A Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, Esquire, Time, The Atlantic, NPR, and Publishers Weekly
An Oprah Daily "Best New Book" and "Riveting Nonfiction and Memoir You Need to Read" * A New York Times "New Book to Read" * A Zibby Mag "Most Anticipated Book" * A San Francisco Chronicle "New Book to Cozy Up With" * The Millions "Most Anticipated" *An Amazon Editors "Best Book of the Month" * A Parade "Best New Work By Indigenous Writers" *…
This debit memoir is a story of dual track creativity, writing and sewing. A coming of age, coming to self understanding exploration. For more, see my review in Cleaver
Lyrical, probing, soothing, and wise, Patchwork is a strikingly original debut and a celebration of the remarkable, everyday process of making and remaking: of story, of clothing, and of ourselves.
“A gorgeous and tender exploration.”—Nina Mingya Powles
In Patchwork, a charming and evocative sewist's diary, Maddie Ballard explores the making (and sometimes remaking) of seventeen specific garments over a period of great change in her life—from a jacket lined with the embroidered Cantonese names of her female ancestors, to a dressing gown made as a gift for a dear friend, to an eco-friendly, zero-waste dress.
This biography stunned me. MCCardell, well known as a revolutionary fashion designer in the mid-twentieth century, has not been kept in view. I was fascinated by the experience of this woman designer in a man's world. And grateful too, she gave women pickets!
Named one of The New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2025
The riveting hidden history of Claire McCardell, the most influential fashion designer you've never heard of.
Claire McCardell forever changed fashion—and most importantly, the lives of women. She shattered cultural norms around women's clothes, and today much of what we wear traces back to her ingenious, rebellious mind. McCardell invented ballet flats and mix-and-match separates, and she introduced wrap dresses, hoodies, leggings, denim, and more into womenswear. She tossed out corsets in favor of a comfortably elegant look and insisted on pockets, even as male designers didn't see…
A novel inspired by renowned psychiatrist Frieda Fromm Reichmann whi fled Nazi Germany and practiced in the U.S. The novel is a rich psychological mystery of two women, Frieda and a 21st century therapist, both healers, who never met but whose lives overlap, decades apart both live in the house Frieda designed for herself on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital.
