The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Construction

March 1, 2014

The latest in Creative Publishing's "Complete Photo Guide" series (The Complete Photo Guide to Sewing) focuses on garment construction, a broad, often complex topic that includes everything from body measurements to fabric cutting to seam finishes. Haynes, who designs patterns for her own indie pattern line, divides the intricacies of garment construction into easily manageable steps that are organized in a logical manner from start to finish. Need to know what stay stitching looks like, or how to place and sew an invisible zipper? It's in this guide, along with clear instructions and photographs of each step. Spreads titled "The Anatomy of a Garment" appear throughout to put the lessons in context using actual garments. VERDICT A valuable reference for garment-making novices; the layout makes it easy to find the necessary information.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
A technique-focused, how-to book that will guide any sewer, novice or experienced, in completing a professional-looking garment. Seamster Haynes has developed a new style of teaching clothing construction, one that's not dependent on a specific pattern or style. Instead, she concentrates, first, on the basics, coding each photograph or illustration for easy referencealthough, unfortunately, not all visuals are magnified well (such as fabric swatches, pattern booklets, and directions). After tools and patterns are addressed, from sewing machines to buttons and threads, the detailed step-by-step color photographs and captions arrive for almost every part of the process. Pinning and cutting fabric, always a critical first, are here pictured in ways and with methods that won't allow scissors to slip. The next three elements don't vary from that formula, providing crafters almost foolproof instructions for sewing zippers, making contour darts, and fashioning an elegantly scalloped hem, among other exercises. At the end of each chapter is a two-page color fold called Anatomy of a Garment, pointing via numbers to the clothing basics just discussed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)