I love the tradition of sewing, the way each of us who loves this craft has our own story of how we learned to sew, who taught us how to make our very first stitches, and why we sew the things we do.  I love that Akiko Mano has taken the time to tell us a little about herself and her craft in the introduction section of her book.  Knowing that she started sewing much the same way I did, by making clothing for her stuffed animals and dolls as a child, reminded me that all of us who sew are connected by our own stories and by the history of this art form.

A Book That Looks and Feels Good

After paging through countless (albeit beautiful) sewing books with vividly patterned fabrics, Linen, Wool, Cotton is a sweet respite for the eyes.  I love sewing books with colorful patterns, but I found this study of texture to be both attractive and inspiring.  The photographs are aesthetically appealing, with clean lines and simple color palettes that serve to highlight the texture of the fabric and the shape and design of the sewing projects.  The photographs are soft and lovely in an earthy, timeless way, much like the three fabrics Mano has chosen to work with.

A Workable Layout

Linen, Wool, Cotton is laid out in an organized, easy-to-read fashion.  There are three major sections, one for each type of fabric, and the sections are separated by two essays by the author, “Why I’m Attracted to Antiques” and “Inspiration From Foreign Books”, which give the reader more insight into her personal craft.  The three main sections are prefaced by an introduction to the type of fabric, including Mano’s personal thoughts about the cloth and how she likes to use it.  One of the things I especially enjoy about Mano’s patterns is that she has really thought about how each natural fiber acts, or as she puts it “the essence of the fabric”, and she takes this into account when she designs a pattern.  For example, understanding that some linens have a tendency to wrinkle, some are coarse, and some are soft and fine, she has not tried to force a coarse linen into a pattern that does not suit its nature.  Her projects span the selection of textures for each of the three fabrics and use each texture to its fullest advantage.

The Projects

What a great selection of projects!  Each fabric section contains both the photographs and sewing directions for several items, including:

• hand towel
• apron
• socks
• blanket
• jumper
• lingerie case
• several styles of bags
• Mary Jane slippers.

As the full book title suggests the projects are simple and classic, resulting in handmade items that could very well be used for generations.  Simple styles are better able to transcend the ages because they don’t adhere to fashion rules of current trends, making these projects a great choice for gift making, whether the gift is for yourself or for someone you know and love.

What are my favorites of her selection?  I love the idea of making my own Mary Jane style slippers, something to separate my bare feet from our chilly hardwood floors in the winter.  I adore the Parent’s and Child’s Bags, which would be perfect for me and my children to tote our books to and from the library.  The Fruit Bags seem like an innovative, yet old-fashioned way to keep my apples and oranges fresh.   Nearly every pattern in this book has my dreaming of richly textured cloth and the wonderful pictures allow me to easily imagine the soft feel of it beneath my fingers.  I am itching to get to my sewing room to begin!

Final Thoughts

With every page you turn, Linen, Wool, Cotton offers a refreshing look at design without bright dye colors or printed fabric patterns; I found it refreshing to go back to the basics of sewing by using natural fabrics and classic, simple designs.  That being said, each of these patterns could be used with fabrics that are more in keeping with today’s popular trends, so long as the sewer takes into account the type, texture, and weight of the fabrics used in the patterns.  Linen, Wool, Cotton is a great book for both beginners and accomplished sewers, with straightforward sewing directions illustrated by easy to follow drawings, and patterns that can be followed to the letter or serve as a jumping off point into one’s own creativity.

Linen, Wool, Cotton: 25 Simple Projects to Sew With Natural Fabrics is available at Amazon.com and at Make Good Books. Would you like to try before you buy?  A selection of free patterns from Linen, Wool, Cotton is available in downloadable pdf format at Make Good Books (follow link above).

