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How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew

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How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew Cover

ISBN13: 9780345518750
ISBN10: 0345518756
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Staff Pick

Entertaining and informative about so much more than buttons! SELF magazine writer Erin Bried has put together a darling volume, gleaning knowledge from 10 "grandmothers," that includes instruction on how to fillet a fish, darn a sock, make dandelion wine, and much more.
Recommended by Martha, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Waste not, want not with this guide to saving money, taking heart, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

Nowadays, many of us outsource basic tasks. Food is instant, ready-made, and processed with unhealthy additives. Dry cleaners press shirts, delivery guys bring pizza, gardeners tend flowers, and, yes, tailors sew on those pesky buttons. But life can be much simpler, sweeter, and richer — and a lot more fun, too! As your grandmother might say, now is not the time to be careless with your money, and it actually pays to learn how to do things yourself.

Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button collects the treasured wisdom of nanas, bubbies, and grandmas from all across the country — as well as modern-day experts — and shares more than one hundred step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining, including how to:

  • polish your image by shining your own shoes
  • grow your own vegetables (and stash your bounty for the winter)
  • sweeten your day by making your own jam
  • use baking soda and vinegar to clean your house without toxic chemicals
  • feel beautiful by perfecting your posture
  • roll your own piecrust and find a slice of heaven
  • fold a fitted sheet to crisp perfection
  • waltz without stepping on any toes

Complete with helpful illustrations and brimming with nostalgic charm, How to Sew a Button provides calm and comfort in uncertain times. By doing things yourself, with care and attention, you and your loved ones will feel the pleasing rewards of a job well done.

Review:

"Thank goodness for grandmothers and thank goodness for Erin Bried, who compiled his compendium of useful, clever, need-to-know advice, wisdom and practical information. With this book, every woman will feel they are at their grandmother's knee, learning the most vital life skills any of us need to be smarter, happier and better people too. Happy reading!" Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief, SELF magazine

Review:

"A breezily useful guide to timeless home-ec skills." O Magazine

Review:

"If you wish you could hem your pants without waiting for the tailor or unclog a drain without paying a plumber, you need to read How to Sew a Button...[it] might save you money, time, and lots of frustration." Redbook

Review:

"How to Sew a Button is a handy guide to running your household and, in many ways, your life." Washington Post

Review:

"The perfect book for these hard economic times when money is tight, but ingenuity is plentiful...As comforting as a hand-sewn quilt, and filled with beguilingly retro illustrations, the tips are a snap, empowering, and fun...Bolstered with nostalgic charm, every page is filled with age-old wisdom for brand new do-it-yourself empowerment." Boston Globe

Synopsis:

Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button offers more than 100 step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining.
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About the Author

Erin Bried is a Senior Staff Writer at SELF magazine, where she's penned nearly 200 stories, including 60 cover stories, in the past nine years. In addition to interviewing and profiling celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston and Sheryl Crow, she covers health, fitness, nutrition and psychology. Formerly, Bried was a Senior Editor at Glamour, a contributor at Golf For Women magazine and a Senior Editor/Writer at Conde Nast's Women's Sports & Fitness. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Starr Reynolds, August 3, 2012 (view all comments by Starr Reynolds)
I was excited since the first moment I saw the title, and even more pleased as I ploughed through each valuable tidbit and useful tip, I was so eager that I read it too fast, and had to go back and read it more carefully! I was raised by my grandmother until I was ten and have seemed to forgotten many of these things she taught me because as I read this delightful book it’s bringing back all those happy and handy memories! It has everything that I need to know to maintain my own household - how to mix my own cleaning supplies to canning homemade strawberry jam, all in a clear simple format. I will always keep a copy on hand in my home as a reference guide and for my girls as they grow up. Also, I’m buying a copy for my friend who is getting married, and for my other friend who is trying to simplify her life. I recommend this book to ANYONE!
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Issy, April 7, 2010 (view all comments by Issy)
Wonderful book for our times. Everyone needs to remember that past generations got along just fine with a lot less than what we have now, and take for granted. Society doesn't have to be so disposable, and this book can help you see that.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780345518750
Author:
Bried, Erin
Publisher:
Random House Publishing Group
Author:
Erin Bried
Subject:
General
Subject:
Home economics
Subject:
Life skills
Subject:
Sewing
Subject:
Cleaning & Caretaking - General
Subject:
General House & Home
Subject:
CRAFTS & HOBBIES / General
Subject:
HOUSE & HOME / General
Subject:
Crafts-General
Subject:
Crafts - Sewing
Subject:
General Crafts & Hobbies
Copyright:
2009
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
20091231
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
36 B/W ILLUS THROUGHOUT
Pages:
304
Dimensions:
8.06x5.20x.65 in. .50 lbs.
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Related Subjects


Engineering » Home Construction » Household
Hobbies, Crafts, and Leisure » Crafts » Sewing
Home and Garden » Household » Household Management

How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$10.50 In Stock
Product details 304 pages Ballantine Books - English 9780345518750 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

Entertaining and informative about so much more than buttons! SELF magazine writer Erin Bried has put together a darling volume, gleaning knowledge from 10 "grandmothers," that includes instruction on how to fillet a fish, darn a sock, make dandelion wine, and much more.

by Martha
"Review" by , "Thank goodness for grandmothers and thank goodness for Erin Bried, who compiled his compendium of useful, clever, need-to-know advice, wisdom and practical information. With this book, every woman will feel they are at their grandmother's knee, learning the most vital life skills any of us need to be smarter, happier and better people too. Happy reading!"
"Review" by , "A breezily useful guide to timeless home-ec skills."
"Review" by , "If you wish you could hem your pants without waiting for the tailor or unclog a drain without paying a plumber, you need to read How to Sew a Button...[it] might save you money, time, and lots of frustration."
"Review" by , "How to Sew a Button is a handy guide to running your household and, in many ways, your life."
"Review" by , "The perfect book for these hard economic times when money is tight, but ingenuity is plentiful...As comforting as a hand-sewn quilt, and filled with beguilingly retro illustrations, the tips are a snap, empowering, and fun...Bolstered with nostalgic charm, every page is filled with age-old wisdom for brand new do-it-yourself empowerment."
"Synopsis" by , Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button offers more than 100 step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining.
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