Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing [Spiral-bound]

Anna Maria Horner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2008

Admired fabric designer Anna Maria Horner draws on her passion for art, sewing, and textiles to inspire one-of-a-kind projects

Anna Maria Horner's signature style combines the techniques of a seasoned sewer with the vision of an artist. In Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing, she walks you through the fundamentals, offering practical advice on everything from fabric selection to color choices to choosing and buying a sewing machine. Simple step-by-step instructions show you how to turn her designs into fanciful creations:

• Sideways Squares Skirt
• Prairie Blouse
• Full Contact Cooking Apron
• PlayingAlong Quilt
• Doggie Dreams Bed
• And so much more!

Vivid full-color photographs and designs will invite you into the creative process. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran, the twenty-four projects in this beautiful book will transform your home and wardrobe into a collection of unique treasures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Another of those great little sewing books...This is a good introduction to modern style sewing." (KarenPlatt.co.uk, April 19th 2009)

From the Back Cover

Admired fabric designer Anna Maria Horner draws on her passion for art, sewing, and textiles to inspire one-of-a-kind projects

Anna Maria Horner's signature style combines the techniques of a seasoned sewer with the vision of an artist. In Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing, she walks you through the fundamentals, offering practical advice on everything from fabric selection to color choices to choosing and buying a sewing machine. Simple step-by-step instructions show you how to turn her designs into fanciful creations:

• Sideways Squares Skirt

• Prairie Blouse

• Full Contact Cooking Apron

• PlayingAlong Quilt

• Doggie Dreams Bed

• And so much more!

Vivid full-color photographs and designs will invite you into the creative process. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran, the twenty-four projects in this beautiful book will transform your home and wardrobe into a collection of unique treasures.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 176 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (October 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470259264
• ISBN-13: 978-0470259269
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anna Maria Horner grew up in a house full of her dad's paintings and with a closet full of her mom's handi-work. Beds were warmed by the hand-loomed wool blankets sent by her grandmother from Greece. The busy little bodies of her and her siblings were warmed by the beautiful handknits of their grandmother in Indiana. As a kid in the 70's, she passed up the $1.79 Barbie dresses in Service Merchandise, opting instead to create designs from her mother's fabric scraps....an artist was born.

In 1995, after graduating with an Honors Fine Arts Degree in Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Anna Maria opened Handmaiden, a clothing and housewares boutique. This retail space served as the homebase for Anna Maria's clothing line which she designed and produced, together with her mom. Eventually, the label was offered to the wholesale market, where it sold at several stores across the country.

During her years as a retailer/designer, Anna Maria had her hands in almost every medium on a daily basis. Designing clothing served an interest that she had since childhood. Her love of fabrics and patterns spilled onto her fine art canvases as well. Though busy with clothing design and production, Anna Maria found the energy to stay active artistically through exhibiting in galleries regularly. Her paintings, both small and large scale, are part of hundreds of private and commercial collections.

There have been many interesting stops on her artistic path but a common element in all of Anna Maria's work whether clothing, accessories, quilts or paintings is a passion for color and vibrancy. As she continued to realize her point of view in sewing, painting, writing, and photography, all of these disciplines created a dialoque, one bettering the other, and leading to a constant stream of artistic growth. Her fascination of taking an item through all the necessary steps from her sketchbook to a store shelve sparked the momentum to create a brand. Anna Maria's fresh perspectives within traditional markets and her vision of being surrounded by the work of her own hands has led her to partnering with more than two dozen manufacturers to design homewares, gift items, textiles and to authoring her first sewing book, Seams To Me, published October 2008.

Today Anna Maria and her husband, Jeff, make their home in Nashville and just welcomed their sixth child in May 2009. She and her husband embrace both the charming wonders and the imperfect moments of raising a large family. She is incredibly thankful to be able to seek out her artistic goals in the presence of their encouragement and is constantly inspired by the spontaneity and tempo of it all.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I SHOULDN'T have to do independent research, Ms. Horner!, July 10, 2010

By 

wendyinthemiddle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing (Spiral-bound)

I purchased this book because I'd seen glowing professional reviews on the Internet - I wish I would have read reviews from the public-at-large.

Ms. Horner and her publisher need to hire an editor who knows how to compose patterns & instructions (or at least an editor who can test the patterns by attempting to sew them).

I spent hours of my time trying to make the pincushion caddy correctly. In my frustration, I Googled the pattern and came up with DOZENS of hits relating to the fact that the pattern does not work as published (both the size of the pattern pieces and the written instructions).

Sloppy work by the author and publishers ... and from what I can discern, her new baby book is rife with the same types of errors.

Even had I received this book for free, I would still be angry for wasting my time. Buyer beware.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book for experts and beginners alike., October 24, 2008

By 

L. Rees (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing (Spiral-bound)

Seams to Me is a beautiful book. There are beautiful photographs, illustrations, and detailed instructions. There are projects here for everyone. I would consider myself an intermediate sewer. I've been sewing for over ten years and there are many projects I'm interested in completing. There is a quilt project, a fabric art project, as well as many other projects that would be appropriate (and fun) for varying levels of experience. More experienced sewers can skim the detailed instructions and the intro explaining sewing tools and such. One of the most common complaints concerning sewing books is that the instructions aren't detailed enough. Horner had the foresight to serve her customers and include excellent instructions and illustrations.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basics and inspiration for crafty people!, October 29, 2008

By 

Texan 20-something "Allison" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing (Spiral-bound)

I had already bought and returned two other sewing books trying to get a good basic primer with some neat projects and adaptable patterns. I picked up this book and was enchanted! The pictures are really gorgeous and having never heard of Ms. Horner I was intrigued by her beautiful fabrics.
I'm a self-taught sewer (or is it seamstress?) and wanted to get a book to really get the basics for lots of different kinds of sewing (quilting, clothes, home projects, etc). I always thought I was kind of missing out on the real techniques to make my sewing projects look professional and finished. I've finally found a great reference for good "rules" of sewing without being too technical. The pictures and illustrations are very clear and helpful. I plan on making lots of the projects in the book and look forward to tracking down some of her beautiful fabrics.
If I had one negative thing to say, I would have liked a few more clothing projects for adults, although with the information in the book I feel pretty confident I could sew from bought patterns more easily.
All in all, great book for someone that wants a beautiful and inspiring beginning sewing book!