Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Best Advanced Sewing Book!	Customer Rating:
Readers Digest makes the BEST sewing books. They are way underestimated by marketed "cutsie" sewing books. This book is for people who know how to sew. It was recommended to me by one of my fashion design professors at Parsons NYC. If you are a sewer and are sewing multiple projects, this is a must have book for your library.

Extremely Comprehensive Sewing Guide	Customer Rating:
I am a beginner sewer and fashion design student. This book has been extremely helpful when I get stuck sewing my projects. Its very clear and easy to follow. I definitely recommend. If it helps, this has been the most widely recommended book by all of my professors.

great book	Customer Rating:
this book has been very helpful .detailed instructions and clear photos make this book a joy to use. this book is an excellent reference manual for all levels beg-adv

True sew everything book	Customer Rating:
This book is not for beginners. You need to understand the different concepts of sewing and cunstruction. But it is a great reference guide for sewing pretty much anything. I love having this book on my shelf, it comes in handy. If you want more of a beginner book, the "Sew Fast Sew Easy" and "Sew On" books are better. Happy sewing!

The ultimate sewing resource

Customer Rating:

This is a big, thick, heavy book, and not exactly something you can tuck in a corner while you work. It's large and wide, though, and lies flat fairly easily, which helps to make it easier to look at while working. It includes an absolutely amazing amount of detail meant to get you from rank beginner through finely tailored clothing, and honestly I expect this book to still be useful to me in ten years from now. It's jam-packed with diagrams, color photos, and plenty of highly-detailed and very clear instructions. Hand-sewing tips are included, as well as instructions for using the 'essential' hand stitches. This includes full-page instructions in most cases, with multiple diagrams. Each diagram comes with both an easy-to-understand explanation and a set of step-by-step detailed instructions. Essential stitches include everything from tailor's tacks to basting, backstitching, hemming & joining (slipstitch, cross-stitch, overhand, whipstitch, etc.), finishing stitches, decorative stitches, and so on. In particular I appreciate that the explanation included with each stitch details exactly what that stitch tends to be used for and why. One of my favorite details throughout the book is the extensive cross-referencing. For example, the page that details and diagrams overedge seams provides page references to the overlock machine on page 15, zigzag stitching on page 83, and overlock stitching on p. 83. You won't have to go nuts trying to locate all the information you need. In addition, there's a side-bar at the beginning of the 'stitches and seams' section that provides a quick-reference to all provided hand stitches and their page locations. This book can start you out as a beginner and still be useful to you ten years later. It covers everything from basic stitches to fabric types to advanced tailoring techniques, in a ton of detail with precise directions and diagrams.