Fashion Books

This book changed my life. As I entered middle age, I started to fear my future on almost every level. I worried about ageism in my career field, dreaded the physical changes my body was starting to go through, and became anxious about my relevance on the planet. Reading "Embracing Your Power Woman" made me stop and realize how unnecessary all this fear was. Unlike the cultural messages around us that seek to nullify the role of middle-aged and older women in our society, this book celebrates our strength, our wisdom and our important place in the world. It helped me get in touch with my own beauty and worth and allowed me to look forward to the next phase of my life with excitement, not dread. Every woman should read Ms. Wilder's book!

Nowadays it's said that 60 is the new 40 (or is that 45?). Barbara Wilder's terrific, empowering book makes that statement true. Each step in this marvelous work takes us closer to youth -- not Seventeen mag and not Merlin going backward -- but back to the future, to the youths we might have had were it not for cultural repressions, and back to the kind of strength we had as children, transformed into TRUE adulthood, maturity and fulfillment. Wilder gives meaning to aging, and nothing could be more important in a society that loathes old folk (and makes them loath themselves and therefore often live in utter selfishness) and that discards women after we have reached a "certain age." Someone once said middle-aged women could be cat burglars and get away with it because no one remembers what we look like, we are invisible. Take these 11 steps and your crime career is over -- you will be learn to be seen and never forgotten. Let us hope WIlder does a sequel: for men.

I was prepared to resist this book as "been there, done that," but I was soon drawn in by the creative way Wilder not only charts an emotional and psychological map of coming into one's own as a Power Woman, but illuminates where we are on the spectrum, both personally and in a mythic and social context. I found it validating to see what had gone right as well as awry in my own evolution as a woman in our culture. The deeper I got into the book, the more avidly I took notes, particularly in regard to Wilder's new paradigms of authentic leadership and profound definition of success. I found this book heartening and revitalizing.

Take a guided journey to build your woman strength as you are through Barbara Wilder's refresher course Embracing Your Power Woman: Coming Of Age In The Second Half Of Life. Yes, it's New Age: it uses myths, stories, and essays to explore aging concepts in women's lives - but it's deftly juxtaposes spiritual and health concerns with social issues as well, showing women how to become more focused and directed. An intriguing survey of money, health and beauty, self-directed power and motivation which is very highly recommended for Women's Studies and Self-Help supplemental reading lists.

It's a good book in truth I got it just for the Elizabethan bag on the cover and it is great for beginners I just wish we were told more about what style of embroidery we were using for all the entries and personally (for the elizabethan bag) which stiches were used and what inspired the bag) but I'm biased as I am making something for a recreation group, and like to document what I am working on

This book features some unique and beatiful designs, such as a pattern for an evening bag called "Bird of Paradise" and a rather nifty handbag called "All Roses". There's patterns for everything from totes, drawstring bags, handbags, evening bags, and a couple of whimsical designs for a little girl's first purse.
The diagrams for construction of each of the bags as well as embroidery are clear and easy to use. Each project description includes measurements of the finished product and a detailed list of supplies (measurements are given in standard and metric). Different types of embroidery are introduced, such as shadow work, stumpwork, and casalguidi stitching.
If you've got a bit of artistic talent you can adapt many of the ideas presented to your own designs - diagrams are produced for tassel making using floss or beads, and an inventive decorative stitch is used to make a lace-like sideseam for one of the drawstring bags.
This book was well worth the money - a definite must-have for embroiderers and textile artists.

If you're looking for a book to teach you how to make bags, this book is a great choice -- even if you don't do embroidery. The book describes how to make 16 classic styles with clear, complete instructions and full-size patterns.

The techniques are solid and enable you to produce high quality bags that stand up well. If you like soft, romantic designs, you'll fall in love with every project in the book. And they provide great basic forms for more artistic interpretations using different materials and embellishment.

The designs in this book are simply beautiful. I found the instructions easy to follow and I'm not an expert embroiderer. I want to make every single bag. Great for Christmas presents.

This book is an excellent resource for studying period fashion. Unlike so many period fashion books, which focus on evening wear or the clothing of the wealthy, this book gives great examples of what the general population wore every day. It will be extremely useful to costumers and fashion students.

