I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of the new book by Sarah Gunn and Julie Starr, A Stylish Guide to Classic Sewing. Since my self-described style is “Audrey Hepburn with a Twist”, I was excited to see what this book had to offer. And I was not disappointed. Let me tell you why.
The book is organized in six sections and addresses 30 different garment styles within those sections.
- Skirts
- Tops
- Dresses
- Pants
- Outerwear
- Last But Not Least (a couple of miscellaneous garments)
The section on each of the 30 garment styles gives a description, a brief history of the style, a few sewing and fabric tips, styling suggestions and some of the famous people who were known to have worn it. I loved seeing my icon, Audrey Hepburn, show up in the book’s dedication as well as 10 of the 30 garment styles!
In the introduction to the book, Sarah and Julie describe their purpose for writing the book:
“… to trigger sewing mojo and awaken your personal style by presenting 30 timeless garments that have endured the test of time and carried dozens of trends through the decades.”
Each garment style in the book is beautifully illustrated, giving the reader an image of each one being discussed, but the center of the book includes a large gallery which goes even farther with real pictures of real people wearing each of the various garment styles presented throughout the book. Most of the people in the book are people you will be familiar with if you are active in the online sewing community. That made looking at them extra fun for me. I felt like I was looking at an album of friends and family! This gallery of pictures would have been inspiring enough, but they didn’t stop there. The captions on the pictures also include pattern information. I loved that! It makes it so easy to move me from the book into my sewing room and recreate them for myself!
Even if your sewing is not geared toward the garment world, if you are interested in creating your wardrobe in a classic style, this is a wonderful resource. Lots of both fun and useful information. The book is available on Amazon and if you use this link to make your purchase, you will be supporting not only Sarah and Julie, but Plano ASG as well!
Sounds like a great find! Thank you for sharing ….