Friday, January 9, 2009

Sewing Books: Sew What Skirts vs. Sew Everything Workshop

I got a sewing machine for my birthday a few months ago and have had a lot of fun re-learning how to sew. My mom always sewed a lot and taught me how but I haven't sewed in about 15 years. It was cool to find how much I remembered. I picked up two books on sewing and thought I'd share my experience doing some of the projects.

The first project I tried was a simple a-line drawstring skirt from Sew What! Skirts by Francesa DenHartog. The premise of the book is that you don't need no stinkin' patterns, just draw on the fabric and make your own for a custom fit. Well, I followed the instructions exactly and ended up with a puzzlingly gigantic skirt. I was able to alter it along the way but the final result was unflattering and discouraging. I kept second guessing myself and ended up feeling like I wasted a lot of time.



The second sewing book I tried was Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. This book starts out with the basics and contains a bunch of clever home and clothing projects along with 10 paper patterns. I made the "Breezy Easy Wrap Skirt" which was in fact easy but took a bit of time. I only got lost once but plunged ahead anyway. If I had read further in the instructions I would have been able to get my question answered so I blame myself. The skirt turned out adorable and very professional looking. The only complaint I have is that with equal length ties it doesn't really function as a side-tie wrap skirt. It looks best either tied front center or back center and can be worn either way which is a plus. Overall I think this is a better book and I'll definitely be making this skirt again and trying the other projects. Right now I think I have more confidence in paper patterns.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I also have both books and prefer S.E.W. Workshop. My skirt from Sew What! Skirts (I made 3; all failures) were incredibly huge. I couldn't believe how big they were. They were unwearable.