Sew Sweet Creatures: Adorable Plush Animals to Stitch!

I have lots of fun news to share this month! It's funny the way these things work out - you work on a whole bunch of different projects at different times, then they're all published at once and you seem like a super-busy crafting machine.

Today I'm delighted to be able to show you guys the projects I designed for Sew Sweet Creatures, a new book from Lark Crafts which features 16 plush animals with matching accessories:

I know I am a teeny bit biased but this book is straight up ADORABLE. I actually emitted a small high pitched squeak upon seeing everyone's projects - all the animals are very cute and their accessories are super charming.

You can make a cupcake-baking squirrel, an adventurer bear, a party-loving fox, a lumberjack beaver (complete with logs joined together by velcro so you can "chop" them!), and more!

I designed four creatures for the book.

There's Alex the crafty bunny, who loves to knit and sew...

... (look! there's Alex peeking out from the inside cover of the book!)...

... Olivia the fairy mouse who's here to grant your wishes...

 

... Lynne the festival-loving panda...

 

... and Samuel the superhero pig!

It was an absolute joy to design these animals and all their accessories, and so much fun coming up with little stories about them and their lives. I hope you guys will have just as much fun stitching them when you buy the book!

Sew Sweet Creatures is out now in the USA and will be published here in the UK later this autumn. It's available from Amazon USA, the Book Depository and many other bookshops, and you can pre-order it from Amazon UK. Please note: The Amazon and Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links.

Animal (and Alien!) Headbands in Sewn Together

Today I'd like to introduce you to fun crafty book: Sewn Together.

This new book from Lark Crafts features 25 projects to make with your kids, to introduce them to the joys of sewing. Aimed at kids aged 6-12, the book includes hand sewing, some easy embroidery plus simple machine sewing.  

You can make Woodland Puppets, a Drawstring Game Board, a Pennant Name Banner, a Patchwork Throw, a T-Rex Tote and more...

... including some cute felt headbands, designed by me! :)

These are easy to sew and soooo much fun to wear. You can dress up as a lion...

 ... a deer...

 

... or an alien!

 

I had a huge grin on my face when I made these and tried them on. I hope people will enjoy sewing them with their kids and will have many happy hours of creative play while wearing them!

Sewn Together: 25 Fun Projects to Sew with Kids is published by Lark Crafts. It's available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, the Book Depository and many other bookshops.

P.S. Talking of books, I am sooooo excited that the new Christmas craft book from Lark is already out in the US and will be out very soon here in the UK. 'Tis the Season to Be Felt-y is the follow-up to the awesome Fa La La La Felt (which has a special place in my heart as it was the first book to feature my work, way back in 2009!). 

'Tis the Season to Be Felt-y includes 8 projects designed by me - I'm really looking forward to sharing pics of them with you guys and seeing all the festive felt loveliness stitched by the other contributors. You can see a preview of some of the projects in the book here, buy it on Amazon USA here or pre-order it on Amazon UK here.

P.P.S. Also coming soon from Lark Books: Sew Sweet Creatures. This features 16 "plush" creatures with cute accessories and it looks completely adorable. I stitched four of projects for this, including the bunny on the cover and a superhero pig. You can take a peek at the pig and some of the other creatures in this preview (I am especially in love with that llama!).  

Sew Sweet Creatures will be published later this autumn/winter, and is due out in the USA in October and here in the UK in December. I can't wait!

[Please note: The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links]

Book Review: Handprint and make your own Bags

Today I'm reviewing Handprint and make your own Bags by Jenny McCabe.

I met Jenny at the Renegade Craft Fair last year (where she was selling some of her lovely handprinted textiles) and said I felt terribly guilty for having not yet reviewed her book on my blog... and here I am, months later, just getting around to it! Tsk tsk.

Handprint and make your own Bags begins with a short guide to "design and inspiration" (designing your own fabric prints) and then has 6 pages of printing techniques: potato printing, lino printing, erasers, foam sheets, stencils, screenprints, photo transfers, leaf printing, sun prints... plus Jenny's top 10 printing tips.

As you might guess from the number of techniques squeezed into 6 pages this is not a super detailed guide to printing your own fabric but instead a basic introduction to some accessible techniques.
 

