Book Review: Sewing Made Simple

I was talking yesterday about "instructional" vs "inspirational" craft books, and today's book- Sewing Made Simple by Tessa Evelegh - definitely falls into the first category. It's an almost textbook-style beginners guide to sewing, jam-packed with facts and diagrams and detailed instructions, but it's also a very lovely looking book which made me make an actual "oooh" noise when I got the review copy in the post!

It's out in hardback at the moment (with a paperback edition due in May)... the hardback edition is bright pink, with a pretty dust jacket and even prettier floral endpapers.

 

 

Most of the pages dedicated to information and techniques are also framed with a floral border (with a different print for each chapter). If you really loathe "girly" things this book's styling is probably not going to be for you but I found it pleasingly pretty without being too twee, with a focus on bright colours and fresh-feeling patterns.

The book starts out with detailed guides to sewing supplies, including explaining the difference between all the different types of needles and pins available...

... then moves on to a short "sewing machine primer", a stitch guide, a guide to pattern making & following and using paper patterns, and information on the different types of fabrics and how to choose the best ones for your project.

The focus then switches to skills, with step-by-step instructions (all fully illustrated) on different techniques like sewing seams, adding zips and quilting. After each new skill is introduced, you get 1-3 simple projects to make to test out the technique (20 projects in total). Some of the projects have templates provided at the back of the book (most of which need enlarging by 300-400%) and the rest just require you to cut pieces of fabric to certain sizes.

The first projects are a simple blind and tote bag (when you're just sewing straight seams)...

... and the others include a mix of homeware, clothing and accessories - from a washbag (with a zip), to a cushion (with buttons and button holes) to a girls sundress (with a gatherered skirt) to an apron (with an appliqued design). Each project has a photo of the finished item, and step by step instructions with clear illustrations.

Overall, I really liked this book and I expect that my younger sister (who is just learning to sew) will attempt to permanently "borrow" it from me next time she visits! If you've just got your first sewing machine or want to branch out a bit from just sewing straight lines all the time, this may be the book for you.


Sewing Made Simple is published by Jacqui Small, RRP £25. The hardback edition is available to buy from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, and The Book Depository and the paperback edition is available to preorder from Amazon USA and Amazon UK.

I'm also delighted to be able to say that the lovely people at Jacqui Small are giving away a copy of Sewing Made Simple to one lucky reader in the UK. Pop back tomorrow for the giveaway :) 

[Disclaimer: Jacqui Small 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.]

Book Review: Learn to Crochet

My review copy of Learn to Crochet (by Sue Whiting) has been sitting on my "to review" pile for quite a while. I reviewed a book from the same series - Learn to Quilt - last year and was quite impressed by it. It wasn't an exciting or a fashionable book by any means, but it seemed to me to be a great beginners guide - lots of detail, very clear instructions with lots of images, and a nice variety of simple starter quilting projects.

Learn to Crochet however left me feeling a bit "meh". This is not a very technical term, but I'm sure you know what I mean! I wasn't sure if I was going to review it at all (because if you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything at all, right?) but it made me think about what I look for in a craft book and how  nowadays, with so many crafty how tos available online for free, a book has to have something special about it which makes it worth buying.

Generally, I like my craft books to either be instructional (detailed guides to crafty skills or techniques) or inspirational (creative projects, gorgeously photographed and nicely presented). The best craft books are often a mix of the two, but I find that I'm either drawn to a book for the one reason or the other: it either makes me go "oooh, how lovely, I want to make that!" or it seems to be a great resource for a craft I want to try / want to develop my skills in and I buy it because it looks really "useful".
 

Learn to Crochet includes introductory info on crochet materials and how to follow patterns and diagrams, and then a series of step by step guides for different stitches and techniques, and 10 simple projects for testing out your new skills. It definitely falls into the "instructional" category - the projects included in it are quite boring, and I could find some much nicer simple crochet projects online with just a few minutes of Googling, and there are some lovely modern crochet books available (like Cute and Easy Crochet which I reviewed last year) so the only reason I'd buy it would be for the "how to" parts... to help me learn crochet and then to give me something to reference if I came across something in the other patterns which I didn't understand.

The step by step guides look great, with lots of photographs but when I was trying to follow them last year when learning crochet for the first time I found them a bit confusing (although this could be a fault on my part not on the part of the author!) and I've read a few complaints about them not being beginner-friendly enough in other reviews online which makes me think that the book wouldn't actually be that useful to me after all.

The 10 beginner projects also take up many more pages of the book than the "how to" sections, and they feel a little padded with photos. I don't have an issue with picture-heavy craft books as long as the photos add something to the experience (e.g. if they're gorgeously styled and inspiring, or if they show lots of different details of a finished piece so you can see how seams etc fit together), but one page worth of simple blanket instructions padded out to four pages with photos like these?

This definitely doesn't feel like value for money to me (especially compared to the quilting book). I feel a bit mean writing a bad review, but I do think it's important to be honest about these things and, being totally honest, if I flicked through this book in a shop I'd put it back on the shelf and look for something else.

