Won’t you come with me into the magical handmade world of designer Tone Finnanger?
Tone formed the Tilda brand in 1999 when she was just 25 years old. It is now well known for its whimsical, comical and naive characters in the form of animals and dolls, as well as beautiful collections of fabric and crafting supplies.
That’s not all….. Tone has written many, many crafting books, filled with her whimsical patterns for creating a handmade home.
I’ve collected all of these fabulous books over the years…. since I first discovered Tilda in 2007.
And that’s where I start my story today….
As part of my upgrade of my blog website, I’m adding some new pages and this new page, ‘Shop my Bookshelf’ was born from the many emails I receive about which books I get my Tilda patterns from.
I’ve listed all of my favourite books on the page already and will be adding reviews and book projects as time permits.
Today I thought I’d share some of my most favourite Tilda projects I’ve made for my own home and in which book you’ll find the patterns.
I’m no longer selling the Tilda books, but to make shopping easier for you, I have supplied my affiliate link directly to each book on Book Depository. Click for my full disclosure.
Personally, I buy all my books from Book Depository and take advantage of their free worldwide shipping, but I appreciate that some of you prefer to use Amazon, so I’ve supplied an Amazon link at the bottom of this post, which will take you directly to the Amazon Tilda page.
So let’s start with some of my favourite Tilda projects….
When you think Tilda, you can’t go past her adorable dolls and they don’t come much cuter than these little sweeties with knitted cardigans.
The pattern for the Summer Girls is in the book, Tilda’s Seaside Ideas.
Just a note on the knitted cardigans though… the pattern is particularly hard to follow. I enlisted my mum who is the best knitter in our family to make a handful of cardigans for my dolls. Even she was confused by the instructions, so after she cast on she just winged it and made the tiny cardigans as she would for a baby, but just smaller.
Probably the pattern I get the most emails on are the painted rabbits/hares that I’ve ben making for quite a few years now.
They started from a simple pattern for wired eared hares in one of Tone’s earlier books, Crafting Springtime Gifts.
I’ve never been able to follow patterns without changing and adding my own style to them, so my painted bunnies have grown from that original pattern design. I’ve made small changes to the shape of the head and rather than the naive face, I’ve chosen to paint the whole body, adding eyes and detailed features.
My advise is never be afraid to make a pattern your own. If you love a design, use it as your jumping off point and see where your creativity takes you.
Another popular project has been my fox trio. The patterns are from the beautiful book, Tilda’s Fairytale Wonderland.
I’ve adapted my pattern to be painted fabric, but apart from that, its the original design.
Now for my overall favourite books… although I’ve made patterns from every book, there are a couple of books in which I’ve made and loved nearly every pattern.
This book, Happiness is Homemade is filled with Autumn, Winter and Christmas patterns. The fabrics from this collection were favourites of mine too, so I felt doubly inspired to make these gorgeous designs.
My very first Tilda book was Sew Pretty Homestyle. This is the one that started the love affair with Scandi back in 2007. It was introduced to me by one of my students… an English lass, who changed the lives of a group of women when she bought this book with her to class. We all purchase that book and one-by-one worked through all 35 projects. I’ve made them all and still go back, time and time again to re-make them.
Here’s just one of them…. I’ve made many Tilda cats over the years!
If there’s a particular Tilda pattern you’ve been looking for and don’t know which book it is in, let me know and I’ll try to steer you to the right book.
I’ll be adding new books to the bookshelf page all the time and in fact, I’ll be reviewing the latest Tilda book, Sewing By Heart, very soon.
Don’t forget, you can visit my ‘Shop my Bookshelf’ page anytime by clicking on my SHOP button in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
Happy Tilda crafting my friends,
Hugs
♥
Kerryanne
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I’m so glad that more expert people than me have had problems with the knitted cardigans. I couldn’t make he nor tails of the pattern and made the fisher girl’s coat instead.
I have been the owner of the Fairytale book for 6 months. I decided I was going to make the fox. I read the instructions for the fox, cut it out, then read them again, and again, and again, realizing that the instructions are vague and won’t compute with my brain. I turned to the back of the book where it then specified that I needed to add a seam allowance when cutting – which I HAD thought of, but didn’t do, because the page with the Fox instructions did not specify that. I am not sure what she means about the folding and the flipping. I already need to cut it out again – WITH a seam allowance And I think I’m just going to do the attaching of the legs and ears as other patterns that I have made suggest. I’m really disappointed in her lack of instruction. But maybe I’m making a simple project more difficult than it has to be. Even so, I hope she improves her instructions in future books. Maybe she should enlist a pattern tester.
Hi Christine, I think I can solve this issue for you. You start by tracing the patterns onto your fabric, but you don’t cut the fabric out. Next, simply sew directly onto the pattern tracing using a very small stitch. I always re-stitch in tight turn areas like necks, noses etc. Once you have stitched all of your pieces, cut out the designs allowing about 3 – 5 mm allowance. Then you just turn out and stuff.
To be honest, the Tilda books have always been known to be lacking somewhat in the instruction area, but taking into account that they were originally written in Norwegian (which doesn’t translate easily into English) it is not surprising. Her later books have definitely improved in the instruction writing. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me on [email protected]
Happy sewing,
Kerryanne
Hi what book will I find Tilda Bathing lady & Tilda swimming girl. thank you
I would also like to know where I can find the pattern to Tilda bathing lady and swimming girl, thank you
Hi Linda,
The Tilda swimming girl was originally in a box kit and that’s how I got it quite a few years ago, so I’m not sure that it was in a book. I might be wrong, but I don’t believe any of the older Tilda collections are available now.
Probably the best place to check is the Tilda website – https://www.tildasworld.com/
Happy crafting,
Kerryanne
I am looking for the bird pattern (Tilda friends) can you help
Hi Louise,
I’m sorry, I can’t help you with this. If it isn’t on the Tilda’s World website, they probably no longer have it available.
Happy Crafting,
Kerryanne