As you know, I’ve long been a fan of all things Tilda.
I think Tone Finnanger is an amazing and very inspiring designer and I have faithfully coveted every book she has written and every collection she has put out.
Soooo…. today I’m a little nervous about my honest book review of her latest book, Sewing by Heart.
[This post contains affiliate links to the books mentioned on Book Depository]
Sewing by Heart is beautifully photographed and the instructions are well written.
If you’ve been a Tilda follower from way back, you’ll know that some of the earlier books didn’t translate all that well into English, but because the designs were so gorgeous, we overlooked those little details!
I was pretty excited when my Sewing by Heart book arrived from Book Depository. It’s a generous book with 144 glossy pages and 24 sewing projects that will take you through every season.
I love these patchwork pumpkins and foxes for the Autumn season and will look forward to making them next year when Autumn comes around here in Australia.
The fabrics used for the projects are from 5 fabric collections: Cabbage Rose released in 2016, the Bumblebee and Circus collections released in spring and summer 2017, and the recently released 2017 winter collections, Harvest and Cottage. Of course, the fabrics used in the patterns are only a suggestion and could easily be substituted for a different fabric collection.
I’m sure I will make many of these designs from the book…. over time.
How adorable is that little circus elephant. I definitely need one of those!
And the pillows are gorgeous too ♥
I always want to be completely honest with my readers. I know that you trust my opinions and often purchase things on my recommendations, so it is important that I share my truthful and frank opinion with you…. and I hate that this makes it sound like a negative.
I honestly do LOVE this book… but… I think it is important to point out that this book is different from previous Tilda books.
It’s still a beautiful book that has amazing pattern designs, but this time Tone has created a book that centres around her fabric collections and patchwork, applique and quilting patterns.
Unlike her earlier books that were filled with whimsical characters that were simple, loveable, fresh and fun, this latest book reflects the change in her own style.
A year or so back, Tone Finnanger stopped producing her lovely papercraft and embellishment collections to focus on her passion for fabric design. There’s no doubt that Tone’s fabric collections are uniquely hers and beautiful to work with.
For crafters like me that like to dabble in a variety of crafts, it was a sad day when her fabulous Tilda craft supplies were discontinued. I love sewing and occasionally make patchwork and applique projects, but they are just my ‘sometimes’ projects.
I still adore whimsy and cottage style projects, so for that reason…. I will continue to make all those other projects in her 15+ previous books.
If you love patchwork, quilting and applique, I know you will adore the 24 beautiful projects in Sewing by Heart. Even if you only occasionally make these kind of projects, this is still a lovely book to have in your crafting bookcase.
For those of you who love and prefer the old style Tilda whimsy, here are my Tilda recommendations for the Christmas season…
Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle, Homemade & Happy and Tilda’s Christmas Ideas.
I have a page in my shop called ‘Shop my Bookshelf’ that lists all my favourite Tilda books and I also have a post about my most often asked about Tilda creations that you may find useful for finding specific Tilda patterns.
I hope you found my honest review helpful… and if you have any questions about the project designs in any of the Tilda books, please feel free to email me.
Happy Tilda crafting my friends,
Hugs
♥
Kerryanne
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Whimsy and patchwork are both my passions. I have just ordered this book and those Christmas stockings are on my to-do list 🙂 thanks to you and your generosity in sharing the love. xo
The book if very ‘YOU’ Mary and I know you will enjoy it. I’m loving those patchwork stockings too, but will have to put them on the ‘To-Do’ list for next year. Happy sewing my friend xx
Want to thank you so much for your honesty, I do trust your opinions and appreciate so much your honesty. Don’t have much money at all to buy craft supplies and specialty books & fabric no matter how much I love something like her new collection and book doesn’t mean I can buy them. Sure do enjoy seeing what’s available tho, doesn’t cost to dream. If I had my way would order it all,lol. The style of her fabrics answers a yearning in me and her projects. So you can make projects from her books and show us ok?
Have wonderful rest of week
You are right Jane Ellen… dreams cost nothing and are good for our soul 🙂
I’ll continue to make the gorgeous whimsical Tilda characters and I hope you enjoy seeing them here on Shabby Art Boutique xx
I agree with you completely. I, too, loved Tilda’s whimsy and various craft projects. I was heartbroken when she stopped producing her papers, ribbons, etc. I don’t even care for the fabrics from her latest book and her color combinations are off. I will stick with her older books which I adore; I think I have almost all of them. Thanks for your honest reaction which is mine as well.
Love, Linda
I think Linda there will now be two distinctly different groups of Tilda followers; those that love her naive and whimsical earlier style and the patchwork and quilters who like her new style. Lucky we have all of her older books to still drool over 😉
Happy Tilda crafting my friend xx
Well, the day for honesty, Kerryanne.
I’ve been blessed to receive advance bundles of Tone’s fabrics to design with for a while now.
I loved her style and had been collecting her fabrics for 10 years (purchased for many years from Europe) so it was not difficult to sketch and create with her beautiful fabrics,,,until recently. Now that there’s a new Tilda range being released every two months her once unique style is fast becoming that of ‘any Moda range’ and no longer standing out from the crowd. I struggled to design with Cottage but in the end chose the four of the prints I did like and stuck with them. I declined a bundle of the next range (due out in December) because quite frankly I don’t really like all that yellow nor even most of the prints.
I’m currently sourcing older Tilda fabric for my stash…the ones I loved, the ones that were quite uniquely the Tilda that grabbed our hearts.
Having said all this, I wish Tone well. People change and so does their style…if she loves what she’s doing now then bless her.
Totally agree with you Jenny. I think as artisans we all grow and change and that is good for our own creativity. We had 10 years of fun and whimsical Tilda characters and gorgeous shabby fabrics, but alas, Tone has moved on to new adventures and a different style. I too wish her well and know she’ll gather a new audience and customers for this latest style, but I’ll be playing with the old fabrics… while I can still get them.
Thank you for your honesty too. Happy sewing and creating my friend xx
Yes, we enjoyed this decade of whimsical Tilda and now we shall discover new things to capture our hearts. 🙂