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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Great Stuff from Martha,
By Annie (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z (Hardcover)
Martha has done it again. This book covers a huge range of techniques and projects and most of the things would be fine for the beginner. Unlike last year's Encyclopedia of Crafts, this volume is arranged by the finished product rather than by the technique used to create them, and then in the beginning there is a huge section that covers the basics of all the techniques.The basic techniques covered in the beginning are: Sewing Applique Embroidery Dyeing Quilting and Patchwork Printing And the projects are: Animals (stuffed toys) Aprons Bags Bath Linens Bed Linens Bibs Blankets Books Clothing Coasters Cozies Curtains Decorative Pillows Dolls Flowers Handkerchiefs Nursery Organizers Pets Pincushions Pot Holders Quilts and Patchwork Shades Slippers Table Linens Upholstery Wall Decor Plus there's a CD included with all the templates needed for the projects. I find that a huge improvement over other books and magazines (not necessarily Martha ones) that send you online to get the templates, or even the ones where you have to photocopy and enlarge those tiny things on the last few pages. The CD is much more convenient. There are a few downsides, though. A lot of the sections have a ton of projects but others are quite meager (for instance, there's only one project in the Dolls section). Also, like all of Martha's other books, this is basically just a compilation of projects that have already appeared in her magazine over the years. But I think it's still worth the price just to have all that information in one place. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Book,
This review is from: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z (Hardcover)
This is a really beautiful book to flip through. The "150 projects" make up the bulk of the book with the encyclopedia part being about 70 pages or so. I am new to sewing and her instructions seem pretty clear to me. I love that the book has step by step pictures.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (78 customer reviews) 101 of 109 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful, but not encyclopedic guide to sewing,
By Janet Perry "Needlepoint and Bargello author" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
When the first Encyclopedia of Crafts was published a few years ago I, like many others, was disappointed because textiles were conspicuously lacking. This book begins to remedy the problem by addressing sewing and fabric crafts.The book has three sections. The first discusses in detail techniques, materials and tools. While it is a good introduction and is close to encyclopedic when it comes to machine sewing, it is only an introduction, not comprehensive, when it comes to any of the other techniques (embroidery, patchwork, applique, dyeing, and printing) it describes. There is enough there to get you started and to do the projects, but if you know or are interested in the technique, you will want more. The second part of the book has the projects. Fabric projects from many years of Martha Stewart Living are grouped together by type, so coasters, for example, has oilcloth coasters, machine embroidery coasters, and ones made from bleached and overdyed fabric. The final section gives additional details on materials needed and the resources in the included CD (not in the review copy). This is a Martha Stewart book and has all the virutes and vices that go along with that. The projects are stylish, inventive, and beautiful. But if you read her magazine, you have seen them before. The technique information is accurate but not complete. For example in the dyeing section it doesn't bother to say that you should NEVER use pots you cook in to dye in because these chemicals are quite toxic. To my mind this is a glaring omission. I always feel when reading one of her books that doing any of these projects or techniques is just so easy that I can whip it up in an afternoon and get lovely results without any prior experience. But the world isn't like that. It bothers me, as a fiber artist, that she doesn't take the trouble to rate the projects so that I can figure out which ones are accessible to me. Ultimately, I think this is a useful book as far as it goes. The information is sound, if incomplete, the projects are nicely explained and beautifully illustrated. But encyclopedic -- NO. Now I need to wait until she has done enough fiber projects to do that volume, but that will be awhile. 20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent beginner projects,
By Bette - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
As someone who has owned a sewing machine for years but has neglected to do anything with it, this book serves as a step by step guide full of encouragement.The most basic projects include felt purses, handkerchiefs and potholders to more challenging projects such as dog jackets, patchwork/quilting and stuffed animals. Also of interest are projects that, as someone new to sewing, I never even thought of, such as notebooks and checkbook covers. For the most part the book is full of domestically useful projects: curtains, bed linens, napkins, placemats and upholstery. There are even several basic clothing projects: seersucker pants, wrap skirt, tube dress, sarong, etc. It is a misnomer to lump this into Martha's "Encyclopedia of" series, as it's more of a basic sewing techniques coursebook with cd of templates and patterns (reviewers did not receive this cd). This would be wasted on those advanced in the craft, but it would make a great gift for the beginner. 37 of 42 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Reference for Martha Fans,
By nanapama - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts: Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
Let me start by saying I am reviewing a black and white copy without the CD. This is important because I have the Martha Stewar's Encyclopedia of Crafts and color is very important. Just like the magazine,the presentation is a large part of why you want the book. You really can't get the full impact without color. Without the color and CD what am I reviewing? What I can see from the black and white version. So what do you get?What you will get is a beautiful bound copy of sewing information that is readily available on her website and in many cases in her magazines. But here is the selling point, you get all in one place, in an easy to browse and use format. Everything is here - from the directions, tools to use to additional techniques and suppliers. So the second positive is you can recycle all those magazines you have laying around gathering dust because there is one project in each magazine you know you will get to one day. You can also stop searching the web for that project you remember from some show you saw long ago on cat play toys. It's all here in the book. To me, that alone might be the best reason to buy it. Let me warn you this is more a crafter's book than a sewing book. It is not for the serious sewer who want to turn out Chanel inspired garments and probably a little boring for the experienced sewer. So why should you buy it? It depends on what you are looking for. I found the Encyclopedia of Crafts a great way to plan projects with my granddaughters who loved looking through the book at all the different projects. I'm planning to use the sewing book the same way. Seeing two little heads going throught a book and planning projects to do with Grandma, priceless. |
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