Learn to determine your cost of goods, set prices, identify the competition, and understand the ins and outs of wholesale and retail sales. Explore the various sales venues available, including independent craft fairs, Web sites such as Etsy, and traditional stores, and learn to maximize your visibility and sales in each one. Want to start your own website? Chapin shows you how to style and prop your crafts for photography and explains how the most popular Web marketplaces operate. You’ll find everything you need to turn your talent into profits.

    In Venetian glassmaking, slender rods of molten glass are shaped, then cut to reveal amazingly detailed patterns: flowers, geometric shapes, dancing colors. These slices are called millefiori, “thousand flowers,” because they form a carpet of flowers when placed side by side. Now celebrity author Donna Kato shows crafters exactly how to re-create these intricate, fascinating designs in polymer clay. The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques reveals the entire process: how to work with the polymer clay, the basics of planning and creating a cane, and using color effectively. Dozens of canes, from simple to simply stunning, are included, and everything is clearly explained and illustrated with full-color photos, the Donna Kato way. Throughout the book, examples of stunning work by such millefiori artists as Kathy Amt, Pier Voulkos, and Kathleen Dustin provide inspiration. There must be a thousand ways to make beautiful millefiori . . . explore them all in The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques.

    The text is published in full color and contains striking sailing photography from well-known photographer Billy Black, and world-class illustrations from award-winning illustrator Peter Bull. One of the text's most distinguishing features is its user friendly "spreads" in which instructional topics are self-contained on opposing pages throughout the book. This easy to read learning tool follows the critically acclaimed Sailing Made Easy, which Sailing Magazine called "best in class" upon its release in 2010. Sailing Made Easy is the #1 resource in basic sailing education, and Coastal Cruising Made Easy is poised to become the industry standard in intermediate sailing education.

    Reflecting her love of vintage-style patterns, the fabrics feature fresh colors in delightful and unexpected combinations. There are 43 fun and useful projects, all shown in stunning, close-up photographs complete with full-size pattern and on an enclosed sheet for each project, step-by-step instructions and templates.Some of the projects included are: -a patchwork knitting bag-a child's apron complete with handy pocket-a useful inside-out tote that expands for extra bulk-a mix-and-match bird mobile for a child-a practical zippered knitting needle case-a charming quilted purse-an amusing airplane blanketand much more!All the techniques are clearly explained in an introductory wealth of fantastic ideas and tips for variations, allowing you to customize the basic designs are you wish!

    And in the closet. And anywhere else you've stashed yarn. They're friendly little monsters, and they're ready to come out and play! Popular designer Rebecca Danger presents 20 patterns for the most adorable monsters ever to climb off a pair of knitting needles. All are shown in two colorways, and most are done in two yarn weights, to help you pick the perfect yarn to suit your monster's personality.

    Covering everything from knitting standards and conventions to working with various types of yarns to fixing stitch mistakes, Lily's book is a comprehensive distillation of her decades of experience, and by the end of it she will have answered knitting questions that you didn't even know you had.

    When used effectively, line and mark-making convey texture, tone, form, movement, and mood. With Drawn to Stitch by your side, learn creative uses of line in embroidery and textile art.Artist and teacher Gwen Hedley shares a series of exercises designed to explore line’s potential as well as develop your creativity. Drawn to Stitch also covers line and mark-making tools, materials, and processes, including printing and mixed-media techniques. Gwen explores stitch, explaining how to interpret different line qualities from crisp and sharp to soft and diffused and from raised and overlaid to recessed and inlaid.Full of inspiring ideas, Drawn to Stitch is illustrated with stunning examples of stitched-textile work from leading artists.

    Whether you've been sewing for years or just gotten the itch, you'll find invaluable information inside for using your sewing machine to its maximum potential.Learn how to:Troubleshoot machine problems like skipped stitches, needle breaks and tension troublesPerform basic maintenance on your machine to keep it running smoothlyChoose fabrics, threads and other materials that will keep your machine running at full capacity and result in quality projectsRecognize and utilize the best sewing machine feet to achieve the desired resultsRefine everyday tasks from installing zippers to sewing buttonholes and constructing perfect hemsCreate beautiful embellishments like scallops, ruches, smocking, pin tucks, cutwork, puffing and entredeux to enhance any sewn project or garmentAn indispensable reference book to keep next to your machine, inside you'll find quick answers to all your sewing problems. Take control of your sewing machine and achieve wonderful results every time!

    Now this self-described “mitten and glove aficionado” shares her enthusiasm for these ordinary items by presenting 28 extraordinary ways to make them for year-round style.Featuring gloves, mittens, arm warmers, mitts, and fingerless gloves, this is the second book in a new SCT Craft series that introduces innovative approaches to creating popular knitted items. Knitting New Mittens and Gloves combines traditional and untraditional techniques—as well as influences as far-flung as Gothic architecture, Estonian lace, and Wagnerian opera—in a winning collection of patterns for adults and children. From wool mittens filled with unspun fleece and arm warmers with leather laces, to cotton-mesh fingerless gloves and silk-beaded mitts to be worn as adornments, each design has an unexpected twist.Because they are small, quick to make, and don’t require a lot of yarn, mittens and gloves are perfect projects for knitting throughout the year, and they also offer an ideal opportunity for beginning and more seasoned knitters to experiment with new techniques, yarns, and styles. With its fresh, original sensibility, Knitting New Mittens and Gloves will captivate knitters of every level.

    Richard Skinner believes it is your duty as a novelist to bring your whole self to the page; to find your story, not force it; to meet your reader in a spirit of openness. In Writing a Novel he offers up frameworks, strategies and stimuli to help you meet that duty, drawingon his deep experience as one of the UK's leading creative writing teachers. He covers the essentials - narrators, character, setting - with charm and rigour. But Writing a Novel is not a set of instructions: it is a way of thinking, a conversation, a relationship in itself.

    Add to that a sense of fun, and you have the sew-it-yourself Stylish Dress Book. Complete with stunning full-color photos, this Japanese sewing book (in English) gives you instructions and pull-out patterns for unique Japanese fashion—26 relaxed and comfortable yet elegant dresses and tops—pretty, timeless pieces that can be worn year after year, by women of all ages and sizes. The detailed diagrams and easy-to-follow instructions take you step-by-step from layout to finished garment. The no-rules looks pictured in this book are perfect for today's carefree fashion sensibility and will inspire you to have fun with fabric and style. Simple lines make these garments perfect for women of all ages and all sizes. This book includes a complete western-sized sewing pattern for each design that is easily adjusted to fit your body form. The concise diagrams and simple instructions allow you to develop your unique style with ease and confidence.

    Begin by choosing a motif from this extensive collection, which ranges from elegant alphabets to 1970s-inspired flowers and leaves, from sweet fairies to vintage-chic ladies in classic Dior dresses. The "Get Stitching" section gives you the basics you need to get started, along with an illustrated how-to of the simple stitches that are used to create all of the motifs. Each of the following sections, which are arranged by color–fresh greens, pretty pinks, timeless blues, rich reds, and elegant white and taupe–presents ideas for embroidering motifs in single colors, showing how much can be achieved with just one color of embroidery floss on a plain background. Includes more than eighty beautifully photographed, inspiring ideas for stitched embellishment, from wearables and personal accessories to a variety of decorative items for every room in your home.

    The constant companion of the many people who are turning to home sewing as a creative -- and money-saving -- hobby.

    Over 500 pages filled with photos, diagrams, and other illustrations.

    From a cute chick and a stripy snake to colourful mice and a patchwork tortoise, this title presents 25 knitting patterns for adorable toys for newborns to teens.