 

Then there are 4 pages of motifs - these do need to be enlarged, but it's great to be able to reproduce the exact designs shown in the book.

 

The bulk of the book is devoted to the bag-making, with 35 projects divided by the type of printing used to decorate the fabric: carved block printing, constructed block printing, resist printing, and other printing methods.

All the projects have step by step colour illustrations and there's a short guide to sewing techniques included at the back of the book. The projects are all helpfully marked with a skill level, and the guides are charmingly designed to match the print used for that particular bag. I love seeing nice touches like this in craft books! 

 

Like the motifs, the bag templates do need enlarging (though without a page of pull-out patterns, which is a rare thing to find in a craft book, this is only to be expected when making large projects like bags). There are also a couple of designs included to scan in and print to make photo transfers.

 

Jenny's designs are so lovely, with mostly nature-inspired motifs but also some fun designs like a space invaders pattern for a kid's bag and a stylish cutlery design to print onto a cutlery roll.

As well as the cutlery roll there are a couple of other "non-bag" projects included - coin purses and a wallet - but most of the book is, as you'd expect from the title, all about bag-making. The designs cover a wide mix of shapes, from a bucket-handled shopper, to a messenger bag, to a diaper bag with lots of useful pockets:

I need to get to grips with my sewing machine (after years of just hand stitching) and I'll definitely be getting this book off the shelf when I do - maybe starting with this bag, which looks lovely and super-useful.

Handprint and make your own Bags is a nice, versatile craft book - a simple introduction to printing but also a useful sewing book with lots of bag and purse patterns. Seeing the great results from the simpler printing techniques is especially inspiring - "ooh, I could totally do that!" is a very good feeling to have when looking through a craft book.

Personally though I think I'd want a more detailed guide to the more complex/advanced printing techniques before I felt confident trying them, so maybe this book would be a good one to pair with a book dedicated to printing techniques so you can learn about the more complicated techniques in more detail then use your knowledge to make bags with your awesome printed fabric.

Handprint and make your own Bags is published by CICO Books. RRP £12.99. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: CICO Books sent me a free review copy of this book. They also publish my books but I am always honest in my reviews! The Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Book Review: Zakka Handmades

Time for a book review!

Today I'm reviewing Amy Morinaka's book Zakka Handmades: 24 Projects Sewn from Natural Fabrics to Help Organize, Adorn, and Simplify Your Life.

 

Zakka Handmades contains 24 projects, divided into four sections: everyday, bags & pouches, baby & young child and handmade kitchen.

Zakka is a term I read a lot on sewing blogs, but I was never sure what it meant. Apparently, "In Japanese, it refers to the small necessities of everyday life"... "charming and practical items".

The projects in the book are mostly sewn but there's also some simple crochet included, as in these delightful little purses (one of my favourite designs from the book). 

Amy's designs use simple shapes and natural fabrics, embellished with patchwork, applique, crochet, embroidery and carved eraser stamps.

They manage to somehow be simple and detailed, plain and colourful, all at once!

I really love this tote decorated with raindrops...

 

... and these lovely little bird pouches.

Most of the templates are provided at actual size (hurrah!). There are clear diagrams to illustrate the steps and lots of helpful tips throughout the book. It's also nice to see variations included for several of the designs, showing how different a project can look with a change in fabric.

The book itself reflects the simple, unfussy look of Amy's designs with simple layouts and fonts, and some pages that are printed to look like natural brown paper.

Often with "simple" sewing books you see the same projects repeated over and over (e.g. a pencil case, a basic cushion, some bunting, a phone cosy, some coasters), and with good reason - it's hard to come up with new, interesting things to make that are still easy to sew!

The good books make these simple projects seem fresh and interesting, turning a basic "boring" project into an "ooh I want to make that" project. There are lots of designs in this book that made me go "oooh", including these lovely coasters...

... but I was also pleased to see some projects included that I've not encountered before: a rice therapy eye pillow, a key cover (to stop your keys scratching things), an insulated bento lunch bag and a wrap-around chopsticks holder.

