Books by Alison Smith
Name All the Animals: A Memoir
by Alison Smith
The critically acclaimed, heartbreaking memoir that is at once a gorgeous, profound, and redemptive story of a family holding desperately to the memory of a lost child; and a touching, intelligent, and inspiring coming-out story.
A luminous, true story, Name All the Animals is an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and of a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss. As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name, Alroy. But when Alison was fifteen, she woke one day to learn that Roy, eighteen, was dead.
Heartbreaking but hopeful, this extraordinary memoir explores the aftermath of Roy’s death: his parents’ enduring romance, the faith of a deeply religious community, and the excitement and anguish of Alison's first love—a taboo relationship that opens up a world beyond the death of her brother.
Copies
No copies available.
Name All the Animals: A Memoir
by Alison Smith
Recounts the author's teenage experience of losing her beloved older brother in a car accident, a loss after which she managed her grief by engaging in self-destructive behaviors until her forbidden love for another girl helped her define herself beyond her brother's death. 75,000 first printing.
Copies
No copies available.
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design
by Alison Smith, Tim Barringer, Jason Rosenfeld
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood shook the mid-19th-century art world. Effectively Britain’s first modern art movement, the Brotherhood combined rebellion and revivalism, scientific precision, and imaginative grandeur. Today, the works of the Pre-Raphaelites are among the best known of all English paintings, and yet they have often been dismissed or misunderstood as Victoriana or escapism. This fascinating book convincingly corrects that view, examining works in a wide variety of media and demonstrating the broad scope of the movement’s revolutionary ideas about art, design, and society.
Led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelites’ unflinchingly radical style, inspired by the purity of early Renaissance painting, defied convention, provoked critics, and entranced audiences. Many of their most famous paintings are featured, including Millais’s Ophelia and Ford Madox Brown’s The Last of England. This book also includes sculpture, photography, and the applied arts, the last of which shows the important role the Brotherhood played in the early development of the Arts and Crafts movement and the socialist ideas of the poet, designer, and theorist William Morris.
Copies
No copies available.
The Sewing Book
by Alison Smith
This is the only sewing book you'll ever need. Every tool and every technique you require for making your own home furnishings or clothing is closely and sharply photographed, carefully annotated, and clearly explained.
The Tools section begins with the basic toolkit, opening up into everything you could possibly need - every type of cutting tool and machine foot is shown. This section also includes information on patterns - how to measure, how to use, and how to adjust them. Gallery spreads appear throughout the substantial Techniques section and showcase darts, zips, pleats etc, as well as showing key stitches. Plus, you can bring your acquired and refined skills to fruition as you make some of the 25 home decor and clothing projects at the back of the book. With The Sewing Book on your shelf, you've got every sewing question covered.
Copies
-
$40.00
The Sewing Book: An Encyclopedic Resource of Step-by-Step Techniques
by Alison Smith
This is the only sewing book you'll ever need. Every tool and every technique you require for making your own home furnishings or clothing is closely and sharply photographed, carefully annotated, and clearly explained.
The Tools section begins with the basic toolkit, opening up into everything you could possibly need - every type of cutting tool and machine foot is shown. This section also includes information on patterns - how to measure, how to use, and how to adjust them. Gallery spreads appear throughout the substantial Techniques section and showcase darts, zips, pleats etc, as well as showing key stitches. Plus, you can bring your acquired and refined skills to fruition as you make some of the 25 home decor and clothing projects at the back of the book. With The Sewing Book on your shelf, you've got every sewing question covered.
Copies
No copies available.
Dressmaking: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Making your Own Clothes
by Alison Smith
Perfect for anyone interested in sewing — whether it's updating an old top or creating an A-line skirt from scratch — Dressmaking covers everything one needs to know to make, alter, and customize clothes.
Sewers will discover what supplies to buy and how to use them, the best fabrics to choose based on drape and weave, how to understand patterns and alter them, and the essential general techniques to master — plus patterns and detailed step-by-step instructions are provided for a skirt, dress, shirt, tee, jacket, and pair of pants — including suggested variations!
Finishing up with tips and inspiration on alterations, repairs, and customizing any clothes, from dealing with holes and tears to lengthening and shortening sleeves, this handy guide is the dressmaking bible no budding seamstress should be without.
Copies
No copies available.
Sew Step by Step (DK Step by Step)
by Alison Smith
Need to learn how to shorten a hemline? Eager to make some cushion covers or a simple tunic dress? Sew Step by Step will come to your rescue.
Packed with more than 200 easy-to-follow techniques, from sewing on a button to personalizing a garment, Sew Step by Step brings these traditional, practical, and artistic crafts up to date with advice on contemporary styles and new materials, introducing these immensely satisfying skills to a whole new generation.
Copies
No copies available.
Dressmaking Step by Step
by Alison Smith
Learn how to make your own clothes with sewing techniques explained in a clear, simple way with Dressmaking Step-by-Step. Don't let dressmaking become a lost art — learn how to make a dress or how to make clothes as gifts for friends with this step-by-step guide.
Compact but comprehensive, Dressmaking Step-by-Step includes classic fashions that fit in any wardrobe and can be customized to your own personal style. This is the modern sewing book for the modern sewer, a combination of dressmaking pattern book and technique guide to get you started as a dressmaker and help you grow with new techniques as you gain confidence in making your own clothes.
