by Jessika Hepburn, Editor
I have a confession to make…I am afraid of my sewing machine. There I said it! Since I have always sewn by hand, I get easily stressed out by the noisy machine, and find many patterns overly complicated. But I love sewing tutorials and I have been embarrassed by my own lack of skills. So I jumped all over being part of the 1, 2, 3 Sew blog tour and the chance to review the book. Written by one of my favorite bloggers, Ellen Luckett Baker of The Long Thread and published by the ever-brilliant Chronicle Books, 1, 2, 3 Sew has 33 tutorials with clear, easy to follow directions and an awesome back pocket filled with patterns.
I have bought a lot of sewing books over the years, thinking they will help me overcome my barrier to using the machine, but it just hasn’t happened yet-until now. This is the best book for beginners that I have seen so far. My favorite part is the “multiply your skills” aspect of each project. Ellen shows you how you can multiply what you learned from the previous tutorials to build a strong foundation in all areas of basic sewing while making some seriously cute and useful projects.
I (of course) started in the middle of the book because I was all fired up about making these fantastic organizers with some Michael Miller gnome fabric I’ve been holding onto until I can do it justice…but I hadn’t built my skills yet and wasn’t pleased enough with the result to share. My summer promise to myself is to work through 1, 2, 3 Sew project by project until I can actually sew a straight line. Then those gnomes better watch out! I hope you’ll join me in my summer sewing school adventure by entering below to win a copy of the book or buying a copy right here.
Be sure to post your finished projects in 1, 2, 3 Sew flickr pool and share your creations with everyone!
You can also follow along with the rest of the 1, 2, 3 Sew blog tour by visiting these beautiful blogs:
Monday, July 11 – CRAFT
Tuesday, July 12 – Sew, Mama, Sew & Oh My! Handmade Goodness
Wednesday, July 13 – Handmade Charlotte
Thursday, July 14 – Everything Etsy & Not Martha
Friday, July 15 – Modern Kiddo
Monday, July 18 – Crafty Pod
Tuesday, July 19 – Indie Fixx & Patterns by Figgy’s
Wednesday, July 20 – Papernstitch
Thursday, July 21 – House on Hill Road & Coquette
Friday, July 15 – Bolt Neighborhood & True Up
Enter to win a copy of 1, 2, 3 Sew by leaving a comment below about the book, your own sewing abilities, or what you would make first.
You can get extra entries by tweeting this giveaway or posting it to your Facebook page and leaving a comment below. This giveaway closes next Tuesday, July 19th at midnight EST with the winner announced on Wednesday at the bottom of this post.
This giveaway is CLOSED! Congratulations to:
