Half Yard Heaven – 10 year anniversary edition

LIBRARY JOURNAL

Readers who loved the first edition of this title will certainly enjoy this special anniversary edition as well. Award-winning Shore (Sew Gnomes) offers 26 projects, seven of which she’s reimagined from the original book. The “Useful Things” section tells readers what they’ll need, and it defines terms that may be new to some crafters. With clear and nicely illustrated directions, the book shows readers how to use leftover fabric—scraps that are a half-yard at the largest but also could be much smaller—to create projects that are wide-ranging, helpful to beginners, and attractive enough to appeal to experienced sewists. For example, the pattern for a nice pouch that can be used to store various accessories teaches readers how to insert zippers; a project for slippers introduces readers to sewing with fleece, a popular fabric that often presents a challenge to novices; a pattern for a tissue box involves quilting techniques; and several designs show how to apply binding. All could easily be completed in an afternoon. 
VERDICT This revised classic offers a great way for new sewists to learn basic skills from doing easy, giftable projects that don’t require major commitments of time or resources.