The Roots of My Affection

I think I may have mentioned before that I have been knitting since I was eight years old.  I have always loved the rhythmic, almost meditative motion of looping yarn around needle, but truthfully I did not find my true passion for this craft until I discovered felting, or fulling as it is technically called.  (Since most knitters don’t call it fulling, I am going to call it felting for the purposes of this review.)  Felting is the process by which a fabric of knitted wool is exposed to hot water and agitated, causing the wool fibers to shrink and lock into each other, creating a tight, thick fabric, or felt.  This can be accomplished by hand with a boiling pot of water on the stove and a lot of stirring, or more simply, the fabric can be run through a washing machine on a hot wash.  I have tried both methods, but I prefer to use my washing machine, both because I can felt several items at once and because it takes far less time to achieve the desired degree of felted fabric.  The uses for such a fabric are nearly endless: hats, bowls, bags, pouches, scarves, mufflers, shoes, and jackets are just some of the projects I have seen fashioned out of knitted and felted wool.

Once I discovered the process of felting my knitted works, I was entirely hooked.  I am always amazed at how forgiving this process is.  If my knitting is not entirely even (with a mixture of tight and loose stitches), if I have obvious mistakes, or even if I have somehow made a hole in my work, the felting process manages to hide my errors.  I also enjoy the look and feel of the felted wool; its smooth, nearly solid surface is great for making very warm winter accessories, and it is tight enough that purses and handbags can go unlined without fear of losing their contents.  When felted, yarn colors seem bolder and brighter than they do in their original yarn form, allowing the knitter to create really interesting plays on color and form.  Simply put, felting takes knitting to new levels of fun for me.

A Great Medium Weight

Let’s get back to the Cascade 220.  I’ve tried other wools for felting and many perform well in their own right, but Cascade 220 is my favorite and best by far.  Some wools are very scratchy to work with, but I love the way Cascade 220 feels in my hands.  A more refined wool, Cascade has no tiny sticks or scratchy bits to irritate my skin as I work with it and so far it hasn’t made me sneeze despite my slight allergy to wool.  I have found that some wools are quite smelly, perhaps because they are rich in lanolin?  I don’t know why some smell and some don’t, but Cascade doesn’t stink and, being somewhat sensitive to odor, this is important to me.

Cascade comes in such a variety of over 95 colors, from solids to tweeds to heathers.   A rainbow of choices means you can nearly always find just the right shade of soft pink, kelly green, or periwinkle blue.  Perhaps the best news I can give you is that even the very lightest of Cascade 220 colors will felt nicely.  They may require a slightly longer agitation time, but you will still be able to achieve the nice, tight felt that you desire when you set out to make a project.  So many white wools will not felt, but I promise that Cascade 220 will not disappoint you in this area!

A Useful, Affordable Yarn

I don’t want to give the impression that Cascade 220 can only be used for felting.  Much to the contrary, this wool would be great for sweaters, mittens, blankets, and any other type of knit.  Each skein of Cascade yarn is 100gr/220 yds of 100% Peruvian Highland Wool and should be cared for as such (hand wash, lay flat to dry).  For regular, non-felted knits, a size 7 or 8 needle is recommended.  I recommend a size 10.5 or 11 for felting purposes because if the yarn is knitted too closely it won’t be able to agitate enough to felt.  At around $5.00 per skein, Cascade 220 is the perfect wool to stash up for those wool projects you’ve been meaning to get to.  If you’ve been curious about felting do give Cascade 220 a try.

For more information or to locate a retailer near you that stocks Cascade 220, please visit Cascade Yarns .  Coming soon: a free pattern using Cascade 220!  Check back at the Qwowi Stitches Blog in the upcoming week for the free pattern to make the bag shown above.

I should start out by saying that I love Lotta Jansdotter’s fabrics.  Her style is reminiscent of  those wonderfully creative drawings little kids make, but she brings that free creative style into a more modern, even urban look that is chic yet playful, with elements of both simplicity and sophistication.  Her sewing patterns offer that same sense of style and versatility.  For that reason this is the book I find myself reaching for and flipping through, over and over again, when I sit down to plan my future sewing projects.

Part of the appeal, for me, is that Simple Sewing (Chronicle Books, 2007) is filled with patterns that create something useful rather than just pretty.  I can picture myself using each of the 24 finished projects, and good style combined with high functionality always wins good marks from me.  I also love that the pattern pieces are included in a pocket behind the front cover of the book; there are no photocopies to make, no drawings to enlarge.  You can simply cut the patterns, cut your fabric, and get sewing.

