Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing

Equal parts inspiration, sewing fundamentals, and fresh patterns, I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down and reading every page of Anna Maria Horner's first book. In the introduction she shares her thoughts on writing the book and her preference that she "would rather just invite you here for the day to show you how to make something." She further writes "My greatest hope for this collection of projects, ideas, tips and tutorials is that you'll feel as though you have been here and also that you would want to come back." This guiding philosophy is evident throughout the book.Anna Maria's love of sewing comes to life as the pages are turned. An easy going writing style creates a warm and inviting tone that compels one to make another cup of tea and continue chatting. Groceries and laundry can wait till tomorrow.New sewists will find the chapters on sewing basics to be a fabulous learning tool. It's comprehensive and well written.The second part of Seams to Me is jam packed with projects organized into 4 categories: Organize, Stylize, Decorate, and Domesticate. The book includes full sized pattern pieces for 10 of the 24 projects.The clothing projects are especially fun and unique. I'm always inspired by the way Anna Maria mixes prints and colors in her clothing designs. The Smashing Smock for grown up girls and the Bo Peep Skirt and Prairie Blouse for the little ones are several favorites.Color theory is tossed like sprinkles throughout the book. A section up front is devoted to the basics. Each project contains Anna Maria's color notes. A peek into the creative mind of someone so very talented at mixing a palette.And if all that wasn't enough to Wow, the photography credit for the book is none other than Anna Maria Horner herself.Yes, I felt as though I'd spent the day hanging out with Anna Maria in her studio, watching her work and listening to her thoughts on the craft of sewing. Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing is a grand achievement and sure to inspire your creative muse.

The main thing I can rave about Anna Maria's book is the first 5 chapters that explained what looked to me to be pretty much everything I wasn't sure of in the sewing world! She goes through everything from the machine to notions, to fabric and even hand sewing. These beginning chapters have diagrams and charts showing you different tools, needles for different fabrics, stitches, how-to-sew, etc. I'm a visual person so the diagrams really helped me understand better how to sew. For a seasoned seamstress that resource might be redundant, but for a beginner or intermidiate sewer like myself this resource really helped me understand better how to sew and increased my confidence since now I feel like I know how to 'do it right'. I only like a few of her fabrics and this book is chalk full of them so the eye candy factor hit lower on this book for me than many others I have. If you love her fabrics I definitely recommend the book, it's certainly eye candy for the right kind of person. I found it a little 'busier' than I personally like though as far as coffee table books go. The projects are alright, only a few really stood out to me like the patchwork ball, the Basket Case Pillow, and the Bo Peep Skirt with Pairie Blouse. I say this only because I have similar projects in other books I would prefer to use. Even so just those 4 patterns make the price I paid for the book well worth it to me. And if you're looking for a book to give you a better overview on sewing it's a great one to own especially if you don't own any other sewing books. It'll have that plus a lot of projects to try out!

I used the pattern in this book to make this pincushion caddy! Other projects to do in this book are useful too and give me ideas for ideas I would like to try out.

It's a lovely book in presentation, as is the author's blog, which is a pleasure to read thanks in large part to the author's personality and engaging writing style - not to mention the artistic design, which is beyond compare.I agree that it's really a book for novices, bit since I consider myself to be a novice to intermediate sew-er, it's just fine for me. The author explains, for example, why a fat quarter is so named and illustrates precisely how this works. That was new information to me. I knew it was a quarter-yard, but didn't realize how it was cut (hence the name, "fat" quarter).I'm very glad to have this book in my own home library since I refer to it from time to time for ideas or inspiration.If you enjoy Anna Maria's blog, you'll like the book.

When a friend first introduced me to this book, I paged through it and the projects just didn't really appeal to me. Later, I wanted to make the Prairie Blouse for my daughter so I ordered the book for that pattern. I thought I would be ordering the book for that project alone. However, as I paged through the book from time to time, more and more projects have piqued my interest. I have made the Pin Cushion Caddy and the Patchwork Ball. The instructions were phenomenal! I would like to make one of her quilts and also a shower curtain. There are so many great project ideas in this book, but for some reason they took awhile to grow on me.If you are looking for a sewing how-to book, this book is good, but I think The Sewing Bible by Ruth SInger is better. It's more comprehensive, with fabulous step-by-step illustrations. Still, I adore this book. It's a steal for the price!

Yes, this book geared toward beginners, and I'll never make 90% of the projects in it, but I'm giving it 4 stars for inspiration. The photos and fabrics are so lovely I enjoy just leafing through it for a few minutes when I'm taking a break from something else but don't have time to get into a sewing project. For me this is more of a "coffee table" book than a sewing primer (don't need, better ones out there). Sure, similar stuff is available on AMH's blog, but when I'm relaxing on the couch I want a book I can flip through, not more time at the computer.

I bought this book thinking that there would be some attachment for the patterns other reviewers mentioned, there are no patterns in the Kindle edition. Please do NOT buy the Kindle version, buy the actual book and then at least you have some patterns to use.I have still given this book two stars as it is beautifully written and has really inspiring photos and ideas. Sewer's who are well past the beginner stage should be able to make their own patterns using the book as their inspiration, but at the price offered I fell a little let down that I should have to do this.

Anna Maria Horner's first book, Seams to Me, is extremely well written. Her projects, do not have mistakes in them (unlike some books) and the quality of the pattern pieces is excellent. I have made 2 bags from the book, and am very pleased with the way they have come out. I plan on making her lovely playing quilt (all targets and circles) and possibly her cubes. It's not that heavy on clothing, more items for the house, and artwork. But her explanations on colour, fabric, how to sew are superb, and will be used as refernce guides by me, for many years to come. I would recommend. Check out the flickr group, if you want to see the type of projects in the book!

This is a beautifully produced book - very readable - with lots of interesting projects and is very instructive. The patterns are in a separate envelope attached at the back of the book - all beautifully made. Lots of things you would like to have a go at ranging from easy upwards, but all well described and do-able.

Lovely Book with some great projects that you can fit in in a short time frame, however the Kindle edition does not have ANY patterns so unless you are an experienced sewer and willing to draft you own do not buy the ebook.I am really miffed that this is being offered for sale as a Kindle book without any warning as the price is almost the same as the spiral bound version. Amazon get a grip this is not goo practice.

The cover was ripped on this book and the projects weren't as interesting as the authors current work and projects