What do you guys look for in a craft book? Are there any that you've bought or been given and been disappointed in, and if so, why were they diappointing? I'd love to know your thoughts about this!

Learn to Crochet is published by New Holland, RRP £7.99. In case you've looked at these photos and totally disagree with my thoughts, it's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops  :) 

[Disclaimer: New Holland 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.]

Book Review: Everything Alice

Time for the first book review of "book week"....Everything Alice: The Wonderland book of makes, by Hannah Read-Baldrey and Christine Leech.

As you'll probably have guessed from the title & the cover, this is a craft book inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I thought this was a really fun these for a book and couldn't wait to see how the authors had interpreted it and what projects they'd come up with.

The book itself looks lovely - in my experience Quadrille are pretty reliable in this respect, you know you're going to get a nicely presented book with lots of attention to detail -with lots of pics snapped at a teaparty in a park / fancy garden, and lots of yummy vintage threads and other nice props used in the indoor shots. The design (and the projects themselves) feel young and fun and slightly quirky, definitely more the sort of things you'd find on a trendy blog and less the sort of projects you'd find in a more "traditional" craft book.

 

The only downside to the styling of the book is that the templates look like they've been hand-drawn with pastel coloured chalk. The pale, rough lines would definitely make it harder to trace those templates which are provided at 100% and may even make it harder to photocopy the ones that need enlarging (I often find that black & white photocopiers have trouble picking up pale lines). However, most of the projects don't require templates, and several just include a sketch on a grid which you can then use as a guide for drawing full scale pattern pieces. 

The blurb on the back of the book says it includes "50 makes" but "50 creative makes and activities" might be a bit more accurate. There are a whole mix of different crafts included - sewing, jewellery making, baking, papercrafting, etc - but there's also things like paper dolls and cupcake toppers to colour photocopy and cut out, and ideas for several Alice-inspired party games to play. 

The addition of things like the party games is quite fun, and would be great if you were hosting an Alice-themed birthday party, but I think I'd feel a bit miffed buying this book and discovering that one of the "50 makes" was a double page spread with instructions on how to play an ordinary game of musical chairs! The 50 makes also include some very simple things like cutting a fabric circle to make covers for jars of homemade jam/marmalade.

Most of the projects in the book are fun crafty ideas that would suit people who like trying different crafts and having fun making things either on their own or with friends, rather than really experienced crafters or bakers. The projects are obviously going to interest you if you love Alice in Wonderland, but since most of the designs focus on one element from the book many of them could easily be made by (and for) people without much interest in Alice. 

For example, here's three of my favourite projects from the book which all have that Alice connection but don't shout "Alice in Wonderland themed item" when viewed on their own...

Cute lavender dormice:

Envelope pillows (I adore these!)

And fabric-covered teapot planters:

Overall, this is a really fun book! Lots of great ideas for tea-parties  (Alice-themed or otherwise) and lots of easily adaptable designs for things to make as gifts for your friends.

Everything Alice is published by Quadrille, RRP £14.99. It's available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, 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.]

Giveaway: Heart-Felt Holidays

Kicking off "book week", I've got two copies of Heart-Felt Holidays up for grabs...

  
Heart-Felt Holidays is the follow up to Lark Crafts' book of felt Christmas crafts, Fa La La La Felt. This time round, instead of Christmas projects, there's 40 things to make for holidays and festivals throughout the year from Easter and Halloween to Chinese New Year and Groundhog Day

 

Most of the projects are from the same designers who worked on Fa La La La Felt (including me! I've got six projects in this book - you can read more about my projects here) so chances are if you liked Fa La La La Felt then you'll like this book too. Both books focus on fun and cute beginner-friendly designs, with an introductory guide to working with felt and simple step-by-step instructions for each individual project.

When my copies arrived I was delighted to see that my cake toppers make an appearance on the back cover... 

 
 .. and that one of my heart ornaments had been chosen for the spine of the book :)

Heart-Felt Holidays is now available to buy from Amazon.com and to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk.

I'm giving away one copy (signed by me) to a reader based in the UK... and Lark Crafts are giving away one copy (signed by the editors, Kathy Sheldon & Amanda Carestio) to a reader based in the USA.

If you're not in the UK or the USA, I'm afraid you can't enter this giveaway but don't despair! You can follow these links to download some free projects from the book instead: the bunny from the front cover, some bunny bunting, a piece of pumpkin pie, a mushroom love brooch, or a leprechaun finger puppet.

Want to enter? Just leave a comment on this blog post for your chance to win - please say which country you're from so I can pick one winner from each! Leave your comment before 10pm on Tuesday 10th April, and I'll pick two winners at random on Wednesday 11th April. 

Please make sure you leave a name or pseudonym (no anonymous comments please!) and leave a blog link, Twitter username, Etsy username or email address so I can contact you. If I'm unable to contact the winner within two weeks then I will pick someone else.

UPDATE: this giveaway is now closed