Weekend Review: The Art of Manipulating Fabric

 

The Art of Manipulating Fabric / Colette Wolff
Radnor, PA: Chilton, c1996.
311 p.

Today I'm sharing the classic in the field of Fabric Manipulation! I picked up a copy of this at a quilt show recently, a great deal. And I've really enjoyed going through it, despite it being an older book and thus all in black and white. The images are there more for instruction than glossy inspo, anyhow, and there is a LOT of instruction and technique covered in this very inspiring book. There are over 350 images to study, showing many different dimensional techniques. 

The book is organized into six main categories, with various techniques and examples in each one. They are as follows: 

1. Controlled Crushing (Gathering, Shirring)

2. Supplementary Fullness (Ruffles, Flounces, Godets)

3. Systematic Folding (Pleating, Smocking, Tucking)

4. Filled Reliefs (Cording, Quilting, Stuffing)

5. Structured Surfaces (Darts)

6. Mixed Manipulations

It's a little overwhelming how many ideas are included here. The images are all of Wolff's samples, illustrating the techniques, and the text is also quite clear. Some of the variations can be quite similar, but she explains the details of each one, including both front and back pictures of some of them to make them more understandable. It's precise, with clear instructions and even measurements for some of the examples.

I am most interested in the "Systematic Folding" section at the moment - pleats and tucks are always something I like to see as garment details, and I've been looking at a few resources on smocking lately, as well. I opened the book to the pleating section and saw the solution to a skirt mend I want to get to -- the back slit is too short for comfortable walking right now, but would be too revealing if I just opened up the seam. So I'm going to add a kick pleat using a style she shows in her book (good thing I have extra fabric left...) That's just one quick useful tip I got from this book right away. But all the parts on smocking and tucking, specifically, are inspiring me to think of ways to use them in some artwork. So many ideas! 

I've seen a few of these techniques spread across other books, but it's nice to have them all collated here so efficiently. This book is very comprehensive, well-organized, and thorough on its subject. It's an older book and intended as a reference volume, so it's not flashy inspo pics like in some more recent books. But it is fully descriptive of a vast array of fabric manipulations, which is what it set out to do. Great book to be able to refer to for ideas and as a starting point for many unusual effects. 

Literary Sewing Circle

Our Fall 2023 session of the Literary Sewing Circle starts today! 

I'm pleased to announce that our group read this time around is:

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery 

This is a classic of Canadian literature, published in 1926 by one of our best known authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's one of her only books aimed specifically at an adult audience, and which is not set in PEI, but rather in the lovely Muskoka region of Ontario. It's a period piece this time around for the Literary Sewing Circle - I hope you will all enjoy this one as much I have many times over the years!

Summary: 

At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent, and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

(via Goodreads)

About the Author: 

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. She published 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success; the title character, orphan Anne Shirley, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following.[1] Most of the novels were set on Prince Edward Island, and those locations within Canada's smallest province became a literary landmark and popular tourist site. 

She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge, Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.

(via Wikipedia/Goodreads)

This book is available for purchase in multiple formats.

You can find many formats at all of these locations:

IndieBound

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Barnes and Noble

Powell's Books

ABE Books

Biblio.com

Or, of course, check your local library!

*************************************************************

We are also fortunate to have a sponsor for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle! Blue Calla patterns of Toronto will be offering a free pattern for our winner. Blue Calla is an Ontario based bag-making company with a name very similar to our title, so she's the perfect sponsor for this round :) 

******************************************************************

How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, crochet, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. That said, we are fortunate to have a sponsors for this round! The free pattern prize will be drawn for from all participants who have linked up a project by the end of the roundup (Nov 30) and awarded by random draw. 

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And you can follow along on Instagram too if you like: look for #LiterarySewingCircle and you'll find us.

And when the final post goes up, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!

Literary Sewing Circle Schedule

Oct 6 - Announcement & Introduction

Oct 13 - Inspiration post 

Oct 20 - Preliminary book talk

Oct 27  - Inspiration post

Nov 3  - Author feature

Nov 10 - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup

We will have our project linkup live for two & a half weeks after the final post to allow you to finish up and post your projects. And also because November 30 was Montgomery's birthday so it feels suitable to end on that date!

The linkup will close on Nov 30 and the random prize will be drawn for at that time. 

Weekend Review: Three Summers

Three Summers / Margarita Liberaki
trans. from the Greek by Karen Van Dyck
NY: NYRB, 2019, c1946.
264 p.

This Greek classic is a slow and dreamy read. It features three sisters, Maria, Infanta, and Katerina. The story is mostly told from the viewpoint of Katerina, the youngest, and it ranges across three summers (obviously). The book's structure follows that, split into three sections that really only highlight the summer months; the winter is dealt with in a few sentences. 

These three spend much of their time drowsing in meadows, talking about their futures, and falling in love. As the summers progress, they also grow apart a little as their focus changes to different things. The main question of the book is, however, what they are to do with themselves and their energy. They all seem a little different in personality; Maria is sexually adventurous and has a strong desire for physical intimacy and children, Infanta is reserved and has a tendency toward aceticism (unfortunately egged on by her bitter maiden aunt), while Katerina is boisterous and uncontained, full of big emotion and ambition. 