My first project from Simple Sewing is still one of my favorite and most-used patterns, the simple tote.  I have made it at least ten times now, in varying shapes and sizes and fabrics, for gifts and for myself.  Made large it makes the perfect bag for library books, a more petite version works well for a lunch bag.

Another favorite is the all-day tote.  With a pocket for my newspaper or magazine, a cup holder (great for stashing errant sippy cups), interior pocket for my cell, and a loop to clip my keys to it is decidedly my favorite bag to carry.  I loved it so much that I made another one for a friend and by changing a few of the details around I was able to make it into a knitting bag, to better suit her favorite hobby.

The most body flattering apron I have ever worn was made from the reversible apron pattern in Simple Sewing.  The curved edges are just a little flirty and the fact that I can turn the apron around if I spill (or if it matches my outfit better on one side than the other) is brilliant!

With projects like the reversible apron, all-day tote, picnic placemat, sun hat, curtain with pockets, wall organizer, tool roll, simple tote, and magazine holder there is truly something for everyone in this book.

Simple Sewing can be found at Amazon.com.

A Bright, Cheerful Book

In Patchwork Style, Koseki has set out to share with readers the joy of creating patchwork projects in a quick and satisfying manner by using a sewing machine rather than hand quilting.  The result of her work is a collection of 35 patterns for projects that are colorful, bright, and imbibed with the cozy feeling that patchwork quilting is known for.

The photography in Patchwork Style is simple and fresh, with backgrounds that are minimalist in nature in order to better showcase the cheerful color combination and interesting textures of the quilting.  Koseki’s fabric choices appear to be a range of vintage and modern, with many featuring bold designs including text, polka dots, stripes, and florals.  The resulting quilted projects have a modern, somewhat urban feel to them, while still adhering to classic lines and ideas.

I love turning the pages of this book!  Each time I flip through it I notice some new detail, a different layering of patterns that makes me turn to my own fabric stash in search of similar color combinations or textural values.  Each page turned reveals a cheerful image and I have no doubt that the author thoroughly enjoyed creating this book.

Interesting Layout

While many sewing books are organized into projects used in similar areas or for similar purposes, such as kitchen, clothing accessories, bedroom, bathroom, organization, etc., Patchwork Style‘s layout has been created much differently.  Koseki takes us through five different quilting techniques:

• log cabin
• applique
• patchwork squares
• free stitching
• square applique

The five techniques serve as category headings in the book and several projects fall under each category, allowing the crafter to build upon their skill set as they work through the book.  One interesting aspect of the layout is that all of the full-color photographs for the projects are housed in the front of the book, and all of the sewing and pattern directions are housed together at the back of the book.  While I find this very appealing when I am flipping through the pages for inspiration, I am not sure how I will like it once I am actually sewing a project.  Because I am a very visual person I often look at the photograph of a finished project while I am working on it, and having to flip back and forth through the book might become a distraction.

Projects and Patterns

What a great range of projects!  From purses to kitchen gear to bedding, there is something for everyone here.  I especially love the floor mat, a square applique project that allows you to sew more squares over the mat when it becomes soiled – what a brilliant and useful idea!  The potholders look like artwork that you can proudly hang on a kitchen hook, rather than those unsightly ones we hide away in a drawer.  The lap quilt, bed quilt, and pillow covers each look like something I would enjoy snuggling up with on a chilly winter day, especially because their vivid colors would help keep life cheerful in even the most bleak of weather forecasts.  The array of handbags and purses Koseki has assembled here have appeal across the lines of age and generation.

Overall, the variety of patterns offered in Patchwork Style will inspire sewers of all ages and backgrounds.  Knowing that you can bring your own fabric choices and color palettes to the designs means each project can be tailored to your individual tastes and fashion.  The projects will look vastly different depending on whether you like bold colors or subtle layers of monochromatic yet textural fabrics.  Building the set of skills laid out in this book will allow the sewer to create projects of their own design once they master each technique. 

The patterns themselves are quite detailed and clear.  They are illustrated with drawings that show you exactly where to pin, cut, and sew, making this a great book for both beginners and those who are expert sewers.

