Habibe AcikgozBold & Beautiful Easy-Sew Clothes: 15 Unstructured Designs That Fit and Flatter Every Shape, and Are Simple to Make

I admit I mostly just like looking at this book. Wonderful clothes in it. There is a cd of the patterns and it's intended that you print the patterns out on about a zillion pieces of paper on your home printer. I intend to take it to a place that makes blue prints and bypass what sounds like a super annoying and time consuming process. That said, most of the clothes seem doable. There are way more pattern pieces than usual, but if you look closely at the diagrams, it's clear that many of them are duplicates - in other words, rather than giving one piece and cutting four pieces from it - there are 4 pieces that are all the same. I also noticed that the models are standing on their tippy toes, especially wearing the pants. They are barefoot, and I'm guessing those pants are super long - how many 5 ft 2 inch models have you seen? So, I expect I would have to shorten them about a foot to fit me - and likely the rest of the garmets as well - however, I am used to that - just saying if you haven't done much sewing, that most patterns are made for 5 ft 5" women - and these look as though they are longer even than that. So, do compare the length with garments that you already know fit you.

I have been a fan of Habibe Designs for years, and always gave a sigh when looking at all the beautiful clothing on her website. Unfortunately, they were a tad pricy for me. When I saw this book, I was in "Linen clothes Heaven"!!!! I love this book, and can't wait to get started on my own new wardrobe featuring a majority of the 15 designs included. With a little tweaking, I bet I can alter them and come up with another 15 or so designs.:) The pictures a just wonderful, and I do appreciate the pattern pieces layout included on the same page with each design. Very well thought out. I can see why some people may have problems with this book though.. These patterns are not for the timid, nor are they for the novice seamstress. Printed patterns use LOTS of paper, as anyone who sews a lot would know. The patterns are not 'Hard' to make, but a high comfort level with your own skills is a must to get enjoyment from these patterns. Cannot wait for the next installment of Habibe Designs!!!

First of all I love these designs. They are so beautiful and a refreshing change up on the lagenlook scene. "Bold & Beautiful" Yes! "Easy Sew" Not so much. So I'm going to go through some of the things I've noticed as problems and then tell you why you might want to buy this book.As others have mentioned, many of the designs have many pattern pieces and some of them have complicated assembly. The book is well written but the instructions are not detailed enough that a beginning sewer would be able to easily navigate the construction of other than the simplest designs in this book.The other problem I have with this book is that most of the designs are not well suited to those of us who are on the short side. I'm 5'3" (about 160 cm) Couple that with those of us who are short and a bit robust in the bust and you will end up wearing a tent pretty quickly. The other problem I have with this book is that there are no finished garment measurements. While there is multi-sizing of patterns on the CD that comes with the book, most of those are in a range over many sizes. For example one pattern comes in sizes 10-16 and 18-24 (US). While these patterns are designed to be roomy, that's a huge size range. Five of the patterns come in one size only. And one of those actually says it will fit a size 10-28. If you are tall, maybe you can do that. But those of us on the other end of the height spectrum will not wear this well. Although some of the more complicated patterns do come in a larger range of sizes so fitting might be easier.As for altering these patterns, it can be done for a some the simpler designs. I've made the simple tunic and quickly found from measuring the pattern that was in my size, that it was going to be way to large. Even using the small size (US 8-10 when I'm more of 16) the finished garment would have been way too roomy and tent like for a short girl. Even on with a larger bust. I also found that the neck opening was a bit too small so I had to modify that as well. But with all of those caveats, the tunic turned out beautifully when I made adjustments to fit me better.The fabric for all of the designs is specified as linen. However, except in only a couple of cases, the weight of the linen is not specified. There is a lot of fabric in these designs, a lot of drape. I can't see anything other than handkerchief linen being suitable for most.Linen fabric is moderately expensive and I do so love linen. I would recommend that if you are sewing any of these patterns that you do a muslin mock up to begin with. I did this with the simple tunic and made a lot of adjustments before actually committing the linen to the scissors. You will thank yourself later :-)Why would you buy this book??1) Even if you only make one or two patterns out of this book the price alone is a considerable cost savings over individual patterns. It's got 15 unique design not just variations on a few.2) It is bold and beautiful. It's a collection. It's inspiring.3) If you've got some sewing experience and a bit of experience altering patterns, you'll be able to make up some unique clothing that is just exactly you.Yes, I am happy with this book despite the fact that I have some problems with the sizing proportions of the designs.

Love, love, love this book and the patterns. Perfect for my time of life and the comfortable clothing I love to wear. Linen fabric works fabulously with these patterns. Printing the patterns out is a little tedious and can be expensive.... average pattern is 48 pages. However, the patterns are so easy to assemble once printed and if you iron on light or medium weight interfacing it really stabilizes the pattern pieces. I've made several items and used the basic top in a sewing class. Most of the clothing items have many pattern pieces - I thing you can actually pin some of them together and not have so much sewing involved. The pieces are all for visual effect and simplification is sometimes the way to go. Overall, I rate this an A+ and would love to see a follow up book of new patterns.

Me encanto el libro. Tiene todos los patrones de la fotos presentadas, excelentes instrucciones y muy buenos tips para costura.

Very bad experience. I suggest not to buy it. Book doesn't have step by step instructions. I wish I get my money back. I don't want to keep book. I realise, I am in loss.

Beautiful, fun designs! Easy to print out patterns from the cd, tape the pieces together, and voila. I've made several items so far and will definitely make more. Best for lightweight material with a soft drape. So far I've used light linen blend, and cotton voile. Next I'm thinking of trying jersey.

Explications tres claires, facile a monter une fois qu'on a telecharger le patron et des modèles que j'adore.Il est vrai qu'il faut etre calé en couture pour pouvoir l'utiliser mais les explication sont la pour nous y aider.

I'm afraid I sent this book straight back. Unless you really want to look like a ship in full sail this really isn't the sewing book for you! The clothes are all tent like and then - if you want to add them large pockets to add to the already considerable dimensions. A larger lady would look enormous and a thinner one as though she was dressed in a tent!! I really can't say anything about the instructions or patterns as I didn't get that far. This really wasn't how I'd imagines it to be from the description. There are some modern, unusually shaped clothes about. They come from trendy shops and are extremely expensive - if that's what you're hoping to sew this is certainly not the right book!!