Suss has the ability to take simple lines and stitches and create new, fresh, elegant designs. Very classy with a twist.

Pulling together designs from Suss Cousins' runway collections over the past ten years, Suss Design Essentials presents a collection sure to delight her many fans. Known for dressing many Hollywood stars, this collection features details commonly seen in high fashion collections: oversized collars, creatively placed closures and asymmetrical design.

Worked in yarns from the Suss collection, Cousins has chosen her top 30 designs which she has broken into five categories: best sweaters, best separates, best dresses, best coats and capes, and finally, and best accessories. Each garment is chosen to showcase her design philosophy - creating garments that become wardrobe staples but involve a twist of some sort.

Cousins' designs fall within quite a small size range, finished chest sizes of 30" - 44", with only a few falling outside the 36" - 40" range. Each design includes yardage estimates and a yarn substitution guide is included at the back, featuring her substitution suggestions. As well, each pattern includes the standard yarn weight symbol.

While the designs included in Suss Design Essentials will be of interest to Cousin's fans, plus-size knitters would do well to look elsewhere for patterns. These garment designs would require significant reworking to fit the big girl and flatter her frame. The oversized silhouettes and chunky yarns are better suited to a slender body-type and the few accessories included are not worth the price tag.

Armchair Interviews says: Includes 30 top designs for knitters.