The Liberty Book of Home Sewing - Book Review

I hope you all found last week's book review interesting and helpful.  This week I'm reviewing The Liberty Book of Home Sewing by Lucinda Ganderton.  If you love sewing and adore the Liberty range of fabrics, then keep reading!  As the title says, this gorgeous book is filled with sewing projects for your home (and a few for your body!) made entirely from beautiful Liberty fabrics.  The twenty-five projects in the book range from cushions, curtains and quilts to bags, aprons and even a delightful peacock pincushion.  The Liberty Book of Home Sewing also has a section on sewing basics (such as essential sewing stitches and equipment), a glossary of terms and an annotated pictorial glossary of a wide range of Liberty fabrics.

I really enjoyed poring through this book and looking at all the beautiful photography and illustrations included to help crafters through each project.  The project instructions are well written and seem easy to follow with quite a few projects suitable for those with basic sewing skills (if they're willing to patiently work and think through each step).  I have to give the author bonus points for including "taking it further" options for many of the projects which will inspire more experienced sewists with variations or added extras for the project.

This book is great for Liberty fabric fans and for those who love to sew for their home, as the patterns will work for any good quality fabric, not just Liberty fabrics.  The photography and general design of the book are stunning - there is fabric eye candy galore!  On the down side, sewists who don't like having to enlarge patterns from templates or draw up their own patterns from written instructions are going to find some of the projects a little hard to get started.  This is not a big hurdle for most, but it will be for some.  There are also a few clothes patterns which give measurements only for size 12 individuals.  If, like me, you are still struggling to get back to your sylph-like size 10 or 12 pre-baby body, or if you're just not a size 12, then you might find it a pain to have to re-size the pattern to fit your body shape.

The few "cons" aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book.  It would be a great book to give to someone who adores Liberty or has a passion for vintage-inspired patterns and designs.  If you are not a fan of sewing items for your home, then this book probably isn't for you.  But honestly, I'd be happy just to buy this book and keep it on my coffee table for a touch of prettiness in the room.