Stitched in Time: Memory-Keeping Projects to Sew and Share from the Creator of Posie Gets Cozy [Paperback]

Alicia Paulson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 11, 2008

In Stitched in Time Alicia Paulson shares 30 beautiful, inventive, and thoughtful projects that encourage you to take your memories down from the bookshelf, out of the closet, or off the hard drive and bring them into your daily life. Creator of a charming line of handmade gifts and accessories called Posie: Rosy Little Things, Paulson organizes these adorable handmade mementos—each one incorporating unique elements such as photos, drawings, and other ephemera—into three sections: For the Little Ones, For Every Day, and For Special Occasions. Many projects are easy enough for the beginning sewer to complete, and Paulson explains all the necessary techniques, from hand- and machine-sewing to embroidery, appliqué, stenciling, and transferring photos to fabric.

In as little as a weekend anyone can create a keepsake for the ages that will be enjoyed every day­—whether it’s a quilt made from outgrown baby clothes, an apron featuring a favorite family recipe, a tote bag documenting a treasured vacation, or a stuffed animal fashioned from a child’s drawing. With love incorporated into every stitch, these sweet projects each evoke the feeling of a special time and place, and are so much more than just a commemoration of events. Whether you want to remember your family summers at the beach or a daughter’s first apartment, a perfect gift for a loved one or a memento to keep all to yourself is just stitches away.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ah, the joys of technology, which can, in (almost) split seconds, photocopy old family photos onto treated fabric and transform wedding-guest signatures atop a picture frame. What’s even more remarkable is the way Oregon designer Paulson pays homage to the power of memories while imaginatively repurposing scrapbook-type items into keepsakes. Thirty projects fall into one of three categories—for babies, for everyday, and for special occasions—all with casual instructions that rely on only the basic knowledge of sewing, embroidery, and finishing. “Welcome Stork” greeting cards become a mobile in a baby’s room. Patches of Mom’s and Dad’s clothing are stitched into a first-apartment laundry bag. All directions, narratives, and tips and hints are intended to seduce even beginners into fabricating their first memorabilia; who could resist a two-page spread on the ease of taking pictures? One more poignant touch, much in line with the warmth of the author’s crafts: the book is dedicated to her first corgi: Audrey, a good dog, queen of my heart. Appended are general sewing techniques: hand sewing, transferring photos to fabrics, embroidery, appliqué, freezer-paper stenciling. --Barbara Jacobs

About the Author

ALICIA PAULSON has been featured on HGTV and in Hallmark magazine, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens Creative Home, and Family Circle Easy Knitting, among other magazines. Her blog, Posie Gets Cozy, receives a quarter million hits per month. Alicia lives in Portland, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft; Original edition (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307406261
• ISBN-13: 978-0307406262
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great beginning sewing book! November 16, 2008

By Ellen M. Gibb

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a delightful book of beginning sewing projects which will also appeal to more experienced sewers like myself because of the sheer charm and childlike simplicity of the projects. We see so much black and silver and muted browns these days but Alicia Paulson lives in a different color path. It is the color path of my grandmother's quilts--fresh, sweet, and full of the feeling of spring flowers. Having followed her blog for some time, I was thrilled when her book came out. The lovely afghans and knitting projects on her blog inspired me on to new adventures in those areas. What I love about the book is that you don't have to make her very own projects as she made them. You can take the colors of her palette or some of her ideas and adapt them to your own particular vision. A good way to see if you would like this book is to follow her blog for a while (Posie Gets Cozy); her writing is as fun and inspiring as her sewing. Her domesticity and creative life is warm, comforting, and heartening. She lives in a world I remember from childhood--when most treasures were handmade and embodied the wisdom and skill of one woman, passed to another.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Pictures...practical application, not so much... December 23, 2010

By CraftyMcShannahan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I will start off by saying the good. First, the pictures in this book are fabulous. The color combinations tend to be soothing and sweet. The directions are simple and easy to follow. (And on a side note, there is a picture of a dress on page 12 that I wish I owned a hundred of and could wear everyday!)

Now...the rest. I would say that the best project in the book (for me anyway) was the doll pictured on the front cover. It was cute and easily adaptable. You could make a wide array of variations of this doll in a short amount of time. I can honestly say that I would make this doll as is with no significant change in what the author has done. It is the only project about which I could say that. A good portion of the projects include using printable fabric...this is something I am just not interested in...(I recognize it is just a matter of taste, but since its my review I am allowed to say that it just does not please my palate...)

Some of the projects feature good ideas, such as an embroidered onesie. However, the author suggests that it could only be used as a display piece. And her version, because of the method used should be only for display. However, there are other methods that could be employed enabling you to actually clothe a child with the onesie!

In the same vein, another of the projects is a growth chart in which she sews a cheap tape measure to the fabric pattern. In my eyes, if you are making something as a keepsake, you could take a little extra time and do some simple embroidery lines to mark off inches. The method used in the book looks so tacky! I would think even a novice sewer would be embarassed to give this as a gift (or keep it for personal use for that matter).

Finally, I just fail to see the point in some of the projects which can be cute in theory, but in practice, should you really buy a book for them? An example of this is the sleepover pillowcase, in which you are shown how to make the pillow case (an extremely simple sewing project), and then instructed to write out your home phone number on it (in rickrack) in case it would be left behind at a sleepover.

I don't think I have ever given a bad review to a book, and I don't suppose that a three star review is really terrible, but it is for me. I really gave it one star for the pictures, and one star for the ease of instructions should you be inclined to do any of the projects. So really, I suppose this is, for my purposes, a one star book. Sorry.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Book For Crafting Memories December 12, 2008

By calicodaisy handmade

Format:Paperback

This is a lovely book with wonderful ideas for creating memories for yourself and others. I've been following Alicia since I saw her on an HGTV show and was so glad to find her on the blogs. You won't go wrong choosing this book for yourself or as a gift for a crafter.
-- http://calicodaisy.blogspot.com/