How 2 Crafts

I have just been sent some books with a difference to review.  These books come from How 2 Crafts who publish books in niche craft areas, on subjects chosen by the readers.  You can vote on the topic of the next book through their site and if the subject you want is not already up for the vote you can suggest it yourself.   The publishers also invite you to upload your own photos of items you have made from their books so they can add a reader's gallery in their next print of the book.

They currently have 6 books in their range: How to make a felt handbag, Make your own soap, Making and dyeing acrylic jewellery, Simple printmaking, Make your own handbag, clutch bag and purse and Felt biscuits, we have the latter 2 books to review.   You can find details of all of their books, and purchase them here: http://www.how2crafts.com/.  All the books can be purchased as e-books or paperback books.

Check back at the weekend for our interview with John Morse-Brown the publisher of How2Crafts.

Make Your Own Handbag, Clutch Bag and Purse by Emma Castle

The book starts off by giving you a few useful tips about the choosing your fabric, interfacing and pressing before you start making.  It starts off with the easiest project, the purse, but you can choose to start wherever you like.

Each project starts with a breakdown of the equipment needed and details of where they bought the fabric and equipment used in the book in case you want to use the same as they have.  The main feature of both these books (and the others in the range according to the site) is that they provide a full photographic step by step guide of how to make the item. 

The photos are rather explanatory in themselves but there are also written instructions to accompany the photos.  At first glance it seemed like there are a lot of instructions per item, but I guess this is because they have really broken down every single step and not glossed over any of it.  This  would be very useful for beginners.

My only criticism would be that the books are rather small (both size wise and content wise) so there are only a few projects in each one.  However, those projects are explained in great detail and the size of the book is reflected in the price (£5.50 for the e-book, £7.95 for the paperback) so I guess that is the trade off.  I find sometimes you buy larger books with many projects in, only to make one or 2 of them anyway so if you would rather just a few projects but with more detailed instructions then this book is for you.

This book can be purchased by clicking here.

Felt Biscuits by Ouissi Gresty

I have to admit my first thought when seeing this book was what would you do with a felt biscuit?  But luckily the introduction of the book does explain what you can use them for (to decorate a windowsill, table or dresser and to evoke childhood memories in case you were wondering).

Felt does seem to be an increasingly popular medium lately; I have seen many felt projects (and recently received a book of Zombie Felties to review) so this book is bang on trend.  The book contains a very useful section at the beginning that talks you through the various stitches employed in the rest of the book.   The accompanying photos are very clear and really help you understand how to do the stitch.  As someone who tends to just stick to a couple of stitches I found this a good guide.

The rest of the book follows a similar format to the previous book, a page of written instructions next to a page of photographic instructions. The instructions are detailed and easy to follow.  There are instructions for 5 different types of biscuits as well as a tin and the tin tray.

As before the book is rather small but they will get bigger with each re-print as the publisher plans to re-print frequently to include reader's photos and comments.  My only concern is that this does seem to be a very niche area that wouldn't appeal to everyone, but if you know someone who loves working with felt and is looking for inspiration then this book would make a great present.

You can purchase the book by clicking here.

Read our interview with John Morse-Brown the founder of How2Crafts here.