My sewing room has been painted this week, and I am in the middle of assembling new furniture and organising all my supplies. After a busy weekend, it was nice to sit down and read through a stack of inspiring new sewing/craft titles that have landed on my desk over recent months. Here are a selection of my favourite titles.
Quilt Lovely, 15 Vibrant Projects Using Piecing and Appliqué, by Jen Kingwell, is a visual feast. It includes 8 quilt designs that use a variety of techniques and are perfect for using fabrics from your stash. There are also 6 fun pillow/cushion designs which give you the opportunity to practice the techniques. All the projects are beautifully photographed to showcase the colourful and fun designs, and full sized pattern sheets are included. These lovely projects are a great starting point to experiment with colour and print. You will be able to use a variety of techniques including hand sewing, hand quilting, and appliqué. The instructions are clear and there are lots of diagrams to guide you through the process. There is also a comprehensive reference section that guides you through quilting basics and finishing. Quilt Lovely is an inspiring book by Australian Quilt designer, Jen Kingwell. We recommend this to quilter’s who want to expand their techniques and create one of a kind quilts.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
Publisher: Fons & Porter
ISBN: 9781440240584
RRP: $34.99
Quilt Lovely is available from Booktopia and Can Do Books.
Retro Mama Scrap Happy Sewing, 18 easy sewing projects for DIY gifts and toys from fabric remnants by Kim Kruzich, is a wonderful resource to inspire you to use all your leftover fabrics. The projects combine a variety of techniques including sewing, patchwork, appliqué, and embroidery, to use those scraps in your stash. The projects are all bright, colourful, and fun and most can be completed in an afternoon. It includes projects for the home, for kid’s, for travel, and to keep you organised, and are all made in the signature Retro Mama style. Some of my favourite projects include: Fox Clothespin Bag; Pyjama Bear Softies, and Scrap Patch Pincushion. Whether you like sewing for yourself or to make personalised gifts, there are plenty of projects to inspire you to get creative in this lovely book.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN: 9781446305218
RRP: $29.99
Scrap Happy Sewing is available from Booktopia and Can Do Books.
Stitch Love, Sweet Creatures Big and Small, Cute Kitties and Cows and Cubs and More … and a Yeti, by Mollie Johanson, showcases a wide collection of cute critters. I especially love the Australian Outback Trio. This book is perfect for anyone who loves cute stitching projects. Using simple embroidery techniques you can add the 75 fun animal motifs to the projects in the book, as well as your own projects, or use them to customise clothing. Projects include finger puppets, stroller quilt, pencil topper, tissue cosy and more. Stitch Love includes full sized templates and has loads of helpful illustrations to guide you through the construction process. Stitch Love is a beginner friendly embroidery book with lots of fun motifs to get you stitching! You can see more of Mollie Johanson’s fun designs over on her blog.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 128 pages
Publisher: Lark Crafts
ISBN: 9781454708094
RRP: $24.99
Stitch Love is available from Booktopia and Can Do Books.
Handmade Style, 23 Must Have Basics to Stitch, Use and Wear by Anna Graham, is a beautifully styled and modern sewing book. Divided into patterns to use, to carry, and to wear, it has plenty of inspiring projects that really showcases the modern fabric available today. Anna Graham, from Noodlehead fame, has a great attention to detail and uses stylish finishing techniques (such as leather handles, grommets, bag hardware) to give a professional contemporary finish to her projects. The instructions are detailed, with lots of illustrations and full sized pattern sheets. It really is a lovely book and a great addition to your sewing library. The projects would be great to make for yourself or to give as gifts.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 144 pages
Publisher: Lucky Spool
ISBN: 9781940655062
RRP: $39.99
Handmade Style is available from Amazon.
Take a Bandana, 16 Beautiful Projects for Your Home, by Jemima Schlee is an inspiring book that showcases ideas for transforming a humble bandana into a range of useful items. Projects include: pincushion, knitting bag, camera strap, shoe bag, bunting, wreath, and more. Most of the projects are suitable for a beginner sewist and can be completed in an afternoon. What a love about this book is the creative ways that a bandana has been repurposed. It is in a similar style to Jemima Schlee’s previous book, Take a Tea Towel. The book is beautifully photographed with lots of step by step shots to guide you through the construction process. Definitely recommend this book for sewists of all abilities, and those with a passion for eco friendly sewing.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 136 pages
Publisher: GMC Books
ISBN: 9781861087881
RRP: $34.99
Take a Bandana is available from Booktopia.
All Points Patchwork, English Paper Piecing Beyond the Hexagon for Quilts and Small Projects, by Diane Gilleland is the ultimate resource for English Paper Piecing. If you have always wanted to learn EPP, this book is a great resource and will guide you through all the techniques you need to make hexagons, diamonds, octagon, tumblers, pentagons, triangles and more. It includes plenty of projects to put your skills into practice, including quilts, pillows, table runners, clothing, and home décor items. With loads of step by step photographs, templates, and illustrations, you will be an expert at EPP in no time at all! This is the only book on EPP you need for your sewing library.
Book Details:
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Story Publishing
ISBN: 9781612124209
RRP: $29.99
All Points Patchwork is available from Booktopia and Can Do Books.
Disclaimer: Please note that we receive review copies of books from the distributor. All opinions are our own.
I like the idea of the Jen Kingwell book, it has been on my Amazon wish list for a while, I am particularly happy to know that tit has full size patterns as I find it annoying to have to size up patterns when I just want to get started. x
What a comprehensive round-up of craft books! I have the Jen Kingwell and can vouch for the clarity of the patterns, as I Have made two quilts from it. I also have the Anna Graham one, but have yet to try anything from it. But the bag patterns are very tempting! I think I need to source some leather straps before I commit!
Wow – what wonderful reviews you have given on this quilting books. This is very helpful for quilters. Thanks for sharing “what you think”!