Final Thoughts

I find Patchwork Style to be a delightful book to look at and I am anxious to get started on a few of its projects.  “Enjoyment is what I had in mind when I created each of these projects,” Suzuko Koseki says in her book, and I think she has definitely hit her target.  The book is cheerful and really helps readers stretch their imaginations to discover new and interesting ways to combine and layer fabrics into useful, aesthetically pleasing projects.  Happy sewing!

Patchwork Style is available at both Amazon.com
and at Make Good Books.  Would you like to try before you buy?  A selection of free patterns from Patchwork Style is available in downloadable pdf format at Make Good Books (follow link above).

Recycled Cotton yarn is made from the leftover scraps that would normally be thrown out when a t-shirt is cut from cotton jersey.  The scraps are sorted by color before being made into yarn to reduce the amount of dye needed, and then they are blended with acrylic for added durability.  The final product is a soft, medium worsted weight, cotton blend (74% recycled cotton, 24% acrylic, 2% other fiber) that is perfect for baby knits, washcloths, or other lightweight fabrics.  Made by keeping the ideas of reducing waste and conserving resources in mind, Recycled Cotton yarn keeps perfectly usable material from being dumped into a landfill or incinerated, and instead uses it to create a usable product that is both functional and attractive.  This is a thoughtful product that just makes good sense.

And the colors!  Soft tweeds and heathers in a seven color palette include: sunshine (pictured), sand, seagrass, rose coral, pebble beach, seashell, and marine.  With names that invoke the idea of summer on the shore, I find myself immediately brainstorming for warm weather knit ideas, despite the 40 degree temperatures outside.  I can imagine a soft summer sweater for my daughter made from sunshine (pictured), and a floppy beach hat made from seagrass (a soft green blend) would be perfect for my son.    At around $4.00 per skein, this is a yarn that I can afford to buy a lot of, so even a lap quilt for those cooler summer evenings would not be out of the question.

For color swatches and free pattern ideas, be sure to visit the Lion Brand Yarns website.  Recycled Cotton Yarn can be purchased through the LionBrand Yarns website or at your local JoAnne Fabric and Crafts Store.

Another great idea from Lion Brand Yarns is the LB Collection, a line of luxury fibers at affordable prices.  Today we’re featuring the Cotton Bamboo yarn (52% cotton, 48% bamboo), which is a steal at just $5.00 per skein.  A light worsted weight, this yarn is the perfect choice for knits of all seasons.

Why buy a bamboo yarn?  Bamboo yarns are known for their silky softness and for their drape, or the way they hang from the body in an aesthetically pleasing and flattering way when knitted into a garment.   Bamboo is also an easily renewable resource, a grass that reaches harvest-able maturity within 3-5 years, making it a great choice for all manner of products from interior decor to flooring, and of course, yarn.

LB Collection’s Bamboo Cotton blend boasts great softness that feels wonderful against the skin.  Like most natural fibers, this yarn will get softer with age and use, so the garments you create will be loved well into the future.  Bamboo Cotton comes in eight flower-inspired colors: magnolia, cherry blossom, hyacinth, chocolate dahlia, persimmon, hibiscus, gardenia, and snapdragon.  The colors range from bright to dusty solids and will truly span the seasons for all types of garments.  I cannot wait to get my skein of cherry blossom on my needles!

For color swatches and free pattern ideas, be sure to visit the Lion Brand Yarns website.  Recycled Cotton Yarn can be purchased through the LionBrand Yarns website.

Without further ado, the first of my three best sewing books is:

Amy Karol’s Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew

This is the one to choose if you’re just learning how to sew.  Amy spends the first part of the book giving candid advice about how to set up a sewing area, what tools you’ll really need, and outlining the types of fabrics that are easiest for beginners to start with.  She also tells you, as the book title suggests, how to make your sewing simpler by knowing which of the strict sewing rules can be bent, and which should always be adhered to.

That is not to say that this a strictly a book for beginners – to the contrary, I find this text to be one of my greatest jumping off points.  I find an idea within the pages that I love, then tweak it just enough to make something that is uniquely my own.  Amy Karol has a warm presence within the pages, with guiding words that encourage the sewer to create beyond the pattern.  Her sense of fun and whimsy are contagious and I always leave the pages of her book feeling as though I have just left a good friend, the type that helps me realize my own creativity and potential.