I am totally hooked on this series and hope Dover continues it for 1899-1909 and the '50s and '60s, as well. Note in this volume that the brilliant folk at J. Peterman have copied some of the c1913 skirts in their mail order catalog (I now own two, and they're gorgeous). Thank you, Dover, and thank you, J. Peterman!

Thru illustrations created for the Sears Catalogs of the early twentieth century, clothing--functional, extravagant, glamorous, practical--is reproduced for visual inspection. Great for research, for curiosity seekers who wish to know what our foremothers wore, or in the case in which I used it, this is a perfect reference book to give to a dressmaker to let her see an example of an outfit you'd like to have made. An great book!

This book provides a comprehensive series of illustrations that immerse you in the world of fashion from this era. It is authentic and beautifully laid out, and depicts numerous costume items from the early 20th century, though mostly focusing on women. The pictures depict everything from dresses to shoes, hats to gloves; the women's hairstyles, makeup, undergarments, and overall looks give the reader the most authentic possible view of fashion and the aesthetic ideals of the time. The catalogue also shows the prices and features descriptions that include fabric and color. There are some pictures of men's and children's fashions. This book is thorough and unbelievably beautiful. The whole series of Sears catalogue fashions by decade is amazing. I recommend them all!

This is another well illustrated book that is well worth the investment.

The instructions are very clear, comprehensive and thorough.

Methodical application by the reader/ crafts person would enable persons of all level of experience to succesfully utilise the text.

The projects in this book are excellent in themselves. However they also provide the reader with tools to develop and express themselves further as their confidence develops. Make sure you have at least a small space at home to do the projects. Suggestions are made for alternative hat blocks (although plastic blocks are available in the US that is perfect for this kind of felt hat making). Experiment!

This book is also good for milliners. As it teaches you how to make a hat from scratch and encourages the crafter to express themselves without the stress of damaging an expensive pre-made felt hood or capeline.

Beautiful photographs in a quality book. This book was purchased as a gift for an experienced felter and was well received.

This book has clear, simple instructions for someone looking to learn the basics, and those with more experience will be inspired by the supplementary illustrations showing work by some of the best in the world. There is nothing hokey here- Ms. Hagen has very good taste.

My experience felting was a 1 hour class to get my hands wet...my kids each picked out a hat from the book to make and with more adult help our hats turned out great!

We work in the fashion industry, and this dictionary is very useful w/ lots of words. A great help anytime! Great price, too, @ Amazon!

I highly recommend this dictionary if you work in the fashion or textile industry. I refer to it very regularly and often use it as back-up when writing fabric descriptions in marketing material. The references are up to date and include many branded yarns, manufacturing techniques and fabric finishing terms.

5 ***** Worth buying

This is a great unique book for all textile related persons, it gives in details the perfect meaning of all the words used in todays textile field. I think this book is must for all textile related persons.

This book is great. I don't think I've ever gone to it and not found the word I was looking for. I wish it had a bit more pictures of some of the fabrics and such. But still, it is very good and there isn't one week that goes by that I don't reference it for one reason or another. I especially like that it offers origins of some textile words which is always interesting and helpful to know.

I checked out this book from the library, and my 10 year old son and I read it before my 8 year old daughter (the intended audience) got her hands on it. All 3 of us enjoyed it. Before she got finished with it, my daughter was asking if there were more of them. We will be waiting anxiously for a new one. I'd recommend it for any reader who gets bogged down with chapter books, but even chapter book readers will enjoy it. I compare it to our son's delight with the Captain Underpants graphic novels. Easy to read and funny!

My 5 year old is on her third time through this book. She has enjoyed looking at the pictures on her own and having the book read to her twice while she helps with some of the smaller words. It has been a great way to get her involved in reading. She can't wait for the next Fashion Kitty book to come out!

I purchased this book for my 8 year old daughter. Getting her to read can sometimes be a chore so I was thrilled when I showed her this book and she could not put it down. It's funny for children and adults. She was chuckling to herself as she read. It's great because the language is not too easy but there are pictures to break things up for her. One of the biggest adjustments for emergent readers is the lack of pictures and getting used to that concept. I wish there were more of these books to buy and can't wait for another installment.

