Layered Cloth, The Art of Fabric Manipulation by Ann Small
SEARCH PRESS, 2016
This book’s cover drew my attention instantly; it is eye-catching for me. I have never seen fabric manipulation like this before. I got so curious about what is inside that I bought it. And I love it.
Stacking, sewing, and slashing fabric
Most of the examples in the book utilize stacking layers of different coloured fabrics on top of each other, sewing them together, and slashing in different manners. Each technique is followed by an easy-to-understand detailed description with high-quality photos. There are not too many techniques (trapunto, stacks, puffs, and faux chenille), yet Ann Small demonstrates how to combine them or add different types of embellishment to create fabric art.
In the image below you can see an applique made by the stitch and slash technique.
Amazing source of inspiration
In her book, Ann describes multiple large projects based on the mentioned fabric manipulation techniques. She creates big images made of fabrics, costumes, and even sculptures. I was so impressed that I decided to try it myself. In the beginning, I just made a small faux chenille square with four layers of cotton fabrics. Although it came out nice and proved easy to make, I still was not sure how to utilise these impressive techniques.
I did not wish to start with such big projects as Ann Small writes about in her publication. Moreover, the accessories in the book aren’t quite my style. However, I still felt intrigued to give it a try since I found these techniques truly fascinating. I finally came up with the idea to create a girl’s head band and simple applique I have sewn to a dress.
While paging through the book over and over again, I got some ideas and created small cotton appliques for girls’ dresses as a result. And I am really happy with them. It was a good idea to enrich my library with this work by Ann Small as find it a great source of inspiration and a helpful manual as well.
