• SHOP
  • About
    • About Sara
    • Contact me!
    • Design Collaborations
    • Sewing Collaborations
  • Sewing
    • Sewing Tutorials
    • Things I Made
  • Design Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
Radiant Home Studio

Radiant Home Studio

April 7, 2017 ·

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup

Book Reviews

For Christmas, I bought my 10-year-old daughter We Love to Sew Gifts, by Annabel Wrigley. I’ve been following Annabel’s Instagram feed for a while now and I love the projects she does with the kids that come to her sewing studio. It’s the right balance of modern style with fun details that little girls love.

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks!)

I’ve bought a few kids sewing books for my daughter. My biggest pet peeve with kids sewing books is when they don’t teach proper finishing techniques. The We Love to Sew books don’t do this. Annabel assumes that kids are smart enough to sew the “right” way and the projects are finished nicely, yet she still talks to them in a friendly way. One instruction starts, “Starting at the tippy top of the line…”.

The book starts with instructions for basic sewing techniques & terms. Then it includes 23 projects with varying degrees of difficulty. Annabel doesn’t shy away from teaching new techniques or using new materials in the projects. There is some appliqué, interfacing, & embroidery. She also uses felt, yarn, and oilcloth, in addition to quilting cotton and canvas fabric. The end of the book includes full-sized patterns for tracing or copying. (Check the Amazon preview. You can see several pages!)

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

My daughter has worked on a few projects by herself. She has a basic knowledge of sewing and was able to follow instructions on her own. This week, we worked on making the Scrappy Patchy Pencil Cups with a couple of friends.

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

We started with 3 girls, but one had to leave early. I think it took about 1 1/2 hours for them to finish sewing. That’s about as long as a 10-year-old attention span lasts while sewing, so it was just right for them. I pulled out a bunch of scraps that coordinated, but I think they added a few that weren’t exactly in the color scheme. 🙂

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

I helped with some of the cutting (they can do it, but it’s neater and faster when I do). The girls did all the sewing of the fabric strips. They also did all of the decorative stitching, which was their favorite part of the project. It allowed them to experiment with all of the fun leaf and flower stitching patterns. I did the edge sewing on the top and bottom, which they also could have done. They wanted neat lines and knew I could sew straighter.

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

Overall, we enjoyed the project. There was a lot of room for creativity in choosing fabrics and fancy stitches. And the girls were proud of what they made!

We Love to Sew Gifts Review & Pencil Cup | Radiant Home Studio

Based on my experience, I think a 7 to 10-year-old could do these projects with mom assisting. A 10 to 12-year-old with some basic sewing skills can manage the projects alone, and an older girl can most likely teach herself to sew using this book, the sewing machine manual, and some determination. There are several books in the We Love to Sew series, and we will definitely be purchasing more in the future!

SaveSave

SaveSave

Previous Post: « Butterfly Blouse Dress for Oliver + S
Next Post: Waxed Canvas Gentleman’s Travel Case »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    April 9, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    Looks like an adorable book! I want a pencil cup wrap now 🙂

  2. Granny P says

    April 18, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    The kids did a GREAT job on the pencil cups! I enjoy your blog although I’ve never commented on your posts before, but I had to when I found out you were pregnant, congrats!

    • Sara Curtis says

      April 19, 2017 at 12:35 pm

      Thank you so much! And thank you for commenting. I enjoy hearing from my readers and it’s one of the main reasons I continue to write new posts 🙂

Primary Sidebar

Hello

Welcome! I’m Sara. I share modern home & accessory sewing patterns, and I create surface designs for licensing. I hope you are encouraged to see beauty in small things and are inspired to try new creative projects!

Shop Sewing Patterns


icon icon

icon icon

Newsletter

Sign up to get access to free sewing patterns & resource library!

Find My Work at:






© Copyright Notice

All images and text copyright ©2013-2020 Radiant Home Studio, unless otherwise noted. Please be kind enough to link back to my site and contact me if you would like to use my images.

Disclosure

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Footer

Sign up to get access to free sewing patterns & resource library!

Favorite Adobe Illustrator tool? I love recoloring Favorite Adobe Illustrator tool? I love recoloring patterns. I probably spend way too much time with the recolor tool and not enough time making new patterns. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Last day to join the Immersion Course! If you have ever dreamed of making beautiful designs, Bonnie can teach you how to get what’s in your head into the computer and then how to make money from licensing your designs to companies for use on products. 

As a member of Bonnie’s support team, I’ll be there to make sure you don’t feel lost. There’s room for you...as Bonnie often reminds us!

#surfacepatterndesign #surfacepatterndesigner #surfacepatterncommunity #printandpattern #radianthomestudiopatterns #floralpattern #alltheflowers #artlicensing #flowersfordays #mutedflorals
Look what just came in the mail! Notebooks! This w Look what just came in the mail! Notebooks! This was a test batch to check quality and I’m thoroughly impressed.

