Fabric for Fashion: The Swatch Book Revised Second Edition

Product Information

As you can see from the table of contents, these two books really are meant to work together as companions and that's definitely something they've done well. There are a multitude of both natural and synthetic fibers covered here, even some odd ones you wouldn't expect.

I understand why it costs so much – it can’t be cheap to produce and assemble – but still, it’s expensive. But I hesitate because I like to FEEL and touch fabric to see if it is the right thing for what I want to make… I wonder if I am on the naughty list? The authors had only the top of the samples attached, enabling readers to lift the fabric to see and feel underneath it. I think that is the biggest problem for entrepreneurs; they want to know more but most books fall in one of two camps: enthusiast and engineering. Natural fabrics such as cottons, silks, wools and linens are included, as are artificial and synthetic fabrics like nylons, polyesters, microfibres, metallics and soya fabrics, and fabrics made from alternative plant fibres like bamboo and hemp.It allows you to make notes of your color palettes for future reference you made using the dry mediums, color gradients, blend and also track which colored pencil and art medium you used.

Or that the tibetan antilope produces such a fine wool that it was hunted nearly to extinction to produce luxury shatoosh shawls and that nowadays, to protect this endangered species, it is illegal even to own a shatoosh shawl?

This easily navigable resource provides over 100 swatches of the most recognised and widely used varieties of fabric, including cottons, silks, wools and linens, to encourage consideration of not just the aesthetic appeal of various fabrics but also their structure, feel and weight. This is not my entry (it’s already here), but a friend just posted this on FB, written by her daughter. She is curator at The Sustainable Angle and in this role curates for the Future Fabrics Expo, delivers brand advisories and speaks at conferences internationally. The first is a wonderfully illustrated book that explains the properties of different fabrics, their history, use and characteristics.