The Tools and Techniques section includes clear, visual guides to marking and cutting, creating darts and gathers, making waistbands, pockets, zippers, and more. Anyone new to dressmaking will love this resource, and even experts will appreciate Dressmaking Step-by-Step as a concise refresher course in the art of dressmaking and making your own clothes.
Copies
No copies available.
The Sewing Book: Over 300 Step-by-Step Techniques
by Alison Smith
This is the only sewing reference you will ever need, with step-by-step photographs to show you how to sew absolutely everything!
Whether you are sewing clothes, making soft furnishings, or doing alterations, master every hand sewing and machine sewing technique with close-up photographs and clear instructions to demystify the trickiest techniques. Choose from 10 stylish projects to practice your skills. With in-depth coverage of tools, techniques, and fabric, this is the ultimate sewing bible for beginners and seasoned stitchers alike.
Fully illustrated and easy to use, this sewing book covers all the essential skills and techniques for successful hand and machine sewing. It's a must-have for beginners and expert stitchers alike.
Comprehensive step-by-step instructions cover everything from cutting out patterns to making sleeves and stitching hems. Accompanied by close-up photographs, clear instructions, and a glossary of sewing terminology to demystify even the trickiest technique. This book will help you advance from a sewing learner to a seasoned stitcher in no time.
Inside the pages of this sewing guide, you'll find:
- Up-to-date techniques to help you master the art of sewing and develop your stitching skills
- How to choose and use today's sewing equipment, fabrics, and paper patterns
- 10 new projects for stylish homeware and clothing
- Step-by-step photographs and easy-to-follow instructions.
All the techniques and projects are graded by difficulty level, from the simple and straightforward to the more complex and challenging ones. There are 10 new, stylish projects to help you put into practice what you've learned. Explore in-depth descriptions on more than 100 tools, and 250 techniques, and browse an updated visual directory of more than 50 fabrics. From basic sewing kits and cutting tools, to measuring tools and marking aids, this book will also help you get properly kitted out! Zoomed-in photographs of hand and machine tools show you the best equipment for the job and teaches you exactly how to use it.
We will guide you through every hand stitch, machine stitch, and sewing technique you'll ever need. We've included the best way to seam and hem, and put in linings, fasteners, darts, pleats, and pockets, and how to create necklines, collars, and sleeves, so you can make your favorite bespoke outfits. This is your complete guide to sewing absolutely everything, from altering clothes to home decor.
At DK, we believe in the power of discovery.
So why stop there? If you like The Sewing Book, then why not try The Crochet Book to hone in on your creativity?
Copies
No copies available.
Pre-Raphaelite Sisters
by Alison Smith, Jan Marsh, Peter Funnell, Charlotte Gere, Pamela Gerrish Nunn
For far too long the male protagonists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement have dominated accounts of this revolution in British art. This book aims to redress the balance in showing just how engaged and central women were to the endeavour - as the subjects of the images themselves, certainly, but also in their production.
When the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (the 'PRB') exhibited their first works in 1849 it heralded a revolution in British art. Styling themselves the 'Young Painters of England' this group of young men aimed to overturn stale Victorian artistic conventions and challenge the previous generation with their startling colours and compositions.
Think of the images created by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others in their circle, however, and it is not men but pale-faced young women with lustrous, tumbling locks that spring to mind, gazing soulfully from the picture frame or in dramatic scenes painted in glowing colours. Who were these women? What is known of their lives and their roles in a movement that, in successive phases, spanned over half a century?
Some were models, plucked from obscurity to pose for figures in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, while others were sisters, wives, daughters and friends of the artists. Several were artists themselves, with aspirations to match those of the men, sharing the same artistic and social networks yet condemned by their gender to occupy a separate sphere. Others inhabited and sustained a male-dominated art world as partners in production, maintaining households and studios and socialising with patrons. Some were skilled in the arts of interior decoration, dressmaking, embroidery, jewellery-making - the fine crafts that formed a supportive tier for the 'higher' arts of painting and sculpture. And although their backgrounds and life-experiences certainly varied widely, all were engaged in creating Pre-Raphaelite art.
Copies
No copies available.
The Tailoring Book Measuring. Cutting. Fitting. Altering. Finishing
by Alison Smith
Whether you want to alter a vintage jacket or create a full-tailored suit, this tailoring reference guide has everything you need to produce elegant, bespoke garments that last a lifetime.
With over 80 step-by-step techniques on measuring, cutting, altering, and finishing, this is the only book you will need to create and alter a tailored garment.
Alison Smith MBE is one of the world's leading tailoring experts, and in her new book, she reveals trade secrets and all the practical know-how necessary to master this heritage craft. The Tailoring Book is the latest title in Smith's best-selling sewing series. It covers everything from choosing patterns and fabrics to fitting and construction, including techniques that can be applied to both womens- and menswear.
With this book, you can learn how to:
-Tailor garments by selecting the right tools to create a toile and picking the perfect hand stitch.
-Follow 10 detailed garment projects to create shirts, jackets, coats, and trousers
-Master the techniques of tailoring with step-by-step instructions and downloadable patterns that guide you through every part of the process
This book includes key equipment and techniques, garment projects with clear step-by-step processes and downloadable patterns, and tips on repairs and alterations. It takes the reader from the basics through to couture techniques.
Copies
No copies available.