In the spring I made myself a trench coat and after countless of different variations a decided on Named's Isla. I also bought their first book "Breaking the pattern" last summer. I've been sewing this year a lot, maybe because I've had the time and the inspiration to do it (honestly I've wanted to reduce my stash, but that is another story).
So when I saw that they were publishing a new book, Building the pattern, I actually preordered it. I have never done that before, but their pocket pattern for trousers looked pretty and I totally fell in love with the wrap skirt pattern.
And this past month I actually had the time to make two projects from the book: the Sorja Wrap skirt and the Luova shirtdress. You can see all the different patterns and the variations on their website. Both are sewn from cotton poplin, bought from Marimekko's Outlet.
The book has three parts: instructions on how to make adjustments to get the fit right, general sewing instructions and then the patterns.
My first thoughts:
The book is visually nice and the pictures and diagrams are nicely done. It has been written with much attention to details and includes so many things that people who sew like. I think that only thing that was missing was a blank sheet for your own notes :) But the pages have empty space so you can write down notes in the margins if needed.
The pictures show the general idea on how the clothes are supposed look like when worn. It has shots of the details in different variations and even showing the back of the garment when worn. It actually helps a lot, when you try to imagine what the finished garment looks like if you sew it.
(My rant: so often sewing magazines feature a nice pose of the model with no thought on the garment itself. For example if you are making a jacket and the model is striking a pose with the said jacket open and little bit bend over, it impossible to try to figure out the fit of the shoulder seams in that photo. I appreciate good photos in the pattern that tell you how that garment is supposed to look like)
The book feels heavy, because the paper it is printed on is thick, so the pages turned when opened and placed on the table. I had to flip through pages when sewing a project, should've used post-its, makes the flipping quicker and easier.
Instructions on adjustments:
Absolutely my favorite part of the book! The book has good pictures and diagrams with simple explanations on how those adjustments are made to different pattern pieces. The diagrams are clear with color codes and the explanations are kept short and simple.
In the end I didn't need to make any special adjustments to my clothes. I shortened the dress from the hem by few cm and moved the pockets a bit higher. The patterns are designed for someone who is 170cm, and me being 164cm requires some adjustments of the length. I also added pockets to the skirt. I actually read that section tgrough after flipping through my book and I learnt a lot about adjusting the patterns from it and I'll definitely return to that section, if I ever need to make adjustments to the patterns.
The general sewing instructions:
I think every sewing pattern has these I guess. I skipped through most of them and only read the bits that were relevant for my projects.
The sizing chart was easy enough to read and it has different sizing systems from over the world included, so figuring out your size was pretty easy.
The patterns:
The idea is to build a capsule wardrobe from the clothes and the book has 6 patterns (plus a bag) or pattern blocks that give you twenty different variations in the end, at least according to their website. There is for example a pattern that you can make into a top, dress, wrap dress and wrap skirt or a pattern that you can sew into trousers, shorts and jumpsuit.
The patterns are step-by-step instructions with pictures and illustrations. The written instructions are simple and even I as a non-English native was able to get through the instructions with the help of the illustrations quite easily. I liked that there was the chart of finished measurements of the sewn garment, because some of the patterns have a lot of ease and I definitely would've made the dress too big for me without the instructions pointing that out.
Because there are so many different variations and all instructions for the variations are included in the pattern. I had to really be careful (at least with the dress pattern) that I was following the right variation instructions/illustrations at some steps of the pattern. Some of the variation instructions are at the beginning of the pattern (like the hidden snap closure for the dress was in the overview of the pattern), so reading the pattern (very) carefully before (and when) sewing helps a lot.
The placement of the patterns on the sheets was okay, but somehow I felt that I was moving the pattern sheet a lot to when tracing. Sometimes you even had to turn the sheet around when tracing and change pattern sheets. I didn't like it, but I guess the reason for that was to keep the sheets clean and nice-looking and not too crowded (/having the same same patterns pieces, like pockets, in every sheet) like in some magazine pattern sheets.
The different variations were marked on the sheet quite ok and were easy to distinguish from each other, when you read all the markings carefully.
I think the book was worth the money I spent on it, because I actually made something from it (I haven't made anything from their first book yet...) which for me is an important criteria for a book. I think I might make another wrap skirt if I find a nice viscose, I liked that pattern so much.
I like how the book has been put together with the sewists in mind: good visuals, simple diagrams, easy to read charts and the instructions on pattern adjustments, and the quality of the product.
At some points the written instructions could've been clearer/placed differently on the page to make it easier to follow. Maybe using numbers in illustrations to match the step in the pattern or I could've used a pencil to highlight the variation I was making.
Would I use these designs as a basis for my capsule wardrobe? Probably not, not all of the designs are my style or something I'd like to wear, but I like the idea of making a pattern that can be modified into many different clothes. If I was sewing a capsule wardrobe for myself, I'd probably pick a few of the patterns of this book to be included in that, like a loosefitting shirt and a detailed jumpsuit, or use some of the details used in this book, like the pockets for trousers.
So these are my opinions and thoughts about the book, I hope you found them helpful!
-Minttusuklaa
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