This book is another in the superb series of Chilton books that were published from the mid eighties through at least the mid nineties, rather before the current quilting craze. It is a high-quality paperback with about 140 pages of instructions and examples. One of the signs this book was published in 1993 is that most of the illustrations in the book are in black and white, with a nice color gallery in the center of the book. As Ms. Perez-Collins states in her intro, she uses everything from a hand-crank machine to a 32-head embroidery machine to create her works.
The flowers that this author creates are not simple applique flowers. I wouldn't buy a book for that! No, using everything from industrial fabric to sheers, she creates three-dimensional flowers, stems, etc. Do they look real? That is harder to answer, since I am no flower person. But they sure look great! The first photograph in the color gallery section is one of those decorative rolling metal flower carts with different containers of flowers in all types on it. And how beautiful! I'd sure take it if someone gave it to me!
What has always interested me more than her flowers, though, is her use of fabric in creating succulents. We have all seen these little cactus gardens, and in fact I have bought them in flower shops for people before. Imagine how great this looks with cacti made out of fabric, including the little spines! Set in a dish with gravel they appear so real, and what a novelty. I admit I have planned more than once to make some of these for Christmas gifts and as usual run out of time to make them.
In addition to giving instruction for creating multidimensional flowers, Ms. Perez-Collins also includes instruction in creating the stems and the attachments to the flowers created. Also, there is an entire section on creating fabric vases in which to display the flowers. Just as with different garment creation techniques, her method for the fabric vases is rather unique and might appeal to the reader more than other ways. This book also has detailed instructions for using these beautiful flowers with garments, including methods for making pins and clips to use on clothing rather than sewing them on.
This book is part of the Creative Machine Arts series of books that Chilton published, and it is a shame they are not issuing these in the same form now-to my knowledge. This is not only a fun read but could provide a source of ideas for the individual creativity of the sewer.
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