Hey! I’m so excited today to be sharing about the new book, Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown and more importantly to be giving away a copy to you! Woo! I first met Amanda Brown this past August at ALT San Francisco and when she introduced herself and handed me her business card I was like oh my gosh I know about your shop! Her shop, Spruce, is located in Austin, TX where I lived for 4 years. I must have passed by the shop dozens of times and here I was meeting the owner, of course it’s after I’ve moved cities but it was still really cool. She was super sweet and I didn’t even know at the time she was in the process of writing a book.
I was contacted recently to review the book and give away a copy and immediately said yes! I have always been a pretty hands on gal but I never really considered upholstery. I absolutely love that she has created this book to make the idea of upholstery approachable to the average person. The pages are beautiful and beyond inspiring. I decided to complete the easiest project in the book but I’m already thinking about my next project and stepping it up a little.
I decided to make a knife-edge pillow case for one of my couch pillows. I have been wanting to do this forever and I just recently got my sewing machine sent to my new home, nice timing huh? I already had fabric waiting for just this purpose so I got right to work.
My finished pillow size was 23 1/2″ square so I cut to pieces of fabric that were 24 1/2″ square. I followed the instructions pretty closely with the exception of using the zipper foot or a single-welt cord foot when attaching the zipper. I left my regular sewing foot on the machine and made it work. I also salvaged the zipper from the previous pillow case for my project. I really like the contrast of the dark fabric and the bright red zipper.
The pillow took a very short amount of time to complete and turned out beautifully. Here it is with the other pillow that will soon be redone. The instructions were well written and I found the pictures quite helpful since I tend to be a visual learner. I can’t wait to tackle my next project.
Ready to win your own copy of the book and start some seriously awesome projects?! Enter to win below (US applicants only please)! If that isn’t exciting enough Storey Publishing is hosting an ugly chair giveaway on facebook. To enter find the ugliest chair you have and enter it and if you win you get an upholstery hand tool kit ($250 value), a $200 gift certificate for fabric from Spruce, a custom design recommendations from Amanda Brown, and a signed copy of the book! Holy cow! It’s got me on the lookout for a seriously ugly chair.
This giveaway is open to US residents only. If you liked this giveaway and want to make sure you get all of my shop updates please sign up for my newsletter below! It’s free!