Moonwishes Sewing

Occasionally, I run across books that aren't directly about sewing, quilting or machine embroidery however by reading and studying them you can increase your creativity and be inspired to try new projects. On this web page I will try to add some books and their synopsis when I find them if I consider their content valuable.

I received an interesting book in the mail yesterday and enjoyed looking through it. I thought I would share what the book was about because it is most interesting to any body who works with fiber arts. This book has lots of exercises to do to make you more familiar with how patterns have been designed throughout the ages.

The Textile Design Book: understanding and creating patterns using texture Shape and Color by Karin Jerstorp and Eva Kohlmark. Published 1995 Lark Books, ISBN 0937274836. Soft cover, 160 pages, full color photograph illustrations. This book is used but is in very good condition, small amount of edge wear the top and bottom corners. The Textile Design Book teaches you to discover and be inspired by the smallest fragment of nature or your own luncheon sandwich. The exciting exercises with unconventional materials and completely new ways of making sketches and models will help you achieve surprisingly quick results. They will make designing more pleasurable even for the experienced and will encourage more use of patterns and decorations. All exercises with stripes, squares, borders, textures and stylized decorations include sketches using different handicraft techniques. We also show how one pattern can be varied and used in different ways.

The contents of the textile design book covers at least four semesters of studies of the subjects ¿color and composition¿ and ¿shaping¿, but the book can, of course, be used where applicable for color and composition exercises which are a requirement for handicraft guilds.

The objectives of the exercises in this book are:

1. Creative pattern designing with stripes, squares, borders, services and stylized declarations.

2. Choosing unconventional sketching materials and sketching techniques.

3. Increasing knowledge of color.

4. Analyzing and interpreting sketches.

5. Studies of pattern makings from past periods in other cultures.

6. Practical skills, group work, and home work.

This book should appeal to any fiber artist, quilter, crocheter, knitter, fabric dyer or anyone interested in making their own designs and patterns.