Review   The Fabric Shopper Blog - October 12, 2011
"I was extremely excited when my copy of Kim Kight’s A Field Guide to Fabric Design showed up on my doorstep yesterday! I pre-ordered it months ago, actually without hesitation the minute I first saw it and then kind of forgot about it. Kim is extremely knowledgeable about the textile industry and her blog, True Up, keeps readers up to date and very well informed. I have a deep interest in the fabric design process and have even tried my hand at a few designs on Spoonflower. I’m only in the very beginning stages of learning to work with colors, patterns, and style and I can’t wait to work my way through this book and learn more! Oh! And I just discovered that Kim created a Forum to go along with her book! Be sure to check it out!"

Review   Small Town Living - A Simpler Life in Small Town America - December 1, 2011
"Have you ever visited a fabric store and had a vision for a project and not been able to find the exact color or whimsical design that you are dreaming of? Or have you looked at what is available and just thought to yourself how you'd like something just a bit more "original" and that says "you"? And let's admit it..have you ever seen a fabric and thought to yourself "Whatever in the world were they thinking?" Now you can learn how to create your own unique fabrics through the guidance of Kimberly Kight's book titled "A Field Guide to Fabric Design" (Stash Books a division of C&T Publishing) You can design the looks that you dream of and have them be uniquely original,uniquely "you". Within the pages of Kimberly's book you will learn how to determine design parameters. You'll learn about directional and non- directional prints and what this means in the world of fabric design. You'll learn how to determine the repeat on a pattern. And more importantly you will be eased into learning about your style and how to develop it. Kimberly shares the nuts and bolts and the important things like "Copyright Primer", or how to protect your own work and to ensure that your designs do not infringe upon or look similar to other designs out there. The key is to learn how to design and develop your own unique style. Kimberly will show you how to create both hand drawn and computer rendered designs and how to utilize Photoshop on your computer to make the process easier. (the book provides plenty of illustrations for how to do each method) You'll learn how to develop a effective color scheme and palette, and how to work effeciently with computer generated colors. You'll learn the basics of fabric construction,and fabric types and commonly printed fabrics. And for those who would like to have more of a hands-on through the entire process.you'll learn how to do step-by-step hand printing of fabric by either block printing or screen printing. You'll learn how to create your own lino cut or rubber blocks. and the types of inks to choose and how exactly to print the fabric using these techniques. Full color photo illustrations show the step by step process. You'll also learn how to prepare a screen for screen printing. And how to clean and cure your fabric. You'll find tips on how to license and market your designs and how to name a collection, and how to submit your designs to fabric manufacturers, and building your brand. Throughout the book you'll find a few tips scattered here and there from fabric designers such as Bari Ackerman (Bari J.),Amy Butler,Tula Pink,Jennifer Moore, and many others. If you've dreamed of designing your own look for your home decor or sewing projects,or dreamed of being the next unique fabric designer do get your hands on a copy of this book and unleash the creativity!" About the Author: Kim Kight has been obsessed with fabric, and especially fabric print design, since receiving a sewing machine as a gift from her mother-in-law in 2000. She established the blog True Up in 2008 to share that obsession with the world. Along the way, she taught herself fabric design. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and son.

Review   Library Journal - December 1, 2011
“Kight, a self-taught fabric designer and blogger (www.trueup.net), introduces novices to the processes and artistry behind creating patterned fabric. After covering the nuts and bolts of design, including color theory, directional patterns, and types of fabric, Kight describes the process of creating one's own fabrics using both pen-an paper and computer-based design and print the finished design (or hiring someone to print the fabric for you.) Though the audience for the design sections of the book is limited to crafters with an artistic bent, much of the other content will help quilters and sewers make the best possible use of the fabrics in their collections.”

Review   Quilting Arts Magazine - December 1, 2011
“Filled with page after page of gorgeous fabrics and sections on color, printing, and the world of fabric design, this is a must-have resource for the serious fabric lover. In-depth tutorials cover topics such as fabric repeats created both by hand and computer and how to develop effective color palettes, as well as information on branding your work, digital printing services, and fabric construction. Designer round tables with quotes by leading fabric designers are peppered throughout, providing a nice variety of perspectives and personal insight. This will certainly be a title you return to again and again for inspiration and reference.”

Review   American Quilt Retailer - January 1, 2012
"Who hasn't dreamed of being a fabric designer? Even with the wealth of beautiful fabrics on the market today, I'd bet anyone who enjoys the visually creative process of arranging bits of cloth into quilt art would be equally as interested in creating said fabric in the first place. With A Field Guide to Fabric Design by Kimberly Knights (Stash Books) anyone can dabble in custom fabric design and production to their heart's content. Kimberly covers an analysis of the structure of pattern design, color know-how, as well as hand-printing and digital-printing techniques. If you've ever wanted to offer block-printing or a chance to play with paints and dyes, here's the book to get you and your customers going.”

Review   www.yarnsandbabics.co.uk/crafts - March 1, 2012
This is bound to be a very popular book as fabric designing is so desirable and so now. Kimberly starts by taking a look at contemporary fabric design, she then goes deeper into the fundamentals of design and colour. Patten layout and repeats is a good section. She looks at different ways of designing - by hand drawing, Illustrator and so on. There is an in-depth look at printing methods and producing fabric. Designers give their insight too. I liked the layout and design of this book and it has very good content, written in an easy to understand style with excellent supporting photographs. Basically this book will take you through exactly what you need to know to be a fabric designer. 

