At Home with Modern June

January 20, 2014
McCants’s first book covered sewing with oilcloth (and was titled just that), and this follow-up will be welcomed by her readers eager for more of her bright, cheerful, and often-oilcloth-centered designs, many of which she developed for her own Virginia home after a hurricane damaged it extensively. The selection of patterns focuses on the home, with simple but well-finished instructions for basic needs, such as lined baskets, curtains for the shower and windows, and a bed skirt. Crafters looking to outfit their sewing room will especially like the ironing table, sewing machine cover, and Giant Mood Board, a bulletin-type board for design ideas. The ironing table and the mood board, like the chalkboard-fabric Easy Eyelet Place Mats, are no-sew projects, a few of which are scattered throughout the book. Instructions, suggestions, and tips throughout will help the beginning sewist accomplish these mostly intermediate-level patterns, while commendably complete instructions on sewing with oilcloth will be of great help to most readers. The wonderful full-color photos are motivating; both they and the text make it clear that careful finishing will lead to an attractive, useful, and cheerful result.

June 1, 2014

Faced with the opportunity to redecorate when an old tree crushed part of her home, McCants (Sewing with Oilcloth) took her vintage modern aesthetic--think cheery 1950s housewife with a contemporary flair for design--and applied it to home decor. The result is this collection of fun sewing projects for the home, many featuring McCants's beloved laminated cottons. Most of the projects are beginner-friendly and require little more than the ability to machine sew in a straight line, but there are a few for sewists looking for a challenge, such as the reupholstered bar stool. The home-organization projects are the highlight of the collection and there are a lot of clever ideas to help make closets and other storage areas more cheery. A few no-sew projects are also included, such as a set of chalk-cloth place mats and a set of vintage benches reupholstered in laminated cotton. VERDICT McCants has found a niche--sewing with oilcloth and laminated cottons--and it works well for her. Her enthusiasm for her subject is infectious and laminated cottons are widely available online. Sewists with a taste for home decor will appreciate these lively projects.

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