is a rich resource and reference for textile artists seeking new ideas and who want to experiment with reverse appliqué and related techniques such as layering, trapunto, stacks, puffs and fabric manipulation. • Packed with techniques suitable for quilting and other textile art • Three wearable step-by-step projects • Clear, close-up images make layering enjoyable and accessible.

Explore personal transformation through the stitching of dreams and intentions. Anything but ordinary, Mystical Stitches combines the beloved and accessible craft of embroidery with a spiritual element, introducing a rich treasury of 200 magical symbols you can use to set an intention and create personal icons to wear or embellish items in the home. Christi Johnson offers unique patterns inspired by botanicals, animals, numbers, the cosmos, earth elements, zodiac signs, and mythical beasts, for novice or well-practiced crafters to combine into talismans with personal meaning. Johnson’s folk art style is vibrant and unintimidating and provides a framework for bringing spiritual elements into physical form. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Appliqué is a classic embroidery technique that has recently been experiencing a revival. Appearing in the most cutting-edge contemporary textile work, it can be interpreted in many different ways – layering, patching, applying, overlaying – and offers endless creative possibilities. Each technical variation of appliqué has traditionally had its own set boundaries, but nowadays all the rules are being broken and the technique has become relevant, up-to-date and suitable for all varieties of textile art. This impressive book takes a fresh look at the world of appliqué and surface embellishment, showing you how to develop distinctive and individual designs, create exciting compositions and use unusual combinations of materials. It covers the traditional variations, including bonded appliqué, broderie perse, cut-away appliqué and Mola work, and explains how the standard techniques can be developed to give exciting results in your own textile work, in both hand and machine embroidery. Accompanying the techniques is a wealth of examples of contemporary appliqué to inspire you. The authors are renowned for their thoughtful, creative but practical approach to teaching textiles, making this book suitable for beginners and established textile artists alike.

Award-winning quilt artist Valerie Goodwin shows your customers how to transform the places they love and places they ve always wanted to see into hypnotic art quilts. Readers learn step by step how to create fiber collages based on maps of their favorite real and imaginary places. The book features a large photo gallery of quilt maps by Valerie and her students. . Innovative designs keep your customers creativity engaged . Fully illustrated guide covers a variety of basic mixed-media techniques . Bundle this book with fabric paints and mediums, markers, and fusible web"

Piece dazzling diamond and gorgeous gemstone quilts Add dimension and luminosity to your quilts with gorgeous gemstone piecing! Learn the basics of abstraction and color theory as you piece stunning works of art with gem quilt expert MJ Kinman. After years of perfecting her technique, Kinman explains freezer paper piecing in brilliant detail with jewel quilting ideas to help you express your own creativity. Get helpful advice on fabric selection and quilting patterns to illuminate each cut. A sample gem quilt pattern helps you practice as you follow along step by step. Then find your own muse and bring any gemstone to life in exquisite detail. Just as gems can sparkle and glow in a million different ways, you’ll be inspired by the author’s work and a gallery of student quilts to help you let go of perfection and embrace the chaos of color and light. Shine on! Learn to create freezer-paper patterns for your own gemstone quilts Build skills as you sew a sample diamond quilt top, with step-by-step instructions See a gallery of ground-breaking jewel quilts from the author and her students