Stitch Alchemy * Kelli Perkins

Combining Fabric and Paper for Mixed-Media Art. This imaginative crafting guide delivers an extensive, highly technical workbook that teaches fiber and textile artists how to fuse paper and fabric together using paints, mediums, and stitches to create a completely new, durable substrate for fine art journals, quilts, and wearables.

The Story: Written by prominent mixed-media artist, painter, and veteran educator Kelli Perkins, this highly sought-after 2009 masterwork transforms a standard sewing table into an exceptionally active, boundary-pushing art studio workspace. Perkins has  a thorough, technique-first strategy demonstrating that fabricating high-impact wearable art and archival pages relies on a unique process of paper-lamination, chemical distressing, and free-motion embroidery.

The guide takes fiber artists, scrapbookers, and mixed-media enthusiasts through a versatile learning landscape across its heavily illustrated pages. The layout organizes textile chemistry into clear, step-by-step skill modules - meticulously detailing adhesive metrics, paint layering loops, background texturing, and needle safety. The text unpeels exactly how to manipulate everyday sketch papers, tissue sheets, and cotton muslins, tracking precise guidelines to coat, crinkle, wash, and stitch substrates so that they gain the beautiful pliability of fine leather and the brilliant color depth of an abstract canvas.

A highly practical project book. Perkins includes twenty unique, contemporary design templates - ranging from textured artist trading cards and quilted wall hangings to custom journal covers and embellished fabric pouches - complete with comprehensive material checklists and clear visual construction guides. Published as a premium paperback by Interweave Press, this technique-filled resource serves as an essential showpiece for craft and hobby shelves, instructing the reader's mind on how to build an unbreakable internal sanctuary of handmade artisan expression.

Perfect For: Mixed-media artists, art journalers, and adventurous quilters looking for an uncomplicated, highly visual reference book to master fabric-paper lamination and surface design; crafters eager to break away from standard needlework into textured, multi-layered fine art projects; and library collections archiving definitive DIY crafting and hobby guides.

Published 2009 by Interweave Press.

Crafts & Hobbies / Fiber Arts / Mixed-Media Design / Paper & Textile Manipulation / Surface Treatment Manuals / Creative Stitching Handbooks