I get a baking magazine already, and I decided on this one when I went to the Cake and Bake show last year. I had a nose through most of the mag stands on offer, decided that most were just glossy catalogues filled with adverts, but I saw Food Heaven and because it guarantees at least 100 recipes every month, and not too many adverts, I went for it. And it's been a great read ever since. (They've not paid me to say this!)
Sadly, I'm not scheduled to go to any sewing shows this year, so I figured that to choose a new subscription, I'd need to sample a few. It's been raining all day, and my plan was to go home after work, get into my fleecy pj's, close the curtains, put the fire on and cuddle up with my cat, Newt. So I went into WHSmiths on the way home and bought every sewing magazine that they had on the shelves. A whopping £27.96 later, I shuffled out into the rain with an armful of potential subscriptions and feeling somewhat like I'd been mugged.
I figured that this information might help anyone else that's in the same predicament as me so I'll go through the freebies that I got, the cost, what projects were included, the amount of pages that were dedicated to adverts and what offers there are for giving them your money long term for a subscription.
*** Just to confirm, the details below are correct as of today (24th August 2015) including prices, contents and offers ***
Here goes!
Magazine #1:
Sew Inspired - £9.99(!!!!)
Freebies:
* Sewing for Fun - Video Project CD-ROM (contains video tutorials, handy projects, and templates)
* A plastic Heart template that gives you seven sizes of heart
* Kwik Sew pattern K4040 Misses' XS-S-M-L-XL
Pages: 68 (including front and back covers, it barely feels like a free insert in a normal magazine)
Adverts: 3 full pages
Projects: 21
General comments:
I had no idea how much it was when I picked it up. It was a shock when I rang it through the self service till, I nearly had heart failure, but I stuck with it. It costs a lot!! And you don't seem to get a huge amount for that money either. This is the first magazine from the 'best-selling sewing author' Debbie Shore. I imagine that they're just feeling the market out a bit. A lot of space is filled up with sections on Debbie's sewing room, must-haves for beginners, how to use the free kits, some giveaways, craft projects, how to choose a sewing machine for a beginner (which was very sparse), a guide to sewing machine feet and how to do free-motion embroidery. Also how to make a bookmark, which didn't seem to need a whole page worth of explanation. There were a few useful bits, especially for a beginner, but I think that an experienced sewist wouldn't need a tutorial for a bookmark, or a very simple sack (literally two pieces of material sewn on three edges and tied together at the top with some ribbon). One thing I did find hugely useful was the suggestion of using Frixion pens for marking fabric. As heat (the Frixion name suggests) makes the ink disappear, you can mark fabric, then iron it away. I've been obsessed with these pens for years, and I have a ton of them, so I'll make sure I keep a set in my sewing room. The price of the magazine was almost worth it just for that tip. Almost. Actually, no I'm still hurting over the price!
Subscribe and save: Doesn't appear to be any offer in the magazine, I think it's a bit too early.
Final verdict: I wasn't blown away by this magazine at all, or the 'freebies', I definitely wouldn't subscribe (if it becomes available), and would likely only buy again if I was suffering from some kind of mania, or they had a cool freebie that I was intending to buy anyway and would otherwise cost more than the total price of the magazine.
Magazine #2:
Love Sewing - £5.99
Freebies:
* Simple Sew Sewing Pattern - The Jersey Top and Cross-Over Back Blouse #015 UK 8-20
* Patterns for the projects in the magazine
Pages: 100 (including front and back covers)
Adverts: 25 pages (including double page ads for subscriptions and future issues)
Projects: 16
General comments: This is pretty advert heavy, possibly a couple more than I think is acceptable. However, in saying that, the projects and articles seem to be a good mix of items for beginners as well as experienced sewists. There are the seemingly standard sections about how to use sewing machines, the best items to have in a starter kit, but also a really nice mix of projects that include tea cosies, a teddy bear, a kids hoody, a skirt and a pin cushion (to name but a few). I thought that this was a nice combination of levels, and things that I will keep in mind for future when I'm more experienced.
Subscribe and save: For those looking for a subscription, you get a 30% discount (£27.25 every six months on Direct Debit - £4.54 per issue) and as a joining bonus, you get a Pencil Skirt Kit that includes fabric, thread, concealed zip, and paper patterns for sizes 8-20.
Final verdict: I liked the mixed level of projects as well as the tutorials. Slightly put off by the ads, but they're never going to go away with magazines like this. Think this is a pretty good read overall.
Magazine #3:
Sewing World - £5.99
Freebies:
* Patterns for projects in the magazine
Pages: 100 (including front and back covers)
Adverts: 23 full pages (including double page ads for subscriptions and future issues)
Projects: 12
General comments: I find their lack of freebies disturbing. Seeing as they're the same price point as the others that do have freebies, it seems a little off. There are slightly less ads, but also less projects too. Similar to Love Sewing it has a varied set of projects, from a tea towel, pyjamas, little bags for back to schoolers, cushions, a backpack, and a kids t-shirt. They have a couple of tutorials, but nothing amazing.
Subscribe and save: For those looking for a subscription, you get a £18.89 discount from buying it over the counter (£52.99 every year - £4.41 per issue) and as a joining bonus, you get 'Abbygale Sews' and 'Compendium of Sewing Techniques' books, apparently worth £22.98.
Final verdict: Not at all impressed. I think that if the same standard was kept every month, I'd likely be bored within a year.
Magazine #4:
Simply Sewing - £5.99
Freebies:
* Pyjama pattern
* Patterns for projects in the magazine
Pages: 100 (including front and back covers)
Adverts: 18 full pages (including double page ads for subscriptions and future issues)
Projects: 10
General comments: Startlingly low on projects, and a lot of them we along the same theme. Several of them were for a girls bedroom, I don't have any kids, so the projects for kids aren't a big draw for me, although I realise that people will use those things, it's nice to have a mix so that everyone has something. They also had some really weird projects on how to cut old t-shirts into headbands (which were pretty inexplicable), how to cover wire coat hangers with material (I'm pretty sure that nursery school kids could manage this) and cushions in the shape of clouds. There were some nice guides at the back that included how to buy fabric, guides to fabric types, fabric terminology, and machine needle sizes. They could be useful for beginners. It also had handy workshop section that went through pattern matching.
Subscribe and save: For those looking for a subscription, you get a 25% discount (£26.96 every 6 months - £4.49 per issue). I can't find any reference to a free item included with the subscription.
Final verdict: I think I'll end up using the pattern, and some of the guides were handy, but nothing that I couldn't look up online. I wasn't blown away by the contents.
Overall decision - I think I'm going to go for Love Sewing, the free kit with the subscription is pretty cool, and the variety of projects and tutorials seemed a good mix. I think I'll give it a go for 6 months and see how I go. I might even update this if I remember :)
Note: I could've added links to each of the sites for the subscriptions, but it's late and I'm sleepy, so you'll have to forgive me for this one. If you want to find something, give the title a Google, and you should be set :)
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