You can find older used copies of the Reader's Digest book used for about five bucks, including shipping -- and poking around some reviews you might actually be better off with the old late-70s printing, the updated edition apparently gets rid of all the cheesy earth tones and dated styles, but they also dropped all the advanced sections explaining tailoring techniques! It's a good basic reference text, well worth it if you want to expand your skills and have something to help you figure out anything that's unclear on the patterns. :)