Book Review – Straight Line Sewing Dress and Tunics for Ladies

This week’s book review is about Straight Line Sewing (again!) It’s a relatively new book, just published in June this year. I’ve seen and even bought quite a number of these straight line sewing books so it’s not a new concept, but what I really like about this one is the design and styling of the photos. The pieces look wearable, yet with a designer touch. As a matter of fact, the patterns are created by a designer. You can check out more of her works on her website http://wei-wei-wei.com/

The title of the book is rather long – Straight Line Sewing Dresses and Tunics that Ladies want to wear.

The book includes sewing projects of varying difficulties. Suitable for everybody from beginners to advance sewists. The only problem (or it may be actually a plus point for some) is that there is only one size. There is only one set of measurements for cutting out the fabric. However, the completed dimensions are also included so it’s a good point of reference to see if it fits you. If it doesn’t you can always attempt to scale the pattern up or down since the patterns are mostly rectangular anyway, so it wouldn’t be as complicated as grading a pattern with curves.

Here are the patterns included in this book.

Some of the projects come with variations, using the same patterns but with different color blocks for a whole new look.

Each of the project has a difficulty indicator, with 1 scissors symbol for the easiest projects and 4 scissors for the most difficult one. I think there is only one dress (N) with a 4 scissors rating.

Simple Tunic with 4 corners along the side seams to give it a drapey effect.

You can’t quite tell from the picture but this dress is made up of one rectangular piece of fabric, with holes cut out in strategic positions for the head and arms. Level of difficulty? 1 scissors 🙂
The reason why I say that the holes are positioned strategically is because, in theory it seems simple enough to create a dress just by cutting out holes in the fabric, but it is also too easy to end up looking like you’re wearing a poncho or a makeshift halloween costume. I thought the end result looked pretty good!

What I thought was a easy color block tunic turns out to be rated 3 out of 4 scissors in difficulty.

Another easy piece to make but with gorgeous results.

This is essentially the same as the previous dress, except that it’s a shorter tunic version and using different color blocks.

An apron dress for layering over a shirt or t-shirt

V-neck collar dress

Round neck dress with cute drawstring details on the shoulder seams.

Tunic with tie straps, the use of two black fabrics of different materials make it an interesting piece.

Not particularly fond of the color combination here, but the jumper style dress with a cross back detail is cute for layering over a blouse.

A more formal looking dress, this is the project that was rated 4 scissors! I took a look at the instructions, and couldn’t find what was so difficult about it other than having to create gathers where the black skirt joins with navy blue sleeves . Could that be it?

Another stylish dress to make. I just love the simple lines, use of two different colors for the left and right panels, as well as the added ribbon detail near the shoulders.

This has got to be my favourite dress of the lot. Made with two different color fabrics for the front and back. This dress is rated 1 scissors so it’s possible for even beginners to make this! This dress is literally made out of a rectangle, cut out a hole for the head, and sewing up the sides leaving holes for the arms. I swear I have seen this kind of dresses being sold in stores for real money. Now isn’t it wonderful YOU know how to sew and can make this for yourself? 🙂

As mentioned earlier, the projects in this book are all free-size, so there is no size chart to fiddle with. The pre-sewing instructions are also very brief, probably also because the projects are really rather simple and not much needs to be said about how to cut out rectangular pieces of fabric right?

An example of the how to make section. For most of the projects, the patterns you need are basic rectangles, with the cutting dimensions provided. The instructions are all in diagrams.

A close up of the sewing diagrams.

There are some parts of certain projects that require pattern pieces. For example, the collars and skirt pieces. These are provided in one actual size pattern sheet on the back of the book.

Title : 大人が着たい まっすぐ縫いのワンピース&チュニック
Author : Wei : 中神 一栄 Kazue Nakagami　Website | Facebook
ISBN No : 978-4528017894

I hope you like what I reviewed today! I’ve been so swamped with work lately that I have to find snippets of time in between to update my blog. So you can tell there is hardly even time for sewing. 🙁 I hope to make something from this book soon though, since I don’t have to trace any patterns it can be just a quick sew! Hopefully this weekend?

Have a good weekend everyone, especially those of you who WILL get to sew!