Book Review: Absolutely A-Line

Absolutely A-Line: 1 Easy Pattern 26 Adorable Dresses for Girls

by Wendi Gratz

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

I always feel really bad giving a craft book a lousy review, because someone put their heart, soul and passion into it.  But, this book was not good at all. 

The premise of this book is an excellent one. One basic pattern with many many variations. The problem was undoubtedly the execution.

- The finished dresses were not very well sewn. In particular, the "Bling It On" dress featured on page 78-81 was very ill fitting, with the blinged collar sitting well above the model's shoulders.

- The arm holes in the master pattern are extremely large, gaping even. In every single picture from this book you can tell the arm holes are cut much much too deep, falling at least 3-4 inches below the arm pit.

- Many of the variations are just plain unattractive. The "Over the Top" dress with giraffe applique was just plain awful. I would never put my children in the dress.

Overall, a great concept, but a poor finished product.  And, honestly, with the amount of FREE sewing tutorials on craft blogs you should be able to easily make a simple A-line dress by tracing an existing dress and add variations much more attractive than these. 

Here are a few tutorials:
Lined A-line Dress
Reversible A-line Dress (using pattern)
Un-lined A-line Pocket Dress

Have you read this book?  If so, what did you think?

[ emilie ]

Book Review: The Reluctant Entertainer

The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman's Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality
by Sandy Coughlin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Wow! This book was completely amazing. So much better than I had anticipated. I was unfamiliar with the author's blog of the same name so I came to this book with fresh eyes and was not disappointed.

Not only was it inspiring, but it was also meaningful and really made you think about the concept of hospitality in a new way. I was expecting a book with set meal plans and decor ideas and, while there are a few of those in here, this book is much more a book about letting go of perfection and taking fear out of entertaining by breaking down the concepts, giving inspiration and empowering the reader to move forward with a new definition of what makes a good hostess.

Recommended to all for its wonderful readability and no pressure guidance to become a person of hospitality, not just a stressed-out person throwing dinner parties.

Available on Amazon.com here.

Book Review: How to Sew a Button

How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew
by Erin Bried
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I expected to like this book much more than I did. I really agree on the overall premise. I think we could learn a lot and utilize our resources much better if we took a cue from the older generations. I know many women who can't sew a button.

One of the issues is with the writing style which is forcefully cheeky. Sometimes you find this forced humor funny and other times, annoying. Also, the book is peppered with illustrations of various retro women engaging in the tasks being explained, but what it really could have used are a few illustrations to clarify the more complicated instructions.

There is some very useful information in this book, but not any you wouldn't find through a google search in a much more clear and concise manner with pictures included.

Have YOU read this book?
If so, what did you think?

Book Review: The Handmade Marketplace

The Handmade Marketplace:
How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line

by Kari Chapin

★ ★★ ★★

I have been in the online crafting community for a few years now (formerly in the Scrapbooking industry) and how I wish this book was out there sooner! First, it is packed (and I mean PACKED) with every tidbit of information you might need about selling handmade goods. It is a very easy and entertaining read, which is hard to do when you are presenting so much information.

Despite already having a pretty good knowledge of selling my goods online and otherwise, I still learned A LOT of helpful information from this read. The format was very flowing and the tidbits of practical info from various celeb crafters was very insightful.

I highly recommend this book to all who are considering (or who already are) selling their handmade goods. This will prove to be an invaluable resource!  And don't just get it from the Library because you're going to want to highlight it...I promise.

Have you read this book?
What did you think?

Amazon's Top 10 Craft Books of 2010

I thought this was a very interesting list. It seems that knitting is going stronger than I realized. I am going to have to bust out my knitting needles and try one of those books!


    
01. The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin
02. Little Green Dresses by Tina Sparkles
03. Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan
04. More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
05. Wired Beautiful by Heidi Boyd
06. Simplify with Camille Roskelley
07. Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant
08. The Earring Style Book by Stephanie A. Wells
09. Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts
10. Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman

Have YOU read any of these books? 
If so, what did you think?

