Books provide inspiration to higher craft – 2889th Edition
29 Jan 2010 No Comments
I survived my walk down the runway at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts Recycled Runway fashion event last weekend in a dress I made out of more than a dozen issues of this newspaper. I arrived at the event with a pounding headache, suffering from a severe craft hangover, the painful effect of staying up until 5:30 a.m.,…
I survived my walk down the runway at theUrban Institute for Contemporary Arts Recycled Runway fashion eventlast weekend in a dress I made out of more than a dozen issues of this newspaper.
I arrived at the event with a pounding headache, suffering from a severe craft hangover, the painful effect of staying up until 5:30 a.m., finishing my dress. I spent the eve of the show folding squares of newspaper into flower petals I taped, stitched and glued together to form large blooms as accents to the waistline of the dress.
I drew inspiration for my “Headliner” dress from a variety of books, which has prompted me to offer a roundup of reviews.
Paper flowers
“Kanzashi in Bloom: 20 Simple Fold-and-Sew Projects to Wear and Give” by Diane Gilleland (144 pages, $21.95) details the Japanese art of folding fabric squares into three-dimensional flower petals that are assembled into full blooms. Gilleland illustrates three petal-folding techniques to make projects ranging from tiny blossom earrings and rings to hair accessories and clothing and handbag embellishments.
Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood drew inspiration from a craft book, “Kanzashi in Bloom: 20 Simple Fold-and-Sew Projects to Wear and Give,” when she made a dress of newsprint.Traditional Kanzashi projects are made with silk, but Gilleland recommends beginners start with cotton.
I skipped fabric completely and moved right to paper, making more than a dozen tedious blooms out of newsprint for my dress.
Now that I can fold these things in my sleep, I will be exploring the fabric-flower possibilities.
If you love to make flowers, you’ll find this book inspiri