Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246807 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

Smart and fun!
This is a really great book, and for the price it is actually fantastic. It deals with designs that will appeal to a wide range of tastes and with some personal adaptations your possibilities are endless. There are 30 bags, each with a very different design, and the making of each is described in simple terms. In other words, no super-detailed instructions to confuse you, but simple and straightforward. I reckon it is useful to have some sewing skills and a creative problem-solving approach, but I do not think beginners should be put off from buying this book.

If you are looking for fun and somewhat playful designs, this book definately has them, such as ornate eveningbags and costume bags. If you need more practical bags for shopping or for carrying books and wallets and such things, this book has those too.

The book begins with a section on suggested equipment and fabric and other materials such as embellishments (e.g. beads, trimmings, buttons, handles, and fastenings etc). It brings up briefly how to make patterns and how to transfer them onto fabric, shows some basic hand stitches, some more decorative ones, and some machine seams.

The author suggests starting with a project to embellish a shop-bought bag, and shows how different decorations like brooches and braids can change the appearance of an otherwise bland bag. It then moves on to more and more elaborate designs. For each bag is a list of equipment and materials that you need, so it is easy enough to follow.

Like I said, there should be enough variety in designs to appeal to a variety of tastes. There are evening bags, shopping bags, beach bags, and everyday bags, but none that is particularly smart or corporate. If you would like to make something like that, you can of course adapt the design accordingly by using a suitable material and perhaps make the patterns a little more conservative, or sober, if that is desireable.

All the bags are pretty, and I say that even if there are some examples that I would not personally want to be holding on to ;) The point is, and this is the strength of the book, it is inspiring and delicious and will certainly get your creative ideas a boost. The author uses a lot of pearls, beads, mirrors, flowers, ribbons and very pretty fabrics that should give you lots of ideas for your own bag, but the essence of most bags, like the particular styles, is perfectly suitable for anyone. What material and decorations you pick will transform it into whatever you want.

Great - if you want to make bags!
I bought this as a gift for a handbag-making girlfriend.

She loves this book. It has so many funky designs, along with hints and tips on tools and techniques. She has already made a couple of the designs and they look great!

Buy it if you want to make your own bags and don't know where to start. Be warned though, a certain level of knowledge and ability is assumed, so it'll help if you can use a sewing machine and scissors and stuff. That's me out then!

Buy it and bag the great ideas in this book!
This great book starts off with chapters on equipment, materials and techniques such as instructions regarding how certain stitches are achieved. The sections on different fabrics and embelishments are small (a few pages) and therefore could have been slightly more informative, but they provide interesting descriptions, especially for amateur bag makers. The main part of the book is divided into seperate bag sections with step by step instructions to create the desired bag. There is everything from evening bags to sports bags and practical bags to really funky designs. Whether a novice or someone with more experience, you will probably find something in there!