I'm so excited about this book!!! I'm an intermediate sewer. I've been sewing for more than 20 years but I prefer home dec projects to clothing because with sites like Sew4Home.com and sewmamasew.com where they turn out all free, all high quality patterns, my finished home dec projects have come put nicer than clothes patterns, which I still buy at the store and which sometimes work out great, and other times, are a total disaster (granted, Sew Mama Sew has lots and lots of clothes patterns, and whatever clothes I've sewed of theirs has turned out fantastic). For instance, last week I tried my first shirt dress, McCall's M6891, and had to read 4 blog posts about how to do the facing and collar, and it's still not perfect. Face punch.
I already own Whelan's first book, Sew What You Love, which is a wonderful book and I've already made many of the patterns in this book (the on the go dress/top is a wardrobe--and sewing--game changer!!! Omg shirring!!!!! Where have you been all my life!!!!! Plus my friend's 3 year old loves the 2 apple pie poofs I made for her room!!!). When I saw the Sew Many Dresses book come out, I salivated like Pavlov's dog. At last, it is mine. Mine! The precious!!!!
Erm ok.
This review is my initial impressions of the book, before I've cut out a single pattern or piece of fabric. The premise of the book is simply fantastic--have a working vocabulary of half a dozen bodices, skirts, sleeves, and collars, and you can pretty much assemble any type of dress, from beach cover up to wedding gown, that fits YOU perfectly and is 100% a product of your own imagination--no one is going to have the same dress (any lady going to prom, a formal event, a ball, etc., understands how critical it is to be 100% original!!).
I've read this book cover to cover and Whelan's directions are careful, clear, and inspiring. If you are a beginner or intermediate sewer, anxious about tackling things like a knit long sleeve dress, working with silk (what if you screw it up and it looks awful??? Sob!!!), inserting a zipper, sewing a shirt dress, or sewing a set-in sleeve, this book is for you. All the dresses are A-line shape, which is flattering for every body type (although there is a discussion on creating an empire waist). There is a LOT here to help you expand your sewing skills. The projects are beautiful but the lines of the dresses are unfussy, which makes these projects firmly in the realm of the home sewer. Once you feel proficient in the types of bodices and skirts, modifications can be made. For example, pockets could easily be inserted in the dirndl skirt, box-pleat skirt, straight skirt and its modifications, and circle skirt. I'm fairly certain you could adapt the mock-wrap bodice and the mandarin collar in order to create an Asian style dress with frog claps (and who doesn't absolutely love that look?!).
To bring this review full circle, the McCall's dress pattern is $19.95. This book is less than $20 and contains the well written, beautiful patterns for over 200 dresses. You will be inspired with this book. Need I say more??? Seriously, buy it now!!!
I will update my review after I make a dress or two!!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!!!
[...]
So making dresses in this book requires a significant time investment for the pattern preparation, deciding which tops and bottoms to combine, etc. I've decide to make one dress every month for a year, and I'm blogging about the experience:
[...]
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Love this book! I am not very experienced with sewing clothing, I'd say a confident beginner. I learned SO MUCH from this book. My daughter picked out the Mock Wrap dress with the Blue Skies modifications & it turned out great! I was a little worried when I first started as I have never traced my own patterns or modified anything, but by the end I developed an intuition based on Tanya's methods to adjust the pattern. That is huge for me. I feel like after sewing patterns from this book I am better able to understand clothing patterns overall. I love the styles she presents, leaning toward the classic & vintage style, but you can make it all your own with the basic skirts and bodice patterns she gives you. I also love that you get instructions if you want a stand alone skirt or blouse. I highly recommend this book!
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if you love making your dresses, that is for you:-)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 14, 2019Angela Pirotta
definitely my best sewing book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 16, 2017
