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Giveaway: The Complete Photo Guide to Clothing Instruction
I’m happy to be taking part in the blog tour for my friend Christine Haynes‘ brand new book, The Complete Photo Guide To Clothing Construction. Today, we’re offering one lucky reader a free copy of the book (see details below).
First, I wanted to share a few pages of this fantastic book with you, to give you a sense of what’s inside.
Personally, I am a big believer in photo-heavy instructional books. I’m a visual learner, and I tend to think that clear color photographs are one of the absolute best ways to demonstrate any sort of needlecraft technique.
And the sheer number of photos in this book means that Christine has fit a huge abundance of information into this slender and beautiful book. There are over 600 full color photos, demonstrating everything from how to install zippers to sewing with knits.
This book is like a an extended class in garment sewing, only in book form. With a wonderful teacher like Christine at your side, you can basically learn anything.
Here’s a preview of the kind of clear, quality instruction you’ll see in this book:
I highly encourage you to pick up a copy, and I say that not only as Christine’s friend and admirer, but as a collector of fabulous sewing books. This is the sort of book you will find yourself turning to again and again.
Giveaway
To enter to win a free copy of this book, leave a comment below telling me one sewing technique you’d like to learn or get better at.
I will choose a lucky winner by random number generator after Friday, March 7 at midnight Pacific time. You have until then to enter.
International entries are welcome, and we will pay for shipping (though if you are outside the US, you are responsible for any local duties that may be charged).
Good luck, and be sure to pick up a copy!
PS: Tomorrow, the blog tour will move to another friend’s blog, Erin of Miss Crayola Creepy fame. Be sure to visit Erin too!
UPDATE: The winner of this book is Stella, who answered our question with: “How to use my serger/overlocker and whip those stretchy fabrics into shape!” Congrats, Stella!
Comments
Lisa d
March 5, 2014 #
Zippers! .. i can only do invisible zippers, but would love to master others :-) Pictures in the book look so clear :-)
Rachael
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to learn everything! I havnt sewed any clothes before and have minimum sewing experience. I bought the Zinnia skirt as my first ever pattern a few months ago (!) but have been too daunted to start. Seen your post on the stitchery sew along and going to give it a go but a book like this would be amazingly helpful.
Moa Fredholm
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn how to sew in jersey. It did not go well when I tried the first time!
Juliette Williams
March 5, 2014 #
Finishing different kinds of necklines. It it would be great to have it all displayed in one place with pictures to get my head around the process.
Joy Rein
March 5, 2014 #
I’ d love to learn how to insert an invisible zipper correctly and also how to attach elastic to swimwear. Love this site,
Joy
Renee
March 5, 2014 #
All kind of zippers (blind, jeans, lapel etc) and bound buttonholes/pockets…
Müge Eriskin
March 5, 2014 #
I’d like to learn about invisible zippers and facing!
Lisa Z
March 5, 2014 #
Fly zippers! I’d love to be able to make a nice pair of dress pants.
Anna
March 5, 2014 #
The book looks lovely! I think collars are challenging, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a reference guide helping me to get it right.
Pandora
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn.. everything!!!
Jerri
March 5, 2014 #
The book looks great! The pictures look helpful. I’d love to make a perfect collar like the one in your post.
Catherine
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to get better at fitting. The book looks lovely.
Kimberly
March 5, 2014 #
Collars. Even if the rest of a garment looks great my collars often look fairly sub-par.
Five
March 5, 2014 #
Zippers! (Alas, how unoriginal.)
AllisonF
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to learn flat-felled seams. Thanks!
Jessi
March 5, 2014 #
Fitting and pants. Fly zips too.
Patricia
March 5, 2014 #
I would definitely benefit from learning to sew with knits!
jill
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to get better at linings!
Laura Leal
March 5, 2014 #
Bias bound seams are making me crazy right now!
Adrienne
March 5, 2014 #
I’d like to learn how to line garments!
Ashley
March 5, 2014 #
Anything and everything about zippers!
Brenda
March 5, 2014 #
Buttonholes!! I’m not sure if it’s me or the machine but I have had a terrible time lately and am tired of ripping them out!!
Sarah Q
March 5, 2014 #
I’d like to get better at garment sewing in general, but right now my new serger is inspiring me to do more sewing with knits and I’d like to learn the tricks of working with this kind of fabric! Thanks for the chance!
Kim A.
March 5, 2014 #
I’d really like to improve at sewing chiffon…at present it’s kind of a nightmare for me!
Charlotte
March 5, 2014 #
I’m trying to learn more about garment construction this year, it all seems intimidating from fit to sleeves and in between. I’d like to learn more techniques for sewing knits and seam finishing especially!
Tenley
March 5, 2014 #
I need to work on making my finishing skills more professional!
Laura J.
March 5, 2014 #
So many things I’d like to get better at. Number one is probably fitting. All my adult clothes have problems with curves, tucks, darts, etc.
jenn
March 5, 2014 #
invisible zippers! i’ve never done one- my dark sewing secret and i’ve been sewing for years. i would like to splurge on the zipper foot and finally face my fear.