Take a trip back in time with me to the halcyon days of 2005. A time when graphic novels for children were hardly as commonplace as they are today. Ah '05. Whatta year. I remember it well. At the time, I was searching in vain for above par graphic novels for kids to add to my very short list of library-worthy titles. There really wasn't much out there, but one name kept coming up over and over again. Something called "Fashion Kitty". Being the kind of girl that I am, I took one look at the book's sparkly cover, preference for all things pink, and use of the word "fashion" in the title, and promptly never thought of the book again. Until now. Recently my library purchased a large swath of graphic novels for young `uns and there, perched cheerily at the top of the pile, was Charise Mericle Harper's creation. I circled it warily and thought it might be safe to just flip through idly and call it a day. Flipping, however, began and ended on page three where I read the following line: "The FIRST reason the Kittie family is unusual is that a cat having a mouse for a pet is similar to a human having a chocolate cake for a pet." This sentence is immediately followed by the image of a boy leading a pink frosting-laden chocolate cake by a leash as he murmurs to it, "I love you, but I wish I could eat you!" I was hooked. I showed the book to my least graphic-novel-lovin' colleague. She was hooked. Even if you are no fan of fashion, kitties, or even comics in general, "Fashion Kitty", has the power to win over even the toughest of critics. Is it girly? Or lordy, yes. Is it fun? You bet your sweet bippy.

Right off the bat there are three things you need to know about the Kittie family. First of all, they own a pet mouse. Second, daughters Kiki and Lana get to pick out all their own clothes. Third, "The Kittie family knows the secret identity of Fashion Kitty." Fashion Kitty, as it happens, was born out of a potentially tragic accident involving a birthday wish, a rickety shelf, and some fashion magazines. From out of that toxic threesome emerged none other than Fashion Kitty herself with such super-powered elements as the "Tail of comfort", "Supersonic feet" and a brain that can "mix and match hundreds of outfits in a second". Thus, mild-mannered Kiki Kittie is now Fashion Kitty when she detects that someone is moving towards a fashion disaster. Take, for example, poor Mary Jane who was about to believe popular and cruel Priscilla Persian that everyone the next day would be wearing polka-dotted shorts over their pants. In the end, Kiki has a new lot (and outfit) in life, Mary Jane is redeemed, and Priscilla Persian gets what's coming to her.

Obviously the first thing people are going to say when they see "Fashion Kitty" is, "Boy, that looks a lot like the `Babymouse' books, doesn't it?" We're living in such a graphic novel-starved world that when two books involve a palette of pinks alongside an anthropomorphized heroine, we immediately equate the one with the other. "Babymouse", I should point out, is very different from her feline brethren. Where "Fashion Kitty" involves an actual superhero, the closest "Babymouse" ever gets to hero-dom is in her dreams. "Fashion Kitty" is wish-fulfillment and "Babymouse" is far more realistic. That doesn't make "Kitty" any less fun to read, however. I mean, Harper's sense of humor is really the book's saving grace. It would be remarkably simple to create a vapid fashion-entranced graphic novel for little girls without a drop of humor or sense of its own innate silliness. Harper's title, however, never takes its subject matter seriously. We're talking flying fashion-conscious cats here, people. So when Harper includes a montage of some boys who don't give "two hoots" about what they wear, you know it's gonna be good. I was also rather charmed by young Lana Kittie, who is the antithesis of her older sister's good sense. Lana is only four, so if she wants to wear stocking around her next, underpants on the outside of her pants, or three skirts in a row she's perfectly entitled to do so and it doesn't matter a jot.

Oddly enough, in spite of its September 2005 publication date, you won't be seeing the sequel to this book (entitled, "Fashion Kitty Verses the Fashion Queen") until May 2007. Most peculiar. Random House has been churning out the "Babymouse" books at least every 6 months. I wonder if Hyperion will try to follow suit when they see how profitable such a series might be. If you haven't yet found yourself with a copy of "Fashion Kitty" on hand, definitely consider giving it a glance. A fun GN and a rollicking good time.

Quality book. Received in a timely manner.

I used this textbook in a college course called Survey of the Fashion Industry. The text covers all aspects of merchandising, with a strong focus on fashion design (entire chapters on textiles, etc). Good photos and lots of material!

