Weekend Review: Elevate Your Scrap Sewing Projects

 

Elevate Your Scrap Sewing Projects / Sallieann Harrison

Mount Joy, PA: Landauer Publishing, c2023 

215 p

A rather random reading choice today, but this is one I came across in my library and was pleasantly surprised by! It's a book of projects to use scraps, mostly quilting scraps, and the projects are mainly home decor and accessories, but there are some intriguing techniques that could also be adapted for garment details. 

The book is pretty to look at, and definitely scrappy; the author shares some new ideas with a modern, pretty aesthetic. The author is UK based, so there are lots of Liberty scraps in evidence here -- it's a pretty book to flip through! 

It starts out with an "About Me" to introduce the author a bit, then has a "Tools Tips Techniques" chapter which goes over quite a lot of the basics. It makes it easy for the beginner sewist to feel confident trying the projects. The projects themselves have a range of difficulties, and are shown clearly with lots of photos of process and finished project, and they have pretty good instructions. There is a mix of fabric manipulation and more straightforward quilting projects, as well as a couple of other styles of project. 

The 10 projects are: 

• Basket Weave Cushion or mini Quilt
• Pleated Bucket Bag
• Summer Cushion 
• Woven Cork Pouch
• Rope Basket
• Sallieann Flower Quilt
• Japanese Origami Cushion
• Heart Strings Pouch
• Christmas Presents Mini Quilt 

There is a bit of repetition -- for example, the fabric pleated bag and cushion use the same techniques, so there is duplication in the instructions. This was the technique I was most interested in though, and the most unusual for me, so I was happy to have two examples to study. 

I liked this one, and it gave me some ideas, always a good thing in a new craft book. It's quite charming and I think the projects are modern enough to appeal widely. You can get a flip through of the whole book with the author in the video below, if you are interested!