 |
| Two inspiring "look book"s... |
That said, I did come to appreciate the medium for what it can do. Content based more on photos than text is easy to consume, no matter the native language of the "looker". In the spirit of that ease of access, I'd like to share a couple of "look books" with you today.
The first one is from Art Gallery Fabrics, a well-known fabric design company based in Florida (with whom I have absolutely no affiliation). What's nice about their look books — by the way, I'm just going to shorten that to LB from now on — is that apart from the requisite self promotion, they contain links to patterns and tutorials that are mostly free.
Unfortunately, some of the links don't work, but just seeing the projects can be highly inspirational.
Here are some sample pages from AGF's Capsules Fabric LB. Featured projects are wide-ranging, from clothing to bags to home decor with a lot of quilts mixed in.
 |
| image courtesy of Art Gallery Fabrics' Capsules Fabric LookBook... |
Familiar with the Expedit bins at IKEA? Well, you can make your own with the help of a tutorial that's linked from this page.
 |
| image courtesy of Art Gallery Fabrics' Capsules Fabric LookBook... |
Despite several years of sewing, I haven't gotten into quilting quilts. However, projects like the one shown above are really tempting! (Although, I have to admit that the fabrics are a huge part of the appeal.)
 |
| image courtesy of Art Gallery Fabrics' Capsules Fabric LookBook... |
In my posts about sewing books that I borrowed from the library a couple of years ago, I saw some simple projects very similar to the type shown here in AGF's LB. The sleeping bag set above is a good example.
Free patterns directly from AGF are in PDF format. Other projects are from other bloggers and/or designers and that's where some of the dead link issues may arise.
The second LB is from Dritz. (Their blog was the source of my fabric cuff bracelets from January.) This LB is all about tote bags, that ubiquitous project that every beginner sewing enthusiast makes.
While many of us are no longer challenged by tote bags, this LB is all about customizing the look of one... a process that can easily be applied to the creation of any bag. I found the pages to be surprisingly thought provoking and definitely inspiring. (By the way, the featured fabrics are also from the afore-mentioned AGF.)
Here are some examples.
 |
| image courtesy of Dritz's Tote Bags look book... |
The above is the first page. It gives you an idea of where this LB will take you, from the planning of your bag to its unique creation.
 |
| image courtesy of Dritz's Tote Bags look book... |
Of course, the self promotion aspect of this LB lies in the use of Dritz's bag making hardware, but admittedly, some of it's pretty good stuff. The above page shows how triangular rings can be used to add bling to your bag... nifty, huh?
 |
| image courtesy of Dritz's Tote Bags look book... |
It's easy to forget that these are simple tote bags when you see the creative touches on some of them. I love the idea of the corner treatment shown here to feature a tag or just to add contrast.
 |
| image courtesy of Dritz's Tote Bags look book... |
I've mentioned before that I don't like flaps, but the above is an interesting take on a tote bag turned purse through the creative use of carabiners and grommets as a closure.
You may or may not know that the original goal of this blog was to get me to the point of designing my own dream purse. I'll admit that coming up on five years in, I'm no longer focused on that objective (or on bags in general) and may ultimately make my exit here without designing a dream purse. Every now and then, though, I pick up a little bit of unexpected inspiration.
Here are the hyperlinks to the above LBs so that you can explore them at your leisure. The first one from Art Gallery Fabrics can be found here. (For many more LBs from AGF, check out this general link.)
May you find something inspiring!
No comments:
Post a Comment
You have the power to brighten my day. Leave me a comment; I'd love to hear your thoughts... you can even remain ANONYMOUS! And rest assured that I acknowledge all comments, either here or via email. (That is, if you don't see a response from me here, I would have responded privately to the person.) Spam or generic comments with unrelated links, however, are promptly removed... and I may take appropriate action or report you to Google. Thanks for reading! (✿◠‿◠)