Complete Guide to Customising Your Clothes: Techniques & Tutorials for Personalising Your Wardrobe

The only book to cover customizing all of the essential garments and accessories from head to toe, The Complete Guide to Customizing Your Clothes breaks down the latest design trends for each fashion item, from dresses and skirts to t-shirts, shoes and bags by profiling designers in the field and showcasing the work of emerging talent. Hundreds of designs on fashion items are photographed in stunning detail to stimulate and inspire the budding designer, and are also illustrated together as part of complete looks that can be replicated or reworked.Throughout the book the processes and techniques used to create each design are discussed alongside inspiring and beautiful photographs. Masterclasses on a fantastic range of techniques provide practical advice on how to apply your designs to clothing and accessories using screenprinting, embroidery and batik, fabric painting and stencilling. Emerging digital print technologies are also discussed, as are innovative ways of combining traditional fabrics with plastics and even electronics. A resource section acts as a quick guide to the properties of different fabric types and the techniques and materials that can be used with them. Gallery spreads are also included to showcase examples of each technique and interviews with inspiring artists and designers such as Jil Sander, Martin Margiela, NOKI and many more complete this fabulous resource.

Rain Blanken is a designer, seamstress, and writer specialising in upcycling, recycling and reinventing clothing. After learning the arts of sewing and crochet from her mother and grandmother, Rain spent most of her youth experimenting with different techniques of making and embellishing clothes. She went on to complete a degree in Fine Art and become a professional artist and seamstress. After making and selling her handmade clothing for many years, Rain is now the host of the New York Times Company About.com's DIY fashion site offering tutorials in handmade clothing jewellery and costume techniques. Her popular daily blog features handmade artists as well as her own fresh ideas and inspirations.