Stylish Skirts: 23 Easy-to-Sew Designs to Flatter Every Figure

by Sato Watanabe

Sew chic and original skirts with this stylish DIY sewing book.

Stylish Skirts allows you to create simple yet stylish skirts that look and feel great--at a fraction of the cost of store-bought fashion. With this sewing book, there's no end to the kinds of skirts you can create to match your body shape, your taste in fabrics and colors, and your mood (not to mention your favorite tops, shoes and accessories)!

The instructions and diagrams are a snap to follow and provide a huge variety of styles--from ultra-feminine to artfully disheveled. All 23 skirt designs in this book look great in different fabrics, colors, prints and textures, so the options are truly endless. The enclosed DIY sewing instructions make cutting and sewing these skirts a breeze.

Sewing projects

Genres: Sewing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference

64 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2014

Reviews

[Raechel Henderson]

I bought this book specifically because of the skirt shown on the cover and I don’t regret it. The skirts in the book are lovely. Many of the patterns are classics that have been updated with unusual fabric and color suggestions or trims. That said, this is a book that requires some patience on the part of the sewist.

The subtitle is “23 Easy-to-Sew Skirts to Flatter Every Figure” which could be true, but you wouldn’t know it from the pictures in the book. The finished skirts are arranged on what appears to be the same dressmaker model. One that fits a small size. This doesn’t diminish the beauty of the skirts, it just would be nice to see some of them in larger sizes to give more credence to the subtitle.

The book is arranged different from any other sewing book I’ve ever seen, with finished skirt pictures at the front and the instructions at the back. This may just be a matter of Japanese sewing books versus United States sewing books, though. It doesn’t take away from the book, it was just something I hadn’t encountered before.

All the skirts are self-drafted patterns, which I am in favor of. With this being a translation of a Japanese book, however, there are some issues with the instructions. When I made the 18 Panel Skirt in Three Colors, there was some confusion in the instructions about drafting the pattern. Fortunately, the Internet exists and people who had run into this problem had already worked out the solution. It pays to Google if one has a question about what the instructions are saying.

With the above in mind, this is not a book for beginning sewists. There is no section that goes over techniques or tools. Making a muslin of a particular skirt is suggested as it will give you the opportunity to make sure the instructions are clear.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this, with the hope that I would have time to make a skirt. I didn't have time, but I enjoyed looking at the pictures. I think it's odd that even though these designs are "to flatter every figure" all of the pictures are on skinny mannequins, and that you cannot see the waistband in any of the images.
I am sorry that I ran out of time to make any of the skirts. I think I would have enjoyed drafting a pattern, but it makes the whole process take much longer than tracing a pattern.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quickly skimmed - might borrow again once I get my sewing area set up.

Too many of the skirts are shown in dark fabric - making it extremely difficult to perceive any details.

All are shown on a small size dress form - not sure how flattering any of them will be on my very round/hourglass figure. May incorporate decorative details with patterns drafted for a curvy figure (Cashmerette or Seamwork perhaps).

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some nice ideas in here