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I’m a big fan of Project Runway (though I didn’t discover the show till the middle of the 3rd season)

I always wondered how they could make such beautiful clothes from just a sketch. Well now I know! You can tell the book took lots of time, blood, sweat and tears to put together. Beautiful inside and out. Love th flocking on the cover.

This book is not only great eye candy (the photography is fabulous) it is very informative. Gives great advice to us amateur seamstresses. I love sewing! But want to go beyond Simplicity and Vogue patterns.

Great job!

The picture on 26 and 27 is what heaven must look like. Said one sewer to the other!

Rating: 5 / 5

A friend of mine had this book, and he let me borrow it. I do not watch “Project Runway” anymore, although I did catch the first season. Therefore, I am not familiar with Daniel Vosovic, although, in these pages, he comes across as a very pleasant and candid young man, not what one would necessarily expect in such a profoundly narcissistic industry. The construction of the book was interesting, with stylized, crushed velvet style boards. Usually, this kind visual of appeal in a mass market offering is, to me, a danger sign for shoddy construction values (i.e. Madonna’s “Sex”), but the copy I flipped through seemed solid enough.

I cannot comment on the content of the work since, as I mentioned, I know little of design or sewing. I can say that while the prose was, I thought, sometime flat and sometime a little too “cute,” it accomplished its main objective in communicating the design process in a comprehensible, step by step narrative I found easy to understand. At times, it was actually engaging when the tricks behind some of fashion’s “illusions” were revealed. Since I am, as I said, a complete ignoramus in this area, the fact that Vosovic came across clearly speaks well of his tutorial skill. So, I would surmise that any beginning fashionistas out there would be wise to pick up a copy.

The photography was, though, I thought, boring and overdone. For the tone of the work, I think a more “mannequin” style of presentation would have been more effective. And although very pretty, I simply was not taken with the photos and did not find them especially memorable. They are assembled well, however, and printed as they are on higher end gloss paper, they make for a very pleasing presentation.

As to the other writings in the book, while Tim Gunn’s introduction was, I thought, avuncular and warm, but candid about his industry, I found the other commentaries a complete waste of space and a needless distraction from Vosovic’s much more engaging observations about himself and his own efforts to begin his career in fashion. Also, they had the ring of more opinion pieces than the practical advice Vosovic strove for. While the words of the market are, of course, something to heed for anyone who wishes to be a success in this brutal industry, I thought there was something of a rhetorical disconnect I found a little jarring and nothing more careful editing would not have repaired.

But, for the aspiring designer or tailor/seamstress, or just someone who appreciates the illusions “fashion” markets, I think this book would be an excellent investment, and I recommend it accordingly.
Rating: 3 / 5