Giveaway, review, sale

Just before Christmas (shocking timing) Penguin sent me an advance copy of Sew Step by Step by Alison Smith to have a look at and review.

In a nutshell, I was pretty tempted to keep this book. Its like one of those old -fashioned compendiums of sewing. It covers heaps of stuff and EVERY technique has photos - which personally is just right for me. I need to "see' what is being explained.

For example, The zip section alone covers:

How to shorten a zip

Marking for zip placement

Lapped zip

Open-ended zip

Centred zip

Concealed or invisible zip (with nine photos just for this type of zip)

Did I mention comprehensive ?

The book starts with a breakdown of sewing equipment and then a section on different fabrics that is quite fascinating, detailing the properties of each fabric and its suitability for different projects, what size needles to use - everything.

The book is available in Australia at the end of this month and has a RRP of $29.99

I'll be buying a copy, not that I sew a lot of garments but as a reference tool, I think this book is worth it. You can go here to see some more about the book.

In fact this book pointed out to me how much I don't know about sewing. All the explanations for the little signs on commercial patterns were a complete eye opener !

Of course, because even though I would have liked to keep this one, it is being given away. No jumping through hoops or twitterbooking will help, just leave a comment and make sure you are contactable through your comment.

And in a fit of organisation I re-opened my Etsy shop today and reduced all my pattern stock to $10 and $5 dollars. Jump on over and grab a few, I'll keep it open for two weeks and then I think I'll be having a little Etsy rest - so get 'em while you can compadre's.