Book Review: Home Made Vintage

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In today’s post I will be reviewing the following

Home Made Vintage

Title: Cabbages & Roses Home-Made Vintage

Author: Christina Strutt

ISBN: 1 904991 43 2 (Hardback)

Publisher:Cici Books

Price: £16.99

Having been looking at this book on Amazon, I was delighted to find this book at the local library. It has had mixed reviews based upon weather the reader does or doesn’t like the fabric styles used.

Contents

• Living Room
• Bedroom and bathroom
• Clothes and accessories
• Gifts
• Instructions
• Templates
• Stockists

Pros

This book is a visual delight, very much a Sunday supplement style of pictures. Delightful rooms, rustic furniture made feminine with soft furnishing. I don’t think it would be unfair to say if you like Laura Ashley and Anna Griffin style of crafting and soft furnishings then you will like this book. It is full of the kind of projects that would make great gifts and housewarming presents for people.

I like the layout of the book, it starts by showing finished items in their surroundings as you would use them in the home, later on there are the instructions on how to create each piece and at the back of the book the more detailed templates. This books works as a coffee table book to just look through to cheer you up on a winter’s day as it does for project ideas.

Cons

I haven’t really got any. It’s the kind of style that you either love or hate. If you like the cover picture you will like the projects

Value for Money

Pretty good. Plenty of inspiring pictures and project ideas. I’d maybe look out for a paperback version to see if its cheaper,but try Amazon for better prices.

Would I buy it?

Maybe, not sure. I do like some of the projects and its great for inspiration, but not sure how many of the projects I’d actually make. I’m on the fence really.

Summing Up

If you like the cover pictures you will like it, it’s a great book and the inspiration value is high. If you aren’t sure, see if you can get it from a library too, you could easily transform the projects by using different kinds of fabrics. It’s well worth a look.

Links

Home Made Vintage Paperback version on Amazon under £8

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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Holiday Gift Idea; Pin Cushion

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In today’s post I’d like to share a picture of a quick little project I made. 

Pin Cushion

 

This would make a great gift for a new sewer and can be made from very small pieces of fabric. Let me know if you like this and I’ll try to put a tutorial together for you. Ideal as a stocking filler for the holiday’s too. 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon 

Billie

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My Second Tote Bag

Welcome Back 

In today’s post I would like to share a picture of my second tote bag; 

Lilac Tote Bag

This one is in a pretty lilac fabric. I went a stage further with this one and added a lining. 

Tote bag lining

Got in a bit of a pickle with the lining and had to unpick it and re-insert it the right way out DOH. Really pleased with the finished result though. 

My box stitching is improving…a bit 

Close up of box stitch, securing the handles.

What do you think? 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon 

Billie

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Review of Siplicity’s Guide to Sewing DVD

Welcome Back

In today’s post I will be reviewing the following

Title

Simplicity’s Guide to Successful Sewing DVD

Price

Around £10-£12 (At time of writting 2010)

As a newbie to sewing I am looking for information to explain the new terms I come across and how to master the basic techniques. When I have seen this advertised it’s pitched at beginners or people looking to review techniques, so it sounded ideal, especially as I am a visual learner and struggles with long descriptions in books.

Contents

The DVD has eight chapters

• Lay and cut out patterns with confidence
• Successful seaming tips
• Clipping, notching and grading explained
• Understand darts and how to sew them perfectly
• Enjoy sewing with stretch fabrics
• Get confident with Zips
• Trimmings

Pros

There are lots of great tips on here that really help when you are just getting started. If you are struggling to follow explanations in books then this DVD could really help. I’d buy this just for the section on zips

Cons

The biggest problem with this DVD is the production quality! Fine for You Tube, but disappointing for a commercial DVD from a main manufacturer like Simplicity!

• Audio: On several occasions the presenters voice is drowned out by; emergency vehicle sirens, torrential rain and by music at the end.
• Lighting; Camera gets between the set lighting and the presenter, often leaving her in shadow
• Filming; Many key techniques from demonstrations happen off camera (see the You Tube comment!) You see the back of the person’s hand rather than what’s being sewn or the camera stays on the presenters face while she points to things on the project, so its out of sight.
• Set; This is filmed in someones house rather than a studio and as a result there are a lot of distracting items in the background. A busy wall hanging and a Digital photo frame whose picture keeps changing which takes the eye.

