Finally! After weeks of waiting, emails from Amazon about delayed delivery and searching the web for projects, my copy of Heather Ross Weekend Sewing arrived. I can’t wait to get started on the Summer Blouse, but before I’ll cut into the fabric I bought for it, I’ll test drive it with an vintage bed sheet I found at the thrift store for 1 Euro. But now, with no further delay, the review.

The book starts with an introduction from Heather and some ideas how to set up your sewing space. The pictures and layout of the book are beautiful and the only thing I would have changed is the pattern storage, because the two pattern sheets are glued onto the first and last page of the book. I really wish there would have been a pattern bag like Seams to me and Institches have, and a spiral bound would have been nice too. 

The book is divided into four Chapters: Home and Away, Dressing up and Down, Sewing for Kids and Sewing Basics. I really like that in between the projects you find recipes (like peaches with basil, yum), general sewing tips and a sewing play list (which is close to what I listen to when I sew). On every project page you’ll find the finished dimensions, materials needed and fabric suggestions. As far as I can tell without actually sewing anything, the instructions are clear and nearly every step is accompanied with an illustration. If you’ve ever been to Heathers blog, you can imaging that these hand drawings are a lot clearer than most of the photos you’d get somewhere else. 

Home and Away
Here you’ll find some basics you’d get in most sewing books like napkins, a drawstring bag, pillowcases, dishtowels and a apron. If you already have some sewing books, you’ve probably seen and done these projects before. Nevertheless, there are projects like the Everything Tote, the Guest Room Slippers or the Weekend-Away Travel Bag (which is actually a boxy make-up pouch), which are a bit more challenging than your average beginners sewing project. 

Dressing up and Down
In my opinion, this is the highlight chapter of the book! You get 5 totally different kinds of dresses, a blouse, pajamas, a wrap skirt, a bag and a head scarf. I’m totally in love with the Summer Blouse and this will be the first time I’ll try some garment sewing (I don’t count the PJs I made). The dresses are different enough to suit different body types. While I really like the All-Weekend and Trapez Sundress, it wouldn’t fit my body type (I’m on the chubby busty, curvy side), but I’m sure I would look great in the Kimono Dress and maybe in the Saturday Night Silk Jersey Set. With every dress pattern, you get suggestions what kind of fabric would work best for the project. The only thing missing, at least for me, are some tips on how to alter the pattern (if you’re tall, curvy, shorter) or suggestions on how to spice things up (making a shirt out of a dress like the illustrations Heather has on her blog). I’m sure the more experienced sewer knows how to do this, but some inspiration would have been nice for everybody else who doesn’t read Heathers blog, and would have lifted the book to a whole new level. 

Sewing for Kids
I don’t have kids so it’s always hard to review a chapter like this, because I don’t have any use for it. But if you do have some kiddos at home, I’m sure you’ll like the projects. You get two adorable dresses, some cute bloomers, a great shirt (and the tip that you can make it out of hubby’s old shirt) , basic toddler pants, baby blanket and an absolutely adorable baby kimono. And to top things off, the recipe for blueberry mash and tips about sewing with kids. 

Sewing Basics 
Sewing basics are sewing basics so not much new here. You’ll get the basic stitches, how to choose a sewing machine, sewing tools you need and so on. I liked that she focused a bit more on the different kinds of fabric like in the other books I have. 

Final thoughts
I really, really like this book but then again I’m biased because in my opinion Heather can’t do wrong :)  Even though I’m not a fan of all the napkins and dishtowels projects, it doesn’t feel like they were chosen just to fill the book. They make sense with the whole concept of Weekend Sewing and making time for your favorite craft. To use Heathers words: Weekend isn’t just a pair of days, it’s a state of mind.

So do I recommend this book? Hell yeah! If you are totally new to sewing this book might be a bit challenging, but if you’re like me (beginner with some experience) it’s just perfect. Especially if you want to try out some garment sewing. Even if you’re an experienced sewer I’m sure you can get a lot of inspiration from it. The bottom line: Go and buy the book!

Still unsure? Maybe these links will help you out:

Find more project pictures here

Sneak Peak inside the book

Ashleys version of the Summer Blouse

Weekend Sewing Design Challenge on Heathers Blog

I have a lot of addictions, crafting books and bags being two of them. So of course I was more than thrilled when I found Sew What! Bags. 18 pattern free Projects you can customize to fit your needs and had to pre-order it right away. 

The book starts with the basics: sewing tools, needles and pins, fabric terminology, basic sewing techniques and all the other basics you get in most sewing books. After that, there are 5 project chapters: Warm-up Projects, Totes, Drawstring Sacks, Messenger Bags and Organizers. Warm-up Projects are really simple projects like eyeglass cases and zippered pouches, nothing special or fancy here, which is ok for an warm up.

Totes, Drawstring Sacks and Messenger Bags are just that: the standard version with not much variation. If you never made one of these before, this book is quite helpful, but if you’ve already sewn one of those there’s nothing new here. 

There a some interesting projects in the Organizer section, like the tool apron, the artist’s roll or door organizer but you can easily find pattern for these on the web.

