Learn to draft and sew your own customized clothes that fit you perfectly and make you feel fantastic.
You no longer need to feel confined by the boundaries of a sewing pattern in order to make clothes that fit beautifully and represent your style in a way that store-bought clothes never can. Designer and founder of popular pattern brand By Hand London Elisalex Jewell is known for designing beautiful, fun garments that look fabulous on women of all sizes. In Made to Measure , she guides sewers to create stylish garments while empowering them to learn new skills, be creative, and feel confident . Following an overview of essential sewing tools, a primer on fabrics, and a guide to essential sewing techniques, you will learn how
The sixteen pattern-free projects for dresses, skirts, tops, a pantsuit, and more are a springboard for creating a versatile, personalized wardrobe. The designs
In today’s world of “fast fashion,” sewing your own clothes is a wonderful way to slow down and create garments that are sustainable and unique . While most sewing books show you how to create garments from specific patterns, Made to Measure takes sewing clothes to the next level by allowing you to customize the designs to fit you .
Whether you’re new to sewing clothes or want to add to your garment-making skills, Made to Measure guides you to create a dream wardrobe that is tailored just for you. Made to Measure: An Easy Guide to Drafting and Sewing a Custom Wardrobe
I received a copy from Quarto Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you’re interested in learning how to draft and sew custom clothes for yourself or others, this is an excellent place to start! Inside you will find everything from a supply list to a basic sewing guide. While I’ve been sewing on and off since my high school sewing class, I still read the supply list that had really pretty drawings of the supplies. I learned that the loop turner tool exists, which is going to make making drawstrings for pajamas so much easier!
The sewing guide is excellent. It contains a lot of information but is presented in a way that is simple and easy to follow that is also not overwhelming in any way. I really like that there are troubleshooting tips that help with everything from the secret to sewing necklines to adjusting fit issues. I also really like that it has some sewing patterns at the back to help you get a feel for what was introduced throughout the book before diving into doing your own thing.
While it is easy to follow and understand, I do think it is not meant for beginners. However, I also think that drafting a pattern will be extremely difficult for beginners in general. It is an excellent book to have on hand once you get to the point of feeling ready to learn how to customize and draft patterns. Paperback After seeing infinite versions of the BHL Anna dress all over the internet, I was pretty excited about a book from the company. As advertised, this is a pattern-free book, so while the designs are BHL, the sewing experience is something different. For novices, following the detailed instructions for drafting a pattern from scratch to arrive at even these uncomplicated pieces might take some determination.
With the sewing world full of books that include a variety of hackable patterns, though, I have to wonder how big the audience will be. I don’t think there’s another Anna in here, at least.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the arc! Paperback Made to Measure is a beginner friendly book to make beautiful garments. The pastel colours throughout this book are beautifully done and delicate looking, giving it a cool vintage style.
From the very first pages, this book makes the reader comfortable and ready to tackle some of the misconcepts and hardships for sewing. The vocabulary used is easy to understand and the images and sketches support the text well. It explains how to keep fabrics, what tools to use (and what they are used for) in 'The basics' chapter.
It follows with an 'important measurements' chapter which is explained well, and gives different options such as 'narrow shoulders,' 'broad shoulders,' or 'slopping shoulders'.
In the 'Draft it yourself' chapter, patterns are shared along with levels (easy, medium, difficult) in the shape of a sewing machine which was a cute detail. Each project has a list of things you'll need, and also a list of 'skills practiced' which I thought was a nice touch.
Finally, the pictures in this book look really nice and have a diverse cast of women, with different body shapes. I thought this was a really good thing and really added to the whole package for me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who'd like to sew beautiful dresses and skirts and would love to see more books like these from this author in the future. This book would make an amazing birthday gift or just-because gift. Paperback Great figures and illustrations explaining how to identify and correct common fit issues, plus walks through how to draft various designs from scratch with measurements. Paperback Overall rating: 3.5 stars.
I thought this book did a decent job of showing how to create your own patterns for the designs provided, as well as make adjustments to a store-bought pattern. There was a lot of detailed instruction and pictures to help you understand better. I tried to read it from a beginner's point of view, and I wonder if it might be a bit overwhelming. I've been sewing for over 30 years, so it all made sense to me.
