A Beginner's Guide to Bag Making - review

A Beginner's Guide to Bag Making is an English-language book written by Estelle Zanatta and Marion Grandamme. The subtitle reads: 20 Classics styles explained step by step.  It is an amazing book to learn to make THE classics among the bags. But despite the beautiful bags, the beautiful photos and the joy of making these bags, we do have some questions...

A Beginner's Guide to Bag Making
The booklet has a nice square shape and is made of glossy paper. The layout looks very attractive and especially the photos. A treasure; especially for bag lovers!

The bags
The following bags are discussed and explained in detail step-by-step:

• simple bag with a zipper
  
• folded bag
  
• the shopping bag
  
• transparent bag
  
• large bag with a zipper
  
• square bag
  
• backpack
  
• bucket bag
  
• fanny pack
  
• narrow sports bag
  
• large travel bag
  
• bowling bag
  
• narrow shoulder bag
  
• shoulder bag with studs
  
• safari bag
  
• the Kelly bag
  
• trapeze bag
  
• the Chanel-Style bag
  
• and an envelope bag
  

The booklet starts with an explanation of materials, supplies and tips. However, these chapters do not contain a lot of information.

The sewing patterns
The sewing patterns are added on thick paper. You have to copy this on pattern paper and you cannot cut it out directly. Pay close attention to this because we already noticed that some parts are (accidentally?) with other bags. Such as the bottom of the large bag with zipper. This is indicated with a different pattern. Also, the name of the parts of the bag does not match the name of the pattern parts.

Tip: make a copy of the page and cross off the correct parts one by one. Otherwise you get confused by the numbers and names which do are different than the names and numbers in the book.

The instructions:
Unfortunately, the instructions are also brief. An experienced seamstress will figure this out, but a beginner certainly won't. That is why we think the title of the book does not fit well with the content of the book. It is certainly not a beginner's guide for those who have never made a bag...

What is positive is the fact that the photos are clear, and even though many steps are skipped (so no step-by-step!!!) it is reasonable to follow.

Summarized:
A beautiful book, really. And super beautiful bags that you would all like to make. But take your time, or have an experienced seamstress nearby. As a novice bag maker, it is not wise to buy this book as the first book. Your bag-making dream will then end in a failed project.

If you are an experienced seamstress, this book is sure to be a welcome addition and a great inspiration to make all the beautiful classics!