May 2001: Using Commercial Patterns

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Reading list - General Sewing Reference Books

While the books I have written are devoted to Middle Eastern dance costume design, I find that many novice seamstresses purchase my products and find they need more basic and explicit construction directions. There are already numerous books on general sewing technique available on the market today. Having a good quality sewing book on the shelf makes sense. It's a reference tool that can introduce a novice to basic techniques or help an experienced seamstress figure out challenging sewing problems. Here are my favorites:

Readers Digest Guide to Sewing

I feel that this is an indispensable book for anyone who sews! With clear, easy to follow directions and beautifully drawn illustrations, this book is a dependable workhorse. I use this title as a text when I teach construction classes at the local community college. Everything is in here, from hand sewing stitches to installing zippers, from threading a sewing machine to complex tailoring techniques. This book is an encyclopedia of tips, instructions and helpful hints for dealing with all aspects of sewing. This book has been around a long time and if you are on a budget, you may be able to find a copy in your favorite used book vendor.

Vogue/Butterick Guide to Sewing

This title is my second favorite sewing how-to book. It is a good book for novice to experienced sewers, especially those who use patterns extensively. This book opens with a wonderful section on design, introducing the principles and elements in clear language and then goes onto a discussion of body analysis. Pattern selection is critical to producing a beautiful finished garment and this book is filled with useful tips and hints to ease this process. This book has an entire section on understanding patterns, their notation and how to manipulate them. However, this book is not comprehensive, rather, it is a companion book to the next title.

Vogue/Butterick Step-By-Step Guide to Sewing Technique

What every library needs is a good dictionary and this is the one for every costumer. In this book, sewing techniques are arranged alphabetically for ease of searching. This book is the perfect companion to the Vogue/Butteric k Guide to Sewing (see above.) It is much more comprehensive filling in the gaps, providing a reference that has everything from basic to advance techniques. The illustrations are easy to follow and understand. This book is also fairly inexpensive, making it an excellent value.

Singer Guide to Sewing

This book is one title in the large Singer Sewing series. There are many excellent volumes in this library and this book does a great job of introducing basic sewing technique. It is filled with big beautiful full-color pictures that are eye catchy and clearly illustrate the sewing techniques discussed. However, this book is not comprehensive. Unlike the other titles listed above, you would need to buy several books in the Singer series to put together to match up to the more comprehensive titles. But if you prefer photographs rather than illustrations, this is an excellent alternative.