There are a few threads about this, but couldn't find one covering the explosion of recent books. I looked at quite a lot in 2010/11 but there are so many more now. Especially since The Great British Sewing Bee, which I hadn't even seen before yesterday.
Already have a Dorling Kindersley book. I used to have the Readers Digest one but clicked more wit hthe DK one.
Specific things I'm looking for
- Must cover a lot about hand sewing, including hand sewing clothes.
(I have never been able to control a sewing machine brilliantly and TBH that is unlikely change because of a medical issue. I did hand sew a few largish items in my teens so understand the time involved. Decided I'd like to try again.)
- Alterations, especially taking shirts and dresses in at the waist for an hourglass figure
- Mending such as darning
- Amending patterns, especially modifying torso shape, and length of bottom half clothes
- How to make items that are forgiving or easily adaptable for weight fluctuations
- Making patterns from existing clothes without destroying them
- Would be nice if the book had some full size patterns included, after hearing that patterns are more expensive in Britain than many other countries.
Not into projects for fiddly little items around the home like cushions, decorative padded shapes, bags etc. (Though, hmm, maybe Christmas decorations would be okay.)
I like things that fulfil necessary functions.
That has always been a block to practising sewing: I hate the idea of making stuff that won't be useable, or at best will get dumped in a charity shop in a few months. And how do you get better if you don't make lots of rubbish practice things you don't really need at first?