Monday, July 8, 2013

Sewing School 2: review and a giveaway

I am thrilled to be a part of the Sewing School 2 by Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle blog tour! **To be included with such inspiring blogs such as Red Bird Crafts, The Crafty Crow, and maya*made has me doing a happy dance and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as I had a crafty day all set up with Miss Za of the adventures of ander and zaza.


Sewing School 2 is a delightful book. The projects within are simple and adaptable with instructions that greatly helped even me (I am a wonky sewer at best). The envelope of patterns in the back keeps all the pieces within reach and the photos by Justin Fox Burns are so eye catching that Za and I peered through the book many times over making grand plans as to what would be created on our crafty date. 


Miss Za has her own sewing machine at home so we skipped over the basics covered in the first few chapters (though I did go back and read on my own and found them to be super helpful for beginning sewers; zippers now seem doable!) and went straight to the projects. Though many caught our eye (the Sleepy Bear, and Stripy Quilt to name two),  Za decided she wanted to stitch up her very own bag and so we turned to the ehold project and gave it a read through.

Our main fabric had a pattern going  in a direction that would not work with the pattern and so I quickly stitched up a larger swath of fabric for Za to use in her bag making. Because we only had a half yard of the owl fabric Miss Za really wanted to use and because direction the owls faced on the half yard prevented up from creating the bag as described, we sat down and did another read through and some strategic planning.

Za was going to use her bag for everyday use and so we opted out of the batting but we did find a large piece of fabric in my stash that would work as a lining and so after a good pressing of seams on the larger patchwork piece we were good to go.

After cutting out the pattern, Za pinned it to her fabrics (we had a long talk about why we face the right sides together) and cut them out. The sewing machine was mostly ready, all we needed to do was select the thread. Za placed one corner of her soon-to-be bag under the needle and foot and got to sewing, remembering to do a back stitch and keeping her needle down for turning corners (the colored TIP boxes on each page  were super helpful ). 


After stitching, Za removed all her pins and turned her fabric right side out. She was able to refer to the book for each step. We closed up the open seam and decided on where the top part of the bag would fold over the bottom and it was back to the sewing machine. Though we did not do an exact ehold, we made use of the instructions, design, and pattern that were all there. From start to finish this bag took us a little over two hours including a trip back to the craft store to pick up ribbon for the strap. We even had some time to create a few Tag Alongs!

 

Back home, Miss Za has been using her bag daily and is quite proud of all the work she put in it. I really enjoyed having my basic sewing needs answered in one lovely book. I also see quite a few plush microphones and guitars in my future (the children at the preschool are gonna love them!)

If you are in the U.S. and would like an opportunity to win your very own copy of Sewing School 2 please leave me a comment here with your contact info or leave a message and like scrumdilly-do's facebook page and I will choose a winner on Wednesday, July 31st. Happy sewing and don't forget to visit each blog on the tour!


Don't miss the rest of the tour for more chances of winning your own copy:

July 8scrumdilly-do!
July 11Windy Lou
July 13: Improv Diary
July 17: Teach Beside Me
July 19: The Crafty Crow
July 21: Such Designs
July 22: Red Bird Crafts
July 23The Long Thread
July 25: maya*made

**{For this post, I received a copy of Sewing School 2 to review and a copy to offer in a giveaway.  All opinions  and photos other than the cover presented in this post are my own.}

16 comments:

  1. I am just learning to sew on my new sewing machine and my daughter has been asking to join in. This book would be a perfect start for both of us. :)

    studiovee [@] yahoo.com

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  2. Too bad I'm in Canada - any way I could pay the additional shipping if I won?

    vone@voneinspired.com

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  3. How fun! I'd love to win this and have a craft date with one of my nieces!
    Eggiepooh AT gmail . com

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  4. That books looks so cool! 'd love to crack it open with my kiddos :)
    zombiequeenie AT gmail DOT com

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  5. I'd love to win!
    shirleyandtopherbraun AT yahoo DOT com

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  6. My daughters got a sewing machine for Christmas, but have yet to really break it in. This would be perfect! bethbellinder at gmail dot com

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  7. We would love to have a copy of this beautiful book!

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  8. nice job on the bag! Second book looks as good as their first book.

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  9. That bag is awesome! I have an early childhood program at home, and in the summers, the "big kids" come back (ages 6-9). This summer, they want to sew, sew, sew. I'd love to share this book with them! Thanks for the chance.

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  10. I would love to share this book with my daughter!

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  11. I'm super impressed with the bag she made. I love the owl print. I wonder if my daughters 4 and 5 could do any of the projects in the book.

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  12. I just got my 6 year old daughter her own sewing machine, I would love to share this book with her!

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  13. I liked your page. I would love to win this for my daughter and step daughters. diannerosmun AT yahoo dot com

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  14. We would love to win this book! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  15. Sounds like a great book! I'll have to check it out.

    anne_lawrie@yahoo.com

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  16. Love that they did a second book on machine sewing! Thanks for hosting!

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