Value for Money

At under £15, its worth it, there are some great tips on here and if you have prior knowledge of the subject or are using it for visual reference of individual elements then its worth having in your library. Especially if you have  that you have more detailed explanations elsewhere, perhaps in a book for example.

Summing Up

This seems like a good idea, let down by the production team. It feels rushed and sorry to say the end result doesn’t really hang together too well. I have watched it trough several times now and still have questions about what was covered. For a total novice with no prior experience its left me bewildered and confused on several things, especially the things that happened off-screen!

It would be ok as a refresher for someone who has sewn before but as a newbie the continual use of the phrase ‘Of course you will have done ‘X’ before you did this step’ was confusing and became annoying. Much like recipe books that say make a sauce without any information on how to make said sauce!

If you are looking for something that introduces you to the tools you need for sewing, how to get started with a sewing machine for the first time, in-depth techniques and something to get you started from the very beginning…then my recommendation would be Debbie Shaw’s DVD Sew What? Which I reviewed last month. It’s much more in-depth and approachable.

I’m still looking for tutorials for getting started and just hope Debbie Shaw extends her DVD series, she does understand the confusion and at times trepidation that new sewers have and her explanations are much clearer.

Links

Simplicity I bought my DVD direct from Simplicity, the postage was sensible and they delivered fast! This is the UK site but there are links to Simplicity sites around the world from the home page

I HATE to give negative reviews!!! I really do, this DVD has merits, it just wasn’t for me. I hope I’ve made helpful points that the manufacturers could solve on later projects and not just winged! Do you have this DVD? What do you think of it? Do leave a comment and let me know how you got on.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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Little Owls

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For those of you who follow my witterings on Twitter, you may have heard me mention that I bought a sewing pattern for making owls. I collect owls, and when I saw the pattern for them on Etsy, I couldn’t resist. I used some of the lovely fabric my friend Crafty Nanna gave me earlier in the year and made this.

My first Little Owl

Isn't he adorable

Spent a crafty afternoon with my neighbour’s grandaughter and helped her make the following owl.

Little Owl as a Keyring

Used Tim Holtz keyring findings, sewn to the little owls head to change him into a key ring. He’s dead cute and this was made from the Large owl pattern. I’m going to enlarge the pattern further and make a much bigger owl, then fill him with lentals so he can sit on my book and hold the page open for me. I struggle to hold books open for long coz of the RSI, so he will be a really useful helper.

To make your own adorable owls, check out The Little Owlery on Etsy, where you can purchase the pattern.

Best wishes and thanks for reading

Billie

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My First Tote Bag

Welcome Back 

This is still a paper crafting blog HONEST!!! More paper crafting will appear very soon. 

In the meantime I would like to share a picture of my first Tote bag. 

My First Tote Bag

This was created from off cuts from a pair of curtains Now that’s what I call recycling! I followed a blend of instructions between Debbie Shaw’s Sew What DVD and Sew What Bags the box stitch to secure the handles was described in the Sew What Bags book and looks robust. 

The great thing about making your own bag especially like this, without a pattern, is that you have complete control of the design. I wanted nice wide straps for the handles, so they didn’t dig into my shoulder. The handle length suits me just right. I didn’t have any blue cotton at the time, so the white thread wasn’t ideal. To be honest this was just a practice bag, to learn the techniques, but it turned out much better than I expected. 

Maybe a series of these will become gifts for family and friends in later years, once I’ve had more practice. 

What do you think? 

Will get some paper crafting back on here real soon! 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon 

Billie

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Crafty Confession; Knitting for Dummies

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Another crafting confession {blushes}. Here is the other book that I recently bought. 

Knitting For Dummies

 

As regular viewers may know, I am knitting some special people presents for Christmas. I can knit, a little but do get in a pickle with it sometimes. This looked a good reference book to save my long-suffering neighbour from having to try to undo my knitting mistakes. (Thanks D ) 

I’d like to do more knitting but the R.S.I makes that impossible, I just do a few rows here and there, with plenty of rest time. You can see why I started the projects for Christmas in April, can’t you  

Have you started any projects for winter holidays yet? 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon 

Billie

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