I don't know who the folks are who've posted the lavish comments about this book, but at the risk of being witchy I have to wonder if they actually used the patterns and instructions in this book.

So far, I've made three of the purses -- and in EVERY SINGLE LIST OF INSTRUCTIONS so far there have been important steps that have been completely omitted. Additionally, the instructions are often poorly worded, incomplete, or completely confusing. In more than one case, the instruction was so obtuse I had to keep re-reading it over and over waiting for it to make sense.

For the the last purse I made from this book, the instructions were missing three critical steps -- it didn't take all that long to correct the omissions, but sheesh, did someone even bother to do any QA on the instructions?

I have the good fortune to have an aunt who helped me through the poor instructions. If you're a beginner or have limited experience and don't have an Aunt Judy to help you out, then save your money and skip this book altogether.

As far as the designs being wonderful and modern, blah blah blah. They're okay. I bought the book for two patterns in particular, but would never carry 75% of the others.

Overall -- yuck. Glad I got the book on sale.

I purchased both "Bags With Style" and "Bags and Accessories With Style". I just have to say that the titles are an understatement. They should have been entitled "Bags of Elegance and Sumptuous Opulence", or something along those lines. I knew just by looking at the covers of these books that Ms. Kimura was an incredibly talented woman. However, I did not expect to find each and every page exploding with such gorgeous and innovative pieces. I found myself reading (and re-reading) each book cover to cover. I then proceeded to methodically go through the resource list in the back of each book, while online, to determine just what I needed to get to work, creating my own "bags with style"! I look forward to future publications by Ms. Kimura with great anticipation. Thank you Stephanie for sharing your creativity and extensive knowledge! I'll never look at a purse the same way again.

Bravo!

This is a great book for the handbag enthusiast. The designs are sophisticated and elegant. Highly recommended.

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