20 Textile/Art Books to Give & Get (2015)

2015 Textile Books for NewsBlogWith an increasing amount of our precious lives spent looking at screens, time spent turning pages of gorgeous books filled with images and stimulating text has become a premium experience. Check out these 20 delicious textile/art books published in 2015 – then purchase via Amazon.com philanthropic programs that generate donations to support SDA’s textile-inspired mission.

Find instructions for donating to SDA – as no cost to you – at bottom. (All review excerpts and book covers are from Amazon.com except as noted. – Ed.)

TECHNIQUE & PROCESS_________________________________________________

2015 Booklist I would wear...Martin amazonI WOULD WEAR THAT: A Self-absorbed Study in Non-functional Weaving
by Juliet Martin

Paperback: 116 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 13, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $17.00 on Amazon

I challenge the aesthetics of weaving… My sculptures and tapestries apply the Japanese philosophy of SAORI. With its Zen mindset, SAORI encourages freeform work—no patterns, no rules, no mistakes. Every sculpture is an improvisation in awkward beauty: clumpy fabric, fighting colors, rough and smooth textures, ragged edges. ” – SDA Member Juliet Martin


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2015 Booklist Felt Fibre Art amazonFELT & FIBRE ART
(Textile Artist Series)
by Val Hughes

Flexibound: 144 pages
Publisher: Search Press (July 14, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $24.26 on Amazon

Writing less of a how-to (though directions are included) and more of a collector’s coffee-table book, Hughes inspires as well as instructs on how she marries wool, water, beads, and embroidery to produce jaw-dropping wall hangings and dresses or, as she more aptly calls them, costumes….At the end of the instructions is a brief gallery, revealing runway-worthy dresses suitable for formal events. Starting with a frank explanation of challenges and inspirations for each pattern, Hughes then supplies a step-by-step photographic manual.”
– Barbara Jacobs (Booklist Advance Review 8/1/15) 

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2015 Booklist Slow Stitch amazonSLOW STITCH: Mindful and contemplative textile art
by Claire Wellesley-Smith

Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Batsford (October 6, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $20.23 on Amazon

Sometimes less is more—and quality is more important than quantity. That’s true in textile art too, and this much-needed guide brings a meaningful, thoughtful, and sustainable approach to stitchery. See how to slow down and experience more joy in your craft by trying simple techniques based on traditional practice, reusing and reinventing materials, and limiting equipment. Richly illustrated throughout, this inspirational book will connect with those who seek a new way of working—whether it’s starting a stitch journal or joining a community of like-minded artists.

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2016 Booklist Natural Processes amazonNATURAL PROCESSES IN TEXTILE ART:
From Rust Dyeing to Found Objects

by Alice Fox

Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Batsford (September 1, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $20.13 on Amazon

More and more textile artists are using natural processes in their work, from dyeing with rust to incorporating found and scavenged items. This is the first book dedicated to this popular topic, with advice on how to work creatively with what’s close at hand. Bury your embroidery to give it a patina, make sun prints with found objects, and do “beachcombing weaving.” These projects, along with examples from the best contemporary artists, show respect for the environment, and capture a strong sense of place, calm, and contentment.

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2016 Booklist Japanese Quilts amazonJAPANESE CONTEMPORARY QUILTS AND QUILTERS:
The Story of an American Import
by Teresa Duryea Wong

Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Schiffer; 1 edition
(September 4, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $26.45 on Amazon

Discover how quilting came to be a favorite pastime for an estimated 3 million quilters in Japan today, as well as a multimillion-dollar business. Learn the inside stories of former painters, seamstresses, homemakers, graphic designers, and manga artists who have all made careers in quilting. More than 200 photographs show the Japanese artists’ quilts and studios, and the antique American quilts that once inspired them.

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2015 Booklist Scraps amazonSCRAPS:
Stylish Stash Fabric Crafts to Stitch

by Vera Vandenbosch

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Taunton Press (January 6, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $16.76 on Amazon

From stash to treasure…bursting with fashionable, fantastic and unique projects to make, share or keep from fabric scraps – 30 in all – for jewelry, accessories and home décor. Create gorgeous projects from…old T-shirts, outgrown jeans, cuttings from sewing projects, leftover gift ribbons. No formal sewing experience required; many projects don’t even use a sewing machine so you and your children or grandchildren can easily recycle and rekindle your creativity.”

