The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction

by Christine Haynes

The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction helps you master all of the techniques needed to sew clothes--including tops, dresses, pants, skirts, and even outerwear. This technique-driven book follows the entire process of clothing construction, including a section on the sewing machine and other tools/materials used, information on working with patterns and fitting, laying out the pattern pieces, cutting and marking, and on through every step of construction to the final button. Large, detailed photos guide you from start to finish and help give you a visual basis for learning the skills. This comprehensive guide is a long-lasting reference for anyone who sews clothes. It fills in all the technique details not supplied by manufacturers of the clothing patterns that most sewers use for all of their projects. The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction explains the reasons behind the methods, warns of pitfalls to watch out for, and provides you with valuable tips that help you reach a satisfying, successful end with every project. Examples show both men's and women's fashions as well as children's clothes.

Genres: Sewing, Crafts, Nonfiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

About the author

Christine Haynes has been sewing since she was 10 years old, when she learned from her mother in small-town Michigan. She has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and started her own line of vintage-inspired sewing patterns in 2011. Her first book, Chic & Simple Sewing, published by Potter Craft in 2009, led to a career teaching sewing, which she still does today in Los Angeles and at conferences like the Craftcation Conference (2011-2014) and the American Sewing Guild Conference (2012). Christine's work has been seen in many sewing magazines and press outlets such as The New York Times, Threads Magazine, Sew News Magazine, The New York Post, Sew Stylish Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Martha Stewart's Radio Channel, and NBC's Today Show, and Christine was a guest on season two of PBS' Sew It All. She also teaches her 1960's inspired Sassy Librarian Blouse on-line at Craftsy and contributes to the Craftsy blog. Visit Christine's website www.ChristineHaynes.com or her popular blog, City Stitching, www.ChristineHaynes.Blogspot.com.

Reviews

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5; 5 stars; A+

This is not a book for everyone who sews, so why the A+ rating? If I was a home economics teacher looking for an excellent text or if I was a person who had to learn to sew from a book, this would be the book to get.

It starts from the ground up and shows, with excellent photos, how to do all the fundamental things a person needs to do to construct a garment. Starting with basic supplies, how to read a pattern, how to measure yourself, how to prep your fabric and how to sew with a machine or by hand. It covers everything I learned years ago in basic sewing. I wouldn't buy this for myself because I have much of the same content in my Reader's Digest sewing book but this book has much better photos and instruction for the beginner.

Considering that where I live a person doesn't even have the option to learn to sew in school anymore, I can see a real need for a book like this for people who are new to the art.

[raffaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful introduction that spells out the steps to sewing clothes fairly well. Am I going to have to look up YouTube videos, though? Definitely.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book would be about clothing design/architecture/geometry, but instead it’s about sewing techniques. Like, if you’re reading a book about how to make a dress, this book has a complete photo demonstration of each individual step you’ll find in the directions. Super useful for a beginner like me; just not helpful for the particular problem I wanted to solve.

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great intro! Borrowed from the library and thinking I will purchase for long term reference

[Dori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book didn’t help me much since I’m way past the beginner’s stage but I like to read up on and repeat techniques I might have not heard about since I’m self-taught.
I liked the explanations and thought the pictures were of great help.
This book is a good guide from the ground up for people who don’t have training or like to brush up on more “formal” techniques (like I am).

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is wall to wall photos and seems to cover the basics, the one downside for me is that all the examples are for women's clothing. Makes sense from a marketing perspective. It's been a few decades since my last sewing forays so I need some review.

[Goldenrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great companion for sewing from patterns for the beginner sewist.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly useful book on how to construct clothing.

[CharlotteReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous resource. The images are all super clear. The explanations are quite good. I commend the authors on their great skills at explaining things.

[Marie Z Johansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books that I have found on basic apparel sewing basics. I always appreciate a "how-to" book that is photo based and this is an excellent one. Covers basic sewing equipment, notions etc as well how-to for seams and finishes, collars, sleeves, finishing techniques and all general, basic best practices for sewing clothes using patterns.

I borrowed it from my library and,master seeing how good it was, I bought my own copy.

I would have evaluated it at 5 stars really, but I wish there was even more in the index....it is a 5 star book really but since I wished for more I rated it at 4 stars.

If you enjoy sewing clothes, this book would be a welcome addition to your library

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay - maybe very useful for the beginningest beginner, but most of the info is readily available in the wide world of sewing blog tutorials. For more advanced techniques, I'd get a subject-specific sewing book with good visuals, like Tailoring.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginner level, but all in one level at enough depth to save much time over reading and searchinhg online blogs and tutorials. The usefulness isin the organization and easy comparison of techniques. I found this book to be a fast-track toolkit.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I found the directions difficult to understand and the pictures inadequate without the explanations. I already know much of the info presented, and still had difficulty with the processes presented. Just no meeting of the minds here.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

great photos and step-by-step.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic sewing book I plan to use for classroom sewing instruction.

[Susan Dunlop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned lots from this book as the images are comprehensive and make the instructions very clear to understand. Great must have book for anyone learning, improving their dressmaking skills.

[°BeauutiLovve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful.......

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I will be using this as one of my favorite go-to reference books.