Love it: Simply Sewing Magazine

I have a quick question for you, is there room on the heaving shelves of the craft section in your newsagent for yet another sewing magazine?  My first answer if you had asked me a month or so ago when I first heard about Simply Sewing would have been a big fat no.  However, as I saw images and samples coming my way via their publishers and on social media my initial thoughts wavered.  Finally on Wednesday the real thing landed on my desk and I have to say I was reeeeaaally hoping it was going to be as good as the promise...

The great news is that it surpassed my expectations, like, a-lot.  I was excited to read pages of good looking projects, realistic projects that are actually wearable using stylish fabrics.  Packed full of really great tips and tricks for beginners and seasoned sewers.  A good variety of clothing, home sewing and crafty sewing projects make the first issue a nicely rounded overview of what is to come in future issues.

It is not Tilly Walnes on the cover (although they could be twins!) She does grace the pages with an interview and a great up-cycling project.  I don't want to show you too much because I don't want to spoil it for you all, but how cute is this little bunny bag below!  I have seen a few versions of these but I love the grey and blue colour scheme they have used for this series projects.

I think it has hit a great gap in the sewing magazine market, a sweet spot for those of us who spend hours on blogs and Pinterest yearning for the 'sewers' version of Mollie Makes.  The layout is clean and crisp with great photography throughout.

The clothing projects are trendy but not too fashion forward so as to limit their appeal.  I think their crafty cousin (Mollie Makes) would be very proud of what they have given us in the début issue.  I only wish they had gone with a different name for a magazine, with such style it could have taken a more unique title. The project on pg 43-45 offers up a far more interesting option for a possible title??

They are onto a winner signing up one of my favourite bloggers Portia Lawrie for a regular feature and for now at least there are a bunch of great sewing tips in the back pages.

You may have noticed there was no photo of the free fabric that came with my issue... well I couldn't help myself and whipped up a couple of quick zip pouches, a drawstring bag and some embellishments with my freebie.  What will you make with yours?  They have their own hashtag set-up too, tag your craftiness with #sewcialsparkle .

So, yeah, I'm a little smitten with this new offering, I can't wait to see what's up next.  To find out why I am so excited pick up your copy from all good news agents now or sign up for a subscription and get the first 3 issues for £5, Bargain!

Have you already grabbed your copy??  We would love to know what you think, Let us know in the comments below. Seriously tell me what you think, I am off the International Hobby, Craft and Stitch on Monday and I want to take all my comments and yours to the team behind Simply Sewing. Have a great weekend.

Sammy xxx

P.S. To be clear for anyone who remembers a magazine a few years ago under the same name, this is not the same magazine and it has no affiliation with the publisher who ran that magazine.  Simply Sewing is published by Immediate Media, who were the owners of the late Cloth magazine before it's run was cancelled.


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Make it: Geometric Heart Cushion + Free PDF Download

Love is really in the air as there are just 3 days until Valentines day. I have just added some yummy felt packs to my online store Sew Crafty Online so I wanted to make something to show what you could make out of them. I have been lusting after a geometric cushion for a while now as you can tell from our latest Pinterest board so I thought this project could be the perfect solution,

February Food round-up

Yey, we made it to February, to the snow, to the cold and to the month with Pancakes and Chinese New Year!  What's not to love!

So with that in mind I thought a little round-up of fun food for February was in order.

First up is some dairy free pancakes - of course you can make them non dairy free too, but I thought it would be good to find a recipe that I could have this year.  As I do love pancakes and I don't seem to have them enough!  These ones are from the BBC Good food website, always a great resource for all kinds of recipes.  I have found that its really simple to find recipes for people with intolerance's here too, alongside a search option by the ingredients you have in the cupboard.

Next up is these Sweet Potato Fries - I mean who wouldn't want some of these!  I would skip the cheese part, but apart from that they look so yummy.

Then, of course to go with some fries, try out this Vegan Burger that I saw Jamie making with Ellie Goulding on his Friday Night Feasts programme with Jimmy.  I do eat meat, but this looked so good to try and its always good to have some meat free days, so why not make them really really tasty!

and last, but definately not least, with Chinese New Year upon us soon, why not try your hand at these Chicken Wontons, how good do these look!  I really want to try these and so I feel the year of the Dragon will give me the excuse to have a go.  Not that I need an excuse really, more of a reason to get off my backside and have a go!

I hope you enjoyed this little round-up and of course you can always give one of these a go for Valentine's day.  Although I am not sure the meat lovers will appreciate a Vegan burger, but you could try!  Failing that, there is always the meal for 2 at M&S!

