by Kathy Cano-Murillo

The “Crafty Chica” has done it again with a fabulous novel about creativity and perseverance. I thoroughly enjoyed her first book in the series, Waking Up in The Land of Glitter, which not only featured women who took their crafting seriously, but also had a plot that would appeal to people who have no interest in the hobby.  Miss Scarlet’s School of Patternless Sewing achieves the same, masterfully.


Scarlet Santana has a brilliant mind and a degree in engineering that could easily bring in enough money to afford her any creature comfort she desires.  But Scarlet instead, much to her family’s dismay, has decided to follow her heart and become a fashion designer. Until her big break comes, she toils away as a design assistant and blogs about her favorite designer and inspiration. When she gets a chance to study at a prestigous (and expensive) design program, she opens a sewing school to help raise the money to attend.

This is a novel about sewing and secrets. The secrets (acknowledged and dormant) that bring her students to her class. Secret love. Secret ambition. At first it seems that this book has a lot of subplots, and it does, but Cano-Murillo is able to keep the reader from being overwhelmed and tie everything up at the end. Granted as a crafty-inclined person, I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect, but aside from that, this was an inspiring story about being true to yourself.