Debbie Shore's Sewing Room Secrets: Essential Skills for Dressmakers

Packed with key skills and friendly know-how, this essential guide is ideal for anyone taking their first steps into dressmaking.

The latest title in Debbie Shore's Sewing Room Secrets series, this essential guide is packed with key skills and friendly know-how and is ideal for anyone taking their first steps into dressmaking. It covers the important basics such as: how to read and adjust a pattern; how to choose, mark and cut fabric; how to add zips, pockets and buttons; how to adapt old, misshapen or over-sized garments, and how to do some basic mending all shown step-by-step.

This book is a toolkit designed to equip you with all the dressmaking skills you need; it contains ten inventive projects for you to try your hand at using your own pre-loved clothes, and gives you all the knowledge you need to make your own clothes from scratch using the pattern of your choice.

Book Contents

About this book 5
About me 6
my quick tips 7
dressmaking essentials 8
Tools & equipment 9
Fabrics 20
Fabric terminology 23
Interfacing 24
Threads 25

Dressmaking know-how 26
Pressing vs ironing 27
Measuring yourself 28
Choosing a pattern 31
Understanding pattern symbols 32
Cutting your pattern 34
Transferring pattern symbols 36
Cutting fabric 38
Making a toile 39
Machine stitches 40
Special stitches 42
Darts 43
Seams 44
Hems 46
ProjectKimono Jacket 48
Bindings 50
Zips 52
Closures 57
ProjectTunic Sweater Dress 60
Pockets 62
ProjectShirt Skirt 64
ProjectOld to New Joggers 66
Shirring 70
Sewing elastic 71
ProjectSweater Skirt 72
ProjectWrap Skirt 74
ProjectCircle Skirt 76
ProjectOff-the-Shoulder Top 78
Appliqué 80
ProjectChild’s Shirt Dress and Headband 82
ProjectBatwing Dress 84

Make it fit 88
Mend it 92
Index 96