I blame Pay Pal...

For the fact that I've purchased two sewing books in the last two months!

While I'm extremely happy with both of these purchases, I don't think I'd have gotten over the line with them if I had part with real money. I also got both on pre-order, so that reduced the price just a wee bit.

Last time I mentioned my purchase of the Collette book, a few readers asked for a review, so while I'm here I thought I'd review both books for you.

The Colette Sewing Handbook.

This book is super cute and I love its overall look. It contains five patterns, as well as sewing techniques and tips, including Sarai's three thread gathering technique, which I'm keen to try.

It also includes information on creating your own croquis, so that you can pick designs suited to your shape. A few bloggy examples of this can be found here and here.

Now the patterns. Out of the five in the book, I think I'd make three, maybe four..

The Meringue skirt (above) is just calling my name to be started. It's simple, but so cute with its scalloped hem.

The Taffy blouse (above) is also adorable and will eventually get made. You can see a couple of versions of this in blog land, like here and here. The pastille dress, which is shown on the front cover of the book, is also adorable and will get made by me one day.

I'm still not sure about the licorice dress (above). It looks fab in one photo and a little drab in the other. We'll see. I also don't think I'll make the Truffle dress. It's just a little too plain for me.

The Burda Style Sewing Handbook.

Like the Collette book, this also is a great sewing resource with a variety of hints and tips. It doesn't have that same cute look as the Colette book, but is still quite informative. I particularly like these two shots of a sewing space.

I'd love to have a huge, organised cutting table like this and I'm kicking myself now for getting rid of my old baby bottles. Who'd have thought I could store and display colour coded buttons in them??

This books has some great info on modifying patterns, which is the premise of the book, and has convinced me that I need a french curve ruler. These are some of the 'essentials' I need.

This book has five patterns with instructions for two variations of each of the five patterns. I can only see myself making three things in this book, but I'm still happy with that.

I really adore these tiered skirts. The plain one reminds me a little of the skirt Carolyn made for her daughter, the other has a scalloped overlay - need I say more??

I also really like this dress and have some black dobby voile in my stash that I could use for it.

 Some variations of this dress pattern.

These tops are also cute, especially the stripey one, but I'm not sure if I would actually make it.

So there you are. Two books and two reviews. I am super happy with both of these and hope to have a finished item from one of them to show you soon.

Happy sewing!