The Dressmaking Book: A Simplified Guide for Beginners

I wish I had bought this book first when embarking on my dressmaking learning curve. It is absolutely fantastic. Written in an informal, gentle style that makes you feel the author is your auntie teaching you to sew, it covers everything a new dressmaker could possibly want to know and more. It may be old but it isn't fusty or old fashioned in its tone, it's charmingly retro (in one section you are presented with a diagram showing figure types, ranging from 'Junior' and 'teen' through to 'sub teen' and 'chubbie', which had me and my husband in stitches) but still very relevant and is without creepy pictures that feel outdated. If it had glossy pages, it could pass for a much more modern book as the sketches are timeless. I have a huge collection of sewing and dressmaking books but this one is the first one I have actually wanted to sit and read from front to back in one sitting. Most enjoyable to read, this book is so sensible and practical, it assumes no prior knowledge but is not in the slightest patronising. Early on in the book, Mrs Margolis has you practice sewing spirals and curves, for instance, using an unthreaded machine on paper with the shape drawn on the paper, then again beside the first line of stitching with no guideline drawn, and when you feel confident doing that faultlessly, you can progress to fabric. She then explains about shaping flat fabric to create 3d garments. She explains darts and seams and their correct use for shaping, but she doesn't stop at superficially explaining the concept in its most simplistic form, she goes into sufficient detail as to give the reader a thorough grasp of how to add, change, or remove fabric shaping in order to flatter one's individual body shape and ensure a garment has beauty and form rather than one that simply has enough room to move in or isn't too baggy! This section made sense in a way that other books haven't. Further in the book, Mrs Margolis covers in some depth the most basic dressmaking skills such as fitting problems and solutions, pressing PROPERLY, interfacing, pleats, hemming, setting in sleeves, facings, seam finishes and closures. You are left with a thorough grounding in the fundamental techniques you will need in order to move on to more advanced dressmaking, and will feel very capable of picking out and confidently sewing a pattern of average difficult rating, and what's more, you'll know how to make it fit you properly. Highly, highly recommended.

Finding my feet around a sewing machine, next step from making face masks. This book is a must for people learning about dressmaking. Great book and a great price!

very happy with my book - everything seems to be very concise and informative. Thank you

Very clear and well written. Her style is quite funny.

Excellent guide to dressmaking

Just loved it

The front cover of this book is a photograph of a dress maker, Inside the book is simple ink pen drawings. I feel deceived when I looked through the book, being expensive and the contents of the book does not match the Picture on the front cover. If I could've read a sample of the book before purchasing it I would not have bought it. By the front cover only I took a risk and regretted it

It's a good quality hard back book, with comprehensive knowledge in there, but it's just not my style. As a throwback retro book though it's great