Review of Seams to me book by Anna Maria Horner

I love Anna Maria Horner, her fabrics, her blog, her creativity and was very excited to hear that she wrote a new sewing book. Now, other fabric designers before her already published some very nice books so I had very high expectations for Anna Maria’s one (you know, wondering if she was going to offer some fresh new projects, and if I will learn something new from the book). I was delighted, I love it so much I had to write this review even though I have millions more urgent things to do right now. You can click on each picture to see a larger version of it.

What I liked:

* The spiral format of the book makes it easy to use

* There are 24 projects, most of them are fresh (not a rehash of projects already in other books or readily available online), there are 10 paper patterns (ready to be cut as they are printed on one side only). The projects are varied: for your sewing room, bags, home deco projects, women clothing, kids clothing, quilt, wall hanging art, baby toy, even one project for your pet etc

* The book is a visual feast, very enjoyable to browse through with lots of bright and cheerful colours

* The book is very comprehensive. You will learn how to set up your sewing space, what tools are really worth having, she offers useful tips that I have not seen in other similar books, there is even a lesson on colour combination based on saturation. I love this book because Anna Maria somehow, through what she is generously sharing in this book, has inspired me to be more creative in my sewing process. She is inspiring me to think/act/create as a designer/artist and not just a seamstress.

* I like the fact that she used other designers’ fabrics in addition to her own, so the book is not a marketing book for her fabric lines.

* The tutorials are very well explained, and for each project she add a litte “color notes” where she explains why she chose that print and colour (it’s like an insider tip on how designers select fabrics for their projects)

What I didn’t like:

* A very few projects are already familiar to me (like the cozy cube)

* I would have loved to see full pictures of her studio

To recap, it’s a very good book, worth having even if you already have all the other fabric designers books (Amy Butler etc).

Fancy sewing something from the book right now? Click here to to go to the publisher’s site where you can download (pdf format) the free tutorial for the doodad pillow project from the book.

Thinking of opening a second etsy shop

I’ve realised that I’m very good at sourcing items at a good price, it’s a very useful skill as things in general are expensive in UK (well expensive compared to France and US where I do most of my online shopping in regard to fabric, notions etc). So, I thought it would be a good idea to open a second etsy shop just for supplies. It will be a small shop offering japanese books, japanese/french and us fabrics, sewing notions and maybe some jewellery findings supplies. I’m planning to open that shop sometime in september after I’ve been back from a buying trip to Paris.

One of the things that I get from Paris (that I seem to find impossible to find anywhere at a good price) is a fabulous woven interfacing that I use in my bags (interfacing that does not make the fabric look wrinkly as the texture is more of a cotton fabric rather than the paper/card texture of non woven interfacing), it’s more expensive than the usual pellon interfacings for bags so I’m not sure if it’s worth selling it in the new shop. And, I plan to transfer all of the japanese books and fabrics from my current shop to the new one, but for now I am doing a weekly promotion where you can BUY ONE YARD OF FABRIC and GET ANOTHER YARD HALF PRICE.

Below is a recent custom order I sewed, the fabric is the bamboo cotton blend that I got a while ago. This fabric is so soft and silky, it is much better to use it in clothing, but if used in bags and accessories you need to interface it in the same way as you would a Liberty lawn fabric.

I also got some new organic bamboo velour fabric that would be great for baby products. I have so many ideas for new products but my time seem to be all taken by the sewing side (I wish I had a sewing fairy to help me out!).

Fab giveaway from Lila Tueller

Just a quick note to let you know that a fabric designer – Lila Tueller – that I just recently discovered is having a fabulous giveaway, the prizes are an adorable purse and some of her patterns, to enter just leave a comment on her blog.

More matryoshka russian dolls fabric

I recently discovered Shamash and sons fabrics, and managed to get hold of their multi colour matryoshka dolls fabric on a black background (and their fabulous mermaids fabric). The company has decided not to manufacture their range anymore so all their fabrics are discountinued and this russian dolls one is highly sought after. There are so many things I want to make with this, but I decided to use it for a new project: a little bag for a mobile phone/ipod/pda etc.

I was inspired by those cute little bags (matching the bigger handbags) in some of my japanese books, and wanted to make one that is roomy enough to hold several items (like an ipod and a mobile phone for example). I didn’t follow a pattern but just made an adapted mini version of a messenger bag. I wanted the strap to be detachable so that it can be used hanging from the strap/handle of a handbag or hanging from a jean’s belt loop. The strap is attached to the little bag with snaps, and I embellished the area where the snaps are on the bag with a flower shaped wool felt.

I also made another one with an Amy Butler peacock bird fabric.

