Note: This contest has now ended. Congratulations to Angie for being lucky #53! Thank you all for your entries and please be sure to check back soon for more fabulous giveaways.
I shouldn’t admit this but I’m totally that person who will send her shirt that’s sporting a missing button to the dry cleaner in order to have it sewn back on. If my hem falls I set the pants aside and hope and pray that I’ll remember to pack them the next time I go home to Maine so that my grandmother can fix it. I often buy fake pie crust and I’ve never attempted to make chicken stock even once. There. Now you know all of my dirty little undomestic secrets.
But there’s hope for people like me (and you too)! This Tuesday, December 15th a fabulous little book with a shocking pink cover is being released that is sure to give confidence to even the most timid and delivery man addicted of us.
Erin Bried happened upon the idea for How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew after a failed attempt at making rhubarb pie. I’ll simply mention that Swiss chard was involved… and it was this inedible moment that began her quest to seek out a host of essential life skills that she had forgotten. To accomplish this Erin touched base with grandmothers all over the country who had lived through The Great Depression. The insights she gleaned from interviewing this outstanding group of creative and energetic women are doubly essential to us now, especially given our current economic state.
Conveniently, as we’ve all begun to tighten our purse strings, this book has appeared on the scene to offer us more than 100 straightforward and step-by-step how-to’s for everyday life. Each is written in a practical yet humor filled and very approachable tone — as if your best friend suddenly morphed into a Donna Reed-Tina Fey hybrid.
This weekend, thanks to an advanced copy of How to Sew a Button, I successfully made my very first batch of delicious homemade gravy via Bried’s easy to follow and decidedly fear-free instructions. There is so much amazing content between the covers of this guide including how to: hone a knife, iron a shirt (wow do I need to study up on this one), clean an oven, tie a necktie, make a hot toddy, barter, start a book club, wear red lipstick, and my personal favorite how to make a Manhattan. CK’s grandparents always serve Manhattans when we visit and even though I’ve observed them being mixed a number of times I always seem to forget the steps (probably because one lovingly composed Manhattan goes straight to your head).
I’m confident that you’ll find dozens of useful tips in this book. I even discovered additional insights while reading write-ups on tasks that I thought I had down to a science. How to Sew a Button is a fantastic addition to your bedside table. In addition, I believe this title would make an excellent holiday present. Freaking out over what to buy for that friend, relative, or co-worker who has everything? Why not give them the gift of practical knowledge?! It will certainly last longer and be more appreciated than a box of chocolates or a scarf. Besides, after reading this book they’ll be able to knit their own.
Are you ready to test your luck at potentially winning your own must-have copy of How to Sew a Button? If so, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.
In addition, If you share the link to this contest on your own blog, Twitter, Facebook etc… you may have one additional entry for a total of two possible chances to win. If you choose this option please leave a link to your shout out as your second comment. A winner will be selected via the random number generator this Friday, December 18th at 6:00 PM EST and then I’ll promptly arrange to have the book shipped to your home. Best of luck!
If you’d like to learn more about Erin Bried you can follow her on Twitter, read her blog, become a fan on Facebook, or view other fabulous how-to videos on YouTube.
O. My. Stars! I have a 16 yo that needs this book if she’s ever to leave the nest. It’s not that I don’t know/do these things already, it’s just that I’m too busy doing them to teach them (does this scream impatience?)!
I am sure that I have a lot to learn from this book. Moreover, I need a how-to handyman guide for how to change oil in a car or how to re-grout bathroom tile. Thanks for the giveaway!
I know I’m exempt from entering b/c hey, we’re practically family, but I just want to say that’s a really neat book!
My niece is getting this book for Christmas. Insta-classic.
sounds like a book i could use!
This looks like a great gift idea! And maybe I’ll learn a few things too 🙂 I think I need a gravy lesson too!
This book looks super handy!
Ooh yay, another fun book!
What a great giveaway! Thank you!
What a wonderful ideal! We all need this book!
