Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing

I am constantly amazed at variety of craft and sewing books that are on the market today. The desire of people to express their individuality through craft has exploded in recent years, and it’s so heartwarming to witness! Yet along with all those books of projects and inspiration, I think that any good sewing library needs a foundation of reference books that teach technique. A place to run to every time you’re unsure of how to get done what you want to get done. The Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing is my go-to book.

My copy is copyright 1976/1978, and when I bought it, it was brand new. Yea, I’m showing my age. It was a required book for my textile classes at university. It’s the only text book I kept after college and it sits on the shelf next to my sewing machine. But it doesn’t gather dust. It gets referenced often. It’s a book I recommend to everyone who sews.

Here’s the reason to own the book: the sewing instructions and drawings. Almost any bit of clothing construction can be found within these pages, step by step guides to get you through with wonderful line drawings. I think the drawings are better than photos for getting to see the details. The chapter on just necklines and collars is 40 pages long, the sleeves chapter is 20 pages. There’s also lots of foundational information for sewing draperies, pillows and slipcovers. Lots of detail!

I’ve seen other blogs reference this book with the opinion that the old 1976 edition is the best, so I borrowed the most recent edition from the library to compare the old to the new but found them very similar. They both use the wonderfully detailed line drawings that are the crux of this book and the reason for owning it. In the front of both editions is a section describing different fabric types, so the new version has a few more fiber types that weren’t around in the 70′s, but that’s minor. The discussions about needle types, tension and fitting are relevant in both books. I’ll admit the sample projects in the back of the old version are mostly dated, such as the vinyl bedspread (really?? I lived through the 70′s and I don’t EVER remember that being a good idea.) However I think the pouf pillow is cool and it reminds me a little of Amy Butler’s Gumdrop pillows. Anyway, you’re not buying the book for the projects. The bottom line is— get yourself a copy of this book no matter the publication year. You can find old edition copies on eBay and Amazon for less than $10 if you’re patient, which makes the old editions a good bargain to boot. I recently found a copy in a used bookstore for $7 and my sister was happy to adopt it. Happy Sewing!

I {heart} Japanese Dress Books, part 2

For part 1 of this series, click here.

Before I send you off to be inspired and creating from these wonderful books, here’s a few tips I’ve learned while working with these patterns:

OK, that’s Japanese dress books in a nutshell. I hope you find these posts helpful. If you need additional help, remember part 1 of this series references several other places on the web you can go for help. Please, drop me a comment to let me know what you’ve made from these books and any tips you’ve discovered along the journey. Happy sewing!

Lotta’s Garden Tote

Let me end the week with one of my latest projects: a Garden Tote from Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing.

The tote went together very easily. Lotta’s instructions were very clear, yet concise so I wasn’t bogged down in a lot of words. I love her simple graphic style.

It was a present for my nephew and his wife who just moved into a new house with a yard filled with literally hundreds of botanical specimens of all types. For instance, the front yard contains no grass, but has instead strawberry plants for ground cover. It’s an amazing yard, and I hope my little tote can help them in some small way to manage the gardens! Enjoy your weekend!

Denyse Schmidt Quilts Book Review

Lately I’ve been digging into the book Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and loving it. When I bought it, I read it cover to cover. Actually, I bought it right after I had seen the movie “Julie and Julia” and I wondered if I should make every project in Denyse’s book the way Julie in the movie made every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook. The reality of how much time that would take eventually dawned on me, so I abandoned that idea, but I have made a couple projects from the book.

At first, I expected the book to give me some insight into Denyse’s creative process and explain how to improvise patchwork projects the way she does, but it’s actually a book of projects with pattern pieces that when sewn together, look like you’ve improvised a free-form patchwork piece. Being such a newbie to quilts and patchwork, this method is probably a good thing for me. It’s like someone holding my hand while I get use to the construction methods. Her ideas are cute, modern and very doable.

Her scarf pattern uses a foundation piecing method. The strips of wool and silk are successfully sewn to a muslin foundation fabric until you have the right dimensions, then square it up and stitch it a soft wool lining. It was quick and I love the look. Our weather has turned cold the last few days, so it was done just in time to be put to use!

I made this fun apron for a housewarming present for my niece. She loves vintage things and all the fabrics I used came from a pile of old fabrics I bought at a garage sale last summer. It’s a very easy pattern with a wonky log cabin block pocket. I’d love to make an entire log cabin quilt some day. But in the meantime, these small projects are fast and satisfying. The pom pom fringe is a fun sassy addition. I also whipped up a couple pot holders to match using my own design. The thing I like about these is the pocket on one side. With my hand inside the pocket, I feel like a have more control when grabbing something out of the oven.