Down and dirty DIY for the fabulous fashionista
By Melissa Rannels, Melissa Alvarado and Hope Meng
Published by Taunton
This book is written by the girls at stitch lounge,
‘a drop-in urban sewing lounge open for Bay Area urbanites to sew and socialize. Imagine a location for a modern sewing circle, where you can use (but don’t have to keep and maintain in your city-sized apartment) all the sewing equipment you need.’
It looks like a pretty cool place to go, so if you are in the area you should definitely check it out, they do classes, one on one lessons and even have sewing circle parties!
Now for the book ‘Sew Subversive: Down and dirty DIY for the fabulous fashionista’.
I was actually thinking of giving this book to my brother. Getting started on sewing for the absolute beginner, starts off with hand sewing basics like how to sew on a button. patching, hemming and mending. Sewing machine mysteries like how the machine actually works and what is a bobbin? What does stitch length and tension do? And how to thead your machine. A usefull section, I thought, was the tips on finding the perfect sewing machine for your needs – what is the minimum, how useful the extras really are. There is a chapter on tools and equipment, the differences between types of fabrics and how to sew them. Then an easy project to get started on your new sewing skills – a pillow case. The directions for this first project are really clear, and as this is aimed at a total beginner, I thought it an excellent test of readiness to get to the next section. Good for young teens learning or my brother who is keen to know more. I love that this first project includes info like the right way to pin, and ironing hems etc, which experienced sewers already know as basic information.
The next section of the book is for those who have the basics down and are ready for some experimentation. Embellishing clothing is first with some neat tricks on doing transfers and cut out designs. Then some more advanced ideas like pintucking a shirt or skirt and deconstructing a t-shirt to make it fit. Next comes a section on refashioning, which is basically taking a tired piece of clothing and making it into something else. The basics are covered, like turning jeans into a skirt and a jumper into a sleaveless top. Making a bag or boob tube from a t-shirt and re-using jumper sleaves to make leg warmers.
The patterns and ideas in this book are not exactly original, but what is good about these projects is that they are simple, totally achievable for the beginner sewer who wants to start making stuff. The instructions, illustrations and photos are excellent and perfect for the beginner. There is nothing worse that a book with beginner projects and advanced instructions. This is not one of those books. These girls know their stuff, they obviously are used to teaching beginners and know what information is needed. This book is perfect for teens or funky hip young things wanting to learn a new skill to brighten up their wardrobe. Go Sew Subversive!