With a wide range of fun and inspired ideas, and 30 patterns spanning from quilts to baby jackets, cloth napkins to aprons, and dog collars to wallets, you will be sure to find more than a few projects to stitch and love.  I loved making the smock for my daughter and her friends:

With lovely photography and easy to follow pattern directions, Amy Karol’s Bend-the-Rules Sewing (Potter Craft 2007) is a joy to look at and to learn from.  Also a joy is Amy Karol’s blog, Angry Chicken.  I love stopping by to see the patterns, recipes, and fun projects she shares.

I am eagerly anticipating this summer’s arrival of Amy’s second book, Bend-the-Rules With Fabric: Fun Sewing Projects With Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More (Potter Craft, August 25, 2009).  I can’t wait to see what great ideas Amy has cooked up this time!

Bend the Rules Sewing can be found at Amazon.com.

Check back to read about my other best sewing books in Parts 2 and 3…

My last sewing machine, a 1960s Singer relic, had been living in the basement for a long time.  I had banished it to such undignified rooming because every time I used it the tension would go out of whack and I would spend two days trying to get it back; once I resumed sewing the tension would inevitably throw out again halfway through a project. My Singer was a good machine in its day, perhaps even an elegant, fancy, and expensive extravagance, but in 2007 it was outdated, non-functioning, and a point of frustration for me.  It was clearly time for an upgrade.

After careful consideration of available machines and my pocketbook’s limitations, I purchased a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 116 in the early Autumn of 2007.  After road testing it for 9 or so months I am confident in reviewing and promoting this machine.

The Basics

Some sewing machines are huge.  Some are terribly heavy.  Some require special tables or permanent homes within your house.  My house is not large, we have very limited storage space, and my sewing room must also function as an office and away space within our home; these details dictated the type of machine I could purchase.  I needed a machine that could be stowed away when not in use, so it had to be small and easily packed up.  The Emerald 116 is both compact and portable.  It is not so light as to imply cheap manufacturing, but is light enough to carry around the house.  Its relative lightness and built-in handle make it a great choice for anyone who needs to set up and take down their sewing area frequently, and the removable hard cover keeps the machine protected while not in use.

While comparable to my 1960s fancy Singer, the Emerald 116 is a fairly basic machine in this day and age.  It has no internal computer, no fancy embroidery cartridges or chips, and you don’t need a degree to make it run.  All of those things made it a perfect choice for me, because being a somewhat old-fashioned gal I look at computerized innards as one more thing to break, one more thing to go wrong when I am halfway through the final hem of a project.  I sought out a machine that was as easy to manuever as my Singer had been, and that’s exactly what the Emerald 116 is.  If you could beam this machine back to 1960 it could be easily run by anyone who knew how to drive a sewing machine then.

Attributes

While the Emerald 116 is considered a basic machine for all types of sewing (meaning it is not a specialized quilting or embroidery machine) it does have some neat selling points:

Needle Threading I had always considered needle threading one of the necessary evils of machine sewing, but this machine has a needle threader.  The chore of threading the needle manually used to take me several minutes, but now I can thread a needle within seconds!  It is a small thing, but it has made a difference in my overall sewing experience.

Auntomatic Button Holes I will admit that I never attempted to create a buttonhole on any of my sewing projects until I had this machine, but I am certain it could not have been as easy as the one-step buttonhole of the Emerald 116.  I just snap the buttonhole foot onto my machine, place the button into it, and sew.  I have been making button holes like they are going out of style, and I never imagined it could be so easy!

Presser Feet The Emerald 116 comes with 8 presser feet, including the manual buttonhole foot, automatic buttonhole foot, zipper foot, edging foot, blind hem foot, and a non-stick glide foot.  All of the presser feet snap into place; you don’t have to mess around with tiny screws and tiny screwdrivers, and you can change feet within seconds.

Drop Feed I like to sew with heavy weight fabrics when I make hand bags and baby carriers, and I also enjoy embellishing my work with thread “doodles”, as I call them.  A drop feed is important for both of those types of sewing as it allows me to lower the feed teeth so they no longer come into contact with the fabric.  Dropping the feed lets me dictate the rate at which the fabric feeds through the machine, the direction of the fabric as it feeds through the machine, and also helps keep heavy fabrics from getting stuck or tangled when sewing a particularly bulky seam.

