This book is geared toward the absolute novice and assumes you know little or nothing about the craft. Filled with lots of step-by-step photos, useful sewing tip sidebars, and a painstakingly detailed glossary, Sewing 101 teaches you how to sew successfully. You will learn terminology used regularly in sewing, as well as all the basic skills that are the building blocks of the art. From threading the machine to sewing a straight stitch, to more complicated procedures such as installing zippers and following patterns, everything is covered. Chapters include such topics as: the sewing machine and its accessories, sewing supplies and how to use them, how to shop for, prepare, measure and cut fabric, and more. Each new technique is taught via the creation of an actual project, such as a pillow, window treatment, t-shirt, or baby blanket, thereby allowing you to learn a new skill and create an item to wear, display or use in your home. Dust off that machine and begin sewing for fun and function!'

    Ultimate Crochet Bible is the ideal guide for anyone casting the first time, but is also the definitive reference for more experienced practitioners who just need to brush up on a technique. Filled with more than 400 images, it explains exactly how to create garments, jewelry, accessories, and more, from the basic chain stitch to finishing touches like a picot trim. Additional topics include creating texture, structure and shaping, color work, and embellishments.

    This book shows you how to calm and enhance your outlook through the movement of brush on paper.Master artist Jean Haines leads you on a journey through paint, showing you how to wipe away your worries with the soothing, gentle strokes of watercolour paint.

    With styles ranging from cute to elegant and sweet to sophisticated, these mixed-media projects will transport your art from the studio to the runway!Collage Couture features:- 22 super-pretty projects, from collages on canvas to framed shadowbox art to gifts for your fashionista. Play with your materials--paper, paints, ink and markets--to create pieces you'll be happy to display and share. - Illustrations and easy instruction for creating fashion sketches and silhouettes. And don't forget the details: learn how to add eyes, lips, hair and, of course, clothing! - Tips and advice on setting the mood in your studio, from enhancing your art space with flowers and china to wearing a tiara as your work! Why not feel as pretty as your art?Indulge your inner girly-girl with Collage Couture!

    As the stuff of life piles up and things spin out of control, we could all use a little help. These never-before-seen designs and how-tos are full of surprise and wonder. Learn how to turn everyday objects into spellbinding inventions to give away to friends or keep for yourself. Our simple self-improvement techniques will make you smarter, better-looking, and more well-adjusted. (RE) MAKE IT!This is the “sales copy” section. Here we will talk about how useful, delight-inducing, and excellently well put together this book is. If things have gone a little flat and you’re searching for inspiration, look no further. ReadyMade is full of fun projects for the whole family. It solves problems, cures dizzy spells, and holds open the door. It has a collegial, ’50s garage tinkerer sensibility. It read Popular Science as a kid and dreamt of building rockets. It launches with fiery trails. It soars. When it falls, it brushes itself off and starts over. It is the Captain of Creativity. Resistance is futile. This book is 100% hope.First project: Personalize this book and protect it from theft by cutting out this portion of the cover and replacing it with your own photo. (See page 16)

    Author and mixed-media artist Pam Carriker proves that art and life can coexist peacefully, productively, and happily. Making things every day can be a joyful reality instead of just wishful thinking.Each chapter in Art at the Speed of Life includes both essays and project ideas from a variety of contributors, including Suzi Blu, Lisa Bebi, Christy Hydeck, Paulette Insall, Cate Calacous Prato. The projects are inspiring, yet easy to complete on a tight schedule, and include techniques such as assemblage, image transfer, and collage. A bonus seven-day journal project helps you track your work as you go. With a unique combination of time management tips and advice, inspiring essays, and projects designed to fit into busy schedules, Art at the Speed of Life will help you live your dream of making art every day.

    Each braid features a beautiful close-up photograph, materials list, step-by-step instructions, and easy-to-follow color illustrations to guide crafters along. Each technique is explored indepth, followed by tips on starting and finishing braids and advice for incorporating braids into other textile projects.

    Now, the influential needlecraft guru has become a “two-timer,” bringing the same ingenuity, innovative eye, and solid fashion sense that she’s always exhibited in her knitting design to the world of crochet. In Loop-d-Loop Crochet, Durham presents more than 25 designs that are as up-to-the-minute, style-wise, as they are thoroughly steeped in crochet stitchwork tradition. Each of the projects, which range from purses, skirts, shawls, and sweaters for the whole family to a hammock and a pair of brocade boots, epitomizes Durham’s signature design sensibility, which she describes as “a tension of opposites—rough-hewn yet delicate, stark yet feminine, organic yet structured.” Decked out in evocative color photographs (by Adrian Buckmaster), a diverse cast of models show off the finished garments. Beginner and advanced crocheters will find Durham’s novel approach refreshing and inspiring. And for newcomers just making the switch from knitting, Loop-d-Loop Crochet provides the perfect introduction to what Durham terms the “flip side” of needlecraft’s heritage. Crochet is a freeing experience, Durham says—a sentiment with which her many fans are certain to agree.

