Good books for beginners from OpenLibrary

[majka]

The OpenLibrary might be an overlooked resource for books.

Recently, I have found several books there I wish I had available when I started sewing - and these were interesting read even more than 20 years as amateur dressmaker.

First, let's start with very good sewing machine "manual". One of the best books I have found how to learn to be the best "sewing machine operator" you can be. The book is Sewing without pins for everyone , published 1977. The "without pins" part is a bit misleading (and optional).

Another two books from the same publisher, meant for dressmaker. The books are a bit different. Again, solid read for every beginner in my opinion. If you have non-proportional figure, both of these books are priceless and easy to understand.

Slacks cut-to-fit for your figure. It discuss woman's slacks but I would take this book over every other even for the first sewn men's trousers. The book has it all (well, not the tailoring part) - including adaptation of the pattern to the figure in easy to understand steps. It is a bit different than any other I have seen - it starts on purpose with (any) commercial pattern two sizes too small - and through pivot and slide pattern adaptation creates a pattern modified to the figure.  It goes over first fitting and sewing and discuss the pattern adaptation for different style. All in all, very solid book up to the point where you are ready for "real" tailoring.

The second one is Dresses cut-to-fit for your figure . The book is similar to the previous and something I wish I had when I started sewing. For women with non-standard figure this method takes quite a lot of the frustration from the process.

For anybody interested in this method, the company has produced "Fit and Sew Manual". You can still get it today - they are selling it in Etsy shop and it is probably one of the better fitting / pattern adaptation books even today. Unfortunately, the postage would be for me 3x the price of the manual (and bother with the import duties) and so I haven't seen it.

And now for tailoring books, often with waiting lists:

Two of the forum's recommended books
Poulin
Cabrera, Women's

And
Basic Tailoring, Time Life books (the whole series available and recommended as interesting read)


I'll go through the rest of my list later, but these were the hidden or not so hidden pearls there.

[hutch--]

Hi majka,

Thanks for posting this reference range, it looks like very useful stuff.

[Schneiderfrei]

That Time/Life series were really well produced.  I would love to look in some of them.

[Henry Hall]

Just to note, the 1973 Poulin is available from a link Pfaff260 posted in this thread.

[Jeffrey2117]

Hello All,

    David Carlin's book is a good one if you can find it online also.

Jeffrey2117

[Claire Shaeffer]

Jeffrey, what is the name of David Carlin's book. Is he Eng. , Am, or something else? I'm not familiar with his book and I have a large library.
Claire

[Claire Shaeffer]

That Time/Life series were really well produced.  I would love to look in some of them.

The Time/Life books were written about 10 yrs. before Cabrera and much of the information is similar. Time/Life is a little harder to read because 1. they mix men and women's tailoring and (2) the diagrams have lots of call-out directions.

The information is worth it especially since they are frequently available at a fraction of the Cabrera price.

[Greger]

Alteration of Men's Clothing
By David Carlin

He is American. A tailor. He decided to work in the rtw, hence, alteration. He designed garments in a way that his methods of alterations would work. Some of the methods are methods tailors use; but a number are for preassembled garments, because of lack of proper inlays.

The American way of fitting is different than English. German is very different.

[Jeffrey2117]

Jeffrey, what is the name of David Carlin's book. Is he Eng. , Am, or something else? I'm not familiar with his book and I have a large library.
Claire

Hello Claire,

    I just read your post.  I have been sick quite a bit during the spring and had to undergo and operation in August, I have been recovering nicely and just in time for my busiest time of year. 

I see that Greger has already replied regarding David Carlin's book alteration book.  It is a very good reference book that alteration shops should have that work primarily with RTW men's suits.

The methods from his book that I have used in the past are very sound and work well.

Kind regards

Jeffrey2117

[Henry Hall]

I'm sure I've posted Carlin's book here. If not I will do so.

[Futura]

Yes, Open Library is an excellent resource for basic sewing references.

For the beginner in search of basic sewing knowledge and terminology, I would recommend the following:

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24945774M/Sewing_book

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5286617M/Singer_sewing_book

Same as the above, different edition:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7093980W/Singer_sewing_book

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15158544W/Reader's_digest_complete_guide_to_sewing.

While they are intended for the home dressmaker, they present basic concepts with decent illustrations and are easy to understand. I find they go into much better detail than any of the overly simplified modern books for amateurs.