Adjustable Presser Foot Pressure When sewing with different weights of fabric it can be helpful to adjust the pressure of the presser foot.  Very light weight fabrics require more pressure, and heavy weight fabrics can benefit from having less pressure.  I never missed having adjustable presser foot pressure when I didn’t know it existed, but now I don’t think I could sew without it; having it as an option has saved many of my projects from unsightly bunching and pulling of seams.

Stitch Selection With the simple turn of a dial you can adjust not only the type of stitch, but also it’s width and length.  It’s incredibly easy, so easy that I found myself checking the manual at first to make sure I hadn’t skipped a step.

Sewing Guide Reference Chart This chart is tucked beneath the right front of the machine and pulls out easily for a quick reference and suggestions on stitch, presser foot, stitch length/width, and pressure of presser foot.  I’ve used it countless times and I’m not sure how I got along without it when using my old machine.

Slim Free Arm Another detail I never had on my Singer but couldn’t live without now is the slim free arm, for sewing small projects.  I use it on almost every sewing project, actually, because it is perfect for sewing hems on small clothing and for topstitching around the opening of a handbag.  Also nice is the storage compartment hidden in the case that goes around the slim free arm.  All of the presser feet, bobbins, and other accessories fit into it, and its location at the front of the machine keeps everything I might need right at my fingertips.

A Good Manual It should go without saying that any machine should come with a good manual, but unfortunately that is not always the case.  Husqvarna Viking made sure their manual was helpful, informative, easy to follow and understand, and includes all functions and parts of the machine.  I refer to it often when sewing and I am always able to find the information I was seeking within a minute or two.

Price and Reputation

I said before that I had to consider the limitations of my pocketbook when I went shopping for a new machine.  I also know that when buying machinery you often get what you pay for.  I could not spend more than $350, and I wanted a machine made by a trustworthy company.  I had heard of Husqvarna because of their motorized garden tools:

Husqvarna is the world’s largest producer of lawn mowers, chain saws and portable gas-powered garden equipment such as trimmers and blowers. The Group is also a world leader in diamond tools and cutting equipment for the construction and stone industries. (quoted from www.usa.husqvarna.com )

Husqvarna yard machines have a reputation of reliability and good function, and I knew a machine made by Husqvarna Viking would more than likely promise the same.  I am happy to report that I have not been disappointed with the quality or performance of my Emerald 116.

Retailing at just over $300, the Emerald 116 fit nicely into my budget.  I waited for my local sewing shop to have a 20% off sale, and then shaved an additional $90.00 off of my purchase price by trading in my old machine.

The One Thing I Hate

Yes, there is only one thing I dislike about my new machine: I hate the angle and placement of the thread cutter.  No, it is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I find that getting the thread into it properly breaks my rhythm when I am working.  Because I tend to fumble through the thread cutting due to the awkward placement of the cutter itself, I tend to have very long tails of thread hanging off of my work which then have to be trimmed with scissors.  I imagine that I will one day get used to the thread cutter, but right now this one little thing is irking me.  That being said, I would still buy this machine a thousand times over because everything else functions exactly as it should.

A High Functioning Machine For a Great Price

Since purchasing my own Emerald 116 my sewing capability has increased from novice to knowledgable, and I am constantly on the lookout for great fabric.  Having a machine that functions reliably every time you sit down to sew makes a huge difference in your end product, your motivation to sew, and your overall creativity.

Whether you are in the market for a new machine or you’re looking to make your very first purchase, be sure to test drive the Emerald 116.  It is a great machine for all purpose sewing, with the ability to sew everything from light to heavy weight fabrics, leathers, vinyls, and more.  It has all of the basic functions a sewing machine should offer, plus a few extra perks that make driving it a delight.

You can learn more about the Emerald 116 here: http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us/6119_6123.htm or at your local Husqvarna Viking dealer.

A complete lineup of Husqvarna Viking sewing machines and accessories can be found at AllBrands.com