60 civil war era fashion patterns

60 civil war-era fashion patterns  by Kristina Seleshanko
Dover publications , 120 pages

As far as I know , there is not a lot of book on civil was patterns.I was glad to find this one but it's not the best book I ever buy .Let me explain why and you can make your own opinion.

What I like

The price of the book , not expensive but after all it's only 120 pages.
There is not a large number of book on civil war pattern so it's nice to have one.
The 60 patterns include not only dress and have patterns for child.
It give many idea for futur project.
Also include recommendation for futur use of the pattern.
Patterns are based on real pattern from a women's catalog from the period.

What I didn't like

Pattern are not adapt for our modern silhouette which may cause problem.
No color pictures or sketchs ,all black and white .Colors always help to make a better idea of the thing.
The description with each pattern is really short.I did expect more .
I'm dissapointed because I really expect more from this book.I wish something more elaborate like recommendation for the choice of fabric or how much of it do I need.
The book looks like more a catalog  for me then a book for a costumer interest in civil war garment.Personnally it's not my favorite kind of book.
Personnally I saw the use of the words civil war not only to refer to teh war itself but for a longer period of time and mostly to describe the style of garment.The book cover the years 1860-1869.

I recommend this book but only if you are looking for patterns.A serious costumer may prefer a more complete book about civil war garment.A picture of a garment on a person is better then a garment alone.