Thanks
i tweeted.
whmsicalcupcake
need a gift for someone who has everything? go here to enter to win a book of practicality. 🙂 http://tinyurl.com/y8ax85z
less than 5 seconds ago from web
and just a plain ol comment to say that if i don’t win this book, i’ll probably go buy it for someone. i have plenty of ‘have everything, need nothing’ friends 🙂
I am the same with my buttons! And my mom has tried to teach me so many times! I’d love to win this book.
Pick me!
I would LOVE to learn all the things those grandmothers know. Especially how to iron a shirt. Every time my husband asks me on Sunday morning right before church I cuss the fact that I don’t have a method to that madness.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there are probably over a hundred benefits to me getting my hands on a book like this one 🙂
This sounds like a MUST have book in every home library
This looks like an awesome book.
Oooh, I totally need a copy of this!
Oh, I love books like this! Thanks for the chance to win it!
Even though I’m a grandmother, I bet there are things I could learn from this book, too. Thanks for a chance at the giveaway, Erin!
I tweeted, but I’m not sure how to do a link. I’m ddh77 and I included @girlieerin in the tweet.
Sounds like a great book! I’m like you. I make a pile of things that need to be fixed and bring them to my mom. I do not know how to sew a button at all!
what a fabulous book! i was just explaining who Heloise is to my boyfriend earlier — this seems like it would be right up her alley. i’ll have to look for this.
cheers,
*heather*
Yay for do it yourself – no fear!
It looks like a cute book
What a perfect christmas gift idea. I might have to buy one for myself and a few extra for gifts!
I could sure use some help folding those darned fitted sheets! That seems like something this book would include.
Hi Sarah – How to Sew a Button actually does include a fitted sheet how-to 🙂
I tweeted too!
http://twitter.com/Jadie15
Looks like a great gift for a certain soon-to-be-graduating-from-college girl I love….
Thanks for being so generous!
Oh goodness – I need this book! I just learned how to sew a button (at the ripe old age of 26) and since then, I’ve been overcome with crazy urges to be all domestic and whatnot.
Plus, my name is Erin, your name is Erin, the author’s name is Erin…fate, perhaps?
This sounds perfect, thanks for the chance to win!
What a clever book idea! And so resourceful… I love that the ideas came from WWII grandmas
you have no idea how much i need this!
Perfect for two of my sisters! One is heading off to college, the other saves her ironing for me when I visit…
Sounds like an awesome little volume to have at your fingertips! Please count me in.
I think I would spend hours reading this, what a great give away 🙂
That is so neat! I love books like this with all kinds of little tidbits.
This book looks absolutely brilliant! I will absolutely purchase it if I’m not lucky enough to win it here 😀
This would be a perfect newlywed gift as well. And it’s pink!
I could definitely use this book. As a college student, it would be especially useful. 🙂
I could so use this book!
sounds like a fun read 🙂 i love finding out new things that make my life easier!
Ooooooooohhhhhh! I would LOVE to win this book. Thank you 🙂
How cute! That sounds like a book I’d devour in a day.
Sounds like a really cute book! :0)
Love this! Thanks for sharing it with us.
I could definitely use this book. Great idea!
Awesome!
I love books like this. Everything I need to know in one place…I hope there is something in there about organization! Thanks for the great givaway…Have a Merry Christmas!
Sounds very useful! K x
This book sounds perfect for me. lol I love the cover too!
Definitely sounds like a good book for lots of people.
What a great book to have and give everyone!!! Thanks for the tip!
LOL We all wait for Gram to fix our sewing things!! Remember when she did CK’s socks one year!!!
Good Morning from *frosty* southern Manitoba!! Sounds like a f-u-n book, many thanks, *Merry Christmas*, cheers, Valerie.
I was lucky enough to have my grandmother living with us all my single life. I’m 67, and still can’t make gravy or pie crust the way she did, but you can teach an old dog new tricks IF the dog is willing to learn. I’m more than willing so I hope I win.
Great giveaway! Thanks, Erin. Happy Holidays! 🙂
What a fun book!
What a neat book! Definitely a topic that needs attention. I can’t believe how many skills have been lost. Our grandmothers must be shocked at how little our generation knows!
This book looks fantastic! I think most people these days don’t know how to perform some of these formerly simple tasks that our ancestors took care of without a second thought.
Sounds like a very helpful book! I buy Pillsbury crusts sometimes too 🙂 And I have no idea how to iron.