Carrie
March 5, 2014 #
Zippers, zippers, and more zippers :)
Clare
March 5, 2014 #
Oh trousers, trousers, trousers! Everything, flies, pockets, the lot. I never find a good fit and I know once I can do it my problems will be solved but it’s just all so hard!
Fien
March 5, 2014 #
Zippers of course, but i’m just a beginner, so actually learning any technic would be great!
Elin
March 5, 2014 #
Setting a sleeve and installing a zipper in pants.
Dottie doodle
March 5, 2014 #
Setting in sleeves, they never look right! The book looks great, I’m a visual learner too.
Sheila Williams
March 5, 2014 #
I’m a visual learner too! Love to have books with the instructions AND pictures. So much I want to learn as I’m just a beginner sewer.
Kayleigh
March 5, 2014 #
I would really love to learn hidden zippers, and top stitching..
Sarah
March 5, 2014 #
I’m just beginning to learn to sew at Stitch Lab in Austin. They carry your patterns, but I find your blog through instagram.
I’m making a dress for myself and a romper for my little girl right now, but my goal is to be able to sew shirts for my husband, who has very long arms. I guess my most-needed technique is setting in sleeves!
Lizz
March 5, 2014 #
Sewing garment arm holes!
Sarah Granger
March 5, 2014 #
I am about to embark on a sheer blouse using the Jasmine pattern. I’ve never done anything sheer, so I think I have a lot to learn regarding seam finishing and handling the slippery stuff.
Siobhan
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn how to make bound buttonholes. So far all attempts have been abject failures!
cathy
March 5, 2014 #
Facings. Mine never come out correctly. And hooray for new books!
Emily
March 5, 2014 #
I am a sewing newb/wannabe, so I would love to just learn some basic garment construction techniques! I get really easily intimidated by sewing “jargon” and it sounds like this book does a really great job of breaking it all down.
Helena
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn welt pockets and get better at collars. Collars seem straightforward, I follow the directions, yet mine are not good. Not good at all.
Claire
March 5, 2014 #
As a sewing beginner there are many techniques I’d like to get better at or learn, but one I’m struggling with at the moment is zips. I’m sure this book is just what I need to get better at zip insertion.
MelodyJ
March 5, 2014 #
I want to learn tailoring.
Sara
March 5, 2014 #
I need to move beyond just sewing quilting cottons!
Judy O’Day
March 5, 2014 #
Oh gosh, there are sooo many things. I would like to know more about interlinings and where best to use them.
Cherie
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to be better at buttonholes.
Ink
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to know more about sleeves, because I always have difficulties with sewing it correctly (or with choosing right sleeves?). Making pattern alterations is also the thing I want to understand better.
Sytha
March 5, 2014 #
There are several techniques I didn’t try yet, (I’m a beginner), and I love looking at books or videos on the net to get into it! (By the way, thank you ever so much for the video tutorial on the invisible zipper you posted on the Coletterie, thanks to you I did understand and managed to sew it!)
But what I’m most eager to learn is piping and how to grade a pattern up to fit me. I’d like also to learn to recognise the patterns that’ll suit me and those that wont. ( high or low waist? etc) But I’m not sure I’ll found that in a sewing book (?)
Karen York
March 5, 2014 #
Lining a dress….it scares me. Irrational, I know. But I really want to learn to do it and do it well.
Diana
March 5, 2014 #
SLEEVES!!!!
Also, everyone always talks about “choosing the right interfacing,” but there’s never quite enough information on what that actually means. I know it’s something that you kind of have to get your hands on to understand, but further guidance beyond, “Lightweight for light fabrics,” would be nice.
Danieli
March 5, 2014 #
There are SO MANY techniques I really need to improve. Right now, I’m making the bombshell swimsuit and I’m really struggling with installing all that elastic around the whole maillot.
Suz
March 5, 2014 #
Actually, knowing how to shorten a zipper would come in very handy right now!
Crystal
March 5, 2014 #
Full bust adjustments! I’ve read a lot, but they still intimidate me. (And all that cutting and sewing and recutting and resewing to test!) It’s both the reason sewing clothing would be helpful and the reason I avoid sewing clothing …
Danna
March 5, 2014 #
Collars! I have such a hard time with them.
Joan Shaffer
March 5, 2014 #
As a newbie, linings give me the most trouble.
April
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to learn more about stabilizing delicate fabrics and about how to see knits with a non serger machine. This book looks great!
Kate
March 5, 2014 #
Setting in sleeves! I could use so much help with that…
Tina
March 5, 2014 #
Invisible zippers – I struggle with the transition between the zipper and the seam below and they always seem to rip out on the tape…(where the zipper head comes through the zipper tape).
Robin
March 5, 2014 #
Does confidence count? I would like to improve fitting and darts.
Rebecca S
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to learn how to make buttonholes, put in a zipper, anything that is one step above “beginner”, where I am now!
Marchelle
March 5, 2014 #
I want to look at a garment on me and know right away what fit adjustments need to be made and how to do them. Maybe that’s not really a “sewing” technique. but right now I can see something doesn’t fit right, but I don’t know why.
