Kathleen Cheetham presents her original garment patterns and detailed sewing instruction so plus-size women can create a closetful of flattering shapes and silhouettes. By working with the 4 enclosed patterns, step-by-step construction, and fitting instruction, readers can create a wardrobe of versatile and stylish garments—which can be adapted for office wear, casual wear, or evening wear, just by varying the colors, fabrics, and finishing details. The four enclosed patterns are for pants, a blouse, skirt, and jacket—to create 20 unique garments. Each garment is shown in petite to full sizes, from size 14 to 24.
Rating: 
(out of 9 reviews)
List Price: $ 17.99
Price: $ 12.14
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Review by Gail Rodgers for Singer Perfect Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes
Rating:
I heard about this book and put it on my wish list, then ran into a copy of it. I’m glad I did. The beginning of the book covered how to put together a coordinating wardrobe which looked like it had some interesting points. When I got into the ‘meat’ of the book is when I started getting diappointed. Please note this book should have been titled Perfect Plus for Petite Plus. The patterns are sized for a woman 5′ 2″ tall. As a plus sized woman that is 5′ 10″ I’m not anxious to start cutting apart and adjusting EVERY pattern piece as they would be too short. At least plus sized patterns from the regular pattern manufacturers are based on a 5′ 6″ woman. Huge difference.
As others have stated in their reviews, they were very disappointed in the looks of the clothes on the model (or was it the author?). I cringed when seeing the striped shirt in a full front view. The stripes on the collar weren’t matched at all and so it looked like it was made by a careless sewer, either at a factory or home. I’m trying to get away from the ‘dorky homemade’ look in clothes, so that set my bells ringing. Assuming these were the best possible examples for the book, I wonder what all else in the book isn’t made correctly. The same blouse shown without the jacket didn’t look like it fit at all and had all sorts of ripples. My husband looked at the blouse and agreed with me that I wasn’t being fussy, it was sewn wrong.
I commend the author on completing the daunting task of writing a book, but this book needed more prepublication work that would have had me buying the book rather than taking a pass on it.
Review by Carole D. for Singer Perfect Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes
Rating:
I was anxious to get my hands on a copy of this book when I first read about it’s publication. I have not been disappointed.
Perfect Plus is like a textbook with all the answers. It’s ultimately readable, very well organized, loads of photos and diagrams (charts, too), great instructions, excellent tips, and great incentive to take four simple patterns and be creative by varying choice of fabrics, colors, etc. for a complete wardrobe. Kathleen has even provided information how to fit and flatter my non-standard body which is neither petite nor plus size.
With four patterns included, plus the wealth of information provided, this book is worth every penny!
Review by S. Ness for Singer Perfect Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes
Rating:
This is just the book for me as I’m returning to sewing after many decades. Kathleen’s book is much more than an instruction manual on fitting a pattern. The chapters on evaluating your needs and designing your wardrobe could have been written with me in mind. As a recent retiree I have moved to a rural location with plans to travel several times a year. My old city work wardrobe is woefully inadequate. Kathleen walks the reader/sewer through the steps to creating a coordinated wardrobe that works for all phases of life. I’m a former teacher and find that her book reads like the ideal textbook as the instructions are clear and concise, her style is warm and supportive and the text is supported by graphics and pictures that emphasize the main points. I’m just ready to cut out my first pattern and feel confident that I can do it!
Review by Stash Empress for Singer Perfect Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes
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I’ve been a tremendous fan of Kathleen Cheetham’s pattern line, Petite Plus Patterns ever since I first saw her tiny ad in the back of a sewing magazine very many years ago. Since that time I’ve purchased & sewn many of her patterns with excellent results. Not only are Kathleen’s patterns designed to fit and flatter the shorter fuller figure, thus avoiding many of the tedious pattern alterations needed when using commercial patterns (which are drafted for standard 5’6″ “B” cup figures), but Kathleen also includes a tremendous amount of information on her instructions sheets on how to adjust various pattern areas to get just the perfect fit for your individual body. Her pattern sheets are a complete fitting course in themselves. I was thrilled when her book came out — in fact I first saw it reviewed on a sewing blog — and had ordered it from Amazon within minutes of reading the blog entry. While a lot of the information presented in the book is indeed pretty basic, the book is still of value to even an experienced seamstress like myself (I’ve been sewing for 37 years). It includes 4 basic patterns which you can make up in endless variations for a lifetime of mix & match wardrobes. In fact, I can honestly say that the purchase price of the book was worth it to me just for the jacket pattern alone — I love the lines of this jacket, I’ve been searching endlessly for this style but until now have not found one that would fit my proportions. Thank you Kathleen — I now have the jacket pattern of my dreams — the rest of the book is just gravy!
Review by D. Campbell for Singer Perfect Plus: Sew a Mix-and-Match Wardrobe for Plus and Petite-Plus Sizes
Rating:
The price of the book is worth the 4 patterns which are included and the sewing instructions and altering instructions. That being said, I agree with the reviewer who commented that the clothes shown are definitely NOT fashion forward.
First of all, NO ONE is going to create such a large wardrobe from 4 patterns. I got tired of reading the oft-repeated mantra “If the pattern fits, make it again”, or something like that. Just because a pattern, or four, fits, doesn’t mean you should use them exclusively. Second, the fabrics chosen for the clothes are really dowdy, to put it kindly. The gray poly crepe fabric is a loser. Some of the pictures of this fabric used in the pants are really horrid. The bright, ‘fun’(?) print she picked out for the summer items is ugly, with a strange combination of colors.
Overall, her color chices and combinations are unappealing. And she went pretty low-end with the fabrics.
Some of the outfits look nice–the special occasions suit with the scarf is cute.
If you want to see some nice wardrobes, google Ruthie Sews. She had done many wardrobes for different SWAP competitions. Her color and fabric choices are impeccable.
If Kathy would have used some of her other patterns in the wardrobe and would have used better fabric and better color combos, this book would have been so much better. As it is, it is visually uninspiring. Seeing that wardrobe, who would WANT to sew up the patterns???
I bought the book because her patterns are wonderful for petite plus ladies. There are a couple in the book which are not available as separate patterns. Her instructions are excellent, as they are in her individual patterns.