Scarves to Make

Scarves to Make

by: Linda Lee

Topics include: scarf body, silk douppioni, hemming foot, thickened dye, ribbon fantasy, framing fabric, edgestitch foot, warp strips, turn the scarf, buttonhole foot, finished scarf, scarf fabric, slipstitch the opening, primary fabric, matching raw edges, cotton embroidery thread, silk georgette, silk jacquard, chemical medium, embroidery foot, clear ruler, wool jersey, silk charmeuse, scarf end, rolled hem

Book Description:

Scarves to Make -- Linda Lee -- A collection of exquisite scarf designs

Express your personal style with a beautiful wardrobe of designer scarves. Select a beautiful fabric and stencil it with abstract designs in a contrasting color, make beaded pockets with sheer silk organza, or paint a landscape on silk noil with a dye paste. The design ideas are diverse, and each one is exciting, innovative, and fun to make.
Scarves to Make is a collection of exquisite scarf designs from the country's best-known art-to-wear designers. At a fraction of the boutique price, you will be able to reproduce the scarves, and the wonderful styles represented will appeal to every mood and taste, from traditional to offbeat to sophisticated. Beautiful color photography showcases the scarves and provides design inspiration.
Along with a section on basic sewing techniques, there are detailed instructions for each scarf. Steps are illustrated with full-color drawings, so the featured scarves can be easily assembled with beginning to intermediate sewing skills. Author Linda Lee's experience will enable you to improve skills and to learn distinctive new techniques.

A collection of exquisite scarf designs -- Some of the most fascinating work in textile design and creative thinking shows up in the scarves produced by contemporary sewing artists. Whether they make scarves to sell or to wear themselves, I haven't met an artist yet who doesn't like a great scarf.
The scarf is such an all-purpose accessory. Whether for warmth or for show, no other accessory expresses a personality quite like a scarf. Making a scarf is the perfect project for practicing and perfecting a craft. A scarf is relatively small, requiring only a modest financial investment, and can usually be created in a short amount of time.
I selected the 13 artists whose work is presented here for their uniqueness in the sewing and art world. Each artist brings to the book a look that is signature to their style, a new approach to traditional techniques and materials, and a loosening of conventional sewing standards. From scarves of fabulous fabric with simple, but fine finishing details to scarves made from ordinary fabrics transformed by dyeing, stamping, or stitching, these artists have reinterpreted our vision of a scarf.

Introduction

1 Basics

Basic sewing kit
A glossary of stitches
Fabric preparation
Construction techniques

2 Ribbon fantasy

Floating flower
Ribbon ladder
Rolled rose border
Re-embroidered lace
Woven "rags"

3 Traditional arts

Heirloom sampler
Cutwork linen
Kimono patchwork
Sari wrap
Shadow-work silk
Obi appliqu

4 Contemporary interpretations

Punched Ultrasuede
D vor velvet
Laminated leaves
Slashed and felted
Fringed wool crepe

5 Beads and baubles

Bead-embellished hem
Knotted beads
Beaded pockets
Beaded fringe

6 Stenciled, stamped, and stitched

Simple quilted silk
Stenciled and shaped
Remnant queen's ribbons
Home away from home
Silk-screened velvet
Painted silk

7 Architectural shapes

Buttons and buttonholes
Pieced squares
Self-connecting squares
Endless reversible loop
Hooded fleece
Scarf with sleeves

About the artists

Resources

Reviews:

A very stylish and inspiring book on scarves! -- I was excited with the idea of creating my own scarves to accompany the clothes I make. Well this book helped me immensely to experiment with different embellishment techniques and ideas. Linda Lee has selected 13 artists (among them Marcy Tilton, Jane Conlon and Stephanie Valley whose books are among my favorite) each one presenting one or more scarves they made with a different style and a new approach to traditional techniques and materials. The scarves are very beautiful and stylish (!!) and the photographs are so good that many times I just go over them admiring Linda Lee's work.
But this is not just a book full of pictures of beautiful scarves. It is a well organized book comprising six parts each one concentrating on a different traditional approach to embellishing. Each part includes 5-6 different scarves with a list of materials, fabric notes, cutting instructions and full of clear and detailed instructions and illustrations on construction.
The first part of the book is focused on ribbon fantasy including "delicately hazy sheers, iridescent ribbons and open-weave lattices''. The second part of the book is focused on traditional arts including "the art of piecing, applique, cutwork and shadow work". The third part of the book is focused on contemporary interpretations to make interesting scarves by slashing, washing, shrinking etch. The fourth part of the book is focused on beads and baubles. The fifth part of the book is focused on senciled, stamped and stitched techniques to create very beautiful and original scarves. The last part of the book is focused on architectural shapes that are truly fun to make and wear !!
I highly recommend this book to any (beginner, intermediate or advanced) sewer that takes pleasure in creating special accessory pieces!!

Beautiful Scarves--Directions so-so -- If you are an experienced seamstress, this is a really nice book. There are many beautiful scarves in it, some with a lot of detail work. For the rest of us, (who take the machine out occasionally to mend with) the directions are rather confusing. Also, there are only a few scarves that aren't too dressy to wear with jeans for a walk in the park, so you are going to be spending some $$$$ to make most of these designs.