The Fashion Designer's Handbook & Fashion Kit: Learn to Sew and Become a Designer in 33 Fabulous Projects Paperback – September 25, 2012

Our ten year old is getting to the point where she would rather try different dresses on her Barbie dolls than play with them, and she's also a budding seamstress. The obvious combination of the two interests was having her make clothes for the dolls, and this kit had all the things she really needed including some education about shapes used in clothes making and sewing techniques in a very informative book, full size patterns, and a dress form. In four days she's already made five or six of the items with little input from either parent.

I am so impressed with this! I bought it for my daughter‘s 9th birthday and it was a huge hit. She’s made several outfits from the book -the bathing suit, shift dress, skirt, and come up with some of her own creations. It took her almost no time to get the hang of hand sewing. She’s done some basic embroidery type work before so that helped a little I’m sure. She loves the mini dress form. Very cute gift.

NOT because I want to learn to sew, that is perfectly normal. BUT I bought this kit for myself rather than an 8-12 year old. What I like about it is it is very clear, very concise, yet has a lot of really good information. One of my favorite pages is the one that describes the different types of fabric and what they feel and look like when worn. It even has a page that tells you how to make your own felted wool. I mean seriously? Plus I think I could easily use the small patterns for the dolls and mathematically enlarge them to be big enough for me. And its a much less expensive dress form than the one I want for $80....Anyways, yes I'm a nerd but I really like this. My sewing class will find it hilarious :) I recommend this for any new sewer, be them young or old :)

My daughter loves fashion and wants to be a designer one day. This was the perfect Christmas gift for her she's 10 going on 11 and its such a hard age to find the right gift for her. She's getting out of toys and into her teenage stage. This is great she's really learning the basics of something that can be used in the future and she's having fun with it too.

I bought this for my kiddo who started designing fashion and sewing on her own so she would have more instruction. I'm not involved, but she has worked with this for many hours in the last week and is thrilled. The fact that I am not involved should give it bonus stars :) Clearly the projects are fun, but not too hard for a kid.

My daughter received this as a gift for her 9th birthday and she loves it. She has used several of the patterns to make dresses for her barbie doll. She has never liked playing with barbie's but loves designing clothes for them and dressing them up. I like how this book is easy to understand and truly geared toward young children, but is not too cutesy. The author put a lot of care into writing this book and it's very well done.

My granddaughters are very much into the 18" dolls, and they both said they wanted to learn to sew so they could make their own doll clothes, which is why I bought this kit. Big mistake on my part. One of the kits has never been opened. The other granddaughter made one outfit for her Barbie doll, but the outfit did not fit properly, so she quit. I honestly do not know if the patterns would fit a Barbie doll or not, because the package does not specify them specifically, or if it was just a mistake on my granddaughter's part. The kit seems complete. Instructions are easy to follow. I suspect that the patterns would be easily adaptable to Barbie dolls, if they're not already, as long as you're willing and are able to invest the time to assist. I learned, however, that when a girl is invested singularly into one type of doll, her enthusiasm does not translate into any other kind of interest. The kit itself seems good, but don't get it unless your child's already over-the-top invested in this type of doll, or has a passion for learning the basics of fashion design.

My daughter loves it! I like the book. It has patterns and easy to read chapters on how to sew and different outfits. What I didn’t like: it did not come with a needle or scissors or much thread. I purchased a pack of fabric squares to go with this. You will need a basic sewing kit as well. This product has been so much fun!