Hand Me Ups: Recrafting Kid’s Clothes with Easy Techniques & Fun Designs is an exciting new book from Krause Publications for anyone looking to experiment with making children’s clothing in a different way. Lorine Mason has created 25 projects in which you take existing clothing (hand me downs) and use fabric and embellishment techniques to make something totally new and fun (hand me ups). One of my favorite projects in the book is the one that’s on the cover, the Floral T-Shirt Dress, in which you use a basic T-shirt in combination with your favorite fabrics to create a totally cute dress that any little girl will love.
The embellishment projects really help you to unleash your creativity, as you experiment with fabric paint and other techniques to create something unique. The Patchwork Overalls, for example, take a common garment in most kid’s closets and turns it into something adorable that no other kid in town will have.
One of the other things I really like about this book is that the author not only provides you with great step-by-step instructions for each of the projects, but the techniques used are so well illustrated that you would be able to take those techniques and develop projects on your own–so while the book contains many projects, they’re really a jumping off point to making all sorts of fun and unique items. The Spring Ruffles T-Shirt Dress, for example, could be varied and changed in many ways, to suit many tastes, even for older kids. The accessories projects include techniques for altering shoes, bags, hats and even jewelry, so there may even be something in Hand Me Ups for the adults in the family.
The book comes packaged with a CD that contains all of the designs and embellishment patterns featured in the book–which is great, because you can print the patterns as you need them and not have to worry about them wearing out, you can simply print them again, if need be!
Look for this fun new book in your favorite independent quilt shop or fabric store.
