It's a gorgeous looking hardback with a fabric-bound cover, embossed silver lettering for the title, double-page spreads of Liberty prints dividing the chapters, and lots of smartly styled photos.
There's a short introduction that covers the the history of Liberty fabrics, and there's a guide to the fabrics used throughout the book at the back providing a bit of information about the patterns and giving you all their names.
There are 25 sewing projects - each with step by step illustrated instructions - and a few pages on basic sewing techniques at the back of the book. The templates for the very small projects (like a fabric corsage) need enlarging and the others are drawn out on a grid for you to draw out onto paper at the sizes shown.
Most of the projects are the standard "sewing basics" you find in other "home sewing books" (an apron, a blind, some cushions, etc), just made up in lovely Liberty fabrics and presented with photos that could be straight out of a glossy interiors magazine.
There's also a no-sew project to make a "keepsake board" which is a nice idea but I'm not sure how relevant it is in a book with "home sewing" in the title...
... and this peacock pincushion which is gorgeous but I'm not sure how well it would work if you couldn't find (or afford) the exact fabric used:
Overall, this book feels a bit like a sewing book trying to be a coffee table book, if you know what I mean, it's a little bit of both.
If you want a glossy coffee table book with lots of info about Liberty fabrics, or a sewing book with exciting new project ideas or lots of detailed information for beginners, then you might be a bit disappointed. But if you love Liberty prints and the style of the photos in this book and want some relatively simple sewing projects to work on, then you'll probably find this a very lovely, inspiring book both to flick through and to sew from.
The Liberty Book of Home Sewing is published by Quadrille. RRP £20. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.
[Disclaimer: Quadrille sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on them and then make a purchase I get a very small % as a referral fee.]
5 comments:
I got this book for my Christmas (I have so many craft books on my Amazon wishlist I always get spoiled on birthdays and Christmas!) and I really like it as a "look through at all the pretty pictures" book. I don't know if I would have justified buying it for myself, as there are a lot of books out there with more projects in them, having said that, I have made the round cushions (unfortunately not from Liberty prints!) but it is nice to fantasize about being able to fill your home with their lovely designs!
I am dreaming about this book after your revision! As I mentioned before I was thinking if it is a good thing to buy but I was not sure.. now I am more sure haha :D I love the images, in my opinion images/photos etc in a book are very important and as I can see here they are really amazing.. Who knows maybe I will buy it in few months when I will earn some money!! :))
This is one I have thought about purchasing more than once but could never quite justify the expense, I have so many sewing books already and wasn't sure how much real content it would have. Good to read a review of it, it certainly does look like a beautiful book, I do love Liberty prints!
I got this for Christmas. It is a gorgeous book to look at but that is partly due to the fabrics used which are expensive. My sister in law bought it for me via The Book People and it was on offer at about £7 which is even chaeper than Amazon.
Jen & Kate - I think there are definitely books out there with more projects + tips etc in them, but it is a lovely looking book to have on the shelf and be inspired by! If you're after a sewing book with more "content" I'd recommend something like Sewing Made Simple which I also reviewed this month :)
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