I don’t review sewing books, as a rule (or, well, ever), but since Potter Craft was good enough to send me a copy of “Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time: the Ultimate Dressmaking Guide,” by Tanya Whelan, I wanted to at least mention it–if only because it’s as impressive as hell, even to somebody who hasn’t tried sewing her own clothes since high school.
This book is not only 208 pages of thorough information about, well, everything you need to know about dresses–bodices, necklines, sleeves, skirts, fitting–but it comes with paper patterns you can use to make them. (I’d never really thought about that before–what an advantage knitting books have because they can just tell you the pattern and all you need to do is supply the yarn. But for sewing, of course you need something to lay on your fabric to get the shapes right.
Like I said, I haven’t done any serious sewing (i.e., clothes) in years–the most my sewing machine does these days is liners for knitted bags and the occasional hem. I do still have a decent number of books about it, and this one impressed me a lot. Lots of detail, lots of variations, lots of useful information–all with good photos and clear illustrations.
It might not be my usual kind of book to review, but if dress-making is something you’re at all interested in, you should definitely check this out.
You can get Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time here at Amazon.com.
