All You Need is Love Table Setting [See Kate Sew – Book Review]

I am a sucker for two things: a handmade Valentine’s Day and a pretty table setting. So, when I got a copy of the book See Kate Sew * for review from Fons & Porter and was immediately smitten with the adorable, pocketed placemat and little wallets, I decided that our family needed a little “All You Need is Love” table setting for our Valentine’s breakfast. Ok, I’m a sucker for three things. I also LOVE breakfast. But, that is beside the current point.

For our Valentine breakfast, I made each family member a placemat and everybody (except me) got a little wallet with a gift card and a few chocolates in it. It was a nice, sweet way to start our Valentine’s Day and it was so easy to sew up quickly.

Which brings me to my review of this book, See Kate Sew: 24 Learn To Sew Projects You Can Make In an Hour* by Kate Blecher. Kate’s book is named after her super popular blog, See Kate Sew.  The book is designed around 24 simple projects that are all, what I would consider, beginner level but it includes really clear instructions on how to add-in slightly advanced techniques such as putting in a zipper or sewing pom-poms. A bit of information from the publisher below:

For my part, I enjoyed being able to put together a quick project for my family and got to use some very precious fabric scraps in the process.  (I mean, I sew enough for myself. I’m overdue on getting the family in on the action). Most of the projects in the book are aimed at beginners and are designed to be simple.

+Things that might bother you about this book: it includes pattern pieces that are not at 100% size so they have to be enlarged at a copy shop. That can be difficult for people without access to a good copy shop. Additionally, more advanced sewists might not find the projects challenging.  On the other hand, I would argue that it’s chock-full of style/color inspiration for sewers at all levels.

+What you will love about this book: Projects are broken into sections for the home, bags and accessories, sewing for kids and sewing for yourself.  This makes it easy to find a project that works for lots of situations but it seems especially good for gift-giving. Imagine baby showers, birthdays, ah…Valentine’s Day. You get the drift. There are also clear sidebars that teach basic techniques such as mitered corners, zippers, buttonholes, etc.  You really could teach yourself a lot of basic techniques if you went through the book project by project.

Overall, It’s a beautiful book and the style and fabric choices are the characteristically beautiful style of Kate herself and that alone can be very inspiring. I think this book would be a FANTASTIC gift for a beginner sewer.  It’s beautiful, calm and full of inspiring projects.

Back to what I made. For K and the boys, I stuffed their little wallets into the pocket of their placemat at breakfast. As for fabric, I recently was gifted an incredible stash of fabric from Ghana! (I know, I still get goosebumps thinking about who lucky I am!). I used bits of the African fabric to make the boys wallets and scraps of Umbrella Prints for my husband’s wallet. The pockets on the placemats matched the wallets. In most cases, I had just enough to make it happen. I LOVE when I can use up fabric. So satisfying.

Between the eating and chocolate un-wrapping I didn’t get pictures of our actual breakfast but the placemats are still being used. The boys loved the little pocket, which is super cute. And, they are using their wallets to hold their allowance money.

I was so happy having my cherished Umbrella Prints scraps mingle with the amazing fabrics from Ghana. It made for a gorgeous work table, don’t you think?

Wishing you a few beautiful, textile-filled breakfast! All you need is love, man. 🙂

*affiliate links are included in this post. Thanks for your support!