Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Review + Giveaway: sewExpecting eBook

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sewexpectingcoversewExpecting is the new eBook from Leigh Ann Tennent (The Object Project and Strawberry Truffle).  If you’re an expecting mother, or know someone who is pregnant, or just like to have sweet baby gifts on hand just in case, this eBook is for you.  In it, you can find patterns and instructions to make 20 – yes, TWENTY – different projects for baby:

  •  A basic infant bib, plus a patchwork and appliqued version.
  •  A basic toddler bib, plus a patchwork and appliqued version.
  •  A toddler bib with a storage pocket that doubles as a crumb-catcher!
  •  A basic burp cloth, plus a patchwork and appliqued version.
  •  A burp cloth with an innovative storage pocket!
  •  Three styles of changing mats.
  •  A very cool diaper clutch with instructions for 2 looks.
  •  A textured securtiy blanket to keep little fingers busy!
  •  A satin lovey.
  •  A very simple, super-quick quilt!

sewexpecting2All of these projects are boutique-quality, assuming of course that you construct them of quality materials. 

The instructions are straightforward and are geared toward those with limited or no sewing experience.   (Experienced sewers can probably skip straight to the patterns and use the instructions just as a quick reference guide.)  If you’ve wanted to learn how to sew but haven’t known exactly where to start, sewExpecting is a good place to begin.  The beginning of the eBook gives quick instructions for basic sewing, applique, and patchwork skills that you’ll need to create the projects.  Most of the projects are constructed with from simple shapes, with minimal fuss.

sewExpecting is available from Strawberry Truffle for $22.00.

By now, I know there are more than a handful of you who want a copy of sewExpecting for your very own.  And so Leigh Ann has graciously offered to give away one copy of the eBook to a lucky Craft Gossip reader.  Here’s how it will work:

To enter, post a comment on to this Craft Gossip post telling me which SewExpecting project (listed above) you think will be the first one you’ll sew.  One entry per person, please.  Deadline is Friday, August 7, 2009 at 10:00 pm CST.  I’ll choose a winner at random the following day.

Have you read?

Cross Stitch Forum Asks for Proof Stitches Aren’t AI

There are a lot of stories out there these days about AI use in the crafting space for everything from answering technique questions to writing patterns. 

And there’s a lot of content about how to spot AI patterns, or even just photos on the Internet that people are claiming to have made but are clearly AI generated. 

As the models get better, though, it can be harder to tell. Gone (mostly) are the days of AI sewing patterns with models who have too many fingers, but one thing it’s still hard for AI to replicate is individual stitches. 

You’ll see this in knitting, crochet and cross stitch, where a project might look good from a distance but if you zoom in you’ll see there aren’t individual stitches, or they don’t look the way real stitches would look. 

That’s part of the rationale behind a change at r/CrossStitch, the largest cross stitch community on Reddit, which now requires people to show a close up of their finished projects (lots of people seem to be showing off the backs, too) to prove their projects aren’t AI. 

Lord Libidan reported on this news and I agree with them that I’m not sure why people in an online forum would be sharing AI “finished objects” when it’s a venue where you can’t sell patterns. But I understand their desire to keep the forum free of AI images. I wish Etsy had such a requirement so that people selling patterns had to prove they’d actually stitched them (though there are plenty of patterns that just show a chart and not a finished item, AI or not.)

Lord Libidan probably has a different perspective because he’s seen people selling kits made from an AI version of a free cross stitch pattern of his. Which is another layer.

I have my own feelings about AI and crafting but I just think it’s really interesting both the things people will do with AI without saying it’s AI and the lengths other people will go to in order to prove something is or isn’t AI. Or even calling something AI just because it’s really detailed and looks good? What times we live in. 

[Photo via Lord Libidan, closeup of an image made by Google Gemini’s Nano Banana]