Product Review - Hand Sewing

Hello everyone! It's my turn to do a product review this month! Lorena did such a great job last month...I have big shoes to fill.

This month's products are related to sewing. First off, when I say sewing, I mean hand sewing. There are people who use their sewing machines to embellish their pages. I am not one of these people! The products reviewed are: Bazzill Basics In Stitch'z, the Sew Stamper and the Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers.

I have to say that I'm surprised that I'm doing this review. I remember saying that I would never ever sew on my pages. I just thought it was too time-consuming. Oops...never say never I guess!

Sew Stamper by We R Memory Keepers

The Sew Stamper allows you to add the look of stitching on your layout without actually sewing. I had done this in the past but by free hand. It was a long process. That's why I was really excited to try this product...and then I realized that the Sew Stamper only comes in black. I didn't realize that it was self-inking. My brilliant plan had been to use VersaMark and embossing powder.

Oh well, I had to regroup and modify my plan. I used the Sew Stamper on a layout I made featuring my little guy Sam and his friend Caleb. Here is the layout:

And here is a close-up of the result:

I really like the effect! Another positive is that it is SUPER easy to use. You simply open the cap and use. I just wish it came in more colours.

A few tips:
1) You can control the thickness of the lines using more or less pressure.
2) Use your craft heater and/or give the ink plenty of time to dry. I ended up smudging mine a little bit.

I used the straight stitch but there are many more. You can see all the different designs here.


Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers

Sew Easy is a rotary stitch piercer that creates holes in lots of different designs...or so We R Memory Keepers says. It is true that there are lots of designs. What's not so true is that it a piercer that creates holes through cardstock. It's more like it creates the markings and you have to go back over it with a piercing tool. I'm a pretty strong girl and I doesn't seem to matter how hard I pressed, holes just aren't created. To be fair, I didn't try using it on regular paper.

That being said, I have no problem going over the markings. It makes the hand-stitching easier. Here is a picture of a layout I embellished using the Sew Easy:



Here is a close-up:

I used the Zig Zag piercer on this layout. Just in case you didn't notice, after all the holes are made, you actually have to use twine and STITCH. Thread works but doesn't look as good. A warning: hand-stitching is time-consuming. But to me, the end result is totally worth it.

Here is another example of a layout where I used the Sew Easy:

(By the way, this layout isn't finished...it still needs a title and possibly some shiny stuff.)

I like that the Sew Easy can be used to add a border and a frame around a picture. I also like that the twine comes in so many colours now.


In Stitch'z by Bazzill Basics

In Stitch'z is an easy to use template that allows you to create a design by stitching. When I say easy to use, I mean it! I loved using this product. There are many different kinds of templates: letters, designs, themes (like birthday or baby) and borders. You can buy a foam-like backing that allows you easily pierce holes in your paper. The stitching is still time-consuming but I found the variety of templates appealing.

I decided to use the letter template to create a title for my page. Here is the layout:

Here is a close-up of the stitching:

I never would have thought to create a title using stitching if it hadn't been for the templates. I love the look!

To end this review, I would like to say that, if you like the look of stitching on your scrapbook layouts and/or cards, you can't go wrong with any of these products. Before writing this review I only personally owned a few Sew Easy designs. I will definitely be expanding my stash of stitching products to include the Sew Stamper and some In Stitch'z templates.