Shape, Pattern, Color: Hand-Stitched Sampler Books by Jody Alexander

All levels | 4 hours 44 min

Shape, Pattern, Color: Hand-Stitched Sampler Books
Overview01:25
Day 1 - Materials10:27
Day 2 - Sourcing fabric09:34
Day 3 - Themes02:55
Day 4 - Fabric 09:14
Day 5 - Stencils: cutting09:36
Day 6 - Stencils: printing12:10
Day 7 - Block printing: carving13:06
Day 8 - Block printing: printing11:56
Day 9 - Dirt as pigment10:02
Day 10 - Natural dyes10:29
Day 11 - Food as pigment04:50
Day 12 - Hand-painted thread11:49
Day 13 - Structure review08:10
Day 14 - Hand stitching07:05
Day 15 - Mending: back patch17:48
Day 16 - Mending: front patch and joining stitch14:11
Day 17 - Embroidery: drawing stitches15:34
Day 18 - Embroidery: decorative stitches09:25
Day 19 - Seams13:54
Day 20 - Drawing on fabric06:52
Day 21 - Machine sewing03:44
Day 22 - Structure review08:34
Day 23 - 3D elements05:29
Day 24 - Adding paper pieces06:35
Day 25 - Adding words or letters05:10
Day 26 - Substrates and edges05:26
Day 27 - Pamphlet book06:27
Day 28 - Slot book03:25
Day 29 - Japanese side sewn book14:32
Day 30 - Accordion book15:04

Taught by Jody Alexander

Explore the art of surface design and storytelling with fabric as your medium. Delve into a world of rich textures and techniques—painting, dyeing, printing, stitching, and more—to craft four distinctive sampler book structures. Jody Alexander, a renowned book and textile artist, showcases many bookmaking and fabric art techniques to help shape narratives using your unique style and mark making. With suggested sizes accommodating diverse structures, seamlessly transition from page creation to book assembly, embracing experimentation as inspiration for future creative endeavors.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Sewing materials
To make all four structures you will need 20-25 pieces of 4"x6" or 5"x7" fabric: natural fabric, medium weight, or deconstructed garment
Fabric scraps and paper ephemera, such as book pages, maps, sheet music, security envelopes, etc.
Thread: perle cotton size 8, daruma sashiko 20/4, machine thread, embroidery thread, other threads
Scissors and/or rotary cutter and mat
Thread snips
Sewing needles
Pins and clips
Sewing machine (optional)
Ruler
Awl

Painting / Dyeing materials
Surface for painting: plexiglass or enamel tray or cardboard
Paints, inks or ink pads, Jody recommends Jacquard and Yellow Owl Workshop
Paint brushes
Palette or paper plate, and palette knife or plastic knife
Stir sticks
Speedy Cut blocks or erasers for block carving and printing
X-Acto or wood cutting/lino tools
Pencil
Pens: Micron, Gelly Roll, fabric pens
Foam roller
Manila file folder or stencil film to make stencils and stencil brushes
Cups and jars and tubs
Natural dyes: dirt, black tea, soy milk, iron water, oak galls, acorns, black walnuts, etc.

For more Japanese side sewn patterns (Day 29), check out Jody's class Japanese Side Sewn Sketchbook

Downloads:

Download Materials List Sampler_Books_With_Jody_Alexander_Class_PDF.pdf

Learn how to:

Combine sewing, bookmaking, embroidery, natural dyeing, block printing, collage, and quilting into one project
Construct four book structures that work well with fabric
Make natrual dyes from dirt, soy milk, tea and collected nature
Make unique stencils and stamps