Art Education Daily

Friday, September 9, 2011

Sewing Book Covers

A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older forms such as the nineteenth-century "paper-boards" and the traditional types of hand-binding. This article is concerned with modern mechanically produced covers.

It seems that the first printer to introduce mechanical book-binding was the printer Jorg Schappf, (from Augusta), in particular the Chiromantia, in 1488. Before the early nineteenth century, books were hand-bound, in the case of luxury medieval manuscripts using materials such as gold, silver and jewels. For hundreds of years, book bindings had functioned as a protective device for the expensively printed or hand-made pages, and as a decorative tribute to their cultural authority. In the 1820s great changes began to occur in how a book might be covered, with the gradual introduction of techniques for mechanical book-binding. Cloth, and then paper, became the staple materials used when books became so cheap – thanks to the introduction of steam-powered presses and mechanically-produced papers – that to have them hand-bound became disproportionate to the cost of the book itself.

Not only were the new types of book-covers cheaper to produce, they were also printable, using multi-color lithography, and later, half-tone illustration processes. Techniques borrowed from the nineteenth-century poster-artists gradually infiltrated the book industry, as did the professional practice of graphic design. The book cover became more than just a protection for the pages, taking on the function of advertising, and communicating information about the text inside.

The Book Cover Archive
Grand Valley State University digital collections – contains photographs of decorated publisher bindings from the 1870s to 1930
Historical book cover design gallery
Pulp fiction cover gallery
The Art of Penguin Science Fiction The history and cover art of science fiction published by Penguin Books from 1935 to the present day
Thomas Bonn Collection of Publishers Interviews – more than 100 audio interviews with publishers, art directors, etc. on the topic of cover art

Sewn book covers are very popular project assignments in both sewing classes and fine art classes. I will link to some fun examples below.

Sewing Rag Dolls

Lovely ethnic rag dolls.

      The name "rag doll" originates from the Greek word, "ragette dolu", a term used to describe a poorly dressed girl. A rag doll is a children's toy. It is a cloth figure, a doll traditionally home-made from (and stuffed with) spare scraps of material. They are one of the most ancient children's toys in existence; the British Museum has a Roman rag doll, found in a child's grave dating from 300 BC.
      Rag dolls have featured in a number of children's stories, like the 19th century character Golliwogg, Raggedy Ann in the 1918 book by John Barton Gruelle and the British children's television series Bagpuss Ragdolly Anna and the popular "Raggybaggy" The character of Sally from the hit movie Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is also a rag doll.
      Today, many rag dolls are commercially produced to simulate the features of the original home-made dolls, such as simple features, soft cloth bodies, and patchwork clothing.

Some of the most charming rag dolls ever:

Mitten Sewing Projects

Gloves which cover the entire hand but do not have separate finger openings or sheaths are called mittens. Generally, mittens still separate the thumb from the other four fingers. They have different colors and designs. Mittens have a higher thermal efficiency than gloves as they have a small surface area exposed to the cold.

The earliest mittens known to archeologists date to around 1000AD in Latvia. Mittens continue to be part of Latvian national costume today. Wool biodegrades quickly, so it is likely that earlier mittens, possibly in other countries, may have existed but were not preserved. An exception is the specimen found during the excavations of the Early Medieval trading town of Dorestad in the Netherlands. In the harbour area a mitten of wool was discovered dating from the 8th or early 9th century. Many people around the Arctic Circle have used mittens, including other Baltic peoples, Native Americans and Vikings. Mittens are a common sight on Ski slopes, as they not only provide extra warmth but extra protection from injury.

Sewing your own mittens is both fun and easy!

Sewing Tea Cozies

Although the history of the tea cozy may begin when tea was introduced to Britain in the 1660s, the first documented use of a tea cozy in Britain was in 1867. It is probably the Duchess of Bedford who, by establishing the activity of afternoon tea in 1840, would have brought the popularity of the tea cozy. Afternoon tea was the time for networking and keeping up to date with aristocracy gossip and topical news. With all the chatter at teatime the teapot would get cold, which would have at times cut short some tea parties. And so, the tea cozy came about. Tea cozies then flourished during the late 19th century, where they appeared in many households across Britain, motivated by the obsession of decorating and covering objects characteristic of the Victorian era.

Tea cozies started to be used in North America in the same period. Newspapers of the time reveal that tea cozies enjoyed "a sudden and unexpected rise in public favor" among women who hosted tea parties. Newspapers of the time included advice columns on how to make one: "Some very handsome ones are made of remnants of heavy brocade, but linen is generally used, embroidered or not, according to taste, as these covers are washable. Make the covering large enough for your teapot and provide a ring at the top to lift it off with."

Who new tea cozies were sew popular?

Sewing a Basic Layette

A layette is a collection of clothing for a newborn child. The term "layette set" is commonly used in the United States to refer to gift sets of baby clothes.
Traditionally, women would hand-sew their baby's clothes during their pregnancy. Today "layette" is often used to identify a baby clothing section of a store. The term can also be used for bedding, accessories, and baby care items.