The full title of this book doesn't really fit the contents - adorn, yes, there are lots of cute and pretty things in here... organize? I guess, there are a couple of fabric boxes included... but simplify? not really, a bag with a simple design doesn't magically "simplify" your life.

But a slightly odd title aside, this is a lovely little book! I can see it being a great go-to book when you want to make a handmade gift.

Zakka Handmades is published by Creative Publishing International. RRP £14.99. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: I was sent a free review copy of this book. The Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links].

Book Review: Stitch at Home

Time to make a start on one of my New Year's Resolutions and review my first craft book of 2014:  Stitch at Home by Mandy Shaw.

(Okay so I am cheating a bit because this post has been half-written in my drafts folder for weeks, but as a finished-in-2014 book review it totally counts! Shhh!)

 

Stitch at Home contains about 20 sewing projects, all with a house and home theme. The cover is a little misleading as there's not a lot of embroidery-focused projects in the book, and the patterns for the little houses on the cover aren't actually included in the book. What is included is a mix of small, medium and large projects using applique, patchwork, quilting and some embroidery too. 

When my review copy of this book first arrived I have to admit that I wasn't too enthusiastic about this book, as I like my projects to be a bit more modern and the colour palette used throughout the book (teal, raspberry, brown and cream) isn't quite my cup of tea. But actually on closer inspection I totally fell in love with this book and the patterns in it!

 

The book starts with some useful info about the fabrics, threads, applique technique, embroidery stitching, etc that you need to know about to complete the projects. The stitching guide helpfully includes reversed images for left-handers and photos of the finished stitches as well as clear step by step diagrams.

The projects have step by step instructions but there are very few illustrations. I do like instructions to include step by step photos or illustrations to help me follow along, but the text seems detailed and clear and there are lots of useful tips throughout the book. Most of the templates are provided at actual size too, which is great.

Some of the designs are shaped like houses or decorated with house motifs, e.g. this sewing machine cover and cottage sewing case:

 

 

Others are just things for the home, like this place setting tablecloth:

The projects in the book cover a range of different sizes and levels of complexity - for example in the pets section you can make an appliqued dog bed, a dog's neckerchief and a little dog-shaped soft toy, and in the beach section you can make a beach bag, some bunting and refurbish an old deckchair.

 

My favourite project in the book is the "village" patchwork quilt, with blocks including a tree house, beach hut, school house, caravan, corner shop, garden shed, and so on. Making the whole quilt would be a big project but you could also use the 12 patchwork blocks to decorate things like cushions (the techniques section helpfully includes instructions for making these). 

 

 

I was also happy to see a couple of sewing projects I don't think I've ever seen in a craft book before (a garden kneeler and an oilcloth bag for collecting leaves and other cuttings), and I loved this cute gingerbread house:

If you're interested in applique and embroidery, and want to create some really special projects this book is well worth a look!

Stitch at Home is published by David and Charles, RRP £14.99. It's available from Stitch Craft Create, Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: the publishers sent me a free review copy of this book at the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Giveaway: The Needlecraft Stitch Directory

As promised, Jacqui Small are giving away a copy of The Needlecraft Stitch Directory (which I reviewed yesterday) to one lucky reader.

Please note that this giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Want to enter? Just leave a comment on this blog post for your chance to win. Leave your comment before 10pm on Thursday 29th November, and I'll pick the winner at random on Friday 30th November.

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.

Apparently some people are having problem leaving comments on my blog at the moment. If you're unable to leave a comment here on my blog, you can enter via my shop's contact form instead. Please make sure you say which giveaway you're entering!

Update: this giveaway is now closed.

Book Review: The Needlecraft Stitch Directory

I've written in the past about how some books have that coffee-table-book "ooh factor" and others are almost textbook-like in their knowledge-crammed reference-book nature. Well, The Needlecraft Stitch Directory by Sarah Whittle is one of the latter.

This quality hardback is divided into two sections - a "style directory" and a "stitch directory".

The style directory introduces over 50 different needlecraft styles - with information about their history, and a guide to the fabrics, threads, needles, other equipment, common applications and related stitches relevant to each style. It's quite text heavy but there are some small photos to illustrate each style, featuring work from lots of different contemporary stitchers.

