Book Review: It Starts with a Square

It’s my pleasure to review It Starts with a Square, a new sewing book by Cris Wood.

Cris Wood is a US-based designer of low-waste, size inclusive, paperless patterns for any skill level.

It Starts with a Square is a collection of dresses, tops and skirts all constructed from rectangles. There are no pattern pieces to print or trace – the sizes of the rectangles are calculated from simple formulae based on your body measurements and are drawn straight onto the fabric. Don’t be alarmed by the thought of maths! It’s very straightforward, of the sort you did in primary school, with clear step-by-steps.

The garments in this book are very simple to sew, as there are no zips or buttons, and all the seams are straight. They pull on over the head or are step-in. They look very square when laid flat, but when they’re worn they come to life!

There are four tops, two skirts, a belt, a jacket, a tunic and ten dresses. Some of the tops can be lengthened for dresses, and some of the sleeves/pockets/necklines/details can be interchanged between patterns. There’s a section at the back of the book for pattern hacking. The projects are arranged in the book from easiest to “advanced beginner”.

Of course, no review would be complete without actually making something from the book, and I ended up making (almost) three! I thought my teen, who is mostly bedbound with long covid, might like some new things, and she decided what to make. She only wears nighties, but likes them to look like dresses.

The Envelope Dress

Possibly Cris Wood’s most famous pattern – seemingly everyone in the USA was making one in the hot summer of 2020 lockdowns. It’s a kaftan shape, with a centre front seam incorporating a slit for the neck. It’s cut across the grain, so the fabric’s width becomes the dress’s length.

For fabric, Teen chose some wax print she bought herself from the opshop some years ago. It’s from Tanzania, and came with two other wax prints. Did someone go to Africa and bring back fabric souvenirs?

The dress looks like nothing special when it’s laid out flat…

…but put a body in it and it comes to life. Teen and I are almost the same size – she is probably half a size bigger, and slightly taller.

In the bottom left corner you can see I left the selvedge writing on the fabric.

I made the armhole a little lower than the pattern, as no-one likes a nightie with a high armhole, and put some splits in the sides for more leg room in bed.

The dress looks very good with the cinch belt, which is also in the book.

I made one a while back; the pattern is a free download on Cris Wood’s website. It can be worn a couple of different ways. This belt has been so useful and seems to go with everything.

Throw Jacket

Teen thought this jacket would be good for when “a nightie isn’t enough but a dressing gown is too much”.

This pattern is simplicity itself, merely two rectangles with pockets, but the neckline is cleverly offset from the armholes, giving a higher front and draped back. It would be wonderful in fluid jersey.

For fabric, I cut up a surpus-to-requirements fleece blanket.

There was some head-scratching with the jacket’s length. The jacket is described as “hitting just below the hip in the front and covering the buttocks in the back”, but the length calculation is based on the bust measurement, suggesting that smaller sizes will be shorter. Yet all the patterns are drafted for a 5’5″ tall person. A book typo?

I did the calculation as per the instructions, but while cutting it out thought it looked too short. I know lengths can be deceptive when they’re laid on the cutting table, but this looked really short. At the last minute I decided to make the rectangle 15.5″ longer, to go the full length of the blanket. I would have gone 10″-12″ longer again if I had the fabric. Actually, I would throw a tape measure over one shoulder, and measure from my hip bone at the front to just below my bottom at the back, and cut the rectangle that length.

I contacted Cris for clarification, she went and checked, and made the unhappy discovery of a mistake in the book. It’s never nice to find an error when a book is finished. I’m waiting to hear back for an errata link and will add it here.

So the pink jacket is much shorter than the one in the book, but it turned out to be just the right length for Teen. She commented that this length would work well for a person in a wheelchair. I omitted the patch pockets as she said she didn’t need them, and it was really too short to have them anyway. As with the Envelope Dress, I made the armholes much deeper.

Once again, laid flat it doesn’t look anything like it does on the body.

Yes, I stood outside in my pajamas, waving to next door’s vineyard worker on his tractor, just for this photo.

Teen asked for some sort of oriental-style fabric closure on the front, perhaps in gold?

Glow Dress

Teen chose some red and white Liberty stripe for this tiered dress, but I haven’t quite finished it yet enough to be photographed. Please come back next week!

Teen was very happy indeed with the Envelope Dress and bed-jacket version of the Throw Jacket, and she’s already worn both. I enjoyed the sewing experience.

This book would be excellent for a beginner sewist who wants to build their confidence, and equally as good for anyone else.

It Starts with a Square is published by Quarto Publishing/Quarry Books. In the interests of disclosure, this book was purchased with my own money and is an independent review.