Wow, I would love to win!!
Hey, I just found out about this book from Alison Bechdel’s blog, and it looks great!
I tweeted this contest too!
I could really use this book. Count me in!
Here’s my twitter post: http://twitter.com/herstorian/status/6700685201
Great Holiday ides! Thanks.
Brilliant book! Thanks for writing about it. The list of tips made me think fondly of my grandmother who once said “See? All you need is a little red lipstick.”
I am almost 29 and could use this book…all those things my mom tried to teach me and I just never would learn!! 🙂
What a great idea for a book!
I’d love to win it!
🙂
I really could use this book!!! I am completely inept at anything domestic!
GREAT Give-A-Way!!! This book is at the top of my need to purchase list! I hope I win!! 🙂
I literally can not sew a button! I save these unfortunate clothing items for my mother to fix when she comes to visit me, or I pack them when I’m going to visit her.
This would be a very helpful book to have around for me.. and I’m sure my mother would appreciate it too!
I’d love to be able to give this to my wife for the holidays!
I think I learned to sew a button in 7th grade home ec and then promptly forgot it. I have a sewing machine and don’t know how to use it either. I could REALLY use this book for a variety of things.
pick me!
I already knit and sew a bit, but this book sounds great! Thanks for the opportunity to try and win it!
Boy do I need this book. I’m about to graduate college and I feel like I have zero skills for living on my own- in my world, pants do not get hemmed, buttons stay in a jar or get lost and things that are supposed to be easy like properly hard boiling eggs just seem to go wrong.
Sounds like a great gift for my newly-married daughter!
i want to know how to make a manhatten also 🙂
Yessss, want it. And +1 for being the only guy in this entire comments block to admit he wants it for himself (and not Michael who ‘wants it for his wife’… suuurrre). haha
83 FTW!
I would LOVE to win this!
Cool book! Let’s see if 85 is a lucky number 🙂
Just moved out on my own for the first time…could really use this book!!
Wow, I really need this book!
Cute!
My 40 year old daughter needs this book! She lives six hours away, and still brings all of her mending home! Thanks for the great giveaway!
As a woman who’s husband does the ironing and sewing on of buttons I definitely need a how-to. My mom tried so hard to teach me these little things but I had other things on my mind (boys!) and I would love to teach these to my kids. My daughter and my sons!!
I need this so bad! Great giveaway 🙂
What a cute book! I love this.
Thanks for the giveaway. 🙂
What a great idea for a book. I could certainly use help with buttons, pies, and gravy… not to mention hems and nearly any other household task my mom used to take care of for me!
LCWarg@gmail.com
What a great gift idea!!! Thanks fro sharing!
So great! Thanks for the giveaway!
Ohhhh that book would be useful for me (lol) as well as my 16 year old daughter!
I was just telling my ManDork the other day that I know how to sew a button but not the proper way. lol
I knit, I bake pies, I try to fix almost everything and my friends already call me grandma!!!
The book could be my bible!!!
I would love to win this book, would be such a darling Christmas present to my sweet sister!
I bet I could learn a lot from this book!
What a great resource for all of us handy people…or those who want to be. Here’s to the grandmothers of the world!
Wow, what a great resource! Nice giveaway!
My husband would love it if I won this book. I’m forever saying that I don’t know how to do certain things. Then he gives me this look and says, “Not ever your grandma?”. This would be hysterical!!
What a wonderful book!
I would LOVE to win this! I too have that I-don’t-know-how-to-sew-on-a-button issue.
Just tweeted as well!
http://twitter.com/Skiierchck88/status/6738660018
love the title!
Awesome give-away! Thanks!
great idea. cant wait to read this book. its just what i need. thanks.
What a neat looking book!
I would love to win this! It sounds like something I need!
Great idea for a book…who couldn’t use this?
I could really use this book. It’s embarrassing because I currently rely on my boyfriend to sew buttons back on clothing. It’s something I need to learn to do myself! Thank you for the giveaway.
This book looks so fun. I’d love to win it!
I could really use this book.
Cute book! I need it!
Sounds like an awesome book!
