Words cannot describe how much I love this magazine. I’ve been reading it for about a year now, and it is everything that I’ve been looking for in a sewing magazine geared to newer sewers: it’s fun, fashion forward, and super informative. Not only do the editors pull looks from the runway as inspiration for the garments in the magazine, but they also help new sewers break out of the saftey zone of only sewing a garment straight from the pattern instructions. They add new elements, change proportions, and in some cases give a pattern a completely new look. This is a wonderful thing; it helps the new sewer see beyond the design on the envelope and realize the potential hidden inside. I myself have never liked to be limited with patterns, and when I was sewing in high school I played around with stuff like this, changing lengths and mixing different sleeves to create new, um… “looks,” if you could call them that (I’m referring to my days of inspiration from Lord of the Rings). This magazine would have been helpful then, and it’s really rekindled my curiousity and inspiration of what “could be” instead of “what is.”

The articles are really great in this issue. I especially love the alterations to create a houndstooth swing coat, a lace yoke dress, and a crazy pleated skirt based on instructions on draping your own slopers. Definitely pick up this issue, it’s a good one.