Stylish Sewing by Laura Wilhelm

This book doesn't just focus on one type of item it has patterns for clothing, bags, cushions and toys so there's something for all the family in there (even men and boys which many books neglect.)   There are 35 different projects in the book and the great thing is there is a full size pattern sheet in the back. 

I have to agree with the title of the book, the items inside are very stylish plus the fabrics are gorgeous too making the pictures very easy on the eye.  Each project gets a 2 page spread including a photo of the finished item, instructions, materials list, a difficulty rating and details of which pattern pieces you need from the pattern sheet. 

Another good thing about this book is that the women's clothing goes up to an 18/20.  I absolutely love the very comfortable looking pyjama bottoms for men, women and children (different pattern for each).  Many of the projects are suitable for beginners but there are also projects in there for the more accomplished sewist too.  All in all I think you would be hard pushed to not find a project you would not like to make in this book.

This book is published by Search Press and can be purchased on their website here.

Search Press have kindly provided a project from this book for us to publish on The Sewing Directory, it can be found in our projects section.

Make Me I'm Yours....Sewing

This book contains 20 simple to make projects split into the following sections:  Beautiful Bags, Gorgeous Gifts and Perfect Pillows.   The projects in this book are gorgeous and are suitable for a beginner, but the items are so nice that a more experienced sewist won't be able to resist either.

For a small book it contains a lot of information, each project has several pages devoted it to it with clear step by step instructions and diagrams to guide you though and by the end of the book you will have picked up many new techniques.  I think all the projects in the book (not just those in the gift section) would make brilliants gifts making this book an ideal pre-Christmas purchase.

You will also find a very useful techniques section at the back of the book along with the templates for the projects.   I like the fact that at the bottom of the page for each project it tells you what pages to refer to for help with the techniques.

This book is published by David & Charles and can be purchased from their website.

Introduction to Making Cloth Dolls by Jan Horrox

Having never made dolls before I was amazed to see the amount of work that goes into them.  The dolls in this book require a range of techniques but each ones has a brilliant photographic step by step guide to take you through the process.  Even if you have never made dolls before with the aid of this book you should be able to.

As a person who finds visual guides a lot more useful that written guides I would find it easy to follow this book, its strength is the high quality photos accompanying every step of the projects.

These are not your traditional little girl looking dolls, the dolls in this book are elfin/fairy looking dolls which would appeal to adults as much as they would children.  If you have ever wanted to try doll making this book would be a good place to start, and if you have made dolls before but want to try something a bit different then this is also the book for you.

You can see more of the book on Jan's blog: http://www.jhorrox.blogspot.com/

This book is published by Search Press and can be purchased from their site by clicking here.