Clothing Construction Book Review

When I first started to sew clothing, I had no clue where to begin. The pattern that I bought (in Japan) had instructions, but as I was making progress, there were a few areas that needed more explanation because I was new to sewing. Eventually, I bought a sewing book that covered more details of how to do things; it had lots of pictures and that helped me a ton!

The book I had the pleasure of reviewing and introducing to you today is "The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction" by Christine Haynes. The title says it all, very straight forward and the content is true to the title. When I read through the book I was very impressed with how the author paid attention to detail and explained things so well. There are over 600 colored pictures throughout the book to go with the explanations!

The author, Christine Haynes, has her own line of sewing patterns, writes regularly for many sewing magazines and teaches sewing in Los Angeles and online. Wow, no wonder this book so well organized and written from cover to cover, she is an expert!

In the book you will find the anatomy of various garments:

Introductions of all sorts of notions:

Instructions and tips on how to read patterns properly so we can get a jump start to creating quality clothes.

In addition to all the basics, she also added some beyond the basic techniques; such as French seams and rolled hems!

I look forward to returning to this book often while I sew clothing in the future, my bookshelf definitely has a spot for this gem. If you are thinking about starting to sew, still new to sewing clothing, and even somewhat advanced, you will find this book very useful. Yes, I totally recommend this book.:)