Basic layette items include:

a going-home-from-the-hospital or birth center outfit
legless sleepwear (sleeping gowns / kimonos / sleeping bags / newborn sacques / blanket sleepers) or footed sleepers
onesies (short-sleeved, legless bodysuits) / all-in-ones / rompers / coveralls
undershirts / T-shirts
receiving blankets
swaddling blankets
hooded towels
baby washcloths
cloth diapers for diapering
socks / booties
hats / beanies / sweaters / bunting (depending on the climate)
burp cloths (cloth diapers are often recommended)
Scratch mits
Vests

Layette patterns and ideas:

Sewing Handbag or Purse Projects

A handbag, or purse in American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag that is often fashionably designed, typically used by women, to hold personal items such as wallet/coins, keys, cosmetics, a hairbrush, pepper spray, cigarettes, mobile phone etc.

Types of Handbags:

Clutch, a small, yet long (rectangular), evening bag without a handle
Pocketbook
Satchel, a soft-sided case usually of leather, used to carry papers or books; usually has a handle and often has a strap
Duffle bag, a large bag usually used for travel or sports
Tote, a medium to large bag with two straps
Messenger bag, a bag with a long strap to be worn across the body
Sling bag, a bag with a long strap (similar to a messenger bag), yet smaller
Laptop purse, a medium to large bag that contains a padded interior compartment or sleeve for protecting a laptop computer.
Camera bag, to carry photographic equipment
Cosmetic bag, to hold cosmetics
Half moon bag, a bag shaped like a half moon
Muff, a winter bag made of real or faux fur, wool or velvet that has zippered compartments and a slip opening for hands
Shoulder bag, a bag with a shoulder strap

Make your own handbags, backpacks, purses and wallets etc... Here are some really terrific ideas for teaching textile design to teens coming soon.

Make a handbag from an old book
Make a Messenger Bag Out of Trash Bags
Make a Wallet Out of Tape
Make a T-Shirt Bag
Make T-Shirt Tote Bag Tutorial

Sewing Skirt Projects

Beginning around 1915, hemlines for daytime dresses left the floor for good. For the next fifty years fashionable skirts became short (1920s), then long (1930s), then shorter (the War Years with their restrictions on fabric), then long (the "New Look"), then shortest of all from 1967 to 1970, when skirts became as short as possible while avoiding exposure of underwear, which was considered taboo.

Since the 1970s and the rise of pants for women as an option for all but the most formal of occasions, not one skirt length has dominated fashion for long, with short and ankle-length styles often appearing side-by-side in fashion magazines and catalogs.

Basic Skirt Types for Women

Straight skirt or Pencil skirt, a tailored skirt hanging straight from the hips and fitted from the waist to the hips by means of darts or a yoke; may have a kick-pleat for ease of walking
Full skirt, a skirt with fullness gathered into the waistband
Short skirt, a skirt with hemline above the knee.
Bell-shaped skirt, flared noticeably from the waist but then, unlike a church bell, cylindrical for much of its length.
A-line skirt, a skirt with a slight flare, roughly in the shape of a capital letter A
Pleated skirt, a skirt with fullness reduced to fit the waist by means of regular pleats ('plaits') or folds, which can be stitched flat to hip-level or free-hanging
Circle skirt, a skirt cut in sections to make one or more circles with a hole for the waist, so the skirt is very full but hangs smoothly from the waist without darts, pleats, or gathers
Hobble skirt, long and tight skirt with a narrow enough hem to significantly impede the wearer's stride

Skirt Project Ideas from The Internet:

There are a number of male garments which fall under the category of "skirt" or "dress." These go by a variety of names and form part of the traditional dress for men from various cultures. Usage varies - the dhoti is part of everyday dress on the Indian subcontinent while the kilt is more usually restricted to occasional wear and the foustanella is used almost exclusively as costume. Robes, which are a type of dress for men, have existed in many cultures, including the Japanese kimono, the Chinese cheongsam, the Arabic thobe, and the African Senegalese kaftan. Robes are also used in some religious orders, such as the cassock in Christianity and various robes and cloaks that may be used in pagan rituals.

Examples of men's skirts and skirt like garments from various cultures include:

The kilt is a skirt of Gaelic and Celtic history, part of the Scottish national dress in particular, and is worn formally and to a lesser extent informally. Irish and Welsh kilts also exist but are not so much a part of national identity.
The foustanella is worn by men in Greece and other parts of the Balkans. By the mid-20th Century, it was relegated to ceremonial use and as period or traditional costume.
The gho is a knee-length robe worn by men in Bhutan. They are required to wear it every day as part of national dress in government offices, in schools and on formal occasions.
The sarong is a piece of cloth that may be wrapped around the waist to form a skirt-like garment. Sarongs exist in various cultures under various names, including the pareo and lavalava of the Hawaiian islands and Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and Fiji), the Indian dhoti and lungi, and the South Indian mundu.

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