Lisa C
March 5, 2014 #
I am still somewhat of a novice, so even basic techniques like sewing and fitting knits would be useful. And how to sew a neat and invisible hem!
Megan V
March 5, 2014 #
Definitely buttonholes! Thanks for the giveaway!
missjoiedevivre
March 5, 2014 #
Hmm, I would like to try some proper coat tailoring one day; and I’d like to get better at fitting too. And lapped zips with facings (not waistbands) I can never quite get the facing to sit quite right over the back of the zip.
Hana
March 5, 2014 #
I really want to know more about sewing a pants, fittings and fly front zipper. Thank you for giving a chance to win this book :-)
Janie
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn to adjust patterns- so that I can make well fitting/fitted garments
Shannon
March 5, 2014 #
There are so many…sleeves, zippers, welt pockets, I could go on and on :)
Mary
March 5, 2014 #
I’d like to learn to sew with knits. I feel reasonably confident with most basic construction techniques in wovens, but I wear RTW knits all the time, and I’d like to be able to make those for myself.
Also, piping.
LydiaR
March 5, 2014 #
This book looks lovely!
I would really like to improve my zipper-installing skills, as well as master the full-bust adjustment.
Carrie M
March 5, 2014 #
Really, all of them! I’m fairly beginner and I really want to learn how to make clothes that are pretty -and- well-structured.
Erin
March 5, 2014 #
I’d love to get better at all the fiddly bits on a shirt like sleeve placket sand collars. I’ve got the basics but would love to make my collar stands & their topstitching look more professional. Especially the front curves!
Carole W
March 5, 2014 #
I’d like to be better at fitting and linings.
Ali M
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to learn to finish hems and seams for a finished look inside my garments. Thank you for the giveaway!
Leah R.
March 5, 2014 #
I would love to learn how to sew with light, delicate fabrics like lace or chiffon. I always choose sturdier fabrics because I can easily rip out stitches and re-sew if necessary.
Lola
March 5, 2014 #
I would like to get better at making, and the proper placing, of pockets.
Martha
March 6, 2014 #
No matter how hard I try I can never get the seams to line up at the zip!
Lynda Taylor
March 6, 2014 #
The book looks amazing. I really would love to sew more for myself but I am quite afraid of zippers.
So that is what I would like to learn to do and not fear them.
Amanda
March 6, 2014 #
I would love to master flat felled seams… And what a fab book!
Louise
March 6, 2014 #
Firstly I would like to say thank you so much for this giveaway!
I class myself as a beginner in sewing, so there are many techniques I would love to learn and as a beginner I think this book would be perfect for me!
Abby
March 6, 2014 #
Lining! I feel like I’m always missing a step when I’m lining something.
Quinn Higgs
March 6, 2014 #
I am dying to get better at necklines!
Madiha
March 6, 2014 #
I’d like to be able to sew knits. Which is quite difficult since I have a ‘vintage’ sewing machine (actually standard where I live) which doesn’t even have a zigzag stitch :p
Coo Jarvis
March 6, 2014 #
There are so many techniques I’d love to master but I could really improve on putting in zippers properly and I’d like to get comfortable sewing slippery fabrics. This looks like a fabulous book!
Marie
March 6, 2014 #
Seam finish and everything involving piping !
Thanks !
Melissa
March 6, 2014 #
I would love to get some guidance for sewing with knits. That’s probably the biggest gap in my sewing knowledge right now. This book looks amazing and I would love to win a copy!
Kaylee
March 6, 2014 #
I would like to become more proficient with button holes. I can do them, but I’m not always happy with how they look.
Kittee
March 6, 2014 #
FBA!
Lark
March 6, 2014 #
I’d like to improve my fitting skills, especially upper torso. To be able to more accurately measure and refine from the pattern, and to minimize the number of muslins needed. I’m lucky that I’m usually that far off from fitting into v”standard” sizes, but would like clearer ways to recognize and address fit issues on my own. Photos would definitely help!
Angie
March 6, 2014 #
Seam Finishes! Thanks for hosting!
Slauditory
March 6, 2014 #
I would like to learn more about seam and hem finishes and which situations they are appropriate for! (Also, how to line a dress.)
Hazel
March 6, 2014 #
I’d really love to get to grips with a twin needle and finishing stretch fabrics!
Leslie
March 6, 2014 #
I’ve been sewing off and on for a long time but I’m still figuring out how to fit better. Hopefully this book will sort me out!
Eryn
March 6, 2014 #
Sleeves!
Alesha
March 6, 2014 #
I would love to work on improving my fitting/alteration skills. I’d like to get to a place where I love wearing what I make because it fits properly. Rather than tucking half of my finished garments away in my closet because I’m not happy with the fit. It’s definitely something I want to work on!
hlydin
March 6, 2014 #
I would love to learn how to do sleeves!
Aoife
March 6, 2014 #
I would like to learn how to sew a tailored-looking pair of trousers.
Stevie
March 6, 2014 #
I’m a newbie, so I am struggling in general; but zippers are my enemy!
PJ
March 6, 2014 #
Fitting a “progressing” body!
Gwynne
March 6, 2014 #
I’m a beginner so I could use help on everything, but I could use some input on sewing curves.