Something I Made (and a Book Review, Too)

I can remember exactly where I was (sitting on my sister's couch) and what I was doing (flipping through a D.I.Y. magazine) when I first saw Amy Butler's fabric. It was love at first sight. Just one problem: I didn't know how to sew. In fact, I had not even made an attempt at sewing since the eighth-grade duffel bag debacle. Even so, I would waste enormous amounts of time online gazing at her fabrics and things made with her fabrics.

Skip ahead to my 33rd birthday: I asked for a sewing machine and my mother-in-law delivered. I was so anxious. Sure that I would again fail miserably, I left it in the box for days. Then I took it out, set it up, drew some straight lines on a piece of fabric, and started to sew. And I could not stop. I made blanket after blanket. I made three Itty Bitty Baby Dresses and I made the infamous Buttercup Bag, both from Made by Rae. I could not get enough and still can't.

Back to the subject. Recently I made the Easy Empire Waist Top from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. This is the third item that I have made from this book; the first two being the Snuggie Wrap Blanket and the Modern Diaper Bag. I made the blanket first and noticed that the instructions were hard to follow; I had to read and reread each step multiple times. Even with all of the problems I had following the pattern, the blanket turned out really nice. The Modern Diaper Bag was a nightmare. It took me an entire day just to cut the pattern from the fabric and multiple layers of interfacing that was called for in the materials list. There are 23 steps with multiple sub-steps in this pattern with only three tiny diagrams to guide you along. The instructions were extremely complicated, but I finished it, and it does look nice. When I started the Easy Empire-Waist Top, I knew what I was in for. Once again the instructions were difficult to follow, and the diagrams were of little help. By the time I got to the lower panel, I just winged it and did what I thought would look nice and it does!

Here it is:

I had such trouble with the first sleeve that when I got to the second sleeve, I again winged it.

Here is the bottom panel; it has a split side:

And a pretty little vintage button for the back:

The floral patterned fabric is from a pillow case that I picked up at a garage sale. The solid fabric is from Amy Butler's Solids Collection.

Despite all of the trouble that I have had with the patterns in this book, I will still use it again. I love the end result, and I have learned so much about sewing through all of the ripping out and resewing that I had to do in the process.

Have you used any of Amy's patterns? If so, what was your experience like?
I would love to know!