 

It was nice to recognise the work of some of my fellow crafty bloggers, including Sami and Kajsa, and there's a list of links at the back of the book for each contributor so if you fall in love with someone's style you can easily explore more of their work.
 

Then the stitch directory explains how to work each stitch, with step by step diagrams and text explaining the method and a guide to the uses, fabrics, related techniques for each stitch (plus page numbers for similar stitches).

 

There are a few photos of the finished stitches on the chapter pages but mostly the stitches are just illustrated by the diagrams. These are very clear but it's a shame not to have a photo of each finished stitch as well. Having said this though, I much prefer this way of doing things to another embroidery book I own where the finished stitch photos are very inspiring but the how to diagrams are limited in number and consequently very confusing!

I don't know about you, but I'd definitely like to add some new stitches to my repertoire and I think this is a title I'll be returning to again and again over the years.


I'm also very pleased to say that the nice folks at Jacqui Small are giving away a copy of The Needlecraft Stitch Directory to one lucky reader in the UK. Pop back tomorrow for the giveaway :)

The Needlecraft Stitch Directory is published by Jacqui Small. RRP £20. It's available from Amazon UK, The Book Depository and many other bookshops. (An American edition of this book is also available from Amazon USA under the title The Needlecraft Style Directory)

[Disclaimer: Jacqui Small sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]

Book Review: All Sewn Up

You know the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"? Well, in the case of All Sewn Up by Chloë Owens you absolutely should judge a book by its cover.

If that photo made you go "oooh", chances are you're going to like what's inside because this book is jam-packed with pretty, colourful, cute, retro designs with vintage prints and decorative details galore - both in the projects themselves and the whole design and styling of the book.

The photos are full of vintage furniture and homewares and every spare bit of space is filled with retro florals, vintage fabric borders, or cute illustrations by Gemma Correll.

The book is a lovely hardback, with a tactile fabric cover. It's got an introduction at the front, 35 projects, and then a techniques/supplies/templates section at the back. The projects are divided into 5 chapters: Cooking up a storm (including a tea towel, placemats and coasters), Cuddly companions (including girl and boy dolls and a cat doorstop), Gifts (including a mini quilt and a laptop cover), Rest your weary head (including cushions and an eyemask), and Decorations (including fabric pictures and a lampshade).

All the projects have a very retro 60s/70s feel to them and many of them feature vintage florals and other patterned fabrics. They range from the quite simple (basic fabric coasters, bunting, lavender hearts) to some very detailed projects, like this gorgeous woodland-themed table runner.

Some of the motifs are repeated between projects - for example there's a raincloud brooch, a raincloud & rainbow quilt, and a "springtime showers" mobile involving rainclouds too. There's also lots of birds (including an owl cushion), butterflies and flowers... but if you're a fan of those things, this is no bad thing!

The projects use a mix of machine and hand sewing, and there's lots of attention to detail, like the pompom trim that's added to the top of the mobile. Each project includes step by step text and clear illustrations.

If you're a minimalist at heart this book would probably drive you a bit nuts, to be honest! However, lots of the designs could be simplified to be slightly less busy if you like the idea of some retro applique but don't want to go for a full on colour and pattern explosion. For example, these Scandinavian style placemats are my very favourite project in the book (they made me say "OOH" out loud when I first flicked through it, and I love the bright colours) but I'd probably sew the applique design onto a plain background instead of the patterned one if I was making them for myself.

The only niggle I have with this book is the templates section. All the templates are squeezed into just 9 pages, and even the smallest motifs need enlarging by at least 200%. Also, not only do different projects on the same page need enlarging by different amounts, so you'd have to get the same pages copied/enlarged multiple times... but different templates from the same projects are also included at different sizes for some of the projects, so you'd have to copy/enlarge the same page twice which is a bit of a faff. However, once you've got your templates sorted I think this book will be a pleasure to sew from.

All Sewn Up is published by CICO Books. RRP £14.99. It's available from Amazon UK, Amazon USA, The Book Depository and many other bookshops.

[Disclaimer: CICO Books sent me a free review copy of this book, and the Amazon & Book Depository links in this post are affiliate links]