Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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/

I love posie gets cosy so I had to have this book and am I glad I got it! It is full of beautiful picture, super cute and creative projects.. just love it so much! It is just nice to look at, even if I never make anything!

This book was on my wish list, and my sweet husband got it for me. It does not disappoint. I love reading Alicia's blog everyday, and this book of hers is just as good! Sweet projects to sew, that are not too difficult. I plan on making the peppermint heart garland for my daughter, and for any friends of hers that have birthdays coming up. And of course, I'll have to try the doll on the front cover! Charming pictures, patterns included, and Alicia's kind voice guiding you through-get this book!

I love Alicia's blog and am totally in love this book! I have not been able to get things together to actually do a project, but I have really enjoyed flipping through the pages and imagining some of the things I might make someday when I have the time. The directions all seem very straight-forward and not too terribly difficult to follow. And although I have been a crafty type since the womb, I am more a jack-of-all-crafts and master of none. That being said this is sure to entice a beginner, an expert and everyone in between. I especially appreciate Alicia's style of writing and attention to detail. I even sent for an autographed bookplate and received not only the bookplate very quickly but a beautiful, handwritten thank you note from Alicia herself. I cannot wait to get my hands on her second book that is currently in the works and due out in 2010.

Oh, how I love this book! I love Alicia's blog, and her photos, and crafts, and I was so excited to receive this, after much anticipation. I have read it front to back at least 10 times already. I want to do every single project in this book! Such wonderful ideas, gorgeous photos and styling, and my favorite part is Alicia's writing. So well done! I highly recommend getting this book as well as a few copies for those you hold dear.

I bought the book based on my enjoyment of the author's blog. When the book arrived it exceeded my expectations. This book is a how-to, a reference and a pleasure to read. It's unusual to find that combination in a craft book. As I went through I found myself wanting to start on over half the projects right away. So the only problem now is deciding which one to do first!

Projects are fun and completely presented with well written instructions. Photos are absolutely lovely.

I bought this after coming across it one day in Borders. The projects in the book are lovely and there were several I was excited to do right away. It's a fun book and I highly recommend it if you like to create personalized gifts.

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.