I’m going to start this review off with a warning: the babies are beyond stinkin’ cute! Teeny tiny baby toes and wrinkled knees, oh my goodness. The day Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby by Anna Maria Horner arrived at the studio you could hear the ooohing and aaawing echo across the room (and probably across the parking lot) as each of us had a turn flipping the pages.
Once I sat down and delved into the details, the beauty of the book continued to delight. I thoroughly enjoyed the story Anna Maria tells through the presentation of 24 sewing projects for mama, baby, family, and nest.
It’s a story that expresses the joy every mother and mother-to-be experiences. One of making things by hand for the newest addition to the family. The book was written during Anna Maria’s own pregnancy and the birth of her sixth child Roman. Her personal journey is sprinkled throughout the subtext branding the book with an authentic, unique, and refreshing point of view.
Handmade Beginnings is organized into four sections: Mama Sewing, Baby Sewing, Family Sewing and Nest Sewing. The projects include bags, quilts, soft toys, clothing for both mama and baby, and several creative decorations for baby’s room. There are full sized patterns for 7 of the projects along with detailed instructions and hand drawn illustrations. I fell in love with the term Nest Sewing. So evocative of what we do in preparing for the arrival of a new baby!
Several projects in the book really grabbed me:
Quick Change Trousers, love the contrasting turned up cuffs and the patchwork back. And yes, that baby is just too cute for words. Caitlin and Leil both had those curls (and still do!)
The Here We Go Bag is a roomy diaper bag featuring side pockets lined with laminated cotton. Each project in the book is accompanied by My Color Notes, a paragraph in which Anna Maria shares her thoughts on the color and design composition for the featured sample.
Nesting Cubes. This pattern is available as a free download on Amazon (yes, Amazon, sort of weird but true and it’s there).
The Dad Bag. This sample is made up in County Fair Scallop Stripe by Denyse Schmidt (such a fantastic use of home dec fabric!). The zipper design on the flap is fabulous. A great aesthetic detail and oh so functional for quick access to important supplies.
The final project in the book is this oversized hexagon block quilt entitled Sixth Time’s the Charm Crib Quilt. I marvel at Anna Maria’s ability to develop clever names for her patterns and fabrics. They always make me smile and sometimes laugh out loud. That extra special something that makes what she creates all hers.
Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby delivers practical projects for giving and keeping. I’m really looking forward to making some of these projects as baby gifts. It’s a delightful book with a sense of fun. Happy Nest Building!
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Wiley has generously donated two books for me to give away. To sweeten the pot I’ll also be giving away a scrap stack of Anna Maria Horner fabrics from my personal stash. Leave a comment sharing a handmade baby gift you loved receiving or giving. I’ll draw the winners Monday morning, May 10.
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More ways to win. I’m stop number 4 of 17 on the blog tour so you have lots more opportunities to win:
May 3~ Craft
May 4~ Indie Fixx
May 5~ Sew Mama Sew
May 6~ Pink Chalk Studio
May 10~ Wise Craft
May 14~ House on Hill Road
May 18~ All Buttoned Up
May 19~ Alabama Chanin Journal
May 20~ Homemade by Jill
May 21~ True Up
May 22~ Oh, Fransson!
May 23~ Prudent Baby
May 24~ Sew Liberated
May 25~ Handmade by Alissa
May 26~ Hazelnuts
May 27~ Petite Purls
And if that wasn’t enough, the publisher is also sponsoring the giveaway of a Singer Sewing Machine, 5 yards of Anna Maria Horner fabric and a signed copy of the book!
Good luck!
I am a knitter by trade and dabble very.. and I mean very lightly in sewing but this looks like such a fabulous book how can one resist especially with three little girls who would love some of these projects.
I have many favourite sewn items that were given to me as gifts for my children my favourite, a little pair of wool booties with leather soles and pretty buttons on the tops for decoration. I will cry when my youngest grows out of them.
My baby got a crocheted blanket from a great-aunt. She’s sleeping with it as I type.
My favorite handmade gift given: For my friend in Germany whose baby was due within weeks of mine.
I made a set of clothes from a 1940’s pattern that I discovered in our town’s tiny country store. The pattern featured a teensy-tiny yoke and high-waisted pants attached to a bloused shirt. I used 40’s reproduction prints for the shirt. It was so unique, and cute, and wee, and I wish I’d taken more pictures!
I have taken to giving all of my pregnat friends a quilt – for the floor or for the cot. The favourite one I made had cute Japanese fabrics and I nearly couldn’t part with it, so now I’m using some of them for my 11 year old son! He approves, so it’s OK!
I have recently made a wonky block quilt for a girl at work for her new baby and she is now going to have another so I need to get started again!
Oh how I would love to win! The projects are so beautiful.
The first baby item I ever got was a small baby quilt. It was done with 1 inch squares and hand quilted. It was washed until thread bare and I still have it today. PS: would be just as excited to win the scraps as the book! Thanks Daria
Can’t wait to look through, study and use this beautiful new book from Anna.
I love making little felted animal mobiles for friends with new babies… and loved so many handmade gifts we received for our first baby. A knitted bunting bag, toys and sweet blankets.
seems like a great book to learn a bit of sewing and get inspired at the same time
I made a set with a hand embroidered onesie and handmade pants. The pants were made out of Jay McCarroll’s Germania fabric, so it had lots of little cootie looking things on it. The embroidery on the onesie said “girls have cooties” – perfect for a cute little boy to wear! I was pleased with my work and can’t wait to see it on its owner.
i have recently made my brother and his family 3 baby blankets for my new niece, would love a chance to win her book, thanks
I have given baby blankets which can be used everyday and cannot have too many of them… especially handmade ones!
