Handmade Home~ review

Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule

This book + me = LOVE.

Seriously. I love reading the SouleMama blog on a daily basis. I think her blog was one of the first I started following. And this book is like her blog in print form. I love the style and thought that went into all the projects. And I’ve made quite a few of them over the years.

The premise of the book is similar to ImprovSewing that I reviewed on Monday: reusing old materials to make something new and useful. One thing I appreciate in craft books or cook books is having a little blurb about the project/recipe above the pattern/recipe. Amanda Blake Soule has a way with words that is so powerful and profound but still approachable. That’s a good word for Handmade Home: approachable. Everything is handmade, repurposed, and beautiful. Of the six essays Amanda wrote for the book, I think the one that speaks to me the most is Comfortably Worn. I feel like that is my philosophy with materiel goods, well worn and well loved.

So far, I’ve made the paper-mâché bowls, a towel rug out of the wildest fabric in the world and a purple towel, the pillowcase dress into a shirt for myself, a fiber garland, and the Broadturn bag, which make wonderful library/knitting bags. I want to make almost everything in here! Have I gotten around to it yet? Uh, no. Do I want to? Uh, yes!