Me & My Sewing Machine & Fabric Dyer’s Dictionary
I have several new books that I think would make a good addition to one’s stash — especially the beginner. Funny enough, the first is from “Stash – fabric arts for a handmade lifestyle,” which is a new range of books from C&T Publishing. According to C&T, “Stash was formulated to respond to the quickly expanding handmade movement and the desire to get “back to basics” by creating unique and inspired fiber arts.”
“Me and my sewing machine, a beginner’s guide” by Kate Haxwell. This book is something I wish was available when I had sewing in school many years ago. It’s written in a no-nonsense, straight to the point manner and is a great introduction to sewing. The book gives chunks of information on one or two page spreads with clear illustrations and photos. Nothing is overwhelming, and a particular type of instruction can be quickly found and understood.
The main sections of the 128 page softbound book are My Sewing Machine, which goes through the parts of a machine — nothing technical, just what you need to understand — accessories, tools, and other basics. Seams Simple covers a variety of seams, such as mock French, French, open, mock open, and so on. Next is Hemmed In. And as you probably guessed, it illustrates a variety of hemming techniques. That is followed by Fasten Up, which covers various zippers, closures, and buttonholes. Around the Corner, has info on making different types of smooth curves. On the Edge offers various edge treatments such as basic bindings and scallops. Fancy That includes pleats, ruffles, adding lace, applique, and so on. It finishes with a projects chapter. I like the cute handkerchief-hemmed skirt, it seems perfect for a summery bathing suit cover-up. There is a front and back flap that I found myself using as a place marker. If you’re going to use the book a great deal, consider bringing it to a store, such as Staples or Kinkos, to have a spiral spine inserted into the book. This will help keep it flat when needed.
While the book touches on patchwork and applique, this is not a quilt book. Rather, this book is exactly what it says it is: a beginner’s guide to sewing It’s clear, concise, and will give someone starting out — such as a person turned on to sewing as the result of watching Project Runway — the confidence to venture into the world of sewing. You won’t find things like setting in a sleeve or adding a lining, but you will find a solid foundation on which to grow. It’s also a solid reference for anyone who knows how to sew, and its clean layout makes it attractive to all age groups. I’d like to one day see a companion book. Could a “me and my sewing machine – beyond the basics” be in the future? The book retails for $22.95
Next up is Linda Johansen’s Fabric Dyer’s Dictionary: 900+ Colors, Specialty Techiniques, The Only Dyeing Book You’ll Ever Need! While I don’t think it’s the only dyeing book you’ll ever need (as there are other good ones out there), it certainly is an excellent one to start with and a good color reference.
The meat of this 95-page, softbound book is over 900 color recipes to use for dyeing fabrics. Johansen’s process puts fabric, solution, and dye into a zip lock bag; those bags then sit in a plastic dish washing tub and eventually result in whatever range of colors you’re after. While using zip lock bags for dyeing isn’t new, the information is presented in a straight forward, structured method that is easy enough for anyone to do, even an absolute beginner. The beginning of the book is six pages of the basics, including what color dyes to buy. The recipes are for dyeing 1/4 or 1 yard pieces, but there’s nothing to stop you from doing some math and putting more dye, solution, and fabric into a jumbo zip lock bag. The meat of the book is the recipes, things like muted yellow, dark to light and muted yellow to muted purple complementary cross. It concludes with seven pages of specialty dyeing techniques, such as rolling fabric on a rope, painting with thickened dye, and dip dyeing.
Years ago when my friend Cathy and I were dyeing fabric on a regular basis, we bought a large variety of Procion MX dyes. The color names were luscious — seafoam, grape, amethyst, wisteria, mist gray — and the list went on, as did our collections of dyes because it seemed we needed them all. Paging through Johansen’s book, I can see examples of the very colors we created . Yet all of the colors in her book are made from no more than 11 dyes — three clear primaries, three muted primaries, three clear secondaries, and two blacks. That is it. From these colors her recipes result in over 900 colors.
I have friends who have taken extensive dyeing classes to learn how to weigh and mix dyes for exact colors. They come away with a fantastic reference book of swatches and complete confidence in the knowledge they can create any color they’d like. While this book may not be a reference filled with actual swatches, many will find having some 900+ color prints with the noted recipe of how that color was acheived well worth the $24 price.