Alabama Stitch Book

Includes 20 projects to make, designer and author demonstrates how she learned to sew and how she has learned that what she makes is important to the community where she grew up.

This sewing guide reveals a breakthrough method to simplify learning stitches of all kinds, with more than 100 stitches from the simple to the fanciful. As makers, we tend to learn different stitches over time without thinking much about how they relate to one another. But when Natalie Chanin and her teams at Alabama Chanin and The School of Making began to look at needlework closely, they realized all stitches are based on geometric grid systems. They also discovered that learning new stitches—even elaborate ones—became simple and easy when using grids as guides. In The Geometry of Hand-Sewing Chanin presents their breakthrough method, featuring illustrated instructions (for both right- and left-handed stitchers) for more than 100 stitches—from the basic straight and chain to complex feather and herringbone. Photos of both right and wrong sides are included, as well as guidelines for modifying stitches to increase one’s repertoire further. The book also offers downloads for two stitching cards with the grids on which every stitch in the book is based. These printable cards can be used as stencils for transferring grids to fabric.

A compendium for Alabama Chanin crafters collects all of the patterns from her first three books on an accompanying CD and offers illustrated instructions and patterns for 12 new skirts, dresses, tops and jackets. 20,000 first printing.

Featuring new techniques and a collection of sewing projects. This is a craft and lifestyle book all in one. Detailed instructions for the hand-sewing, quilting, embroidery, beading and stencilling techniques required to create the featured projects. Over 20 extraordinary couture fashion and home projects.

The fashion label Junky Styling grew out the authors' passion for transforming secondhand clothing into innovative fashion statements that showcase the wearer's individual style and flair. In this book, Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager record the origins of the company, from the clothes being worn by the authors in London clubs in the nineties to a small retail shop to a successful fashion label. This beautifully illustrated book also shows readers how they can perform "wardrobe surgery" by deconstructing, recutting, and completely transforming their discarded clothes and fabrics into inspired designs. Whether you are a fashion student, home sewer, entrepreneur, environmentalist, or serious fashionista, Junky Styling is both a practical resource and a thought-provoking inspiration that will guide you through a completely new way of looking at the relationship between clothes, resources, and style.

A funny, colorful, fascinating tour through the work and life of one of today’s most influential graphic designers. Esquire. Ford Motors. Burton Snowboards. The Obama Administration. While all of these brands are vastly different, they share at least one thing in com­mon: a teeny little bit of Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is one of the new school of influential graphic designers who combine the power of design, social media, entrepreneurship, and DIY aesthetic to create a successful business and way of life. Pretty Much Everything is a mid-career survey of work, case studies, inspiration, road stories, lists, maps, how-tos, and advice. It includes examples of his work—posters, record covers, logos—and presents the process behind his design with projects like Field Notes and the “Things We Love” State Posters. Draplin also offers valuable advice and hilarious commentary that illustrates how much more goes into design than just what appears on the page. With Draplin’s humor and pointed observations on the contemporary design scene, Pretty Much Everything is the complete package.

From graphic designer?turned?fashion designer Natsuno Hiraiwa comes Shape Shape, an ingenious collection of signature vests, collars, blouses, tops, skirts, and shrugs that can all be worn in a variety of ways and that are created for sewists of all skill levels. Designs feature draping and fastening fabric cut from single flat cloth, artfully twisting fabric, and folding fabric in origami-like fashion. You'll find unique construction guidance, one-of-a-kind garments that are fit for all ages, as well as a pattern insert. Shape Shape offers everything you need to sew minimally constructed designs with maximum visual impact.

Long before Trussville became the commercial hub of northeastern Jefferson County, settlers fell in love with the area's fertile land and proximity to Alabama's longest free-flowing river, the Cahaba. In the late 1930s, a New Deal initiative known as the Cahaba Project established nearly three hundred new homes in the city, a community that became a historic treasure. The Trussville Academy opened its doors in 1869 and is the area's first educational institution. Camp Gertrude Coleman, which opened in 1925, is the third-longest-operating Girl Scouts camp in the nation, remaining open even during the Great Depression and World War II. Join author Gary Lloyd as he recounts the people and events that make Trussville one of the most desirable places to live in Alabama.