Birds, PDFs and a Sky Blanket Update

Being self-employed, Bank Holidays don't automatically mean "no work" for me but because my local Post Office was closed for a few days over the Easter weekend I couldn't post any parcels so I got a chance to work on some other projects instead.

I tackled lots of "almost finished" projects in my WIP box and got them actually finished, including a whole bunch of robin and greenfinch brooches. It's always so lovely seeing a whole bunch of finished birdies all lined up together:

In between sewing, I made a start on something that's been on my To Do list for a while - putting together PDF versions of some of my most popular tutorials. All the free tutorials I share here on my blog are for non-commercial use only, but I know some of you guys would like to be able to sell what you make with them at craft fairs or in your Etsy shops, etc... so I've decided to sell PDFs which will allow you to do that.

The new PDFs will be a few £s each, and when you buy one you'll then be able to sell the things you make from it (as long as you credit me for the design in your shop listing or on your packaging) and to use the templates to teach sewing classes.

I'll announce it here on the blog when they're available, but in the meantime I'd love to know if there are any particular tutorials that you'd be interested in seeing in PDF form! You can leave a comment on this post or get in touch via my website.

I also got to spend some time working on my sky blanket. I was so busy in March that I got a bit behind with my blanket-square-a-day project, but I made sure that I was still looking at the sky every day and taking note of the colours. I had a big catch-up knitting and sewing session over the past few days and now I'm totally up to date with my knitted squares and I've sewn the blanket together up to the end of March - a quarter finished already!

It's still quite tricky photographing a long narrow strip of blanket, but I took a quick snap so you can see how it's progressing.

I am continuing to love how the blues and greys look together, and the pretty patchwork effect that's developing. It's also quite surprising how many blue skies we've had so far this year. Who knew the skies in England were so blue??



UPDATE: My robin and greenfinch designs are now available as sewing patterns! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Giveaway: Sewing Made Simple

As promised, the publishers of Sewing Made Simple (which I reviewed yesterday and loved) are giving away a copy to one lucky reader.

Please note that this giveaway is open to UK residents only. Apologies if that doesn't include you - don't worry, there'll be a couple of giveaways next week which everyone can enter :)

Want to enter? Just leave a comment on this blog post for your chance to win. Leave your comment before 10pm on Saturday 14th April, and I'll pick a winner at random on Sunday 15th 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 or the person I pick turns out not to be from the UK then I will pick someone else.

UPDATE: this giveaway is now closed.

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.]