The reason I'm sharing this title today, though, besides the fact that it is a lovely read, lies in Infanta's incessant embroidering. As the quieter middle daughter, she has an artistic side that comes out in her embroidery, as per this observation by Katerina: 

Katerina's artistic nature is revealed much more in her penchant for telling stories, both as a young child and as the narrator of this story. But domestic arts and sewing tie into this realization for her as well: 

Over the course of this book the sisters observe neighbours and family, finding out secrets while also being mystified by other personalities. They watch how varied people's foibles and quirks shape their relationships. They have plenty of their own quirks as well, and each of the sisters chooses a path distinct from one another. Maria settles down in the first section, Infanta has a romantic entanglement in the second, and Katerina chooses her path in the third. The end is a little abrupt but we can see that Katerina has broken the hazy dream that has enveloped their lives (and this story) so far, and has changed her destiny with her stubborn willfulness. It's not the character flaw that her mother always told her it was; it's her path forward. 

It was an engrossing read, full of beautiful writing, imagery, landscape, characterizations and overlaid with a sense of nostalgia. I liked the structure, but I did feel confused at times at the passage of time in this story. Which summer was it again? And how old are these sisters exactly? Other than that, however, I found this an easy read, a perfect one for summer nights. 

Weekend Review: Anna, Where Are You?

 

Anna, Where Are You? / Patricia Wentworth
NY: HarperPerennial, 1991, c1951.
278 p.

Now this is a book with a tenuous connection to sewing; in fact, it's really more connected to embroidery - perfect for the last weekend of National Embroidery Month! But I just read it and really enjoyed it, and thought that other sewists may enjoy the mystery as well as the textile arts content.

This is a title in Wentworth's Miss Silver series. Although Wentworth is a little less well known than other Golden Age mystery writers like Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, or Margery Allingham, I think she's just as good. And she was very prolific, so I have a lot more of her writing ahead of me. Her amateur detective Miss Silver is an elderly, dowdy ex-governess who spends a lot of time knitting, but always figures out the crime. Her skill of observing while being ignored as an old lady is her secret superpower -- and if she seems similar to Miss Marple, just remember that Miss Silver came first ;)

In this book, governess Anna Ball has gone missing. She was seen leaving her latest job at Deepe House, but disappeared after that. She hasn't written to her oldest (and only) friend, Thomasina Elliot, which is very strange behaviour. In her worry, Thomasina hires Miss Silver to find Anna. 

Miss Silver's old friend Detective Inspector Frank Abbott is also interested in this case, because there have been other strange happenings at Deep End, where Anna was working. The old manor house has been turned into an artist colony of sorts, with a handful of eccentrics living there; Miss Silver determines that the best way to find out what is going on is to revert to her original occupation as a governess, and takes on the care of the three wild children of Deepe House.

The colony is where the embroidery comes in. While Miss Silver is continually knitting, at Deepe House we find an astrologer/herbalist, a psychic, two sisters who weave, a reclusive bird-watcher, and the art embroiderer that particularly interested me. All of these characters are a bit larger than life, and Wentworth pokes holes in pretension quite sharply. The head of the colony, Mr. Craddock, believes in freedom and not constraining children's behaviour -- unless of course it annoys him in which case it must stop immediately. So his three stepchildren run wild, and their poor mother is worn out by doing all the work of the colony, since of course her freedom isn't important. 

Miss Silver comes into this strange setting and must figure out what has happened to Anna; but the story is much more than that. It's dark, complicated, a little more dangerous than earlier stories. There is psychological and emotional neglect and abuse, secrets everywhere, a crumbling manor house with locked wings, and characters who are not what they seem. As usual with these stories, there is also a romantic theme, but it's not overly romantic in this one; in fact, I don't give the two 'lovers' much chance of happiness, myself. Their attraction is shown by their continuous arguing over everything. Tiring indeed! 

The descriptions of the embroidery shops that both Augustus Remington, the embroider, and Miss Silver frequent in the little nearby town are interesting. As Miss Silver says, "fancy work shops are often run in quite an easy-going way. It is considered a refined occupation by those who have had no business training."

Augustus brings a piece of his work to a tea gathering at one point, and it shows the kind of embroidery he does, which seems of a slightly earlier period. 

He waved the tambour frame at Miss Gwyneth and dropped his voice to a low and confidential tone. "My latest composition."

"What is it, Augustus?"

Both the Miss Tremletts peered at the fine stretched canvas upon which there was depicted a dark grey cloud tinged with pink, a human eye surrounded by three sunflower heads, and a twining plant with scarlet berries. The eye had been completed, but only one of the sunflowers and part of the trailing plant. The cloud was in a fairly advanced state. As an example of the embroiderer's art it stood high, a fact immediately pointed out by Miranda...

"But what does it mean?" repeated the Miss Tremletts, both speaking together. 

Mr. Remington appeared to wave the question away. 

"That is surely for you to say. I conceive the idea -- I endeavour to give it form and substance. It is not for me to supply the perceptive intelligence as well. Beauty is given to the world -- it is for the world to receive it." He flung himself into a chair as he spoke, put a couple of stitches into one of the sunflowers, and murmured in a languid voice, "The inspiration fails..."

If you enjoy a good retro English mystery like I do, I recommend this one -- it's clever, wry, and also quite non-cozy. Miss Silver knits and cares for the three children of the house, but don't be lulled into thinking that this story is simply a twee cozy tale. It isn't. There is real violence in it, and some thought-provoking themes, and it's full of questions. Why does Mrs. Craddock put up with this life? Who are all these people, really, behind their personas? Why do so many women adore angry men? And of course, where is Anna?