Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time: The Ultimate Dressmaking Guide

So many books these days are aimed either at complete beginners or at more advanced tailors wanting to learn about time-consuming couture techniques involving much tacking, interlining, padding and hand-sewing. There’s very little on the market for sewers who have basic sewing skills and want to make clothes but who do not have the inclination or time to master advanced pattern-drafting skills. Such sewers just want the knowledge and confidence to make a variety of unfussy styles for their everyday wardrobe without having to buy multiple expensive patterns, most of which use very similar bodice blocks or skirt blocks. With commercially bought patterns, you’re often paying for a pretty picture, or unneeded trim suggestions, unaware that at least half of your pattern is already in duplicated elsewhere in your stash. Sometimes, all you want is the skirt pattern, but you have to pay for an unwanted jacket and trouser pattern as well — for the same price as this book!This book lets you make any kind of dress or skirt you want, with easy to follow instructions. You can mix and match bodices, skirts, sleeves and collars to achieve a huge number of different looks. The basic blocks fit together very cleverly without any extra input. But for the more advanced or adventurous sewers, there are instructions for how to adapt those basic pattern blocks to create any design you can dream up. The book gives you the basic recipes, which you can add to vary according to taste and skill.This is a practical “how to” book which not only demystifies the whole process of constructing a dress but also makes it much easier to understand than other books on the subject. It doesn’t blind you with science or go into massive technical detail — no need to! Just trace your pattern and get started as per the instructions. The finished garments modelled in the photos show the high quality that can be achieved from good fabric and relatively simple patterns — unlike the shapeless garments made out of plastic found in today’s rough and ready fast fashion.

I love this book so much! I'm only really a beginner, sewing for just under a year, so I would recommend it if you've had a little experience sewing. I've had the book for a couple of weeks and already made plenty of dresses from it. The only things to be wary of (and this could be my own fault) is when you do a pattern drafting of your own such as the circle skirt, she explains it but the way she explains it is much harder than it needs to be and, in my case, way way too big. For the skirt pattern alterations you just need to make sure that the pattern is just over 1/4 of your waist size (I made one particular skirt that wrapped round me twice). What I've found is I can read what she says and if it doesn't make sense to me or the pattern I've drafted is way too big, then I go and look it up myself, for example making the circle skirt, so it's not really an obstacle.I would highly recommend this book because it has all of the basics e.g. basic bodice (which she shows you how to turn into a blouse too) and basic skirt and then various necklines. Then you can get more complicated bodices and draft more interesting skirts. I feel with this book you can make almost any dress you see (I've already got a pinterest folder filled with dresses I want to make.) I also think it's a great way of advancing your skills at your own pace. I can't say how much I love this book enough, it's the best sewing book I've ever bought.

In buying this book, I shouldn't need to buy another dress pattern - ever! It has every type of neckline, sleeve and skirt style you might ever want in a dress, for any occasion, even a simple wedding dress, with instructions for lining too. The patterns come in 12 sizes, so cater for a range of body shapes. The editor clarifies the dressmaking process making it accessible for beginners and more experienced sewers alike.I expect tracing the patterns to create my basic designs and fit to require an up front investment, which you might expect if you want to achieve a good fit. However, the pattern pieces are squeezed onto 3 large sheets in black & white, and overlap, each with 12 size lines - I expect tracing to be tricky, although haven't tried this yet.My last point if that each of the sizes is provided with measurements, but it's not clear what ease is included, or what the finished sizes are. Again, this can be resolved by investing time to build a pattern based on personal measurements. None of this is a problem, but whereas the author points out many women used to make many of their own dresses, given today's busy working lifestyles, for me this will require patience and tenacity over several weekends.

Since retiring I have rekindled my interest in dressmaking. I had seen this book before and have been too long deciding whether to get it or not. I have previously bought some other books like the great British sewing bee and others that are regarded in pattern making and alteration, but apart from the fact that I am having to do some tricky tracing off of the supplied master patterns, this book has put everything that I have read in other books straight into a much more straightforward and understandable, with a little effort, set of instructions. I am quite re-enthused to get creating. Wished I got this book first. The sewing bee books are really good because of the patterns and detailed instructions too, but this book is now my fave!

I got this book previously and found it a great resource to get into the idea of adjusting patterns so bought a 2nd copy as I left the original with friends. in this book the vast majority of the ideas have a pattern for them but tehre is just enough to get my feet wet and see how patterns can be mixed and matched to get more into drafting/creating my own patterns. A stepping stone for those interestsed in this and for those who don't its still a great combo of versatile patterns.

Beautiful book with basic pattern n thier is technique how to manipulate it into new designs frm basic. Step by step technique shown how to sew it brilliant book for beginners .

Libro fantastico per chi ha già confidenza nel confezionare abiti. Il risultato finale è pari, se non migliore ai vestiti esposti nelle boutiques a caro prezzo. Potrete avere tutti i vestiti che avete sempre sognato in un unico libro! Mi ricorda tanto il "gira la moda" con qui giocavo sempre.Se in alcuni punti le misure vi sembrano inesatte, consiglio di usare tessuti molto elasticizzati.

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:[...]

J'ai de l'expérience pour dessiner mes propres patrons au lieu de les acheter tout prêts, et généralement c'est ce que je fais - mais pour les créations moins "personnelles", comme des petites robes d'été, c'est sympa d'avoir déjà quelque chose de tout prêt à simplement tracer et couper. Bien sur, il est recommandé d'ajuster les patrons basiques à son corps avant de commencer, mais le livre contient des instructions pour ce faire. Ayant une toile basique à vos mesures, les modifications seront toujours les mêmes pour tous les patrons et toutes les combinaisons que ce livre permet.Les instructions de montage sont sommaires mais assez claires et bien illustrées.