Sewing For Dummies by Jan Saunders Maresh Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Sewing For Dummies
Book Review: AWESOME
Summary: 5 Stars
this book is very well written, it teaches you everything that you might need to know for sewing. Is a great buy from young kids to adults.Book Review: Boring!
Summary: 2 Stars
This book has a lot fo information but it's so hard to read. Very mundane. Sewing should be exciting and fun. This book was cheap which is why I bought it but other books are better like the reader's digest sewing book.Book Review: Definitely not for "dummies"
Summary: 3 Stars
I usually LOVE the dummies series and find it very useful for new subjects I want to just dive into. This book is useful, but not as a first reference for someone who has never done more than the occasional needle-and-thread wobbly patching most of us did in College.
The good:
1. Very thorough subject coverage - everything from clothing to arts & crafts, to home decor (in fact, I think if they broke this up into two books - one for clothing only, and one for the rest, they would have done themselves a big favor).
2. The step descriptions are broken down into mini-steps very well (I think).
The bad:
1. hardly any illustrations at all. Where there are illustrations, they are very basic, mostly restricted to the type of stitch described rather than an illustration of the step-by-step process.
2. the level of terminology-knowledge assumed by the book is insanely high for beginners.
3. There is insufficient internal cross referencing - the writers seem to assume you will read the book from cover to cover in the right order, and that you will remember everything you learned from one chapter to the next.
4. The section on "Quick fixes and alterations" which is boasted about in the book description is far from comprehensive, and the steps described are skimpy - largely without internal references to where within the book these steps are described.
This will be a great 2nd book, I think. But until I reach that level I'll have to find something else.
Book Review: Disappointing for this complete beginner
Summary: 3 Stars
I have recently begun teaching myself to sew. I taught myself knitting over the last several years and always keep the Knitting for Dummies book by my side as a reference for anything I don't know. So when I decided to learn to sew I bought myself a simple machine and this book. I've been sewing for a couple of weeks now and have read probably 3/4th of this book and I'm disappointed with it. I don't think the instructions are very clear for a newbie and many of the topics are covered way too briefly. On my first pattern, for example, it instructed me to "narrow hem," a common sewing task. Looking in the index of this book there is no entry for narrow hem. I knew I had read something in the book about using a narrow hem foot in order to make a narrow hem, but when I looked for detailed instructions for how to do that, I found nothing. I had to resort to a google search to find clear directions for doing a narrow hem both with and without a special foot.
I also find many of the directions unclear and there are not enough illustrations or the illustrations are not clear enough for me to understand what I'm supposed to do. And I think I'm better than average at understanding written instructions since I managed to teach myself to do quite complex knitting from mostly written instructions.
The projects in this book are ok, but most of them are not my style. They have a country craft feel to them that is too old for me. I prefer hip, youthful, DIY style projects. I did find her instructions for a basic pillow cover useful, but again, I wished the instructions were more clear in a couple places. As for making a vest out of placemats, I think I'll skip that one.
I found the manual that came with my machine more useful in actually getting me started sewing. This book has helped some, but from now on I'm going to rely on the internet for instructions. And I'll probably be buying a different book with more appealing starter projects.
Book Review: Easy to read
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is easy to read. I sewed many years ago and needed some reminders on best practices of sewing. This book gives me exactly what I need.