Book Review (& Press!) - A Field Guide to Fabric Design

I just received my copy of 'A Field Guide to Fabric Design' by Kimberly Kight of the fabulous fabric blog True Up, in the mail yesterday, and let me just say it - I LOVE it! Kim did such an amazing job with this book and if you are someone interested in creating your own fabric collection, learning from current fabric designers or wanting to learn how to put your artwork into repeat, either by hand or in the computer - this is the book for you. She also included Designer Roundtables where she holds Q and A with a variety of fabric designers, which I am so excited to be a part of.

I'm super-sure you've heard of Kim and her True Up blog - but to let you know a little bit about Kim, she started her blog in 2008 because of her obsession with fabric, and over that time has used that passion to teach herself fabric design, and now teaches on the subject where she lives in Austin, Texas.

A Field Guide to Fabric Design walks you through how to design, print and sell your own fabric and covers both traditional and digital techniques. I love that she teaches one of my favorite Illustrator tools, the 'Recolor Artwork' tool which allows you to create colorways easily of your designs. As well as the Photoshop 'Offset Filter' which helps you create seamless repeats.

The book is broken down into three sections with multiple chapters within each section, which are:

Section One: Design and Color
Fabric Design Fundamentals
Step-by-Step Design - Covers creating repeats by hand and by computer
Know Your Color - Creating color palettes and colorways
Colorways and Collections - Creating collections of patterns for the fabric industry and balancing color throughout

Section Two: Printing
Know Your Surface: Fabric Basics
Step-by-Step Hand Printing
Digital Printing

Section Three: The World of Fabric Design
Designing for Fun and Profit

There's also a wide variety of page previews of the insides of this book on Amazon, if you'd like to see more. Overall, if you haven't added this book to your library, I would highly recommend it! Kim did such a great and thorough job at including everything you need to know about being a designer in the industry and taking a shot at it yourself. (And by the way - this book is ranked #2 on Amazon's Textile and Costumes Bestseller List - for good reason! Way to go Kim!)