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Barbara Emodi

SEW ... The Garment-Making Book of Knowledge: Real-Life Lessons from a Serial Sewist Paperback – Illustrated, May 7 2018

by Barbara Emodi (Author)

4.6 120 ratings

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Experienced sewing instructor and blogger Barbara Emodi shares her sewing wisdom to help readers get started, get started back up, or hone their existing garment-sewing skills. Not a sewing reference book as much as a book of experience, this book offers Barbara's thoughts, tips, and tricks on the benefits of sewing, the importance of fit, basic techniques, available tools, patterns, and materials, and so much more.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

C&T Publishing / Stash Books
Publication date

May 7 2018
Dimensions

19.23 x 1.83 x 24.03 cm
ISBN-10

1617456047
ISBN-13

978-1617456046
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From the Publisher

Choosing the Right Pattern

So much of sewing success depends on the right pattern. So how does a sewist identify a good pattern? What’s the code? What should a sewist look for on the envelope and inside on the guide sheet as indicators to a well-drafted pattern?

Be wary of patterns that are all straight lines, because people aren't.

Easy Zippered Pocket

Be alert for many tiny pattern pieces that must be precisely fitted together, often with small seam allowances. A classic case is in the insertion of a zippered pocket, a detail so often added to an otherwise simple bag pattern or jacket. Rather than being concerned about all that marking, about zipper facings, and about making sure both pocket bag pieces line up, I use my own dependable 'hunk of fabric' method, always with great results.

Barbara's Tip

Choosing Pattern Sizes

Don’t pay much attention to the actual numbers when choosing a pattern size. Sewing pattern sizes bear little relationship to ready-to-wear sizes. It is common for a retail size 12 to fit a size 18 or larger in patterns, so don’t panic. This seems to be particularly true in the way the major pattern companies determine sizes. Many indie patterns seem to have sizes that are a closer match to those found in retail clothing, and some even use letters instead of numbers to avoid the issue altogether.

Product description

About the Author

Barbara Emodi sews, writes, and teaches in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She has taught sewing classes in Australia, Canada, the United States, and online and has written extensively for a number of sewing magazines. barbaraemodi.com

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ C&T Publishing / Stash Books; Illustrated edition (May 7 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1617456047
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1617456046
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 782 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.23 x 1.83 x 24.03 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #320,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #580 in Sewing (Books)
- #608 in Needlework

Customer Reviews:
4.6 120 ratings

About the author

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Barbara Emodi

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I like to write.

I write sewing and craft-related cozy mysteries and sewing how-to books.

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia with my husband and the dog and cat who rescued us. Here I am near my daughter and three of my grandchildren, but I also travel a lot to stay close to my extended family throughout Canada and the US. I have a son in Austin, Texas and a son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Berkeley California. I feel at home in both those cities too.

For many years I have had a double life. There, I’ve said it. In my public life, I have been a journalist, a public relations prof., a political communicator, and a commentator on radio. In my private life, I have been busy making all my own clothes, which I have done since I was twelve, and teaching a wide variety of sewing classes in Canada, the US, and Australia. As a sewist, I am most interested in solving construction puzzles and writing about that process. I wrote a long-running sewing blog and have published two books about sewing.

Often when I sewed, I thought of the people I have known and the stories I could tell. So now I write mysteries for people who make things. Those who create can investigate. A sewing pattern, a knitting stitch, a missing person, a dead body––the same skill set. I write about what I know, and a few things I have suspected.

I hope you enjoy my stories. To keep in touch with my upcoming releases, and for more stories of my life and world, sign up for my reader newsletter

https://babsemodi.com/sign-up-for-my-reader-newsletter/

Keep in touch.

Barbara

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

120 global ratings

5 star		77%
4 star		13%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Gwen VK

Great book!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

To start off with, I have been sewing for 44 years. I have made clothing, home decorating items, hay wagon ride covers, costumes and many other items. I would consider myself an intermediate sewing person. Over the years, I have purchased numerous sewing books - some mediocre and some terrible. There are a lot of "WHAT TO SEW WITH ONE YARD OF FABRIC!" type of books which are generally useless. This book certainly fills a niche. I think if you are buying the book, you should have a rudimentary understanding of the sewing process. The book is laid out well and she gives great tips. It's like having an experienced seamstress looking over your shoulder. I bought an extra book and send it to a friend. She thanked me profusely and found the book very useful as well. I would definitely recommend it as a buy for a sewist.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

JB

Fantastic read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

I love this book. Lots of easy to follow tips that make sense. All the things that my mom didn’t have the chance to pass along. Thank you for this book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

Terrific tips and good common sense. Just one tip has saved me enough in time to more than pay for the book - still learning after nearly 60 years of sewing.
The kind of stuff you would learn at you’re grandmother's side if you had *that* grandmother. Or the stuff that you might have learned back in the days when they taught sewing in junior and senior high schools.
In the world of sewing and craft books this one is practical and not just eye candy.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

jutharat McKenna

too basic for me

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

love the book. I purchased from the reviews. but it too basic for me. Will give it away

Helpful

Dave and Family

Disappointing, I expected more...

