Book Hour - Jenny Ryan

On today's show, Mindy's guest was Jenny Ryan author of Sew Darn Cute: 30 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish. Mindy said that the projects look really fun and the photos are amazing. The projects tend to focus on recycled materials, including old clothes. One idea is to make a soft snake or draft stopper out of layers of old sweaters. Others include using colorful patches on sweaters and making button embellishments. Fun projects also include dainty doll quilts.

For many of the projects, it does help to know how to sew with a sewing machine, but some you can do by hand sewing.

Kids can be involved in various ways such as picking out the fabrics for the embellishments. Another place where kids can help is by drawing the patterns to be used on cafe curtains. Or they can iron on a "monogram" on a baby shirt and then stitch it on with embroidery stitches.

Hand sewing is a good place for kids to start to sew. Making pet toys can also be a great way to introduce kids to projects involving fabric.

Jenny stated that every house should have a button jar. I strongly agree. I love our button jar.

I am so sad that I missed part of the interview and Camille missed most of it. I know she would have loved it. She could probably do a lot of the projects on her own, so I'm sending her over to Jenny's website at sewdarncute.com.