I received this as an e-book, and I had trouble reading it because, while reading it on my phone, I kept having to enlarge the pages so that I could see the drawings and notes. I also tried to read it on my desktop computer, and I found the layout to be awkward. It showed 2 pages side by side, If you FIT To WIDTH, the size of the font was too small. When I increased the size, I then had to use the scroll bars (left-right as well as up-down) to maneuver the pages multiple times to read one page pair. To be honest, I think an instructional book such as this needs to be in large print, hard cover, with a cover that can be opened and laid flat. I can see people trying to reference the book while working in their sewing room.
I also thought that the designs presented seemed very 1990s. So I knocked it down one star for that. Maybe I'm just not in tune with today's fashions. Paperback
Summary Made to Measure: An Easy Guide to Drafting and Sewing a Custom Wardrobe
Really impressive book for anyone that wants to start sewing themselves!
The author has some great tips to offer such as sleeve hacks for example that I found really useful.Also other sections like how to choose the correct fabric for your project and how to care for the fabric and eventually your garment are very important and is good the they are included in the book and you don't have to search that information else wear. Another point that I found very interesting was the different options she gives in each pattern to adjust your project to your own needs and expectations. Rating the patterns with a difficulty level was also very useful as you don't have to go venture where you don't feel comfortable yet and something that looks complicated on the other hand might be super easy, so is good to have that info before starting a pattern and maybe waisting time and fabric on something you are not skillful enough yet to complete.
A small touch that I loved was the photos of all - sized models, as most of the fashion books give a false idea that everyone that can benefit from fashion needs to be thin or anorexic, the representation of all sizes in this book is a more realistic view of the world. Well do Mrs Jewell on being so creative and inclusive. Paperback Made to Measure is the sewing book you needed in high school textiles class.
Seriously, short of operating the scissors and machines this book is like a cheat sheet.
Made to Measure is packed with illustrations, that are frankly gorgeous. Not only are they stunning but they are incredibly informative.
Although not a novice around a sewing machine I absolutely adored this book and even found a new way of doing a technique.
Not only does this book have answers for everything, it then is filled with stunning patterns that would suit a range of body types and tastes with handy hints on how to make it work for you.
Honestly this book could have saved me three years of stress has it been produced ten years prior.
This is definitely one for the bookshelf - not the sewing box, it's far too pretty.
I was gifted a digital copy of Made to Measure by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing and Elisalex Jewell for the opportunity. Paperback Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Made to Measure was really great! I don't normally grab an instructional book from NetGalley... However, I have been sewing a dress and this popped up. I thought, Why not?! I could stand a chance at learning something!. The layout of this guide is fabulous; it isn't too busy with excessive writing, color, or patterns... They stick to the basics, but it is still beautifully presented on each page. I also love that Jewell made this user friendly and taught you how to make your own patterns, for your own body. I felt empowered reading this book and want to share it with friends. Not only was this enjoyable to look at, I felt like I learned so much. Jewell has a gift at presenting information in a way that the learner wants to keep going.
Will recommend! Paperback Book 165 of 200 ~ 2023
🌟🌟
*meh*
Checked this with my husband as he is the one who sews most of my clothes.
Many designs were so passé and definitely not flattering for many body types.
Two stars for the excellent list of to-dos listed as that is especially helpful for newbies.
Will I use any of the clothes if my hubs makes them from the book?
Helllll naaawwwww...
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#book165of200 #amreading #netgalley #tbrpile #instareads #readstagram
#reading #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #booksAreLife #booksForTheWin #thisbookfairyisreading #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookshelf #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookworm #goodreads #booklovers #theSGbookfairyReads #theSGtrekkiereads #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookchallenge2023 #reviews #lovebooks #booknerds Paperback Made to Measure is a pattern-drafting resource to help teach beginner to advanced sewing techniques for best fitting garments.
I’ve read a few different sewing books like this that highlighted fit and alteration techniques, or even tips for patter drafting. What sets this one apart are the practical patterns shown as step-by-step examples to create based on your own measurements. And the best thing about this is the size inclusivity! Models of all shapes and sizes are used in the examples, showing how different fits can be achieved when you draft your own patterns.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in altering or drafting their own clothing. I think it’ll be a really useful resource for me in the future!
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarry Books for an advanced copy of this book! Paperback