Review   Printpattern.blogspot.com - March 14, 2012
having waited years for a book to come along specifically about designing patterns for fabrics - suddenly two come along at once. 'a field guide to fabric design' is written by kimberly kight of the most fabulous fabrics blog 'true up'. the book begins with the fundamentals of fabric design and explains how to create repeats by hand and by computer. it then moves on to colour palettes, printing techniques and a superb chapter on fabric types. find it here on amazon uk or amazon usa.

Review   Spoonflower.com - November 30, 2011
"We at Spoonflower are beyond thrilled to have one of our favorite "fabric obsessed" bloggers, Kim Kight, making a first stop on her book blog tour here today. In case you're not a regular reader of Kim's wonderful blog True Up--and you should be!--she has a fantastic new book out, A Field Guide to Fabric Design. Divided into sections on design and color, methods of printing, and an overview of the world of fabric design, Field Guide includes plenty of well-illustrated tutorials on how to create repeating designs both by hand and on a computer, how to select and test colors for digital printing, and the differences among print methods and ink chemistries. One of my favorite things about Kim's book is the designer roundtable sections in which she poses questions to professional fabric designers--like, 'Do you follow or ignore trends?' and 'What are your creative obstacles?' and more--and shares their answers. These sections sound like a chat you'd have over a cup of coffee with half a dozen of your best fabric-designing buddies, and I enjoyed the varied perspectives. Plus, it's nice to match a designer's style up with a personality, don't you think? One other favorite thing about this book is pictures of gorgeous fabrics. LOTS of pictures of gorgeous fabrics. Just like True Up, Field Guide is eye candy for the fabric obsessed and an excellent, solid guide to turning your beautiful fabric visions into reality to boot. I can't recommend it hightly enough."

Review   Threads - September 1, 2012
Have you ever wanted to design your own fabrics? In A Field Guide to Fabric Design (Stash Books, 2011) Kimberly Kight makes the process clear and exciting. In Section One, read about basic design with insights directly from fabric artists, learn how to design repeats by hand or by computer, and discover a world of color to create your own palette. In Section Two, find out which fabrics are best for printing and learn a step-by-step tutorial to blocking and screen printing, as well as an introduction to digital printing. Delve into the world of fabric design in Section Three. Included are helpful hints for whether you’re simply designing for fun or want to design professionally.

Review   Australian Homespun Magazine - September 27, 2012
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a go at designing your own fabrics, you simply must, must, must get yourself a copy of this book. IT’s a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know and everything you need to think about when it comes to developing and producing a printed fabric. Design and colour basics are explained, with step-by-step tutorials for creating repeat patterns by hand or computer. Then you can explore the myriad ways of transferring your design to cloth, from stamping and screen printing to digital printing with short-run fabric printers such as Spoonflower through to how to go about getting a contract with one of the large fabric companies to produce a range that you’ve designed. This book will be valuable to those who would just like to play with the occasional designs as well as those who aspire to be the next Amy Butler. If you have good ideas and some design flair, there’s now nothing stopping you. Go for it.

Review   designloft.blogspot.com - January 8, 2013
Fabric design, or textile surface design, has long fascinated me. The ability to play with the color, proportion, and spacing of a design through a repeat is very intriguing. Kight briefly explores different styles, design and color fundamentals as applied to textiles. This includes a look at both digital and traditional design techniques. The meat of the book is the explanation of how repeats are created, including different repeat styles. Both digital and traditional (hand drawn) techniques are explained. Interspersed throughout the book are comments from fabric designers, both established and just starting out, from which the reader can draw inspiration. Finally, Kight presents ideas of how to print and sell your own fabric. What quickly becomes clear is that textiles fabric designing is a competitive and difficult market.??There are several instructional overviews including hand block printing, screen printing, designing a collection, and textile basics. All are comprehensive and a good foundation for further study and exploration. ??The book is laid out well and is easy to read and follow. The instructions for designing repeats are clear and easy to understand. ??I liked this book a lot and I will reference it when I play around with designs, whether for a desktop wallpaper or for fabric I intend on printing.

Review   http://fantastic-machine.com - January 20, 2013
As a longtime designer for many media, I’m among the kajillions who took one look at the idea of fabric printing on demand (thanks to Spoonflower) and went wild. Here was a way to quickly flesh out and share fabric pattern ideas. I was in heaven.Very quickly after that, I realized I had landed in a very different world. I have always loved being part of a print legacy that began 500 years ago, and a commercial art heritage that goes back to the Roman Empire. Fabric design, it turns out, is far older. I am an utter newbie stepping into a continuum that can be traced back to earliest humanity.Fortunately, Kim Kight does not concern herself with any of that in her book.She is a practical writer, which is why I’ve been a fan of her blog for years. In A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design Print & Sell Your Own Fabric, she focuses on exactly those things. She does it clearly, explaining every term with warmth and enthusiasm. I can pick it up when I’m wrestling with a design challenge or business question, and either quickly find what I’m looking for, or have a good idea where to look next.Books that promise to guide and instruct are often disappointing, but not this one. It’s money well spent, and it’s on my desk or in my art bag often.