Sew What You Love: The Easiest, Prettiest Projects Ever [Spiral-bound]

Tanya Whelan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2011

30 surprisingly simple—yet delightfully charming—sewing projects
 
Grand Revival designer Tanya Whelan’s vintage modern aesthetic has made her fabrics and sewing patterns some of the most admired by sewers and quilters everywhere. In her first book, she presents a stylish collection of 30 easy-to-make sewing projects that are achievable by sewers of every skill level. Ranging from a pretty pleated clutch to a flirty French-inspired day dress and super-cute soft baby toys to a mistake-proof design-as-you-go quilt, each project comes with step-by-step instructions and illustrations, inspiring photographs, and helpful tips. These projects and patterns for children, adults, and the home are guaranteed to work well and produce a beautiful end result. Included are 3 pattern sheets enclosed in a handy pocket, providing everything you need to start stitching something you are sure to love.
 
With Tanya’s passion for sewing featured on every page, you’ll soon discover just how gratifying sewing can be. 
 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Designer Tanya Whelan is well known for her fresh, vintage modern style. Her bestselling fabrics and sewing patterns are distributed around the world by Free Spirit Fabrics, a subsidiary of Coats and Clark. Her home wares collection is available throughout the country. She currently lives in Belgium with her husband and three children. Visit Tanya at www.grandrevivaldesign.com.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 152 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft; Spi edition (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307586731
• ISBN-13: 978-0307586735
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.8 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Decorating
  • #23 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Needlecrafts & Textile Crafts > Sewing
  • #27 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Needlecrafts & Textile Crafts > Fashion

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not enough variety January 13, 2012

By granolaforever

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

The author does a fantastic job outlining projects in this book. The instructions are very clear and the patterns included are fantastic. I really loved the bags and sewing for yourself sections of this book. I gave it three stars because I felt that a large portion of this book was devoted to clothing for little girls and baby toys. Those of us with older children end up with a lot of projects that will never be attempted. Great for someone with a baby or toddler girl, those of us with boys are kinda left out though.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and simple projects! December 28, 2011

By CuteEverythingcom TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Spiral-bound

Sew What You Love has a wonderful, romantic feel to it and is just a beautifully made book. I've sewn my whole life and the patterns often came with confusing or complex instructions that I had a hard time deciphering. I really appreciated the clear wording and illustrations in Sew What You Love, all of which made perfect sense and enabled me to easily understand them.

The main thing that I noticed about Sew What You Love is that all of the sewing creations look like they came from a high end shop, rather than being "homemade". Tanya's fresh and gorgeous fabrics from her own line at Grand Revival Design certainly helped with that, but also the clean lines and beautiful style of each of the projects made them into something that anyone would be proud to wear or have in their home.

Sew What You Love has four chapters of lovely suggestions: Handmade Handbags, Sewing for Little Ones, Home Style, and Personal Style. All of the creations are quite simple and even beginners could accomplish them. It also comes with full size patterns in a rose covered pouch in the back of the book, so you can get started sewing right away! I just loved the delightful Ruffled Skirt for little ones and the La Dolce Vita Peasant blouse for teens, in addition to pincushions, apron, quilts, purses, baby toys and more.

Sew What You Love really made me motivated to get out my sewing machine with all of its simple, yet beautiful ideas. I know I'll be using it for many years to come!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I DO love what I sew with this book! April 13, 2012

By rtccomposer

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am relatively new to the sewing book world - I've been picking things up mostly by instinct and looking at reviews from other sewists. This book was mentioned by several folks on blogs and sewing sites so despite it looking very "cutesy" to me on the cover, I decided to give it a try. The book is thoughtfully put together (even spiral bound so you can have it open on your project table as you sew (OTHER PUBLISHERS OF SEWING BOOKS TAKE NOTE - THIS IS SOOOOOOOO CONVENIENT), the photographs are lovely and the instructions incredibly easy to follow. There are many ways to alter the simple patterns to create lots of diversity in the wardrobe, and the fabrics used in examples in the book are gorgeous. I've made several projects from the book already, many of which introduced me to shirring with elastic tape. I must agree with the author that whoever invented elastic thread deserves an award!! I've taken this technique and tried it on all sorts of garments that need close shaping - eliminating darting in some cases in favor of shirred areas. Must say, this revelation ALONE was worth the cost of the book - the fact that I have new skirts, dresses, blouses and purses that are beautiful and absolutely to my taste is like a gift with purchase... :) I'll be looking for more books by this author, to be sure!!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Easy Project Book! January 8, 2012

By Leanna

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really love this book. Beautiful photography, easy to understand directions and listing of all the supplies you will need. Lovely author, you can tell through the book that she enjoys sharing her projects and wants the reader to get as much enjoyment out of it as she does.
I am not a great sewer but feel that all the projects are with in my ablity and some will push me to become better.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Enjoying Sew What You Love! May 11, 2012

By ModernHomeEc

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

I especially encourage those new to apparel sewing to try this book. It is a beautiful book to flip through and the author's approach to sewing garments is very welcoming (read: not intimidating) to the novice. Although I have been sewing for a couple of years, I was a bit chicken to try to sew clothing for myself until this book. Added bonus...the patterns designed are flattering. It seems that many sewing patterns that score on the easy side of the scale tend to be boxy in cut, but not the case with Sew What You Love. And don't even get me started on the home decorator section! Support a small business and buy this book. You will enjoy it!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars SEW thankful for this book! January 6, 2012

By Rachel M. Dow

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

I received my copy of "sew what you love" today & could not be happier! I have always wanted to create things like fabric boxes & quilts, but never had the know-how. Now with Tanya's book I will be able to make those & so much more! Very excited to try out all the patterns for the home, my daughter & myself! I bought this book on a chance ( knowing nothing about the author..) and I am so thankful I did! I am now a life long fan of Tanya's work! You can't go wrong in buying this book! ( just a side note: I consider myself a intermediate sewer at best, so if I can use these patters, so can you! :o)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book... but January 5, 2012

By reader reader pumpkin eater

Format:Spiral-bound|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love Tanya Whelan. I fell in love with her fabrics and they remain my favorite patterns and I'm guilty of hoarding them so I was so excited to see a book of her charming designs coming out. I received it today with much fanfare and almost assault of the UPS man. I opened the book with bated breath.

The bags are lovely and instructions very clear and gentle coaching through the scarier steps. Then I excitedly get to the clothes which is honestly the part I was most anticipating having seen the illustrations in the Amazon preview BUT the patterns only go up to a size 14. So sad. I understand that only so many sizes can be covered but I really was hoping I could make something I could wear. Oh well, I guess that just another incentive to try to learn how to either enlarge patterns or stop having babies and lose a few inches.

I may give the Go-To top/ dress a shot and SEE if it might fit. Maybe in a knit? I still love you Tanya and look forward to making the other super cute projects like the soft shade for my vintage laundry room door window. This book really is like my Pinterest board in hardback spiral bound.