Customer Reviews

The Pillow Book: Over 25 Simple-to-Sew Patterns for Every Room and Every Mood

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The best part about this book is the clear, large removable patterns. Making and designing pillows from these templates was fun and easy. The book has a spiral format which is very durable. I recommend this book over others I have seen and purchased.

This book is okay. The photos are lovely and it is inspiring, but I thought the instructions could be more clear, maybe with diagrams. I'm not new to sewing so I should be able to work things out but this might not be the best place to start for a true beginner.
One of the reasons I bought the book was the really cute embroidered pillow, but I found it to be very disappointing. It's a ready made pillow sham, which is okay, since the project is meant to show you can embellish something ready made to make it special, but the embroidery motifs aren't included, so in order to make the pillow shown I'll have to buy the embroidery motif iron on transfers separately. It just would have been nice if they'd been included, either as an iron on transfer or just a pattern I could trace using transfer paper.

I have to agree with the reviewer that said there weren't step by step with photos and that's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. Though I am an avid sewer and can make pillows, well, sometimes I need a bit of inspiration to get to it! When I saw this book staring at me from a bargain bin I snagged it up not only because it gave me some free patterns (that's just a bonus in my opinion) but because it has such wonderful photos of finished pillows in an array of fabrics that just spoke to me. I think it's a nice book to have in my collection.

The book doesn't actually come with 25 patterns. There are 6 patterns tucked into a pocket. The rest of the book is written out instructions for various pillow projects, supported by one picture per project. No step by step photos or illustrations in this book.

Shannon Okey, <strong>The Pillow Book: Over 25 Simple-to-Sew Patterns for Every Room and Every Mood</strong> (Chronicle, 2008)

Full disclosure: I know the author personally.

If you've read Shannon's stuff before (and given the wealth of good crafting books she's put out, you should have), you know what to expect from this one: more interesting, off-beat patterns with similarly interesting, off-beat commentary interspersed among the basic how-to. And <em>The Pillow Book</em> delivers exactly what's expected. No more, but then, what more could you want? Solid, interesting, and fun. *** ½

This book gives good hints on how to construct a variety of pillows. However, the author shows us sloppy examples of her work ! I can't imagine publishing pictures of my work if the seams were puckered, and the buttons were not lined up straight. Therefore, she has no credibility as a professional textile designer.

Keep looking for books of better quality.

Although I didn't pay much for it, I wish I'd spent less. Very elementary, uninteresting projects. Many of the pillows seemed poorly constructed. Inadequate instructions and photos. Awkward to look through because of the method the book was made. With hundreds of how to books out there about pillows, this one lands at the bottom.

This book is very pretty. The pictures are nice. It really gives you some great ideas for adding pillows to your world. Several of the pillows in the book are kind of no-brainers. Do you really need a book to tell you how to make a basic square pillow? And several of the projects are just variations of the same. But there are a few different pillows in this book that are a more complex! (Bolsters, wedges, etc.) There is one pattern for a knitted square pillow. I'm no knitter, but it is nice for a book to realize that people are often multi-talented and not just limited to one creative medium. This book also include a few kid pillows that are adorable and would might very cute little gifts! This book looks pretty on my coffee table and inspires pretty pillows! It is spiral bound to lay flat while your working, which is nice. But somebody ought to work on how pages get stuck and pull in this spiral bound format. There has got to be a way they can make it so the pages turn smoothly and evenly.

Very good directions, simple and easy to follow. The pillows on the cover of the book are sitting on a wicker-back chair, which makes the pillows appear to have "handles" in them. Not the case. Nice photographs inside the book. Good value for a "how to" book.