There’s nothing more irritating to a snappy dresser than purchasing a cool blouse only to find out that everyone and her sister is wearing the same one. Solve this problem by personalizing your favorite fashions with Customizing Cool: Clothes, the all-in-one resource for making your clothing your own. You’ll learn to transform an inexpensive, mass-produced garment into a designer original using just simple materials and tools.

Whether your style is Bohemian, classic, retro, or edgy, the projects in Customizing Cool: Clothes will suit you. Start by learning the techniques for simple sewing and embroidery stitches, then move into choosing embellishments, sourcing and storing materials, and start tackling your own unique designs.

Each project in the book takes a widely-available garment—denim jeans, a velvet jacket, straight-legged pants, or a flared skirt—and offers tips to create your own spiced-up version. Using a few simple trimmings, like frayed silk, sequins, beads, vintage buttons, printed fabric, ribbons, dyes and feathers, you’ll learn to individualize your wardrobe.

You only need a few simple sewing skills to tackle the projects in this book. A comprehensive techniques section takes you step by step through all the basic skills you’ll need, and further detailed steps show how to complete each project. A templates section in the back of the book provides the motifs and designs used throughout.

Projects include a ruffle-edged camisole; rickrack jeans and daisy shorts; a bolero with sequins, beads, and satin bow; a ruched skirt and top; a lace-up T-shirt; fur-trimmed cardigan; leopard jeans; vintage trousers; and more!

You don’t need a tailor or personal designer to jazz up your wardrobe—all you need is a needle, thread, and Customizing Cool: Clothes!

Paperback, 8¼ x 10¼, 128 pages, 240 Photographs, ISBN 10: 1-59668-015-6, ISBN 13: 978-1-59668-015-9