Day Out in the City ...and a new book!

We had skipped into the city to see the O.N.O photographic exhibition at the Central Tafe Gallery, featuring work by Australian and International Artists . Unfortunately the gallery isn’t open on a Sundays, at least not for this exhibition, so we missed out (much to my and Rod's dismay). Still all was not lost as there were a couple of other places I had on my list to visit next time I was in the CBD...
First up was to check out King Street – Perth’s epicentre of design and decadence.
Since the resource boom in WA the stores have been continuously upgrading and upmarketing on a scale not seen since the early 1980s. Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Empire Rose all have a shopfront on King street , but the main (and most exciting) reason I wanted to visit today was that Perth now has a Tiffany’s!!! This is something I never thought I would see but goes to show how times are a-changing...

Next stop was Borders and a perusal of the magazine selection. Not much luck there (we seem to be hideously slow in getting overseas sewing magazines here) but a visit to the sale table turned up an unexpected gem:







How to Sew by Nikki Trench
ISBN 978-1-4075-1764-3

Now this book is aimed at the absolute beginner, and while I am not strictly a beginner anymore I found the projects inside too cute to resist...
A pretty suntop that can also be lengthened into a sundress.

Some nice Cargo shorts – though hubby being quite conservative I don’t know if I would have much luck with stripes.




A wraparound top that I think would be really nice and cool to wear when we move up to Darwin.









Other projects include: Bunting, Reversible Shopping Bag, Slouchy Drawstring Pants, Flirty Flared Skirt and Tie Ribbon Panties.

I must admit the use of fabrics and styling really helps to make this book a little more trendier than other beginner sewing ones I have seen.

This book would probably appeal to tween and teen sewers, with its more contemporary approach, as well as adults. The only drawback may be that paper patterns are not given, you have to enlarge and photocopy from templates at the back. Also the size range may be limited for some (S,M,L), as I haven’t made any of the projects up yet I have no idea how they would correspond to regular sizing. Looking at the models in the photos I am assuming that being a size 14 to 16 I will probably be pushing to use the size L and may have to enlarge the pattern pieces a bit more to get the right fit . However seam allowances for most of the projects are 1.5 cms so there is also the option of just using a 1cm or 0.5cm seam, instead of grading up a size.
Now I picked this book up for $9.95 (hardback) off a “sale” table, but looking on Amazon US and UK I would think that this is the regular RRP. At this price it would make a fantastic gift for a beginner sewer, perhaps given with a few sewing notions and a few metres of suitable cotton fabric?