Craft Book Review : Bend the Rules with Fabric

Bend the Rules with Fabric: Fun Sewing Projects with Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More

by Amy Karol

★ ★★ ★★

I have always been intrigued by the thought of personalizing fabrics...but where to start? Right here.

Bend The Rules with Fabric is more of a constantly reusable resource than anything else. Amy Karol easily and deftly explains each technique including inexpensive supplies and additional resources. She also has a project to illustrate each technique.

Although her projects were not particularly my cup of tea, it doesn't matter. This book so thoroughly takes the intimidation out of dying, stenciling and altering fabrics that you will likely come up with a million of your own ideas by reading through it. If you feel like you want more direction as far as utilizing her specific example projects, and you don't care for her style, you might find this book less inspiring than you wish.

For me, this is a must have that I will re-read and reference again and again.

For my review I did a project straight from the book itself with fantastic results. Here it is in it's early stages, having cut the freezer paper with a Martha Stewart punch (which I already owned) and having applied the fabric paint. Expect to see the finished project on Baby Girl Ahern when she arrives this October.

UPDATE: 
Oh, the cuteness!  She's yawning because it's tiring being this fashionable.

Craft Book Review: Sew Darn Cute

Sew Darn Cute: 30 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish

by Jenny Ryan

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I was really disappointed with this book.

Although it was filled with beautiful photographs and cute design ideas, the designs themselves were so totally elementary that I am pretty sure you could google and find a free pattern for everything featured. For example, sewing coasters? It's 2 pieces of square fabric sewn together and then top-stitched.

Perhaps a VERY new and beginner level seamstress might like this, or a very young teenager, but to have an entire page dedicated to cutting a letter out of fabric and sewing it onto a white tee shirt seemed like a cop out.

The cute little sewing kit (as pictured on the book's cover) was something I would make, but it is definitely not worth purchasing this entire book.

Have you read this book? If so, did you like it?

Craft Book Review: Weekend Sewing

Weekend Sewing

by: Heather Ross

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

I really really WANTED to like this book, but I didn't care for it. The photographs are beautiful, however I found the patterns to be way too simple (like sewing a loop and a button onto a dishtowel) to much to complicated (like the pattern for the fabric outdoor tent). At least one third of the book is dedicated to clothing for women, but it has limited sizing. The section for children consists of dresses made from two rectangles...one gathered for the skirt and another sewn together to form the top. Now, I understand that this is intended to be quick and easy projects, the problem is that any/all of the patterns in this book can be found for free easily on the internet.

Maybe a VERY beginning level seamstress would enjoy this book, however I have read many other reviews online at Amazon.com with other readers complaining about missing instructions, incorrect measurements and confusion, so I would hesitate giving this to a beginner. If you are interested in this book I would try and check it out at a local library first or be sure to thoroughly read online reviews both here and at online booksellers before purchasing.

Craft Book Review: 200 Quilting Tips...

200 Quilting Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets

by: Susan Briscoe

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I have recently decided to begin quilting in earnest. I have made two baby quilts before with moderate success, but never quite knew my options as far as binding methods and for home machine quilting. I also felt I had gaps in my knowledge of pattern, techniques and general knowledge.

I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend and I was very pleased with it. It very thoroughly covers almost everything you might need to knew about quilting. It covers a lot of information, but it is divided into small segments of info so you never feel bogged down with too much information. It has plenty of color photographs and illustrations to reinforce topics.

I can see myself coming back to this book as an easy reference again and again. I highly recommend this book to novice and expert quilters alike.

This is normally the part where I would showcase a craft made using the info in this book, but I'm still working on it! I will be sure to share my finished quilt when it's completed.

Buy this book on Amazon.com for around $15

Do YOU have a favorite reference book for quilting? Please share!