soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2022-07-09 11:16 am
sophia_sol) wrote2022-07-09 11:16 am
Make, Sew and Mend, by Bernadette Banner
Bernadette Banner is someone who I've been following on youtube for uhhh years at this point I think, because I just find her pleasant to watch and listen to, but I have never found her on-video instructions to be entirely clear to follow, so this book about how to sew is a wonderful addition to the Bernadette Banner oeuvre and I'm definitely glad I bought it. It has good clear photos and explanations showing you exactly what to do for everything it's teaching!
I've been sewing since I was a child, taught the basics on how to use a sewing machine and follow a commercial pattern by my mother, and then have picked up various useful sewing skills piecemeal on my own as an adult. This way of learning to sew leaves you with gaps in your knowledge, and so although in a lot of ways Banner's book is far more introductory than I need, in other ways it taught me EXACTLY the simple obvious little things that I really ought to have already known.
Like for example you're supposed to sharpen your tailor's chalk! that makes so much sense! how did I never think of that myself??
Also I have now learned how to properly anchor your thread when beginning to hand-sew, instead of always using a knot like I previously did. And the knot would never hold through the weave, so I'd double my thread and knot it together at the end so I could come through the loop to fully anchor my thread, which means that I've always had to sew with doubled thread. Maybe now I can Not do that!
I have also always done french seams the hard way, sewing the actual garment seam first and then caaaaaarefully folding in the seam allowance inside and awkwardly pinning it so I can sew the two sides of the seam allowance together with the raw edges enclosed, and the Actual way you're supposed to do it makes so much more sense, lol. Though also I am over french seaming, and turning and felling is the way to go imo - or just whip stitching the seam allowance together if it doesn't need the full security of turning and felling or french seaming.
And I love how Banner demonstrates how to put a really tidy looking patch onto a hole in a garment! It looks so good and so sturdy as well when done that way! And her tips on how to add a gusset to fix the armscye of a purchased shirt where lifting your arm lifts the whole shirt is a GREAT way to improve the fit of mass-market clothes and I think I'm highly likely to do this in the future.
I also enjoyed the little one-page essays by guest contributors she included throughout, from people of various backgrounds and identities and experiences, to make it clear to the reader that sewing or mending your own clothes can be for ANYONE, not just white cis conventionally-attractive not-visibly-disabled women like Banner herself. Banner always makes an effort to be thoughtfully inclusive and I love that about her.
An excellent choice for my first purchase of a how-to-sew manual as someone who already sews.
I've been sewing since I was a child, taught the basics on how to use a sewing machine and follow a commercial pattern by my mother, and then have picked up various useful sewing skills piecemeal on my own as an adult. This way of learning to sew leaves you with gaps in your knowledge, and so although in a lot of ways Banner's book is far more introductory than I need, in other ways it taught me EXACTLY the simple obvious little things that I really ought to have already known.
Like for example you're supposed to sharpen your tailor's chalk! that makes so much sense! how did I never think of that myself??
Also I have now learned how to properly anchor your thread when beginning to hand-sew, instead of always using a knot like I previously did. And the knot would never hold through the weave, so I'd double my thread and knot it together at the end so I could come through the loop to fully anchor my thread, which means that I've always had to sew with doubled thread. Maybe now I can Not do that!
I have also always done french seams the hard way, sewing the actual garment seam first and then caaaaaarefully folding in the seam allowance inside and awkwardly pinning it so I can sew the two sides of the seam allowance together with the raw edges enclosed, and the Actual way you're supposed to do it makes so much more sense, lol. Though also I am over french seaming, and turning and felling is the way to go imo - or just whip stitching the seam allowance together if it doesn't need the full security of turning and felling or french seaming.
And I love how Banner demonstrates how to put a really tidy looking patch onto a hole in a garment! It looks so good and so sturdy as well when done that way! And her tips on how to add a gusset to fix the armscye of a purchased shirt where lifting your arm lifts the whole shirt is a GREAT way to improve the fit of mass-market clothes and I think I'm highly likely to do this in the future.
I also enjoyed the little one-page essays by guest contributors she included throughout, from people of various backgrounds and identities and experiences, to make it clear to the reader that sewing or mending your own clothes can be for ANYONE, not just white cis conventionally-attractive not-visibly-disabled women like Banner herself. Banner always makes an effort to be thoughtfully inclusive and I love that about her.
An excellent choice for my first purchase of a how-to-sew manual as someone who already sews.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
but it turns out instead of knotting your thread you're supposed to do a couple backstitches in place and then clip the trailing thread? who knew!!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject