Weekend Review: Sew It Yourself

 

Sew It Yourself / Daisy Braid
London: Hardie Grant, 2022.
207 p.

This is a cheerful, colourful book with multiple pattern-free projects included - 10 clothing pieces, and 10 accessories, all with variations. The accessories range from scrunchies and tie belts to bags and face masks. The clothing covers tops, dresses and even one pair of pants/shorts. All of the clothing is boxy and voluminous, based on rectangles, squares or trapezoids, some with lots of ruffling or gathering. 

If you are a younger sewist, or someone who likes more free-form, body based sewing, you will love this. The patterns are very trendy right now, with tiered ruffly skirts, big sleeves, lots of gingham and 'sweet' colours. The accessory ideas are a great intro to sewing, and I think that total newcomers to sewing might be attracted to this book by it's trendiness and bright layout. 

The book begins with the basic facts of sewing: tools, materials and key skills to learn. It starts out simple, from how to measure yourself and cut out a project, and advances to making and applying bias binding, and even caring for your clothing. Then it goes into the project chapters, which have both photos of the project, and illustrations of the steps. Most of the projects are straightforward, being cut out in big blocks of squares or rectangles, with no closures, so they are accessible to new sewists. 

This kind of sewing is definitely not my style; oversized, ruffly or ginghamy is not my aesthetic. So I am unlikely to make any of these, except perhaps the boxy jacket which might work for me. But, the clear and friendly tone of the book, and the easy to approach instruction and projects, are welcoming to anyone wanting to learn. I found it well put together, with lots of variety and levels of sewing included. I think this would appeal to a newer or younger sewist who loves these kinds of outfits, and it would serve them well.