Plain and simple this is the best fashion book to study!

"From Concept to Consumer" is the first book I recommend to people who are truly interested in the business of fashion. Even though the book is a textbook it is an easy and fast read. One of the best features of this book is the sequential order format. The author takes you step by step through the development of the fashion process BEFORE a single garment is made by briefly describing fashion forcasting, research, color, fabric and trend analysis. The next process explains how raw materials for fabrics are chosen, processed and produced into textiles. Learn about the marketing of these textiles on the international market and to major apparel manufacturers. All of this takes place before the designer even starts to design a collection! Take a look inside the channels of garment distribution and on to us the consumer. This book provides a realistic insiders view in to the industry which is often glamorized by high profile designers and media spokespeople. Folks the business of fashion is a solid industry just like any other and in my opinion even more interesting than all the fluff and the sizzle.

'Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting' is a great book for fashion hobbyists that love creating things to wear and play with. With this book it's all about making clothes and toys with a tech edge. Over 200 pages are dedicated to make things like glow bags, luminescent tables, and funky headphones. You'll learn about the magic of what LEDs can do for nearly anything and how the electronics work.

Get out your soldering iron and start having fun!!!

***** RECOMMENDED

This book has a lot a practical uses for both fashion and technology. It has also provided me with some inspiration to branch out on my own.

This book is filled with so many ideas for useful fun projects. I am not a techy person but love new materials. Each project is explained in great detail so that it is hard to make a mistake and easy to learn. I also love the style, characters and designs that Syuzi has created. I am recommending it to my students as a fun way to learn the basics of new materials and technologies.

I just received this book today and I am already impressed. Syuzi has a great chapter on how to use a DMM (digital multimeter), she even has a step by step proper placement of the probes to test for Voltage, Amps, Current and Ohms.

Book is full of very interesting projects with good step by step instructions and photos for each project.

I first came across Syuzi on TV, she was on Craftlab (HGTV). I decided to try one of the projects she demonstrated on the program. It was the "Rock N Roll" speakers, she covers them in this book starting on page 149. The speaker project was fun to do and turned out well. I actually made the speakers for my Grandson.

If you enjoy crafting are willing to learn simple electronics, Syuzi will get you hooked on "smart crafting". Every time I think of a new project, I now find myself trying to incorporate some form of electronics into my work.

I am definitely impressed with Syuzi's book, she has a gift for teaching.

Great book for finding out what they really wore for dressy occasions during the Civil War Era and just prior. Afterwards they did not have the money or the material to do this, but it is lovely to see what they did before the war. Reenacter's who do not wish to spend a lot of money on a gown from the wrong era need to see what is correct before some dressmaker puts them into whatever pattern that SHE likes to make! RESEARCH is the key.

A delightful book to page through. Lots of black & white line drawings and several color plates. This must have been where Scarlett O'Hara got her inspirations!

This is an excellent reference guide for Lady Civil War Reenactors who want to create beautiful day dresses and ball gowns. The book has detailed descriptions of each dress. A true Godey's dress was for the lady of wealth, however many women of average means subscribed to Godey's to get ideas for the dresses they wore. Each page will give you an idea of colors, styles and types of fabrics used. This book is a must along with "Who Wore What" for a true insight into women's fashions of the 1860's

This book is beautiful. It is a very helpful reference and it is just fun to look at. It was also great to have the description of each of the outfits. This book is much more detailed than the "80 Godey's Full-Color Fashion Plates (1838-1880)" by JoAnne Olian, but then I liked all the full -colored as well.

I found this coloring book to have wonderful pictures of the Antebellum period to color in my own way and use my imagination as to how they would appear. The information at the bottom of each page was a fun lesson in style history.

Beautiufl coloring book. I bought these for my daughter who is interested in fashion and likes to color. Never a disappointment for the price.

I just purchased these Dover COloring Books for my mother and she loves them. The detail is out of this world and the variety of colors you can use are only limited by your inagination. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

For someone like me who loves to study historical fahsions, Tom Tierney has given me more to look at. Its a wonderful & thoughtful book cover to cover, and the detail impressive. Enjoy!