Customer Reviews

Kids' Clothes Sew Easy: Easy to Sew T-Shirts, Tracksuits, Leggings, Trousers, Shorts, Dungarees, Anoraks, Skirts and Dresses

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was so excited to find a new book about sewing children's clothes, since most books were written in the 1970's and 1980's.
Basically, this is a book about pattern making for children's basics. The problem is you need to have a good deal of sewing knowledge before tackling this. Descriptions of the idividual sewing projects are very brief. There are nice color pictures though. The embellishing ideas are listed very briefly with no directions. There was so much potential here if there would have been more instruction of sewing details, variations and embellishments.

The reason I loved this book is that you can make clothes for your kids without buying lots and lots of expensive (and, frankly, confusing) patterns. I felt so creative deciding how I wanted to make things, instead of relying on the pattern makers. This is a book on how to make patterns, it doesn't teach you how to sew.

With a little geometry I made pajamas for my twin girls making my own patterns. So cool!

I got this book after struggling to find clothing to fit my stringbean of a daughter. With it, I was able to create clothing (dresses, shirts, pants, etc.) that beautifully fit her size 2T circumference and 4/5T height. I highly recommend it if you want to sew for kids who are smaller/larger than the standard pattern measurements, without spending all your time altering and re-drafting commercial patterns.

There are a couple places where the instructions didn't make perfect sense the first time I read (and worked through) them, and I *think* I found an error in the drafting instructions for one of the pattern blocks (can't recall exactly what it was, but it was pretty obvious what I should do in any event).

One previous reviewer commented on the lack of detail in the sewing instructions. I agree, the instructions are pretty sparse, and assume a you have some sewing experience/knowledge. However, the focus of the book is on *pattern drafting*, not sewing. If you find yourself really stumped, I'd suggest picking up a commercial sewing pattern (McCall's/Simplicity/etc.) for a similar style garment. Jo-Ann's or Hancock Fabrics have them on sale for $1.99 at various times during the year. It doesn't even have to be a kid's size, just a similar style so you can use the instruction sheet as a reference. Problem solved!

With my daughter turning four this month, I anticipate I will be getting a LOT of use out of this purchase over the next several years. (Already she is asking if she can "help" me design some new clothes - I can't wait to teach her how to sew and design for herself.)

I bought this for my daughter, a mother of three. She loves it and uses it frequently.