Spoonflower Quick-Sew Project book review

So, Spoonflower asked me to review their new book and I thought, well why not! If you want an honest opinion about something sewing related, then I suppose I’m your gal. Honesty is the best policy, right? Even if you do get a free book out of it and some lovely fabric, you still gotta tell the truth.

“If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.” 

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Well, I’m not sure I agree with that. I don’t think I want to go that far with my day-to-day truth-telling, I could get into all sorts of trouble. But luckily, with the Spoonflower Quick Sew Project Book, there is nothing I’m ashamed of thinking.

To help with my review, Spoonflower wanted me to choose some fabric and make the sunglasses case from page 49 of the book. I say page 49 to emphasise the number of pages the book has. Page 49 being close to the beginning of the book which has a whopping 191 pages. With 34 full-colour, step-by-step tutorials, it’s thicker than the Guinness Book of World Records (2016 edition). Probably not a record number of pages for a craft book, but still pretty impressive. And unlike the Guinness Book of Records, the Spoonflower Quick-Sew Project Book is beautifully designed with a quality feel to its 191 alluring, uncoated pages.

As it happened, I had just bought a new pair of Oakleys only days before my email from Spoonflower and I was rather ashamed of the boring pink pouch that they came in. It’s like Spoonflower knew what I was thinking, but not in a creepy way like those ads that pop up on your mobile phone when you only as much as mention a particular product.

Just to divert for a moment, I tested out the creep-level of those unsolicited ads by mentioning ‘radiators’ (for want of a more random/boring word) repeatedly and consecutively to my sister to see if any radiator ads would pop up on my phone. Would you believe a few weeks later, they actually did. Now that is VERY, VERY creepy.

OK, back to the book review, I have the tendency to go off on a tangent. Somebody stop me!

The Spoonflower Quick-Sew Project Book is a delightful big book which does what it says on the tin book.

It includes pretty much every small sewing project you can think of…

…and some you can’t.

It’s a great ideas book for handmade gifts and scrap-busting solutions.

Watch out every female friend I know, the tiny circle purse on page 42 may find it’s way under your Christmas tree this year if you’re lucky.

OK, back to page 49, the Two-Swatch Sunglasses Case.

Choosing the fabric

Of all the hundreds of thousands of fabric designs on the Spoonflower website, I kept being led back to Little Smilemakers, maybe it had something to do with creepy cookies, or just my taste in fabric but no matter what word I entered into the search engine, Little Smilemakers seemed to pop amongst the others. I used Little Smilemakers fabric designs for swimsuits just a few months ago. The cute little octopus’ and hand drawn crosses won me over then and a simple dark grey with subtle black graphic lines and a happy yellow string of dots design won me over this time.

Note: If using only a small swatch of fabric, be sure to take into consideration the size of the print.

Making the glasses case

I’ve made quite a few glasses/pencil cases in the past, so I didn’t really need instructions, but for the purpose of this review, I tried to follow the tutorial.

For the most part, the tutorial was easy to understand, there were two minor typos that threw me but when I realised they were just typos, it was clear what I was supposed to do.

However, there were 2 parts of the tutorial that I decided not to follow. Firstly binding the ends of the zip. A step I thought unnecessary since the zip ends would be fully enclosed in the long run.

Secondly, the seam at the bottom on the inside would be exposed had I followed the tutorial. Instead, I turned the whole sunglasses case inside out, stitched the bottom closed but left a small gap for turning, then closed the gap by hand afterwards. I think it’s much neater that way.

If you would like to make your own sunglasses case, you can follow the tutorial on the Spoonflower blog.

I’m really pleased with my sunglasses case, the only other thing I wish I had done, was stitch closer to the zip teeth so that less of the zip tape would be exposed. My sunglasses case turned out a whole heap nicer than the original. This little, fun project took me less than an hour, and since it only uses two squares of 8″x 8” fabric, I think it’s a project well worth doing.

A little extra

I know what you’re thinking. No sunglasses case is complete without a little sunglasses wipe. And if you’re not ashamed to think it then you’re not ashamed to say it. So a little sunglasses wipe is exactly what I made next. I use the word ‘made’ loosely. All I did was cut a small swatch of Spoonflower fleece into a smaller size to fit in my new sunglasses case. Call me the ‘Queen of ‘No-Faff’ Projects’.

My sunglasses wipe maybe small and simple but it is also practical and useful. And having a wipe that matches my sunglasses case is something that’s never been done before 😉

Alright! alright! No need to Google it.

Materials used

Outer fabric: lightweight cotton twill
Lining: basic cotton ultra
Glasses wipe: fleece
Zip and batting: models own

Something for you

If you’ve ever thought about trying Spoonflower fabric (or wallpaper, or gift wrap), or if you’ve already seen something you like, now’s a good time to go ahead a make a purchase. Spoonflower are offering you (yes you), 10% off  your Spoonflower order. Just use code QuickSewOlu10 at checkout. Offer expires 31 December 2018 and is valid on one order of fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap.

And don’t blame me if you find yourself looking through the Spoonflower sight for weeks on end. There are soooooo many deliciously beautiful and utterly tempting designs to choose from. Have fun!