You’ll recall reviews of two of Erin Hentzel’s previous books, ‘Doll Dress Boutique’ (November, 2018) and ‘Doll Days’ (June, 2016).
It’s been a while since we’ve done a book review and I’ve got one for you today!
Erin has been at it again! I love that her books have sort of a ‘theme’, let’s have a little re-cap…
First, she gave us ‘Sew in Style’ back in 2014.
This volume was geared to ‘beginners, learning to sew’ and was wonderful for children and adults alike. The book was filled with patterns, as all of Erin’s books are, which really enabled a sewist to make a full compliment wardrobe with a few wonderful extras like sleeping bags and purses. SEW fun!
Next up, she released ‘Doll Days’, in 2016.
This book called for just a bit more sewing skill, still good for those fairly new to sewing. It also contained wonderful separates and outfits, such as this sweet cami and panty set I made.
I also made this darling dress –
We hit the jackpot again in 2018 when Erin released ‘Doll Dress Boutique’. You guessed it, this one focused on dresses!
What a wealth of information and design options it contained! The mix and match capabilities of sleeves, skirts and trims was a joy! Here is the sweet dress I made with this book – and I still have more planned!
How does she top all of this? With another wonderful volume, just as we’ve come to expect! ‘Me and My 18″ Doll is a set of companion patterns for little girls and their favorite doll.
There are darling clothing items here – like the cute gathered, twirly skirts shown on the cover – along with accessories like headbands and purses.
Great news on the clothing pieces. These include a sundress, sweet pj sets and tops; lots of fun choices. The patterns for girls include sizes 6 to 12. Awesome, right? I love this as it encompasses the most common sizes that our little doll enthusiasts are wearing. (C’mon, I know you’ve been frustrated by patterns like these that stop at size 8!)
Best of all, we get a secondary ‘theme’ – quilted items! This is exciting to me, as I’ve been sewing for most of my life and have yet to try any quilting.
Erin’s clear instructions and darling designs have me itching to see what I can do. She makes it so easy to get started, with a darling headband and pinafore that look simple enough to give it a go!
Ready for more than this? There are darling designs for bed quilts for girls and dolls! These are so perfect for little girls. Again, a review of Erin’s instructions makes all of this ‘do-able’
I hope you’ll give this book a try. You can find Erin’s book on her own website at Avery Lane Sewing, through the publish, C&T publishing or through Amazon. I’ve also had great luck finding Erin’s books at local sewing stores!
You’ll want to follow the blog tour, as scheduled below, and see what others are talking about. Now, to find a bit of time to make up a few of these darling ideas! Don’t miss the ebook giveaway at the end of this post!
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, Nov. 4
C&T Publishing (Guest post by Erin) | https://www.ctpub.com/blog
Tuesday, Nov. 5
Mer*Made9-Marge Robertson | https://mermade9.wordpress.com
Wednesday, Nov. 6
The Red Feedsack-Dori Troutman | https://theredfeedsack.blogspot.com
Thursday, Nov. 7
Jane Carroll Designs-Jane Wilkes | https://www.janiecarrolldesigns.com
Friday, Nov. 8
Terifications-Teri Lucas | https://terificreations.com
Monday, Nov. 11
Clothworks (Guest post by Erin) | https://clothworkstextiles.wordpress.com
mTuesday, Nov. 12
Cherry Blossoms Quilting-Cherry Guidry https://www.cherryblossomsquilting.com/blog
Wednesday, Nov. 13
The Quilting Company -Tracy Mooney & Lori Baker https://www.quiltingcompany.com/discover-learn
Thursday, Nov. 14
Avery Lane Sewing-Erin Hentzel | https://averylanesewing.com/the-blog
How about a little added incentive? Let’s have a drawing for a free E-book copy of ‘Me & My 18″ Doll’. Now remember I said ‘E-book’. This means you’ll receive a file to download on your computer or tablet; you will NOT receive an actual, physical book. No worries, the e-book contains all the same content and it’s easy to navigate or download the patterns you want!
Leave me a comment on what you like best about my blog posts and/or what excites you about Erin’s latest book. I’ll choose a winner on November 14th, when the blog tour ends. In the meantime, be sure and check out the blogs listed above. Happy sewing!
I really loved Erin’s Doll Dress Boutique book. I made almost every dress in the book. I have 4 nieces that love the dresses. Can’t wait to get started using these new patterns.
Love that you have shared your versions of Erin’s designs. Always good to see another spin on it.
Thank you for presenting Erin’s earlier books as well as the current one. The dresses you made are so cute!
Thank You for showing this book! My grands are still in that size range so will have to try something for them yet before they are too old…………
I loved seeing the pictures from the book you shared and the fact that the girl size patterns are thankfully larger than commercial patterns go. Not that I sew for kids much lol but if I get a request, at least I know the patterns will have a better chance of fitting.
I love Erin’s books. So far Doll Dress Boutique is my favorite. With this new book, I’m excited for the quilting patterns.
Thank you for sharing information on all of the books. I also liked the information on the fabric pencils. I was not aware of them.
My granddaughters were never into American dolls. And i have always wanted one. Well i got my wish and now i want to see some “stuff” for her. I love how quilting is incorporated into the book. So this book feed my quilting needs perfectly!
I am excited about this book because I have granddaughters and would like to make outfits for them and their dolls.
It was very helpful that you mentioned the previous doll clothes books.
So happy to see the little girl dress sizes go to size 12.
Thanks for giveaway, we have 4 dolls that need new clothes.
I love all of Erin’s doll clothes books. I am excited to see the new designs and variety of styles in this new book. I am also enjoying seeing the quilt designs – I think it is great that they will be in both child and doll size to make matching sets.
I love Erin’s books and I think the dresses you’ve made from her books are just gorgeous! The combination of items in Me & My 18” Doll is perfect! Having a suitcase and the quilts as well as the cute clothing items gives lots of scope for delighting the small ‘mothers‘ and their dolls. Love it!
My granddaughters are learning to sew using Erin’s patterns. It would be so much fun to make matching outfits for themselves, too!
My granddaughter’s are learning to sew using one of Erin’s books and would love to make matching outfits for their dolls with this one.
My granddaughters are learning to sew using one of Erin’s books and would love to match matching outfits for their dolls.