Natalie Chanin

Contrary to the title, I don't perceive "romance" in this book. It's a highly practical guide to making a plethora of neatly executed embroidery stitches. There are pages upon pages of common, uncommon, and "I've never seen that in 50 years of embroidery" stitches, but the most important and completely unexpected element is two large plastic sheets, perforated as a guide to the stitcher. You can (per the book) stitch over and through the sheets like one of those nursery school lacing cards, show more but most will probably prefer to use them as a template to mark the fabric with one of the marking tools the author explains. The sheets are bound into the wire-coil binding. Anyone buying the book second-hand should make certain that they are present, because without them, the book is of limited use at best. show less

Adult nonfiction; sewing fashions. Natalie Chanin explains in detail the steps she goes through to make her unique clothing line--from picking out the fabric to deconstructing a t-shirt, and thorough instructions for doing embroidery, stenciling, beading, applique and reverse applique. She includes plenty of lovely projects and while I would probably never want to put that much time into a t-shirt or a table cloth or even a head scarf, I found the discussion of the techniques to be valuable, show more and there are a few projects (the rag boa scarf and the cut-up t-shirt chrysanthemums) that might be done in an hour or less with a very minimal amount of skills required (read: appropriate for a library program for teens or adults). show less

Natalie Chanin is a designer who has featured in Vogue. She has generously released a number of books featuring the secrets of her sewing, including patterns. She uses organic cotton jersey and so far her patterns have been true to the sizes indicated. What makes her patterns unique is that they are hand sewn and appeal to a person who is interested in the slow sewing movement - I have made a number of tops using her 'corset' design which is a beautifully fitted top better suited, show more unfortunately, to thinner people - this has been enthusiastically accepted by anyone I have made it for and can be embellished in a number of ways. She is ethically motivated in the running of her enterprise in that she avoids waste and hurting the environment. She is willing to sell materials, patterns (the books all contain her original patterns), threads, etc all of which she uses in her organisation to those who want to make their own garments. She realises that many people cannot afford the price of couture garments. If you are interested in sewing you could fall in love with these books. show less

I really enjoyed this book, particularly how fun yet classy the projects were; unlike most other recycled looks which are on the trashy/messy side.