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The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook

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It's time to sew with your feet!

Sewing machine attachments don't have to be scary. With "The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook," you'll gain the knowledge you need to conquer that box of metal and plastic.

This indispensable guide will:


Help you identify 25+ of the most common attachment feet and accessories with detailed illustrations and pictures, including rufflers, binders, hemmers and more
Give you clear step-by-step instructions for using each foot to yield the best results
Guide you in choosing a sewing machine, including information on what to look for in a new or used sewing machine
Whether you've just begun or are an experienced sewer, "The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook" will walk you through the ins and outs of what your machine can do. So grab those feet, and start sewing!

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2009

5 people are currently reading
173 people want to read

About the author

Charlene Phillips

6 books3 followers

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5 stars
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33 (36%)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
2 reviews1 follower
October 14, 2008
This is the most amazing book that I have never read! It is forthcoming from my mother, Charlene Phillips, sometime in the spring of 09. She originally wanted to title it "Sew With Your Feet", but no one got the joke! Sewing machine attachments are colloquially called "feet" - get it?
Profile Image for Amy Nicole.
257 reviews6 followers
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January 16, 2013
This book will open your eyes to all the possibilities that your sewing machine has to offer. I had no idea that I could achieve so many things on my home machine. Carlene Phillips covers all the bases with every attachment possible, what it does, and how to use it.

Although not all attachments may apply to your machine, most are universal and you could probably find some version of the same for your particular machine. I have added so many of these tools to my wish-list in hopes to save myself time when sewing, and to add to my "bag of tricks" per-se. I especially enjoyed the beginning section which covered the history of the sewing machine in it's various forms and the tid-bits of history and tips included throughout.

This book was truly fascinating, a must-have for any avid sewer's library.
Profile Image for Helene (Nova726).
115 reviews5 followers
January 3, 2011
This is a great book for anybody still trying learn what they can do with their sewing machine. It explains all the different attachments, what they're for and what they can do. Lots of pics make it easy to understand. I had borrowed it from the library but will buying a copy to keep near my machine.
44 reviews3 followers
August 16, 2017
I keep this book by my sewing machine. There are so many feet for a sewing machine that I don't use every day that I tend not to remember how to use them. I find this book to be very clear and helpful.
Profile Image for Autumn.
1,024 reviews28 followers
June 23, 2012
Oh man, this is the geekiest sewing book I have ever seen. It's really for people who want to collect crazy sewing machine feet from the flea market. It is for Sewing Machine Enthusiasts. It's very attractively designed and the author is clearly a fountain of passionate expertise.
2,036 reviews8 followers
November 22, 2019
Clearly this is written more for the vintage sewing machine aficionado than your typical sewist and if you have a computerized machine you are much better off with your brand's manuals on accessory feet. I did find the history of sewing machines and their attachments very interesting and would have liked more - so ingenious! The book is very cleverly designed and the numerous photographs and illustrations are clear. This book is worth a look.
7 reviews
September 21, 2019
A great book to learn about vintage attachments. It also has a few things about the history of sewing attachments. I don't know how much it could help with newer attachments or modern machines.
Profile Image for Michael.
36 reviews4 followers
July 17, 2012
I think I would have given this book more stars if it had been named "The Vintage Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook".

It opens with a short history of vintage sewing machines and attachments. Then it helps you identify the types of attachments your machine is compatible with and how they are attached, along with tips for troubleshooting common problems. The rest of the book is a step-by-step how-to guide for using various types of specialty presser feet for achieving sewing effects such as ruffles or buttonholes.

This book is great if you are a vintage sewing machine collector/user and want to know how to use these accessories for your own sewing projects. Many of these specialty feet are available for modern sewing machines, but several accessories presented here are anachronisms, either specific to the limitations of the machines of the time, or specialized for purposes (sock darning) that no one really needs anymore.

For me personally, I have a modern sewing machine, and I'm not terribly interested in shirring, ruffling, pintucking or attaching pink frilly edges to my garments. I found the instructions for some of the specialty feet I do have (rolled hem foot, felling foot) useful. But ultimately I breezed through this book in a few train commutes.

A note about the Amazon Kindle version of this book: there are numerous formatting glitches, and the photo captions are given the same typographical treatment as the text so it's really hard to tell them apart. As with nearly all how-to books, I find a hardcopy definitely preferable to the e-book edition.
Profile Image for Emily.
6 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2009
This is an amazing, detailed, and informative book. I hate to sew but it makes me want to pull out my machine and get to work! I know the author and she is an great seamstress and an expert on antique sewing machine attachments.
Profile Image for Joy.
650 reviews10 followers
July 28, 2010
Very detailed book about various sewing machine feet and how to use them, with plenty of clear photographs and good explanations. Many items are shown on the Featherweight 221 machine, which is helpful to those who are familiar with it.
Profile Image for Breena.
444 reviews
January 11, 2012
What an eye opener! I had no idea there were attachments to make nearly every technique easier. I've had no idea what all those "things" were for that came with the machine. LOL Now I know!
Profile Image for Elie.
133 reviews
July 29, 2013
I highly recommend The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible instead of this book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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