San Francisco Center for the Book

Fabric books are wonderfully tactile and durable but often challenging to create: not every bookmaking structure works well with textiles.

In this workshop, Jody will introduce a number of structures that do work well and she will talk about the benefits and challenges of making books out of fabric. Structures that students will create are the Japanese ledger and side sewn, pamphlet book, slot book, and accordion book. In addition, surface design techniques will be demonstrated to embellish and create content for your books including stenciling, mending and embroidery.

Numerous examples of textile books will be on hand to examine. Fabric books can be used as functional objects such as sampler books or needle books, as well as beautifully textural artists’ books. Re-used textiles as book pages and covers are encouraged in this workshop.

Required Materials to Bring:

• Fabric that you want to work with. Medium weight natural fabrics strongly recommended: cotton and/or linen. Reclaimed fabric is encouraged (old clothing, table cloth, etc.) Old denim works great! If you bring the equivalent of 1 yard of fabric or more that should be enough to make all the book structures. You can bring solids or prints but if you want to stencil print you may want to consider some solids.
• A variety of threads: machine, sashiko, embroidery, etc. (instructor will also have some to share)

Required Tools:

• Needles to fit your threads
• Pins
• Sharp scissors
• Rotary cutter
• Straight edge ruler or quilting ruler
• Pencil or pen and notebook for note taking
• Awl (also available at SFCB)
• Cutting mat (also available at SFCB)
• X-acto knife (also available at SFCB)

Prerequisite:
None

About the Instructor:
Jody Alexander (she/her) is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Santa Cruz and Penn Valley, California. She combines textiles, paper, found items and imagery to create books, objects, wall pieces, garments, and installations. Her current work is inspired by the art of repair, reuse, and imagery and stories encountered in her travels and everyday.

Her work appears in a number of publications including Masters: Book Arts: Major Works by Leading Artist, 500 Handmade Books, and 1000 Artists' Books: Exploring the Book as Art. Jody was an artist in residence at the Santa Cruz Resource Recovery Facility in 2019, and is the 2015 recipient of the Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from U.C.L.A., and a Master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons College, Boston, MA.

Jody teaches and exhibits nationally and internationally.