Scarves to Make

Rating:
Summary: A very stylish and inspiring book on scarves!
Review: I was excited with the idea of creating my own scarves to accompany the clothes I make. Well this book helped me immensely to experiment with different embellishment techniques and ideas. Linda Lee has selected 13 artists (among them Marcy Tilton, Jane Conlon and Stephanie Valley whose books are among my favorite) each one presenting one or more scarves they made with a different style and a new approach to traditional techniques and materials. The scarves are very beautiful and stylish (!!) and the photographs are so good that many times I just go over them admiring Linda Lee's work.

But this is not just a book full of pictures of beautiful scarves. It is a well organized book comprising six parts each one concentrating on a different traditional approach to embellishing. Each part includes 5-6 different scarves with a list of materials, fabric notes, cutting instructions and full of clear and detailed instructions and illustrations on construction.

The first part of the book is focused on ribbon fantasy including "delicately hazy sheers, iridescent ribbons and open-weave lattices''. The second part of the book is focused on traditional arts including "the art of piecing, applique, cutwork and shadow work". The third part of the book is focused on contemporary interpretations to make interesting scarves by slashing, washing, shrinking etch. The fourth part of the book is focused on beads and baubles. The fifth part of the book is focused on senciled, stamped and stitched techniques to create very beautiful and original scarves. The last part of the book is focused on architectural shapes that are truly fun to make and wear !!

I highly recommend this book to any (beginner, intermediate or advanced) sewer that takes pleasure in creating special accessory pieces!!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Scarves--Directions so-so
Review: If you are an experienced seamstress, this is a really nice book. There are many beautiful scarves in it, some with a lot of detail work.

For the rest of us, (who take the machine out occasionally to mend with) the directions are rather confusing. Also, there are only a few scarves that aren't too dressy to wear with jeans for a walk in the park, so you are going to be spending some $$$$ to make most of these designs.

I wanted to give this book three-and-a-half stars. Not for a beginner, but someone who really enjoys sewing would like this book, especially if they like to dress up--see if you can understand the directions first!