TEXTILE DESIGN_______________________________________________________ 

2015 Booklist Textile Design Digital Age amazonTEXTILE DESIGN IN THE DIGITAL AGE
The Print Revolution
by Tamasin Doe

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Goodman Books
(January 1, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $23.02 on Amazon

The sudden flurry of colour and rapid spread of busy prints is the result of the new ease of computer printing in fabric design.Following an opening discussion of how the current techniques have revolutionised hundreds of years of screen-printing, Textile Design in the Digital Age is organised by an A-Z of keynote designers operating at this cutting edge of fashion. Accompanied by fashion photography, catwalk imagery and close-up details of prints and patterns.

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2015 Booklist Spoonflower amazonTHE SPOONFLOWER HANDBOOK:
A DIY Guide to Designing Fabric, Wallpaper & Gift Wrap with 30+ Projects
by Stephen Fraser, Judi Ketteler & Becka Rahn

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang
(September 1, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $17.30 on Amazon

…today anyone with a computer, Internet connection, and idea can upload a file and order their own fabric or paper, printed affordably one yard or more at a time…The Spoonflower Handbook is written for both new and experienced users of this print-on-demand technology. Covering everything from equipment to software to working with photos, scans, repeats, vector files, and more, it is an essential guide to a booming new creative outlet.

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2015 Booklist Knit amazonKNIT: Innovations in Fashion, Art, Design
by Samantha Elliot

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
(July 7, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $28.82 on Amazon

Knit is an exciting and dynamic design area, with new technologies opening up a wealth of creative possibilities for designers, as well as innovative uses of traditional techniques. Witty, hyper-real and luxurious designs are being used by fashion designers, while artists, activists, and community groups are reinterpreting the medium to stunning and surprising effect. This showcase of the best knitted textiles around the world is divided into three key areas: fashion, art, and community.

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2015 Booklist Woven Textiles amazonWOVEN TEXTILES
A Designers Guide
by Sharon Kearley

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Crowood Press
(May 1, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $31.63 on Amazon

This new book explains to the novice how to start weaving textiles, but also develops techniques for the more experienced so they can learn to appreciate color, patterns, and structures, and thereby design their own richly-textured cloth. Packed with inspiring ideas and exciting examples, this guide will be of great interest to weavers, craftsmen, dyers, feltmakers, and interior designers.

FASHION_________________________________________________________________

2015 Booklist Sartorialist amazonTHE SARTORIALIST: X
by Scott Schuman

Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books (October 27, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $21.78 on Amazon

Recommended by SDA Board Member Elena Rosenberg:

Scott Schuman, the photographer behind the anthropological fashion and style phenomenon that is his blog, The Sartorialist, presents this 500+ volume, the third in a series. In addition to spotlighting streetstyle in New York, London and Milan, the photos in this book show Schuman turning his lens on street style in other locales, from South Africa to Peru, India to the UAE. The expanded global focus is welcome, and, arguably, overdue.”

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2015 Booklist China Bolton amazonCHINA: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
by Andrew Bolton + 7 contributors

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
1st Edition edition (May 26, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $29.43 on Amazon

For centuries, China’s export arts—jade, silks, porcelains, and, more recently, cinema—have fueled Western fantasies of an exotic East and served as enduring sources of inspiration for fashion. This stunning publication, which accompanied one of the most successful exhibitions in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s history, explores the influence of Chinese aesthetics on designers, including Giorgio Armani, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent.

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2015 Booklist Magnifeco cover amazonMAGNIFECO: Your Head-to-Toe Guide to Ethical Fashion and Non-toxic Beauty
by Kate Black

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: New Society Publishers
(October 27, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $15.47 on Amazon

The rise of socially and environmentally responsible retailers like Patagonia and The Body Shop has led to dramatic changes in the eco and ethical fashion landscape. Magnifeco is the Fast Food Nation of the fashion world—your guide to making a difference too. With this complete head-to-toe guide covering everything from hair and beauty products to shoes and footwear, you can feel better about everything you put on your body…

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2015 Booklist Why Wear Childrens amazonWHY’D THEY WEAR THAT?
Fashion as the Mirror of History
by Sarah Albee & Timothy Gunn

Age Range: 10 and up
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: National Geographic Children’s Books (February 10, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $13.99 on Amazon

In this humorous and approachable narrative, kids will learn about outrageous, politically-perilous, funky, disgusting, regrettable, and life-threatening creations people have worn throughout the course of human history, all the way up to the present day. From spats and togas to hoop skirts and hair shirts, why people wore what they did is an illuminating way to look at the social, economic, political, and moral climates throughout history.

