Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing

My awesome husband gave me Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. The book is beautifully photographed and the projects are practical and super simple. For my first projects I made the Tote Bag and Kitchen towels. The kitchen towels were so incredibly simple my daughter made one as well and I only needed to remind her to do the backstitches at the beginning and end, everything else was on her own. The tote bag construction is so basic I immediately made some stylized adaptations before I even began to follow the pattern.

My adaptations included making the bottom panel (printed fabric) take up 70% of the front and back panels instead of 35% as called for in the pattern. I also elongated the straps to 31" instead of 22" and added a bit of embroidery.
The bird was a mama/daughter effort. My creative 8-year old daughter, AJ, drew the bird and specified the colors and I embroidered it.
Lotta Jansdotters Simple Sewing
Why it's a good book: Useful patterns, most of the projects are super quick, great for mindless sewing, beautiful photography. I would definitely make these patterns again
However: I did have a few issues with the book. The tote bag pattern in particular seemed in need of a little more tech editing specifically with clarity in instruction. The patterns are fine for people who can easily adapt patterns on their own. Also, the tote bag works fine if made to carry things without a lot of weight like heavy groceries or library books. If you need to make a more solid bag the handle attachment would need to be tweaked. The straps are only attached 1" below the top edge of the bag and I think it would need at least 2" if not more so the hem at the top edge would also need to be bigger.