Clothing

The Art of Manipulating Fabric

Rethinking fabric

I have used this book for at least 8 years as a source of inspiration for my work as a designer. The author, Colette Wolff, systematically explores the many different ways that fabric can be folded, gathered, tucked and quilted, creating categories for each type. Her explorations start with a simple fold or pleat but become successively more and more complex, and more creative. In the last chapter she includes examples that combine different techniques. She always maintains a clear line of thought as she branches out, providing precise instructions and beautiful black and white photographs of all the “manipulations” executed in plain white muslin.

What I find so remarkable is Wolff’s ability to be at once so methodical and exacting, and at the same time to be so imaginative in her approach. She has created an encyclopedia of fabric manipulation, an incredible resource that anyone involved in working with fabric, from clothing and textile designers to quilters and home sewers, would find not just useful, but truly inspiring.

-- Antoinette Indge 03/8/12

Excerpt

Manipulating fabric p 295.jpg
Hand stitches, p 295

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Manipulating Farbic p 284.jpg

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