LIBRARY JOURNAL , Oct 2023 British television presenter/actor/sewist and award-winning author Shore ("Half Yard" series) has brought her sewing skills to gnome patterns. This well-designed book contains 12 adorable patterns that range in theme from the seasonal (Easter, spring, summer, snow, and Christmas) and magical (witches, fairies) to the natural (forests, mushrooms) and perhaps unexpected (a pirate). Each gnome has between four and six pages of clear instructions, including templates that enable sewists to create their projects in two body sizes: large and small. The book opens with a thorough section on cutting, assembling, and sewing the individual parts. Knowledge of simple embroidery and sewing (hand and machine) techniques is required, so this book is not for absolute beginners. The supply list is composed of items readily available online or at U.S. craft stores.

Instructions for gnomes and their various embellishments are both pictorial and written with numbers to match pictures to paragraphs. VERDICT An essential purchase where gnomes and sewing titles are popular.