If you want to make a small bag like this, these are the points to be aware of:

* it can be tricky to sew the lining to the outside fabric at the top part of the bag as it’s to small to fit around the sewing machine’s free arm, so go slowly if you want a perfect straight stitch

* you need snaps with long prongs if you want to attach the strap with snaps (the ones from snapsource are good for this) as normal snaps will struggle with several layers of fabric/interfacing/padding, otherwise a better option may be a button with a buttonhole or a sew in velcro

Stay tuned for my next project: a porfolio organizer.

Gratitude

Gratitude is something that I experience quite often, I have noticed that the more I am grateful the more I find things (people/experiences/things) to be grateful about. Last week, life gave me more to be grateful about. I managed to teach a workshop to counsellors without making a fool of myself (first time teaching!), finished the end of year charity accounts that was way overdue, met some lovely new people, had a custom order and had my first sale on etsy (another custom order by a lovely lady). And one of my friends met a special person in her life which makes me super happy for her.

I think it is easy for me to feel so grateful after what happened to me several years ago. I don’t talk much about personal stuff in this blog because of the ethics of my counselling job but I would like to share something, I had a normal life like everyone before, then I was in a road accident and broke my hip and both my femurs (oh dear, learning to walk again was funny!), my life changed dramatically and I learned to make the most of it. You see, there are things I am not physically able to do anymore, like having a full time job with all its rewards, so when I got those 2 custom orders, I was so happy and grateful, I get to stay at home doing something I enjoy and get paid for it.

So to celebrate, I got more lovely fabrics and a Clover bag template from Japan. I first saw this bag template on etsy and wanted to know if it is better than a bag pattern. I haven’t used it yet, but will give it a try later on. It is just a plastic template allowing you to make 8 different bags (they are similar though) and comes with instructions for each bag, the japanese Clover website also has some free pdf tutorials of bags using this template. I reckon it can be useful for a beginner or an intermediate sewer but an advanced sewer may not be impressed by it.

This is another bag that I finished more than a week ago, I love the matryoshka dolls on this but I used a navy thread for the top stitching which is great for the outer fabric but the lining is multi colour stripes and I just don’t like the look of of that blue thread on the lining, I wish I had one of those japanese fabric tape that I could just iron over the stitching, or maybe hand sew a pretty ribbon over the stitching? Next time, I’ll make a note to remember to use the same outside fabric on the top edge of the lining fabric.

Update: I finally got the courage to unstitch the top of the tote bag and re-stitched it with navy thread for the outside and light blue for the lining. So it looks very nice and up to my standard now.

Spring flowery bag

I finally listed a tote bag on ebay (scheduled to be posted tonight at 8.30pm London time). As soon as I saw this fabric by Martha Negley for Rowan, my heart melted, I just love the profusion of bright colours and the flowers! I love this bag but wasn’t initially pleased with the creased look of the linen, I think that for next time it would be better to use linen in either a small amount only or with appliques to distract the eye from the crease if used for the whole back of the bag. This time, I used an unknown brand of interfacing (the seller calls it extra extra stiff and strong used by professionals) as I’m still playing around with different kinds/brands in order to see all the different looks you can get. I padded the straps as usual and used velvet folded into two for the little bag’s strap.

I’ve also got a fabulous new tool called SnapSetter. It makes snap setting super easy so I went like a happy kid making lots of little change purses/business cards holders using size 16 snaps. You can get it from Snapsource where you can also view the tutorial video by Nancy Zieman on how to use it.

Matryoshka dolls

I’ve been trying to find a particular Matryoshka dolls fabric for a while now and finally managed to get some. No wonder I had a problem finding it, it’s an exclusive design for JoAnn and they don’t ship abroad yet. Anyway, I managed to grab some on ebay and started sewing a coin purse and some lavender sachet bags. I was nicely surprised by the quality of the fabric, it’s very similar to Kona solid broadcloth cotton. The reason I wanted this fabric was mainly because the dolls are big enough to be used on their own, I think I’ll make them into a garland as well.

New fabric by Tina Givens

I finally received the bamboo/cotton fabric and am so pleased with it, it is delightfully soft like Liberty fabrics. It seems that this month has been a month of fabric heaven for me with several new discovery including this one below called zazu by Tina Givens: I love the bold big flowers and the delicate chandelier. I also had to order some winter fabrics after realising that most of my stock is quite summery (colours and textile composition), so now I have some soft flannel, varuna wool, faux suede and velvet.

Eco friendly bamboo fabric

I’m so excited by this range of fabric by Hoffman, it’s made of 65% bamboo and 35% cotton. It’s apparently very soft and has an anti bacterial nature. The range consists of 4 designs, each with a choice of 3 colour palettes. I have ordered the 2 in the pictures below and can’t wait to see and touch them in person. I have also heard of soy fabric and would love to get some if they come in a pretty and colourful design like these bamboo ones.