Items:
Magical properties are almost always random, although Spined will always give 40 luck. The better the tailor kit (barbed, horned, spined, in order from best down) the more properties and the higher the intensity is likely to be. You can make top items with a spined kit now, the chances are minimal, bit it is possible. Barbed leather (from dragons) generally makes the best armour, although for example horned would have a slightly higher likelihood of a good fire resist.
BODS - the books are used to store individual bods, and you do need to have the appropriate smalls to fill in the large. The Tower of Roses web site is good for this, if it is still going. The higher your skill, the better the chance of gaining a "good" BOD - supposedly, but my crafter is at 120 Tailor and 120 Smith and almost always gets tat.