The first book from my collection — and the one I would rescue from a fire. In Love at First Stitch, Tilly Walnes teaches the fundamentals of dressmaking through seven simple projects.
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The photos here are of my well-loved German edition, Liebe auf den ersten Stich. It is the very same book — you’ll find it in English under its original title, Love at First Stitch: Demystifying Dressmaking, which is the one I’ve linked below.
Every sewist has one book that started it all. For me, it is this one.
Its English subtitle is Demystifying Dressmaking, and that is exactly what it did for me. When I discovered it, sewing my own clothes still felt like a genuine mystery — I had only just been given my very first sewing machine, a gift from my husband, and with no time to take a class, making my own wardrobe seemed unimaginable. Tilly Walnes quite literally took me by the hand and, across seven different projects, explained every basic technique I needed. That is how the dream of a handmade wardrobe became real for me, and I still reach for the book whenever I want to look something up.
I recommend it without reservation to anyone new to sewing: everything is explained so clearly and so well illustrated that all of the projects are doable with no prior experience. More than any other book, this is the one that turned sewing into a real passion for me.
Learning by making, not by memorising
After a short introduction to the author and a round-up of the essential sewing tools, the book begins straight away with a simple scarf — a gentle first project that also teaches you how to thread the machine and stitch a straight seam. From there, each of the seven chapters builds one garment, with every technique explained step by step and photographed clearly along the way.
The difficulty climbs one comfortable step at a time, so each project adds new techniques to the ones you have already learned. For every garment Tilly also shows variations, so from the very beginning you are nudged toward making each piece your own. The book includes five full-size patterns, plus instructions for drafting two simple ones yourself (the Brigitte scarf and the Clémence skirt).
The seven projects
- Brigitte scarf
- Margot pyjama bottoms
- Delphine skirt
- Megan dress
- Clémence skirt
- Mimi blouse
- Lilou dress
Why I still recommend it first
Peppered all the way through are Tilly’s own tips — what to look for when you buy or borrow your first machine, how to walk into a fabric shop without feeling like a fraud, how to press a seam so your finished piece looks like you meant it. Small, practical, confidence-building things that nobody tells you, and that make all the difference between a book you admire on the shelf and a book that actually gets you sewing.
Years and a great many garments later, this is still the book I hand to anyone who says they would love to sew but wouldn’t know where to begin. Not because it is the fanciest book on my shelf — because it is the one that actually worked, on me.
The book · Love at First Stitch: Demystifying Dressmaking by Tilly Walnes
English edition — view it on Amazon · Ad
German edition (Liebe auf den ersten Stich) — view it on Amazon · Ad
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