hissingpotatoes's reviews
1396 reviews

There are no photos of the finished projects, just highly stylized illustrations. The instructions are laughably bare minimum. Many of the designs look hideous/impractical and/or just include random cutouts as if that makes a style. 

I'm not too impressed with these basic projects. There's a lot of repetition, like making flowers to put in various applications. Most of the projects could be made with any fabric/yarn, so the t-shirt doesn't really seem to be highlighted. 

Despite the title saying "Beyond Fashion," the vast majority of the ideas are for shirts, bottoms, and fashion accessories. There are sections for babies/children and men, though the men's section is mostly the same decorative technique applied slightly differently. Like the first book, the models are all thin, though at least this book calls for relative t-shirt sizes instead of specific ones. While I question the longevity of some projects like the dog leash and the oven mitt that doesn't use heat-resistant material, the ideas are great and varied. It's fun to flip through this book and look for easy ways to freshen up your wardrobe. 

The transformations included are mostly for shirt variations and other types of clothing. The ideas are great, though every single model is super thin. The easy-to-follow instructions make getting creative with t-shirts approachable. There are lots of little tidbits about t-shirts in history and pop culture. 

There aren't as many diagrams/photos as I'd like, but the written instructions seem to include the necessary details to make following along easy. The projects are quite varied and all fit the "on-the-go" theme nicely. 

The projects are varied, some with nice applique/paint designs, some with cute animal shapes. Each numbered step in the instructions has a photo, but when each numbered step actually includes multiple steps, it's hard to tell what's being pictured and to follow the unpictured steps. The instructions don't always clearly indicate which sides should be facing where. I like the breakout instructions for common methods like installing hardware and making pockets. 

On the surface it looks like there are enough diagrams and detailed notes accompanying the step-by-step directions, but they're presented in a very confusing way. I tried to follow along with one of the projects and was lost from step one. The fabric measurements from the materials list don't match what's actually used. 

This is a nifty book with nontraditional bag-making techniques, including stapling and using duct and packing tape. Some of the projects creatively use household items (e.g. shower curtains, place mats, zippered pillow cases, t-shirts, even bubble mailers, Monopoly money, candy wrappers, and AstroTurf). These nontraditional approaches and materials make this book unique and inspire a new way of thinking about making things. I love the sidebars with little history and other notes on various materials. Though I think there could be even more diagrams, the instructions do include a decent amount. 

Theoretically the projects are nicely varied. However...there are NO PHOTOS of the finished products. There are just basic overall illustrations, no shots of insides or other useful angles. If you're lucky there's one or two simple diagrams for all the step-by-step directions in an entire project. Mind blown. 

I like that the step-by-step instructions for the main projects include photos and that the projects span a nice variety of styles/uses. There are instructions for variations on the main projects and for matching accessories. It's odd that the basic technique instructions come after the projects, but they're thorough and include many decoration methods. The book is overly gendered (starting with the first line "It's a fact of life that every girl loves bags").