Weaving with high-twist yarns and contrasting materials creates lively textures that are transformed by washing. Ann Richards explains the processes and potential of this approach, and provides a broad introduction to designing with high-twist yarns.

Weaving: Structure and Substance looks at weave design from several different perspectives, showing how resources, ideas and practical experience can come together in a creative process of designing through making. Emphasizing the potential of woven textiles throughout, Ann Richards follows the success of her sister title Weaving Textiles that Shape Themselves and explores the tactile properties that emerge from the interaction of material and structure. The book is organized into four parts that look at the natural world as inspiration, the design resources of material and weave structure, the fabric qualities as starting points for design, and the practical issues of designing through making. With over 280 lavish photos, this book will be an invaluable resource for textile designers and enthusiasts looking for inspiration and practical advice.

Collapse cloth--cloth that, when removed from the loom and washed, takes on an entirely different appearance as the threads draw up and create puckers. Combinations of various weaving techniques are presented alongside photos and diagrams, providing clear instructions for sewing scarves, wraps, tops, and harem-style pants made from this fluid and unusual cloth. Additional chapters describe in detail how to warp the loom and add special effects such as double weave, supplementary warps, spaced cloth, overshot, and deflected double weave. Tips for those who want to spin their own yarn for collapse projects are also included.

A comprehensive book on the kinds of textiles the Shakers used, how they were produced, and their cultural and economic importance to the communities.

This book is a celebration of the extensive collection of Ottoman embroidery at the V and A which ranges from the middle of the 16th century to 1900. In addition to illustrating over 100 major pieces, an introductory text puts the collection in context, explaining who the Ottomans were and their impact on Europe. The embroideries themselves include pieces such as sashes, kerchiefs and scarves which were made to satisfy the requirements of the Ottoman household and are strongly redolent of an exotic way of life. The embroideries can be divided into pre- and post-1720, when the Ottomans made peace with Central and Western Europe, and incorporated many aspects of Western art into their textile traditions. It was not until the 19th century however, that Ottoman embroidery in the form of towels and napkins began to appear in public and private collections in Britain. The book is illustrated with 145 embroideries which are split into the four most characteristic Ottoman techniques- surface darning, laid and couched, double running and double darning. Above all it is the unique double-sided embroideries that are fascinating to Western observers where the same basic stitch has been used over five centuries. This type of embroidery continues to be carried out today by a few skilled practitioners. All techniques are clearly explained through specially commissioned diagrams, which

The Bauhaus school in Germany has long been understood through the writings of its founding director, Walter Gropius, and well-known artists who taught there such as Wassily Kandinsky and László Moholy-Nagy. Far less recognized are texts by women in the school’s weaving workshop. In Bauhaus Weaving Theory, T’ai Smith uncovers new significance in the work the Bauhaus weavers did as writers. From colorful, expressionist tapestries to the invention of soundproofing and light-reflective fabric, the workshop’s innovative creations influenced a modernist theory of weaving. In the first careful examination of the writings of Bauhaus weavers, including Anni Albers, Gunta Stözl, and Otti Berger, Smith details how these women challenged assumptions about the feminine nature of their craft. As they harnessed the vocabulary of other disciplines like painting, architecture, and photography, Smith argues, the weavers resisted modernist thinking about distinct media. In parsing texts about tapestries and functional textiles, the vital role these women played in debates about medium in the twentieth century and a nuanced history of the Bauhaus comes to light. Bauhaus Weaving Theory deftly reframes the Bauhaus weaving workshop as central to theoretical inquiry at the school. Putting questions of how value and legitimacy are established in the art world into dialogue with the limits of modernism, Smith confronts the belief that the crafts are manual and technical but never intellectual arts.

This survey of textile fundamentals and methods, written by the foremost textile artist of the 20th century, covers hand weaving and the loom, fundamental construction and draft notation, modified and composite weaves, early techniques of thread interlacing, interrelation of fiber and construction, tactile sensibility, and design. 9 color illustrations. 112 black-and-white plates.