The Art of Manipulating Fabric

First let me say that I am a simple quiltmaker. But I am a fantastic dreamer! This author has taken all of my dreams and made them come true. I cannot believe the things she does with the most common of fabrics. She sews designs and stuffs them with batting, then creates a wonderful picture with them. She pleats and ruches, too. Welting, cording, smocking, and tucking, are only a few of the lessons in her repertoire. The best way I know to describe her work is to say it's extremely varied in all areas of manipulation and is unlimited in its use. Clothing and quilts become things of great beauty when created using her methods. I recommend this book for all those who are the least bit interested in working with fabric. There are no brightly colored pictures, however. They are just not necessary here.

This is a wonderful reference book for all those interested in sewing and embellishing fabric. It's pure pleasure just looking at the pictures! I have given the book 4 stars though because, although I understand that the use of unbleached white muslin for all samples is clearly useful, I would have liked to see the pictures in color anyway, and not just in black and white. A snow-white cotton fabric over a mahogany background or something similar would have been perfect. It would have given the book the final touch of elegance and luxury which all these fabric embellishments are about anyway. A better picture resolution would have been ideal too, but maybe it's just my bad eyesight! In any case, I wholeheartedly congratulate Colette Wolff and thank her for this fantastic addition to the sewing libraries of passionate fabric/sewing lovers like myself, and I will wait for a second edition with more fabric manipulating ideas! The sky is the limit!

The Art of Manipulating Fabric is a wonderful book. There are excellent pictures or diagrams on every page. The instruction for creating the details covered in the book are excellent as well. Easy to follow. I would recommend this book to any seamstress who wants to improve their sewing by adding these special deatails that make a garment truely special.

Very unique and creatively artistic quilt art. Will take time to learn, but is beautiful and gets your attention right now.

Texture, movement, sway, swag... and more. No prints or color to distract from form, just the fabric manipulated to stand strong, or pout, stipple or ripple in the stream, sharply pleat, or undulate with pleasure. Particularly canted toward those with imagination, this is a profound source book for textural ideas to which I return again and again; a magnificent work.