Book Review: Chic On A Shoesting By Mary Jane Baxter

I recently received a copy of the new book Chic On A Shoestring: Simple To Sew Vintage-Style Accessories by Mary Jane Baxter to review.

If I could hop in the time machine, and go back to the 1950's and 1960's, I totally would. Those were the days when stay at home moms were the norm, we got dressed up to go to the grocery store, and our food wasn't the frankenfood GMo junk we have today. (ahem!) I love vintage clothing from this era, and I'm always on the hunt for clothing and accessories like gloves I can wear from back then. It's gotten a lot harder to find them over the years, thanks in part to eBay and the like, I suppose, so when I find books that can give me inspiration and the how-to on making simple accessories that remind me of that era, I'm super geeked out.

A lot of the projects in Chic On A Shoestring come from simple things most of us already have around the house - from fabric scraps to pantyhose to broken jewelery. The author also shares ideas on where to treasure hunt for new inspiration - although, a chunk of us reading the book probably already shop vintage shops and flea markets. (Kudos for her mentioning dumpster diving though!) She also gives you a basic list of supplies you'll need to make most of the projects in the book - from needles to scissors to buttons. If you're already into sewing or crafting, chances are you already have the majority of everything you need already at home. You don't necessarily need a sewing machine to create many of these projects - a lot can be done completely by hand.

Each project has photos showing the step by step on how to make the project as well as tips on making it. The directions are easy to follow so that even a novice can get into the swing of things creating their unique pieces fairly quickly.

If you're on the hunt for some ideas yourself, or you'd like to keep a teenage girl very occupied this summer break, add Chic On A Shoestring to your to-buy or borrow from the library list! I walked away with tons of ideas myself, and I can't wait to hit up the thrift store to purchase a tie to make the Tie Change Purse myself. (What? You think my DH would actually wear a tie? Hahahahaaaaa! No wait, he has one - a Budweiser tie my brother gave him as a joke. Yeah, I think I'll skip using that one... lol)

Chic On A Shoestring: Simple To Sew Vintage-Style Accessories by Mary Jane Baxter is an oversized craft book published by Perigee. It is 160 pages long. The suggested cover price is $22.95, but Amazon has it available for $15.61 as of this posting.

I received a copy of this book in order to read it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own, and not that of the author(s) or publisher.