Even though I’m quite new to sewing, I’ve made a few bags in the last 5 month and I really was hoping for some new techniques, like drawing your own pattern using pleats and such. But all bags in this book use a rectangular shape so you don’t even learn how to use darts on a curved bottom (which is a basic IMO). The other thing that really annoyed me was the part about interfacing. Or should I say the non existing part? It was only 4 sentences saying: you don’t need interfacing for the projects in this book, if you choose to use some just follow the manufactures instruction. 

I my opinion, interfacing is one of the most important parts in bag making and I truly think it could make or break your project. I’m still struggling sometimes to find the right type or the right combination of interfacing and fabric.

To sum things up: If you are new to bag sewing or sewing in general, this book could be great for you, because you learn all the basic techniques and how to change the projects to suit your style. If you already made a bag or two you can save our money and buy some pretty fabric instead :)

If you are still interessted in the book, you can check out some sample projects here. I really wish the site would have been online before I ordered it. 

In either case, be sure to check out this great post about interfacing over at U-Handbag Blog.

I’m a total book addict. I get really nervous if I don’t have something to read  and it’s impossible to give or throw (*gasp* ) a book away even if I don’t really like it. So when I started sewing it was a great excuse to buy some more books and add them to my existing 400 + ( I really need new shelves). Buying crafting books is a bit like hunting down pretty fabric: they’re great to look at, they give me inspiration and I never can have enough of them. 

So I was thrilled when I found two new books I can’t wait to hold in my hands: Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing and Betz White’s Sewing Green. I love everything Heather Ross and can’t wait to get started on all the projects, especially the dress and of course the bag, and I’m totally in love with the Leave Scarf from Sewing Green. So hop over to the sneak-peaks and check out the fantastic projects. I can see my project list getting longer and longer.

I hope you all had a great Christmas, I surely did even though probably not in the traditional sense. Tony was over at his mother’s house for two days, so I had time to finally make this little bag I was thinking about the last couple of days.

The pattern is the Taxi Tote from Anna Maria Horner’s “Seams to Me” and the instructions are really easy to follow. I would definitely say this would be a great bag for beginners. I really like the book and will probably make some more projects from it soon. It’s beautifully design, well written and covers projects from storage cubes, bags, quilts, aprons over to pillows and skirts. 

And now on to the Taxi Tote. I didn’t want to use only one fabric, so this was a good project to try out the foundation piecing technique. I used some heavy weight home decor fabric from Ikea and fused even heavier interfacing to the back of it. Then I used this as my foundation for the outer fabrics. The brown and green fabric are a wool/synthetic mix, the yellow is corduroy and the white/red one is a bedcover from Ikea. I added a contrasting straight stitch to the yellow and green stripe and now I just have to get another button because I don’t really like the one I used but couldn’t find a better one in my stash that was big enough. 

I kind of like how the tote turned out, the only thing I don’t like is the binding. First of all the bedcover is a really low quality fabric and was a pain in the ass to work with (I don’t know how someone can sleep in this) and second I messed up. If I ever do this bag again, I’ll definitely sew on the binding my hand.

Check out more projects from the book from other crafters: Seams to me flickr group.

Bonus shot: The dessert my mom made yesterday - Panna Cotta with fresh figs and a sauce made with cinnamon, orange juice, pin nuts and cranberries. It was delicious!

I think I mentioned in my other post that I made some kind of quilt. To be exact, I made the Easy Lap Quilt from Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing, which isn’t a classic quilt in my opinion because you design “on the go”.

To be honest, this is exactly the way I like it best because it’s really hard for me to plan ahead and measure everything I need and then, when I’m half done, I figure out that I forgot something like, let’s say the seam allowance. 

I will be having so much fun with the mermaid quilt I’m planing….or maybe not.

However. The quilt was some kind of “let’s see if I can make this” sort of project, so I bought the cheapest fabric available at Ikea (or in my SO’s word: the fugliest) and a night and a day later I had my first quilt. Woohoo. 

It was a lot of fun even though the binding nearly killed me and one of our cats (read: his) had the mission to ruin my nerves and the fabric. So if the mermaid quilt won’t turn out like planned, I will definitely make and Easy Lap Quilt again - with pretty fabric this time.

It’s Saturday and not Sunday and I already made something with the stash in this post, but anyway here we go. Both fabrics are from Ikea, the blue one is a home decor fabric and the pink is actually a bed sheet. I liked the pattern and thought it would probably look nice as a skirt.

I never came around making the skirt, but I made a bag out of it. It’s called “Charming Handbag” and the pattern is from Bend the Rules Sewing.  The pattern is a classic handbag, but since I like to carry my bags over my shoulder, I enlarged the pattern a bit and made the handles longer. I used two kinds of fabric instead of one for the outside of the bag and added a inside zipper pocket. 

I also used these fabrics with my Skull Clutch, and the A Girl’s Best Friend Wallet, but since these projects are soooo small I think it doesn’t count :)

Like the pattern? Check out what other crafters did with it: Charming Handbag on flickr

Want to show off your Stash? Join the Sunday Stash at 1/4 of an inch.