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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Book Review: The Sewing Bible

Details: The Sewing Bible by Ruth Singer, $23.10 on Amazon.

Pros: Stitch By Stitch assumes your fabric is cotton or some other easy material, but The Sewing Bible lists other options for neat hems and seams if you're using a more difficult fabric like tweed or silk. Likewise, if you want to make some nice clothes without linings, this book will teach you how to finish your seams and hems professionally.

Where The Sewing Bible excels is the middle section regarding embellishments. She gives a nice primer on everything from pleats, beading, smocking, frogs, applique, quilting, pintucks and more.

Cons: Singer thinks too highly of hand sewing. It's all fine and good to know these techniques, but telling the reader to slip stitch a hem that could be done on machine is silly.

Some of the tutorials really won't do anything to improve your sewing skills, and they aren't structured to build skills like those in Stitch By Stitch.

Summary: Stitch By Stitch will teach you how to sew, but The Sewing Bible can spin you off from there. I would not recommend it as a catch-all primer, however.

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