How to Decorate and Embellish Your Fabrics

Comprehensive step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed illustrations that introduce readers to an extensive range of fabric alteration and embellishment techniques, such as tie-dyeing, block printing, and beading. Crafters will be fully equipped with all the information they need, allowing them the freedom to apply these techniques to any number of fabric projects, from tote bags and clothes to cushion covers, lamp shades, and soft furnishings. Galleries throughout the book feature examples of these techniques, demonstrating how they have been applied to fabric and providing readers with a wealth of inspiration. Divided into three sections, How to Decorate and Embellish Your Fabrics begins with essential information on tools and materials, as well as a comprehensive chapter on pattern design, which covers computer rendered patterns in addition to hand drawn designs. The second section is organized by technique, covering bleaching, dyeing, and printing, as well as more complex embellishing techniques such as embroidery, needlepunching and foil embossing. Each chapter concludes with a practitioner interview, affording an insight into the working practices of contemporary fabric crafters, and providing readers with further inspiration for their own projects. The third section is aimed at keen crafters who want to take their fabric designs to the next level, and offers in-depth advice on important issues such as how aspiring amateurs can best market and sell their own designs.