Book review

Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing

There was not much personal information about Gertie’s sewing experience in her book or in her other sources. She does talk about her love for 50’s styled clothes and how she realized it was difficult for her to find vintage clothes that fit completely, which than compelled her to start making her own clothing. She mentioned how she was somewhat of a contradiction because she dressed like a house wife of the 50’s but was a feminist. She did have a variety of social medias like a personal blog, a Twitter, a Facebook, and a Pinterest. I think the author is very knowledgeable about her work and she is informative in her book.

The layout of the book was nice and I found the book easy to read. I feel that the book is designed to read from cover to cover and as a reference book because though the book does have a lot of techniques, Gerties still gives some of her own personal tips in the reading. The two main projects in the book are how to sew Retro Contemporary and Vintage Patterns. The projects are well explained along with other mini projects; she also gives pros and cons of each. The index and the content tables are very helpful for finding exactly what any reader needs. I believe the pictures and the text in this book are evenly distributed.

The visual aids are extremely easy to understand as well as to follow. There are definitely more illustrations than pictures, which I tend to like because I feel the personalized illustrations bring more originality to the book.

The instructions on how to make pieces are clearly written and easy for anyone to do. The tone of voice in the book is informal to me because as a read you can hear her sense of humor throughout the book. The additional materials with the book are a couple of pattern making sheets to use with the projects. I would recommend this book to any level of sewer or to any sewer interested in designing vintage garments because I feel this book is not just a general how to sew book; the book focuses more on a vintage silhouette with techniques on how to get the correct fit. My overall impression of this book was good and I really enjoyed the introduction as well as some of the projects. I do think the book is worth the listed price because the book does its job and is very resourceful.