Meet my new favorite sewing book, Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing by fabric designer, Anna Maria Horner. I do love it! Even with that silly punny title. It's informative (it begins with over 50 pages of "sewing school" with answers to questions I swear I have asked my sewing machine dozens of times!), it's beautiful, and the projects are faaaabulous!

So I open up the projects page, and as if this book is written for exactly someone like me, the first project is a storage cube - not just any storage cube - it's holding yarns!

I'm still in the middle of my yarn re-org and I could seriously use some cool yarn storage cubes. How did she know? The very next project is another must-make. Now, I know every one of these new trendy sewing books has a pin cushion pattern, but this one's also a mini-storage case.

I swear, she must have been to my house because I have that exact little pile of threads and notions on the corner of my sewing table! She also knew that the bare patch of wall over my sewing machine is calling out for pattern number three, a pretty fabric-covered magnet board for hanging notes or photos.

Again, somehow, this one speaks to me more than the other fabric noteboards I've seen in other books. Maybe because it's so simple - just a delightfully practical way of using some special fabric. (Pssst.... the pattern for this one is being offered for free through Amazon.)

There's also bags (check out an amazing version of the taxi tote bag on her blog!), a super chic apron pattern, cute and creative pillow patterns (look over here for a free download of one!) and, my favorites, the prettiest girl's peasant blouse ever (love the trims!) and a totally rad little girl's skirt.

Get out! It's like she's seen my girl too and knows exactly what I like to put on her! Uh, yeah, I pretty much want to make everything in this book. Don't you?!

Another new sewing book I just got my hands on is amy butler's little stitches for little ones. I actually won my copy through a fun "Handmade Holidays" giveaway at Sew Mama Sew (love that blog!).

Even if you're not a sewer, I'm sure you've seen the name Amy Butler in the Rowan publications. She's one of THE names that is practically synonymous with the Rowan brand. She designs fabrics, patterns, everything. She's profiled everywhere. She's like the Debbie Bliss of quilting! Now, I've resisted most of the Amy Butler hype through my first year of sewing/quilting pretty well. I own a couple of fat quarters of her fabric, but none of her books or patterns. But after seeing this book in person, I had to share with you just how delightful it is.

First, I feel the need to point out how similar these two books are. I mean the actual physical books. They are the exact same size and shape. Both square hardcovers, both with a spiral binding inside and a big stiff pocket in the cover for the pattern pieces. The instructions in both books are accompanied by quaint hand-drawn illustrations and diagrams. Even the chapter openings look the exactly same, with full page close-ups of prints from the designers' own fabric lines. Apparently, this is THE style for these hip, new sewing books. And why not: it's pretty; it's practical; it's charming.

And charming is just the word to describe the contents of this one too.

The book opens with this adorable snuggle wrap blanket, sort of a quilt version of one of those hooded baby bath towels. How sweet is that?! It almost makes me wish my wee one were still that small. Almost. Then I think about how she sleeps 12 hours straight through the night these days and I snap out of that. Speaking of sleep, up next in the book are these awesome kimono-style pj's.

That Amy Butler has got style! And these projects are really very simple to sew. I love that the fabric designers are becoming pattern makers - they seem to be willing to make simpler patterns that rely more on the fabric to give them their "wow". Check out this beautifully simple dress:

It is all about that fabric!

The book also contains several fab bag patterns (oh, if there's one thing Amy Butler can do well, it's bags!)...

...along with stuffed toys and lots of practical items for the nursery (like a crib bumper, a changing pad, even a cheeky monkey laundry bag). I simply adore this book. The only problem (and this is something Amy Butler could not have foreseen) is that I had my baby two years too early! I don't have a baby to sew any of these things for. The nursery items in the book are the kinds of things my almost 2 year-old has already outgrown and the clothing sizes top out at about 12 months. Still, I think it could become a great resource for sewn gifties for friends' babies-on-the-way, sorta like my sewing equivalent of Itty-Bitty Hats. Good stuff.

Well, I hope I've tempted some of you knitters out there thinking about straying to start sewing! Like last year's Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew, these books do feel like they're introducing a new way to sew. No more fold out patterns on crappy paper with inscrutable directions and frumpy little pictures. The new sewing rocks!

Okay, okay, back to knitting tomorrow.... (promise).