I recently knitted a raspberry pink pinafore dress for a friend’s first granddaughter. It turned out really sweet, and I was able to find these amazing buttons with pressed flowers inside, that complemented the dress perfectly.
I love giving angry chicken’s baby bonnets, since they’re useful but unique!
I loved getting handmade baby quilts for my 2 kids!
i hope to see anna maria horners book soon. a denver baby will be arriving for halloween!!
I love AMH fabrics!! Thanks for the chance to win some AMH scraps and her latest book!!
My favorite baby gift to give was a little girl quilt. And as a beginning quilter, I have not ventured into larger sizes yet, so it has to be my favorite! And you can do so many cute things with small sizes…
I love to make quilts for babies and I also love to knit. The last baby gift I gave was a sweater knit from natural organic cotton.
ohhh…I loved the many hand-knit blankies we received from grandmas all around…
thanks for the chance!
Happy Mother’s Day to you Kathy and all your readers too!
I love giving homemade gifts, and baby stuff is most fun to make and see the expectant mom’s face when she opens it. Better yet is to see the little one playing with or exploring the new homemade treasure!
The last baby shower I went too, I gave the baby some fabric blocks with each block having a letter on it, to spell B A B Y (since we didn’t know if baby was a boy or girl). I sewed up a quick fabric book, and that went over really well. And I made a little toiletry bag from the expectant mom to take to the hospital.
When I had my son, he received two homemade quilts, knit sweaters and both crochet and knit blankets! We are very lucky to know so many talented friends and family!
Thanks for the review!
I would love a new pattern book!
My mom taught me how to make simple baby blankets – flannel sewed along the side, then crochet all around it. It’s my definite favorite gift to give because my mom taught me how to make them and I love to go looking for flannel that will be perfect for the baby I’m making it for!
i love giving handmade gifts as baby presents – i like the combination of thinking about the parents & their style, along with thinking about what the baby will be like. i have given many crocheted bear-earred hats for newborns; that has to be my favorite gift to make.
My favorite gift we have received was a handmade booties and hat set that was given to us for our son. It is super special and means so much!
Oh! Me, me, me… please?!
Oops, I forgot my favorite gift. I loved the crocheted baby blanket I received when I was pregnant with my oldest.
What a celebration of life and love this latest addition to the Anna Maria Horner library can give! It is so refreshing that a Mum as busy as Anna Maria Horner must be, shares her talent and gives us her readers the incentive to enjoy our family and life and be inspired to be creative while fulfilling the needs of our loved ones. Her books make it possible to GIVE MORE original gifts to more people and still keep to the budget with joy. What Genius!She is not only beautiful on the outside, but more importantly she shares her humanity so beautifully and makes us believe we can each make our tiny worlds better too, with the inspiration and knowledge she shares so richly with a smile and needle and thread. Your book review was very helpful; thank you.
PS I forgot to mention that all gifts are beautiful because someone has gone to extra trouble to make or purchase them according to their means. The sentiment makes each one special, and handmade means someone has thought a bit harder and worked a bit longer to give you a part of themselves, which in turn makes you feel very special. Heart gifts don’t have dollar values!!
Just the thing to get me out of a sewing hiatus!
My favorite baby gift I just gave to my daughter who is expecting our first grandchild…a quilt made from the Petal pets line from the 80’s, which I used to make her clothes with when she was a little girl…I’ve been packing this fabric around for 20+ years!
My son was born just over 4 months ago, and my favorite handmade gift for him was a quilt made by my best friend. We’ve been friends for about 20 years, and she has NEVER been crafty. I tried teaching her how to crochet once and it just reinforced that I’m the crafty one of the pair of us. I nearly fell out of my chair when I realized that SHE … MADE … ME … A QUILT. Amazing and incredibly touching.
My favorite hand made gift was a small quilt that a friend of mine made for my first baby…22 years ago! I always marveled at the tiny hand stitches…and then years later, I would be making those kind of hand quilting stitches! This quilt was my inspiration.
I made a purple quilt for my best friends baby girl. I especially love the backing fabric with cute happy yellow and black bees.
I made a boppy for my friend and she loved it. It was my first time making one and it was made on somewhat of a whim. It was lots of fun. I’m now expecting my first and would love to make lots of fun goodies out of the book for our own little one! PICK ME PLEASE!!!
I loved receiving some handmade baby bath towels. They were so much larger than the silly small baby towels and it was a way to add some personality to them!
I made my nieces matching holiday skirts lined with tulle for Christmas!
Oh, well, the best present for my 2 kids were the Amish-inspired quilts my mom made…my kids are teenagers now and still love them…
One of my closest friends for the past 30 years(we met in the dorms freshman year of college) is having her FIRST baby at 48! I’d love to make some of these lovely baby things for her nest!
I love making personalized quilts for my expecting friends.
I love Anna’s work and her first book..this one be still my heart those baby items
I received a couple of beautiful quilts as well as a baby blanket that have gotten much use!
Ooooh how lovely! You’re right those babies are beyond adorable, and I can’t wait to get my hands working on some of those great projects!
Like I stand a chance…But I just HAVE to try! My favorite gift I recieved was a handmade quilt from my grandmother. She and her friends had put such loving stitches in it for my daughter. I love to make my gifts to give to others. A handmade gift to me is love. I have many that I like to do from the simple burp rag to a detailed quilt…