Ello! Today I’m reviewing and giving you a glimpse inside Love At First Stitch, the new book from everyone’s favourite pint-sized sewist, blogger, designer, GBSB contestant and all round little love, Tilly Walnes. The new UK sewing mag, Love Sewing, organised a blog review tour and today is my stopping-off point. Today also happens to be the #LoveAtFirstStitch online launch party day AND the book’s official publish date. Woo woo!

Love At First Stitch‘s USP is to deliver you from no-knowledge amateur to sewing whiz via a series of gorgeous dressmaking projects, each designed to teach you something new and put those skills to work in practice immediately.

I really love this approach as you can work through the book, making lovely things that increasingly build your skills up, and end up with a lot of experience that you can transfer to other projects. It’s super smart and much better than learning the techniques in isolation. Tilly has an amazing talent for teaching, and the steps and photos in the book couldn’t be more clear. I love the in-depth technique sections for the new or trickier aspects of each project.

However, I don’t think this book is just for beginners. There are plenty of intermediate and advanced projects, from the Delphine buttoned skirt to the Lilou dress, a classic party frock. Plus it’s a comprehensive reference book containing many techniques that I know I could do with brushing up on, so I’m sure I’ll be picking it up often for some general sewing tips.

The projects are so cleverly chosen. They are classics with Tilly’s pretty vintage twist, and the best thing is she’s offered a few variations for each one so you can make it your own and sew up the patterns over and over with totally different looks. Try the pretty Lilou with a scalloped neckline, the cute Mimi blouse with a leather collar and piping, the chic Megan dress with colour blocking and a button placket.

The book itself is a gorgeous package. The design is unquestionably ‘Tilly’ all over: dots, yellow and graphic icons feature heavily, and the pastel-hued photography is dreamy and impeccably styled.

Five full-scale patterns are included in an envelope at the back: you’ll need to trace them off as they overlap but they are very cleanly laid out so it’s no bother at all. You can see all the included patterns as well as more snippets from the book over at Tilly’s blog.

There are loads more other details and content gems I could waffle on about, but I think you should just buy the book and see for yourself! I’d highly recommend it to sewists of any skill level or personal style. You’re bound to find a project you’d like to try or a hint for a technique that you haven’t tried before. I can see myself returning to it over and over. Congratulations on an amazing debut, Tilly. Pick up Love At First Stitch from from Amazon, or a signed copy from Tilly’s shop. It’s also currently the subscription gift for Love Sewing, so to get a double dose of sewing goodness just click here to sign up.

Finally, here’s Tilly and I at the Love At First Stitch London launch party last night, which was a brilliant bash. Yes, that’s indeed one of the book’s projects I’m wearing… more on that to come!

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This post is part of a Love At First Stitch blog tour; you can take a look at the other stopping-off points here:

Monday 5th: lovesewingmag.co.uk
Tuesday 6th: houseofpinheiro.blogspot.co.uk
Wednesday 7th: didyoumakethat.com
Thursday 8th: whatkatiesews.net
Friday 9th: astitchingodyssey.com
Saturday 10th: handmadejane.co.uk
Sunday 11th: lazystitching.com

I was given an advance review copy of the book by Love Sewing, views my own.