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2015 Booklist Mood Guide amazonTHE MOOD GUIDE TO FABRIC AND FASHION: The Essential Guide from the World’s Most Famous Fabric Store
by Mood Designer Fabrics

Hardcover: 184 pages
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (September 1, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $20.96 on Amazon

“…the ultimate guide for home-sewers, fashion students, aspiring designers, and Project Runway fans who want to learn everything they need to know to choose and use quality fabric. Drawing upon the expertise of the Mood staff, the book teaches readers the fundamentals—from where fabric is produced to the ins and outs of its construction—and features a fabric-by-fabric guide to cottons and other plant fibers, wools, silks, knits, and other specialty fabrics.

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2016 Booklist Art-Fashion amazonART + FASHION: Collaborations and Connections Between Icons
by E.P. Cutler & Julien Tomasello

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 13, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $51.73 on Amazon

A volume of magnificent proportions, Art + Fashion is as exciting and elegant as the creative partnerships it celebrates. Spanning numerous eras, men and women’s fashion, and a wide range of art mediums, these 25 collaborative projects reveal the astonishing work that results when luminaries from the art world (such as Pollock, Haring, and Hirst) come together with icons of the fashion world (including Saint Laurent, Westwood, McQueen).

ART & ARTISTS____________________________________________________________

2015 Booklist Tuttle amazon

RICHARD TUTTLE: I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language
by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Magnus af Petersens & Richard Tuttle

Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Tate (May 5, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $30.96 on Amazon

…a unique project by the renowned American artist Richard Tuttle (b. 1941)…who came to prominence in the 1960s. Drawing on Tuttle’s knowledge as a longstanding collector of textiles from around the world, the book investigates the importance of the material throughout history, across Tuttle’s remarkable body of work, and into the latest developments in his practice.

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2015 Booklist Hesse amazonIRRATIONAL JUDGEMENTS: Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, and 1960s New York
by Kirsten Swenson

Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press
(November 27, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $42.49 on Amazon

Recommended by SDA Executive Director Danielle Kelly:

Irrational Judgements explores the relationship between two brilliant (and seemingly unrelated) powerhouses – Hesse and LeWitt. Each is arguably misunderstood for their methodic embrace of materials, process and intimacy – perhaps revealed as never before through their creative friendship.”

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2015 Booklist Perry amazonPLAYING TO THE GALLERY: Helping Contemporary Art in Its Struggle to Be Understood
by Grayson Perry

Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books
(May 5, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $17.00 on Amazon

“Now Grayson Perry is a fully paid-up member of the art establishment, he wants to show that any of us can appreciate art (after all, there is a reason he’s called this book “Playing to the Gallery” and not “Sucking Up to the Academic Elite”). This funny, personal journey through the art world answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but that we’re too embarrassed to ask. Questions such as: What is “good” or “bad” art—and does it even matter? Is art still capable of shocking us or have we seen it all before? And what happens if you place a piece of art in a rubbish dump?”

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2015 Booklist Contemporaries amazonTHE CONTEMPORARIES:
Travels in the 21st-Century Art World
by Roger White

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
Price: Currently $19.87 on Amazon

…painting has been declared dead several times over, and contemporary art has now expanded to include just about any object, action, or event: dance routines, slideshows, functional hair salons, seemingly random accretions of waste….But why – and how and by whom – does all this art get made? How is it evaluated? And for what, if anything, will today’s artists be remembered? In The Contemporaries, Roger White, himself a young painter, serves as our spirited, skeptical guide through this diffuse creative world.

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Amazon Smile logoPlease do remember to make your purchase via either of these Amazon.com programs that generate donations to support SDA’s textile-inspired mission.

SDA logo SableOlive313px1) Sign up for Amazon Smile then choose Surface Design Association as your charitable org. 0.05% of the price of your eligible purchases will be donated to support SDA’s mission – at no cost to you – whenever you shop via AmazonSmile. (You can load the Amazon Smile icon into your browser’s navigation bar (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.) to conveniently click on whenever you want to start shopping Amazon.) Easy does it!

2) Click through to Amazon via this SDA webpage so that a portion of anything you purchase will be donated to support SDA’s mission – at no cost to you. (Just copy the name of the book and click on “Amazon” next to pricing information for each book above. You’ll be taken to SDA’s Amazon webpage – from which you can click through to Amazon donation-generating site. Paste the book name into Amazon search bar and start shopping.)

Your purchase will generate a donation to SDA to help support our mission of advocacy for the textile arts!

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