Molly & Mama with her Pretty Handmades

Picture yourself on your couch with your favorite shows on the telly, feet up with your little basket ready for some quite sewing. Everything is prepared, all set out just waiting to be created. Placed beside you is your newest inspiration

'Pretty Handmades'

by the delightful and sweet Lauren from Molly & Mama.

When Lauren told me about her new venture describing her ideas and patterns I saw how this book would inspire crafters to do more hand sewing. It's something I just absolutely love doing especially now this book has come to life.

Inside there are many gorgeous things to make from wall hangings to brighten up your child's room, to tea towels and carry bags and much more inbetween.

I had great pleasure in providing feedback and making a few of the beautiful items in the book. I made the Polly Plaits Hoop Art, Lullaby Kitty Felt Doll and the Garden Path Mini Quilt. With my version of the Kitty and the Mini Quilt I changed the original design slightly to see how versatile Lauren's patterns are, and it didn't disappoint.

The Polly Plaits Hoop Art is sweet and charming. Her little face with her beautiful flower crown and long plaits gives the finished creation a beautiful touch to any little girl's room. In my version I used a soft mint green floral fabric background with the felt colours being Ivory for her face, Rose Quartz for her hair and Soft Celeste, Glitter Lavender, Pink Sherbert, Glitter Jade and Bubble Gum for the flower crown.

For my next creation I made the Garden Path Mini Quilt. Since wall space is scarce in this big old queenslander house with every wall having either doors or windows I decided to turn the face of the quilt into a cushion. I am a huge fan of English Paper Piecing and making these up for the quilt pillow it looked stunning. For the trimming on the edge of the pillow I used some very beautiful antique lace my Great Aunt Wendy gave me from Austria, it suited the project perfectly. 

Finally my most favorite out of all of these gorgeous makes is the Lullaby Kitty Felt Doll. Lauren's original version was just so adorable and very much up my ally with colour, look and feel. Although I really wanted to explore more with this pattern so instead of her version I made mine into a little boy kitten. By removing the eyelashes and rosy cheeks and a soft blue felt tone, Baby Blue, he became a very adorable little boy. And what does every little boy need, a cute pair of overalls. I'll be honest it was a terrible way to make them, I'm sure there was a pattern out there in pinterest land, but it was late, and I wanted to give it a go. It did turn out quite cute I think, and matching the fabric with the blue felt I decided it would be good to go with warm country brown gingham shade.

Pretty Handmades is in my opinion such a great way to really explore more hand sewing and getting back to basics with embroidery. I will always encourage those new to sewing to create hand sewn projects before moving onto machine sewing because it gives them a chance to learn about piecing things together, understanding the sewing lingo and understanding fabric and felt textures. If you are looking to spruce up your sewing inspiration then this will be the absolute perfect book for you and your friends.

To get your copy of Pretty Handmades by Lauren Wright click here.

Once again congratulations Lauren, the book is perfect, and just so 'you'. I can see and feel your hard work and imagination just pour off each page. Well done beautiful.