Now, I'm off to make a big shopping list,
H

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Make it: XO Valentines Gift Boxes

It is almost that time again where I have to engage my romantic side and come up with a gift idea for my hubby that doesn't involve my go-to Lego or Star Wars. It can be hard after 10 years together to come up with new ways to make your other half smile but I always think that the memories you share are the best way to celebrate Valentines. This year I have made my Steve a couple of little gift boxes, one filled with his fave chocolate and the other with my favourite memories of our time together.

I am going to give it to him before our traditional Shepherds pie dinner, then we can open them up and go through them all whilst we eat so we can enjoy remembering our best times together.

What are you planning for Valentines? In searching around for inspiration I found some great ideas from some of my favourite bloggers. Click over to the links to get some ideas for your loved one.
Head to Lovely Indeed for the perfect 'Galentines' prep, Sugar and Cloth for these cool Lipstick glasses, The Crafted Life for a collection of great printable Valentines cards, Oh Happy Day for these adorable crackers, Paper and Stitch for gorgeous gift bags, and Handmade Charlotte for the perfect fun dessert.

Sammy xoxo


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Love it: Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine

At the beginning of January I made a sneaky purchase with some of my Christmas money and bought a Cricut Cuttlebug machine. I already have a Silhouette Cameo (which I use a-lot) and have had a Sizzex bigshot in the past but I donated it to H's work as I used to find it was a little cumbersome and therefore didn't really use it.  I love my Cameo but I wanted to do some work with foam and felt and due to the way that the silhouette cuts, you can't really use it well with felt.

I had heard great things about the Cuttlebug and loved the look of the compact design, what I also loved was that they brought out a limited edition one in stylish vintage green! It always helps to have pretty craft tools right.

I had some dies left over from when I had my Bigshot, I was a little annoyed to find that I needed to buy an extra 'C' plate in order to use them in the cuttle bug as it only comes with an 'A' and two 'B' plates. However some of my existing dies worked just fine and it came in the post super fast, then I was able to use all of them.

I had heard things about plates slipping and curving after time, but so far I haven't had any problems with either of those things.

If your not sure what the dickens I am talking about or what a die cutting machine does, it's basically a mangle with two rollers that uses metal dies to cut through paper, card, foam and fabrics.  You insert your material and a metal die in between the plates and the rollers push down with even pressure to cut and emboss the shape of your die in to the material.

As I said I particularly wanted to use it for cutting foam and felt, both of which it does beautifully. The only downside for me is that I am limited to the dies that I can buy ie. those that others design in fixed sizes. I think I have been spoilt with the freedom that comes with the Silhouette design studio software of being able to cut any design in any size. Having said that there are hundreds of dies out there and lots come with multiple size options.

The Kirsty Allsopp model does come with a few dies and an embossing plate but I did buy a few new dies as well of course, I think my favourite has to be this two part bow one from dimensions, this triple butterfly and the roll up rose.

As you can see I have been going a little crazy with the bow one!

This heart one will be really useful for Valentines and beyond and how beautiful are these feather ones. I bought my cuttlebug and all these dies from Crafts U Love which is one of my favourite places to buy craft supplies online.

All in all I would highly recommend this model if you are thinking of investing in a die-cutting system and can't commit to an electronic one. I love that you can use almost all of the other systems dies with it and for me the compact design means I am far more likely to keep it on hand and actually use it on a regular basis now. I am looking forward to trying out using it for some faux letterpress projects too as I have seen a few kits that you can use with these machines. Keep your eyes peeled for when I share my experiments.

I hope that helped if you are on the fence about getting one of these. Have you ever had a go with a die-cutting machine? Ever been fascinated to try one? Do you have one that's your favourite? Let me know your recommendations for places to buy dies from too please, I am a little addicted! I am looking for some good alphabet ones next.

Sammy xxx


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Check this out: Sketch

Way back last November we went along to Sketch in London for a little treat to ourselves and so I thought we should tell you all to go, it was amazing.

If you have not heard of Sketch, it is a restaurant in London famed for it's lovely food and unique decoration.  There are a few different eating and drinking areas to Sketch and all are decorated differently. The Gallery where we went is currently decorated by David Shrigley of greeting card and forth plinth fame.  The plates, salt and pepper pots and menu's were all decorated with Shrigley's unique style with around 239 new works adorning the restaurant walls.

The food really was lovely and we are planning on going back for afternoon tea soon as it looked so good.  Definitely a place for a special occasion or just a treat, why not!  Also if you follow them on Facebook, there is currently an offer to get £50 off your bill until the 1st March 2015 for Lunch or dinner, no Afternoon Tea unfortunately.

H


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