Perhaps many of you guys already follow Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood's Craftsanity podcasts, but I still want to plug her excellent interview with designer Wendy Mullen, author of the Sew U books, who has just come out with a new pattern book Built By Wendy - Dresses
As I have blogged about before I am a huge fan of her first two sewing books, they have one of the best assembly instructions I have ever seen, and they have helped me a lot in developing my own sewing techniques.
Another clothes sewing podcast from Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood is the interview with Cal Patch, the author of pattern making book Design-It-Yourself Clothes Patternmaking Simplified.
Has anyone of you guys read and/or tried this book? I have not bought it, yet, but am always curious about sewing/pattern making books that are written by people who actually work in the garment biz.
Hi - I have recently brought Wendy Mullin's book and I absolutely love it. I couldn't sleep the first night after looking at it - I was absolutely bubbling over with ideas and inspiration! I have her other 2 books but I think that the dresses book is her best yet.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Cal Patch book - that is on my wishlist too. I have read about it on quite a few blogs and have only heard good things about it. Lots of people have said that they read it cover to cover in the first sitting because they couldn't put it down so that sounds promising. If you do purchase it, please do a review :)
I bought Cal Patch's book after taking her patternmaking workshop, which was fantastic. She's very practical—I really appreciated that she takes the time to explain how all the measurements relate to each other, and how to translate them (so to speak) from the measuring tape to the page. I'm almost a total newbie, and yet her teaching style gave me a lot of confidence! Anyway, I haven't had the time to make anything out of the book yet, but the book seems to be a much expanded version of what I learned in her workshop. I'm looking forward to using it.
ReplyDeleteHI I have the Cal Patch book and found it very useful when I was trying to resize a pattern for my daughter. It is easy to follow with clear instructions and you can use it as a basis for creating your own designs. Only trouble is I have lost it now!! Cannot remember where I put it.
ReplyDeleteI also have the first two Wendy Mullins books, and find them very useful too. It's a bit like having someone on hand for advice where in the past I would have phoned my mum!
thanks for the links! I'll definitely check it out.
ReplyDeletei just bought her first two books and they're invaluable to me as a beginner -- I just finished a t-shirt from homestretch but lack a serger, but hey, it's wonderful practice! i particularly like how she shows you how to adapt patterns. thanks again!
Thank you for the input guys! Now I really want both books :) And I promise to review them if I'll buy them
ReplyDeleteHi, I've been reading your blog for the last couple of months and love the things that you make, but I'm not sure I've commented yet.
ReplyDeleteI bought the Cal Patch book in February and it's probably my most well used and best loved book out of all the many sewing books that I own - it explains complex techniques in an incredibly simple way and very quickly enables you to create your own designs. You can read my review of it that I wrote back in February here: http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/2010/02/quite-possibly-my-favourite-book-ever.html, but there's several items on my blog that I've made with the help of the book, as well as one in my latest post that was based on a pattern and then adapted using techniques I'd learnt using Cal's book.
I haven't listened to the built by Wendy audio yet, but have been put off the dresses book a little as I found that with Sew U, too much of the book was taken up by explaining the most basic sewing techniques...however, I'm really tempted by the book she's written on working with stretch fabrics as I feel completely clueless in this area and would love to learn the basics.
I have the Cal patch book and I've made a quite successful pants pattern using her instructions (just a bit more tweaking).
ReplyDeleteThe instructions for tops/shirts/dresses are for those with a small bust - no darts or other shaping devices. Alas I have a large bust.