I’ll be listing extra in the shop soon, but first dibs go to anyone that signs up for the Immersion Course using my link. I’ll be sending a small gift package and scheduling a course success/ coaching call with you!

Just a reminder that the last day to enroll in Immersion is tomorrow! If you are like me and overthink things until the last day, you are not alone. 

I know it’s a huge decision. I have an Immersion stories highlight if you want to know more or go to my profile to find a link to the info page. Message me all your questions! 

#immersioncourse #immersioncourse2021 #designernotebooks #learntodesign #learnillustrator #surfacepatterndesigner
Just got an order of stickers in! I’m debating a Just got an order of stickers in! I’m debating about putting them in the shop as a separate product or adding them to orders. I think I need a few more to make a pretty coordinating set! 🌹

Reminder: there’s still a couple more days to enroll in the Surface Pattern Design Immersion Course or the free mini-course from Bonnie! Links in my profile...as always. Keep messaging with questions! ☺️
It’s been a minute since I showed my face here! It’s been a minute since I showed my face here! ☺️

I wanted to get a little personal today. If you’re here for sewing & crafty stuff...stay tuned. I’m not abandoning you. 🙂 If you saw my stories last week, you may have learned that I’m deep in design mode for a few weeks, working with @bonniechristine on the Surface Pattern Design Immersion Course.

When I discovered Spoonflower (about 8 years ago!) and realized I could create my own fabric, I had this far off “maybe someday” dream to create a collection of designs for a fabric company.

I spent many years learning bits and pieces of design and business skills. But a couple of years ago I got more serious about making my dream a reality. 

Last year, I made an investment in myself and I joined the Immersion Course with Bonnie Christine. It was truly the community support and confidence that I gained that propelled me forward this year. Just a few weeks after Immersion ended I signed a licensing deal for children’s wall art with Oopsy Daisy and a few months after that...I signed a contract with a fabric company!

You guys...Bonnie is SO genuine and generous in everything she does. ❤️ It spills over into this beautiful and inspiring community that cheers each other on every step of the way. 

This year, Bonnie invited me to join her support team to help encourage new students through the course and provide technical support for all those tricky Illustrator issues. 🙌🏻

This course is for anyone that wants to invest in their creative career. My “wildest dream” came true this year. I’m actually feeling a bit lost right now because I need a bigger dream!

Whether you have a few years of experience like I did when I joined or you have never used design software...Bonnie will walk you through the ENTIRE process. This is like a college-level course on design and creative business. We have many older students starting a second career, people that just graduated design school but don’t know how to practically start an art-based business, and people from dozens of countries around the world. It’s a beautiful, diverse community filled with people taking steps toward their creative business goals.

More below...
We had our first day of fake spring yesterday. It We had our first day of fake spring yesterday. It was warm for one day and it’s back to being cold. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always draw flowers anyway. I’m hoping some of the local botanical gardens open back up this year. We have some really great inspiration nearby and flowers will start blooming soon!

It’s the little bits of beauty that inspire me the most. What are you looking forward to this Spring?
Just a reminder that I have this heart garland tut Just a reminder that I have this heart garland tutorial linked in my profile if you want to make some happy Valentine’s decor this week.

My girls are origami experts, so we worked together on these video tutorials last year. It’s a good family project for older kids! 💕

#heartcrafts #valentinesdecor #valentinecrafts #mycolorfulhome #cozymodernvibe #diyvalentinesdecor
This another favorite pattern of mine. As my style This another favorite pattern of mine. As my style has developed, I’ve embraced the imperfect lines and tend to work with graphic, but organic shapes. I like unexpected little pops of color or shapes that emerge from layering.

My iPad is at the fix-it shop, so of course, I’m feeling inspired today. ☺️ Maybe I should try some actual sketching and planning on paper with a pencil...😜

#radianthomestudiodesign #fabricdesign #surfacepatterndesign #surfacepatterncommunity #surfacepatternlife #licensingartist #artlicensing
Remember last year, the girls and I made this cute Remember last year, the girls and I made this cute origami heart garland tutorial? ❤️💙💛🧡

I don’t usually decorate with themed stuff, but these are fun to make and add some joyful, non-tacky hearts around the house for Valentine’s Day. 💕 I popped the link in my profile buttons. There are videos in the blog posts too. 

Also, I shared some personal stuff in my stories today!

#origamigarland #origamiproject #valentinesdecor #valentinesgarland #valentinescrafts #origamiheart #origamihearts #papercrafts #heartcraft #happyhearts #joyfulhome #mycolorfulhome
Follow on Instagram
  • Disclosures & Copyright
  • About
  • Contact me!
  • Digital Pattern FAQ’s

Copyright © 2021 · Sara Curtis // beloved theme