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Okay book on fit, but a better, more detailed book for a 'Perfect Fit' is by Palmer Pletsch.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

Not just the same old "how-tos". I have been sewing for many years and this book is full of little tidbits and tricks I have never heard of. Nicely laid out, cleverly written and a few chuckles thrown in - it's a winner!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

book lvr

Best sewing book I've bought in years

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

Best sewing book I've bought in years! Delivers what it promises. Lots of information and tips from an experienced teacher/author that you won't find in conventional sewing books. Serious substance delivered in a dry and humorous voice. Recommend highly+++

One person found this helpful

Helpful

martha knight

Excellent source if sewing information

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Excellent source of sewing information. It covers all the little tips and techniques that you miss when trying to teach yourself to see.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

D. Champion

Probably the best practical advice sewing book out there (and I have far too many)!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

Fabulous book! I bought it after it was recommended by Kristen, of The Dahlia Sew-ciety, in one of her YouTube videos. It was delivered quickly (yesterday) and I started reading it straight away. About third of the way through now, I already feel this is going to be a constant companion on my sewing table. I wish I’d had this book when I began sewing (over 40 years ago). Barbara highlights fit and gives easy to understand advice on how to get it right. A brilliant resource which has made me consider revisiting some old classic patterns to tweak them, since my body shape has changed over the years. The only downside of this book (and the reason I’ve awarded 4 stars instead of 5) is the proof reading. As I said, I’m about third of the way through the book, so far I’ve found two or three clumsy bloopers missed by the proof reading process (see pic for a very obvious one). So far, the errors have just been grammatical and haven’t affected the advice Barbara’s given, but they do make you feel a bit ‘niggled’ as it interrupts the flow of her writing. I like a quality finish in a book, as much as I like a quality finish in a garment. Perhaps there will be further editions of this book and they'll (hopefully) edit out the bloopers - I’ll gladly give it 5 stars at that point. Overcall, I would highly recommend this book to all garment sewers. You can tell Barbara is passionate about sharing her experience of the craft and really thought about the important stuff we all need to know when we set out on a lifelong love affair with fabric.

3 people found this helpful

IndyCurl

Actually useful advice

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

I love reading about sewing, about what works and what doesn't work and what to think about when designing a wardrobe or sewing. Barbara says her book is not a how to, there are tonnes of those, but full.of knowledge that was once passed down between the generations but no longer is. What is fit, how to choose a pattern that might actually work, all sorts. Great read, clearly laid out. Brilliant

2 people found this helpful

Peter the elder

A hit!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

Bought this for my wife, who; even though she is a seasoned maker, found a number of useful items in the book. She even made a skirt using one of them. It's not that she's difficult to please, she's just done this sort of thing successfully for a long time, so when she says it's good, I think that means it is...

3 people found this helpful

Mrs. A. M. Garnett

Really excellent book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

One of the best sewing books I have read, and among the best I've seen published in this generation. There is a wealth of knowledge behind it: I'm a sewist of 40 years' experience, and I picked up lots of tips. Barbara is an intelligent, witty writer, with a concise, conversational style that makes for enjoyable and educational reading.

4 people found this helpful

Tmd

Like having a sewing teacher on your shoulder

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

I quit buying books by sewing bloggers—in my experience, they’re either a triumph of styling over knowledge, the first salvo in the launch of someone who’s been sewing 5 whole minutes as a “brand” and a pattern house; or a digest of the blog, rehashing tips, tricks, and projects in an effort to “monetize” the same content in a different medium. Barbara Emodi’s book is different; I followed her blog because she was clearly a blogger with years of experience sewing, and her book distills some of that experience—not as “The Emodi Method” but as “this is what I’ve seen, this is what works.” She touches on lots of stuff: planning and fitting and sewing machine feet and crotch curves and hand stitches and Viyella and... She also debunks a lot of stuff: paper pattern fitting and flat alteration by drawing between pattern sizes and universal needles and... The book isn’t a sewing dictionary where you can look up the answer to any sewing conundrum; it is like a series of conversations with a sewing teacher (which Barbara is) where you say “So, sergers” and then sit back for a half hour (or 30 pages) of edification. It’s the first sewing-blogger-book I’ve been glad I bought; if she did another one (maybe fleshing out the order of projects she says those new to sewing should tackle?), I’d buy it too.

52 people found this helpful

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Buy new: $38.95

Follow the Author

SEW ... The Garment-Making Book of Knowledge: Real-Life Lessons from a Serial Sewist Paperback – Illustrated, May 7 2018

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Frequently bought together

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From the Publisher

Choosing the Right Pattern

Easy Zippered Pocket

Barbara's Tip

Product description

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Barbara Emodi

Customer reviews

Top reviews from Canada

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