This book is fantastic. It makes me wish I felt comfortable in women's clothing. (I'm genderqueer.) I would wear the hell out of almost everything in this book if I was more feminine. I must must must show this to my sister; I bet she'll wear a lot of it, so maybe I can at least make some of the patterns for get. ( )

This book might have been better titled "Sewing for Lazy People" or "Sewing for People who Don't Like to Sew." In other words, I'm glad I got it from the library, and I won't be rushing to buy my own copy.

First, the good: the authors have a fabulous design aesthetic. The choice of colours was great. The little flourishes and embellishments were consistently pretty and very well-presented. The non-clothing projects looked both relatively easy to do, and attractive. So you may very well want to buy or read this book. Before you do, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I 15? At the very least, am I under 23?
2. Am I thin, athletic, or otherwise lacking in body fat?
3. If I look at myself sideways in the mirror, am I relatively symmetrical? That is, am I fairly small in the chest and the rear?

If so, you're in luck. These clothes may look just fine on you. If not--if you are, heaven forbid, over 23, curvy, well-endowed, fleshy, a mother, or otherwise possessed of bulges and folds that you would rather not advertise to the general public--the clothes in this book will likely make you look as if you are smuggling small bean bags in your underwear.

Why?

It's the patterns.

Rather, it's the lack of patterns. They would have you go to a thrift store, buy a jersey t-shirt that fits perfectly, cut it up, and then use half of it to make a "torso pattern" that you use for both front and back.

Let's consider the problems with this approach:

1. If you are over 23, not-thin, busty or hippy or both, you will not find a jersey t-shirt in any thrift store for love or money that fits properly. So your pattern will suffer from the outset, and there is not a hint in here as to how to modify that pattern to correct any fitting issues.

I have a set of jersey t-shirts both professional and casual, and I suspect you do as well. If you are over a b-cup--definitely if you are over a c-cup--and your t-shirts fit in the waist, you will notice that it stretches in horizontal bands across your back. That is a shirt that is too small across the chest. The two-flat-and-equal panels of stretch-fabric approach can only accommodate so much in the way of shaping, and most companies make their clothing to fit a b-cup. The farther you are from that norm, the less likely you are to find something that fits, unless it has a lot of shaping--in which case, it won't have two-equal-front-and-back panels that you can base this pattern off of.

2. Do I need to say this? Women are not equal in the front and back. It's one of the interesting things that make women's bodies different than men's bodies. Where in god's name are the boobs going to go?

3. Jersey is stretchy and it can be very forgiving when made well, but when made half-assed it can highlight every lump and fold you have for the entire world to see. The dresses truly do look great on the models in the book. The models in the book however are young, slim girls without any of those interesting squishy bits that most of us accumulate through time. Where the models are a little larger--and I do mean little--the downside of their entire approach is clear (for instance, the picture on p. 38 shows a dress that is clearly too small through the hips and bust and too large around the waist). I also suspect these models are wearing some super-strength foundational undergarments. There are, after all, no panty-lines, which is pretty exceptional in a book filled with stretchy skirts.

When I tried to picture myself in the clothes as shown in the photos, I felt first faint, and then faintly nauseous. Might as well run down the street in my least flattering underwear.

There is no shame in not wanting to sew your own clothes. For heaven's sake, there is an entire enormous industry dedicated to convincing you that you don't have to. So go ahead and buy crappy ill-fitting jersey clothes, if that's what you want to do. But why on earth you would spend more time and money on picking out fabric and making a pattern and sewing it up and then, maybe, embellishing it in one of the ways they demonstrate, only to get a crappy shirt or dress that fits just as badly as what you can get in the store for less money beats me. If you're going to go to all the trouble of choosing fabrics and styles and drawing patterns and sewing, isn't it worth the extra 30 minutes to find a pattern that will fit properly and take the time to shape it well? ( )

Chapter 1: Useful tips on choosing fabric: jersey (cotton, wool, rayon, bamboo/modal, silk), interlock (double-sided knit; doesn't roll at the edges), rib knits, woven fabrics, canvas, felt

Rolled edges are a sign that jersey is single-ply, not interlock, and will drape well

Change the needle after 8 hours of sewing, or between projects (13)

Essential tools and techniques
Trimming a corner, notching a curve, clipping a curve (illustrations, p. 19)

Visual guide to stitches (22)

Taking measurements, making your own pattern pieces (26-27)

Design #1: The Two-Panel Garment (p. 34-37)

Design #5: The Stretch-Panel Skirt (p. 54-57) ( )

I liked this book for the ideas for embellishing and fancying up the clothes I already have. I don't think some of the clothing patterns work for adult women and their curves but ever since having children, I was already using some of the techniques to upcycle worn clothes to make cute things for them. If you don't feel comfortable sewing without a pattern, this is a good book to start out with. ( )

This is such a liberating book. The focus is less on details and even patterns and more on creating original designs. It's the sort of book that makes you want to drop everything and start sewing. ( )