I'm not the biggest reader in the world however when I do find a book I love and enjoy I really get into it and find myself not being able to put it down. I'm starting a series called 'Books You Need' which is simply some of my favourite reads. This week I'm sharing some of my textile Bibles which is a topic very close to my heart as I love fashion and my mum has taught me to sew since I was young. The 4 books I have chosen are books that have helped me through my studies of textiles whether thats designing them, creating them or just learning about how they are created.
Reader's Digest Complete Guide To Sewing is great for showing you techniques for when making a garment, especially if you are starting from scratch without a pattern. The pictures make it really easy for you to know what you are doing and unlike some instructions is rather simple and straight forward, everything from collars to pockets, seams and zips. A great book for any budding designer as it's essential to understand how a garment is constructed before you start drawing up big ideas.
It can be quite hard to get across what your sketches are initially showing therefore good simple sketches are essential when studying textiles. You don't want your floaty chiffon skirt to look like a puffy tulle meringue do you? Drawing figures can be challenging and getting the proportions correct, I often don't draw the hands as I find them to look terrible. However I've had this Fashion Illustration book by Maite Lafuente and Aitana Lleonart forever and its great as it just shows you the basics. An added bonus is also their opinions on the best fashion schools in the world.
From Simple to just complicated elegance. I love this book and it was a christmas present from my best friend which makes it ten times better. Fashion Illustration by Anna Kiper goes into far more detail of how to use shadowing and the exact proportions, it is defiantly a book not for the faint hearted. It is a lot more advanced but I find the sketches to give you inspiration, a varied range of poses and I use it a lot when doing my initial and developed designs. If you're aiming to be the next Karl Lagerfeld I highly recommend this book.
Finally on my pile is a recommendation from my textiles teacher. Textiles at the Cutting Edge, by Lesley Cresswell. When I say that I study textiles I get a lot of people ask me, what is on the exam paper? Well, in answer to that question, basically everything in this book. It is brilliant for anyone who wants to learn about the contraction of materials such as denim, or the different fibres and yields. It also mentions all the properties of natural and synthetic materials and what coatings can be applied to them. I find this the most interesting book out of them all as it gives you an insight into how much effort goes into making a garment and how important choosing the right fabric is.
What's on your bookshelf?
Immy xo
No comments:
Post a Comment