Happy Birthday To Me!

I received some much-sought-after sewing books for my birthday. I was so excited to receive these books, you have no idea! First and foremost, I got Style Stitches by Amy Butler. This book has instructions for 12 different bag sewing patterns (I know the subtitle also says 26 different bags, but it’s basically 12 different bags, mostly with small/large options or short/long straps). You can see the selection of all the bags in the book here.

I’m really excited to say that I’m going to be attempting every last one of them. It may take me awhile, but I’m going to do it. I’m going to start at the beginning and work my way to the back, and post about my progress of course! The difficulty levels on the patterns are from easy to advanced; the further in the book you go, the more complex the patterns become. The pattern pieces are all printed on paper in a little folder at the end of the book. At around $16 on Amazon, this book is a great value. If you’ve ever used one of Amy Butler’s sewing patterns before, they usually cost over $10 each, so even if you only use two of the sewing patterns from this book, you’ve gotten your money’s worth.

Next, I got The Party Dress Book by Mary Adams. I looked at this book on Amazon.com a few days before my birthday. It wasn’t on my Amazon wishlist, but my amazing mom got it for me anyway, and I’m so glad that she did. This book exceeded my expectations, if only from skimming through it so far. I don’t think that the cover does the book justice. Amy Sedaris wrote the foreward for the book, and she describes Mary Adams’s dress shop as, “a pastry shop full of cakes dripping in colorfully dyed buttercream icings. It was a deaf person’s dream – a vision chock-full of bright colors and dramatic textures.”

There is a sewing pattern included in the back for the basic dress, which you can see an example of here. Then you take all the information laid out in the book to make your dress. It appears that there are dozens upon dozens of different options you can use to create your own special party dress. I personally love the look of the quilted bodice and the ruffled silk organza skirt with the beautiful petticoat look. I am excited to combine several colors, but I’m not sure which I’m going to use for my dress…I’m going to the fabric store tomorrow and I am planning on holding the silks up to one another to see which color combination I prefer. Definitely something bright and fruity! I am very very excited about making this dress over and over again.

Lastly, I got The Little Black Dress by Simon Henry. Although this book does teach you how to sew 3 basic dress styles, there are no pattern pieces included. Instead, I feel this book is more important for fitting dresses to your body as opposed to having to choose which size you happen to fall into, from the back of the pattern envelope that you get at the store. There are many, many pictures and the instructions appear to be very concise. I know this will be a useful book for making clothing in general.