I soooo need a copy of this book! It looks wonderful. I have my own grams on speed-dial because I ALWAYS have a question for her.
i know nothing about sewing.
As a young woman, in my mid20s and facing the prospect of engagement and kids, this book seems like it could become a go-to lifesaver for a bunch of different problems I will eventually encounter in my new roles. This is the type of stuff I wish my Grandma, who is still alive but has no memory, would have taught me.
Clever! Sounds great!
This is such a great giveaway. That book would be such a help to me!
You have no idea how badly my husband thinks I need this book.
This looks so great! It can go into my regular rotation, along with my other favorite, “Where’s Mom Now that I Need Her?”
One of my guys friends has been asking me to sew on some buttons that fell off of his clothes, and for once, I’d like to know how to do it properly!
I think I need this book! Just put it on my amazon wishlist! 🙂
This book sounds awesome, thanks for the chance to win.
This is my favorite type of book to read!
I love the idea behind this book! My husband thinks I walk on water b/c I can sew buttons back on!
I added this to my blog as well!
http://bendixbirdhouse.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-can-do-that.html
Oh my goodness, could I use this! There are so many seemingly common sense things that have disappeared from our collective consciousness that I think we could all use the refresher (you could have arranged for a few thousand of these books to give away, right?) but I would be THRILLED to win this!! Thanks for the chance.
I’d love to win this!
I would love this! My daughter would love this!
I thought it would be a great gift, but reading some of your comments – maybe I need to keep it for myself!
I would love to win this; I really want to be more self reliant instead of being part of such a “throw away” society. I’d love to be able to mend my own clothes or fix things around the house, and tons of other things I currently have to rely on others to do for me =( Thanks!
Would love to win this!! I’m sure it is full of useful information and my grandmother would be very proud if I knew how to do all of the things!
I’d love to win!
http://twitter.com/sholland
This book looks very cool! I definitely could use a lot of grandmotherly wisdom. I’m proud of myself for finally learning to iron. Now if I could just cook pasta well regularly.
I am a newlywed and I am realizing all of the things I wish I had learned from my grandmother! 🙂
I need to share this with my daughter, hope i win
Hope I’m the lucky winner.
I hope I win, I have no grandma’s around so I need the advice.
This book is so nifty! I would use this all the time!!
<3
frillsandfurbelows.blogspot.com
taftquiver@gmail.com
I just posted about you on my blog: http://frillsandfurbelows.blogspot.com/
Thanks again for the awsome giveaway!
<3
i really need this book. i’m a new mom and i seriously need to learn how to sew a button, etc!
that sounds like an awesome book – there are certainly lots of things i can stand to learn from it!
would love this book! thanks for the opportunity!
oh my, I really could use some gravy right now 🙂
I’m sure I’d learn a lot with this book! Thanks for the giveaway; please count me in!
ap_lemos at yahoo dot com
This would be a great book to leave behind for the boyfriend if I go out of town!
Thank you for introducing me to this little gem.
fun! thanks for the chance to win!
What a wonderful book!! I definetely need this. I am not exactly a domestic goddess ( not even close) Pick me!!
I can’t sew buttons either! Help!
What a unique book idea; consider me interested.
I feel like I have a lot to learn from a book like this! Cheers,
Heather
Oh how I would love to win this book!
Lexi
Hi! I love the idea of this book. I really need this book for myself. I don’t do a lot of things by myself these days.
Great giveaway!!! 🙂
I have to have this book!! It looks useful and awesome! Pick me!!!!
I really need this book!
Definately a book I could use!
I’d love to give this to my daughter…..after I read it.
I love my and many other wise grandmas.
I’m 31 and still don’t know how to do most of these things…so sad! I would love to have this book.
I would love this book– i’m into learning all those forgotten crafts!
I am 28, married with two kids, and I am horrible at those sort of things. I NEED this book!!!!! Great giveaway!!!!
Sounds like a very interesting book!
would love a chance to win it 🙂
Just love the book. Everyone should own a copy of it! 🙂
I love the idea of this book. I often look around at the craziness that is my house and wonder how my Grandma kept everything just so when my Mom and Aunt were little. So much wisdom in that generation!
grandma always has and always will know best!!!
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