Tina Sparkles

I love the idea behind this book--taking outdated and unwearable fashion and making it fresh, new, and wearable. Tina gives great advice in this book about how to create your own patterns, how to fit clothing to your body, as well as some truly eye-opening statistics about how much wearable clothing finds its way into landfills each year. This book is full of pictures and diagrams and chock-full of tips and techniques. That said, however, I really don't think I'd find myself using much from this book BUT the tips and techniques. I guess I was hoping that this book would be more about altering finished garments to make them more current (which she does discuss, but not in great detail), but instead it focuses on taking the usable fabric from a previous garment and treating it as from-the-bolt. I had really hoped to see more finished products that could be made from existing items in one's wardrobe (there are some, but they're really more the exception than the norm); instead it seems that many of the designs require larger pieces of fabric than one can typically get from items already in one's own closet. Once she gets past the how-to sections, for the most part, she loses me. Very few of the designs really fit my style, so I can't see myself making many--if any--of the patterns. I'm very tempted to try her three-level approach to DIY pattern making before I sew my next garment, though. She really does a good job of descibing the step-by-step process required.… (altro)

Little Green Dresses is the kind of book that the younger generation interested in sewing will love. As the title implies the book focuses on ways to re-use old garments and other sources of fabric and make these into new favorite wardrobe pieces. In some cases the projects detail how to change a certain type of item, such as a shirt, into another, like a dress. In other cases, the projects simply suggest finding large objects like old sheets for re-use in new clothing.

While the book contains plenty of green ideas for creating new clothes, it's other strong point is that it outlines how to create your own patterns. A beginning section includes things such as making measurements, how to adjust already made patterns, and how to make a basic pattern for a dress that fits you exactly. This basic dress pattern is used throughout the project section of the book. The projects have a good range of difficulties. There are enough easy projects to get used to making patterns and practice sewing and also enough more challenging projects that you won't get bored. My favorites of the projects tend to be the dresses and the skirts.

While there is a section of the book devoted to sewing techniques, the book is not a sewing reference book. If you already know the basics of sewing, are interested in learning how to draft your own patterns, and have an interest in re-using and remaking clothes, then this book will be interesting for you. The patterns are aimed towards young people who are adventurous when it comes to fashion. Personally, I would not wear about half of the projects shown in the book, but since there are 50 projects, that still leaves plenty that I would.

This book would be an excellent addition to a sewing library.… (altro)