    It then moves on to marbling effects, simulating textiles, making frames, building miniature pots, and creating faux stones.Inspirational examples of work from some of the best polymer clay artists in the world will fire your imagination and provide ideas for developing your own designs.

    This book is printed individually on uncoated (non-glossy) paper with the best quality printers available. The printing quality of this copy will vary from the original offset printing edition and may look more saturated. The information presented in this version is the same as the latest edition. Any pattern pullouts have been separated and presented as single pages. If the pullout patterns are missing, please contact c&t publishing.

    Styled as a cookbook for the beginning miniaturist "chef," the introductory chapters discuss the "basic ingredients" and techniques used for polymer clay and jewelry-making. The remainder of the book offers 20 "recipes" grouped by category: fruits, breakfast, lunch and dinner, sweets and snacks, and holiday foods. Each recipe has a list of "ingredients," step-by-step directions with photographs, and suggested variations. Each piece is presented as a particular finished jewelry item, such as a necklace, but readers are encouraged to adapt the piece into any type of jewelry they choose. Each chapter also includes one of the authors' own cherished recipes for real food, including Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls, Grandma's Pasta Sauce, Decadent Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes, and Mom's Holiday Sugar Cookies. Throughout, the authors--who are sisters--share their enthusiasm for family, sisterhood, and the tradition and feelings surrounding our favorite foods.

    Mercurial, versatile, inexpensive, and wildly colorful, alcohol inks are one of the newest mediums to hit the art community. Pigments of Your Imagination is your essential guide for working with alcohol inks, from choosing which inks to use for each project to learning how to maximize your artistic potential with a wide variety of fascinating techniques. Using an assortment of materials and tools, learn how to work on a variety of surfaces, including paper, glass, metal, fabric, and plastic. Find inspiration for your own masterpieces in the step-by-step demos and guest artist gallery. From the beginning craftsperson to the professional artist, Pigments of Your Imagination offers a broad insight into the expansive world of alcohol inks. Explore the limits of your artistic ingenuity with alcohol inks. Jump start your creativity!

    Unlike the typical watercolor textbooks, this unique, beautiful volume is a field book of inspiration, creative ideas, how to's, and projects, all from an artist's perspective. Each creative exercise features a technique, shows step-by-step photographs, and includes a clever idea for a gift or project that can be made from the painted samples.

    The author instructs in coil, slab, mold, and pinch techniques to produce pots, bowls, vases, tiles, and other decorative pieces. She also advises on acquiring basic tools, mixing and preparing clay, and using coloring agents. Newcomers to pottery crafting will especially appreciate her tips for making projects easier to accomplish, such as use of a hairdryer at regular intervals for drying out too-wet clay, and easy methods for keeping clay soft and pliable. Step-by-step color photos with detailed captions guide handcrafters through each project from start to finish. Many photos are of the cutaway type to show correct hand positions for controlling the clay, both inside and outside the form. Here's the book that takes the mystery out of handbuilding in clay, demonstrating each step in the pottery-making process. More than 400 color photos.

    Lively, curious, and creative, she takes inspiration from her surroundings, from art, literature, and nature, and expresses her passion through the gentle arts of needlework, cooking, gardening, and homemaking—and now through her writing. In The Gentle Art of Domesticity Brocket celebrates everything that is, and can be, wonderful about home life. This gorgeous and unusual book, full of whimsy, warmth, and a wealth of stunning photographs, helps us to see domesticity with new eyes. Whether she’s knitting a tea cozy or baking jam tarts, crocheting a blanket or sewing an apron, Brocket fills her home with beauty, color, and fun. She transforms day-to-day domesticity into a realm of possibilities, both practical and imaginative—and encourages us to do the same in our own lives.Rather than categorize readers as quilters or embroiderers, bakers or gardeners, Brocket embraces the idea that they may be all of these, and more. The key to practicing any of the domestic arts, she says, is to recognize the value of homemaking, overlooked skills, and ordinary things. This book’s glorious synthesis of style, DIY projects, and philosophical musings inspires us not only to emulate Brocket’s handmade creations but also to share her enjoyment of the simple pleasures of home.