Fabric Savvy: The Essential Guide for Every Sewer

Fabric Savvy: The Essential Guide for Every Sewer

by: Sandra Betzina

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Book Description:

Book Description Fabric Savvy is a handy, spiral-bound reference on virtually every fabric imaginable--from the newest to the old favorites. It's a must for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed in a fabric store by all the fabric and notion choices. Fabrics are listed alphabetically for easy reference. Specific information for each fabric includes preshrinking instructions, layout, marking, interfacing, needle and thread options, stitch length, seam finishing, pressing, topstitching, closures, hemming, and more!

Amazon.com For those of you who have managed in the past to find the right pattern and the perfect new fabric, only to give up in frustration when the fabric doesn't behave like anything you've used before, Fabric Savvy is here to help. Author Sandra Betzina, host of Home and Garden TV's Sew Perfect, has wrestled with just about every fabric out there, and she's lived to tell about it. Perfectly suited to beginning and experienced sewers alike, this excellent guide devotes, in alphabetical order, two pages to each of 85 fabrics. For every material Betzina highlights a multitude of topics, including fabric facts (bulky/drape/breathable/how fabricated), suitability (types of projects), sewing tips, lay-out (and why it matters), interfacing, stitch length, seam finish, closures, and hemming. The categories are thorough, as is the scope of fabrics addressed: waterproof breathables, tencel, and lame, to name a few, along with 14 types of silk and 8 wools. Color photographs accompany the descriptions of fabrics and projects, while helpful illustrations further explain the techniques used. Finally, Betzina offers a glossary of fabric terms and a thorough listing of contact information for fabric and alternative pattern companies, making Fabric Savvy a necessary resource for any sewing enthusiast. --Molly McElroy

From Library Journal Betzina (No Time To Sew) is the author of the Power Sewing series and hostess of HGTVs Sew Perfect. Fabric Savvy is a guidebook to 85 different fabrics available to the home sewer, from African mudcloth to wool melton. Each fabric is given a two-page spread that includes information on recommended thread and needles, stitch length, presser foot, finishing, seams, marking, interfacing, cutting, types of hems, topstitching, and closures as well as basic information about the fabric and the types of garments for which it is suitable. Recommended for general purchase by public libraries. Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc. Everyone should be Savvy about Fabric Savvy! -- This book is a must for every home sewer. I have worked in retail in fabric stores, sewing machine shops, and have a certificate in Apparel Design; but in all of my experience, I have never come across a book as well written and informative as this one. These are things you just don't learn in your basic sewing classes. Great Job Sandra! Fabric Savvy -- Excellent coverage of all types of fabrics and how to work with them, including type of needle, thread, presser foot to use. Lots of useful tips. Well organized -- a great reference Essential for sewers of every experience level -- I've been sewing clothing - from baby layettes to wool suits to wedding dresses - for 20 years, and I found great new-to-me information in Fabric Savvy. I'd have saved incalculable time and money over those 20 years if I'd had this book next to my sewing machine. The format gives you everything you need to know about sewing specific types of fabric, but gives it to you concisely. Brava, Ms. Betzina!

Reviews:

Belongs next to every sewing machine -- Let me state my one request for a change and then proceed with my sincere, gushing praise: In the next edition, I hope Ms. Betzina will include a phonetic pronounciation next to the name of every type of fabric she talks about.Now, let's get started on what's right about this book, which is EVERYTHING. The binding shows this book is a workhorse. It's vinyl coated hardbound, with a covered spiral binding. In other words, it opens flat and won't fall apart with use.The format: a generous lower margin allows you to prop it open (flat!) in a stand to refer to as you work. Each type fabric is presented in alphabetical order and on two facing pages--it's all there when you're working, you don't have to skip around. An photograph of the garment made of the fabric is included--so you can see the subtle difference between silk dupioni and shantung...and an appropriate garment for the fabric. Under bold, clear headings are listed the recommended needle, closure, layout, marking, cutting, interfacing, thread, presser foot, closures, stitch length, preshrink, pressing, hem for the fabric. There are also fascinating tips to improve your sewing and interesting facts about the fabric. I'll never use the same old needle and thread again, and now know what would make some of my garments look couture perfect rather than homemade. This truly is an essential guide for EVERY sewer. Dictionary-style fabric reference is indispensable -- I don't know how I lived without this book. It's a thorough discussion of how to pre-wash, mark, interface, and sew most of the fabrics a home sewer will encounter. It's organized dictionary-style, so that you can open the page (flat!) to "Silk Chiffon" and find immediately the appropriate thread, stitch length, needle, presser foot, and pre-treatment for your project, as well as the helpful advice to "Never sew silk chiffon in a hurry! It will always go wrong on you." Indispensable to even experienced seamstresses; I've been sewing on and off for thirty years, and this book had tips I didn't know, such as that some fabrics have incremental shrinkage, and must be washed and dried twice before you cut them out.

Great Resource -- I have to say I love this book. Easy to use, you can get in get the information you need and get on with your project!!! Love it...Thanks Sandra Betzina. A Sewing Room Necessity! -- This is a great reference book for everyone who loves to sew! I have a vast selection of sewing books, but this is one that I refer to time and again. You won't regret buying this book. Useful, but not exactly a "bible" -- A colorful, useful guide to fabric and how to handle it. I only wish that swatches of fabric or large close-ups of the fabric were included, rather than the outfits pictured, as the outfits are often made out of more than one fabric. Morevoer, with eight kinds of wool, being able to see and touch them would make the information more available to me. Also, it would be nice to see how finished garments hang on a body instead of how they lay flat. Nonetheless, it is a very good book, very well organized, and very well constructed considering how it will be so heavily used.

You're Good!!! -- Anyone that sews should have this book!! This is a seamstress' BIBLE! I refer to this book everytime I change to a new fabric. This book is very detailed! This is a NECESSARY BUY!! Thanks Sandra! Wanted to add an amen! -- I hadn't been pleased with Sandra Betzina's stuff generally: I found her Vogue patterns for "Today's Women" didn't fit this woman any better than yesterday's patterns, and Power Sewing was a big disappointment. But she gets a ringing endorsement for this one. Logical layout, all related information: foot to use, thread, suggested uses, and it's in alphabetical order. Wonderful reference book! Love it! -- I'm a new sewer and find myself referencing this book all the time when I'm using a new fabric. It's amazingly complete! I just finished my first project in velvet and it went very smoothly, thanks to the tips from this book. I would have been fighting with the fabric forever if I'd just followed the pattern instructions. Fabric Savvy -- Thanks you, Sandra!! This is truly a seamstress BIBLE!!! I especially use this book when I go to the fabric store. This gives me an idea of what type of notions that I need to purchase or perhaps I already have!!! I truly love this book!!!

Excellent reference -- This book clearly sets out the types of problems and techniques that can be associated with many different fabrics and fabric types. Especially good for the beginning sewer are the sections on thread, machine feet, needles to use and special techniques. My only real problem with the book is that several of the fabrics I wanted to look up weren't there. I am not sure whether this is because the missing fabrics are not treated in the book, or whether they go under a different name in America to what it does in Australia. The index would have been improved by a larger number of fabric names: for instance, poplin does not appear in the index, nor does Ultrasuede. A "Must Have" for Serious Sewers -- With all of the different types of fabrics that are available to home sewers now, knowing how to handle them can be confusing. Some fabric shops do not include care information or you may have misplaced the information that you received. Fabric Savvy is an excellent, clear, and concise guide that allows you to search for specific types of fabric and find out, not only the properties of the fabric, but the kinds of hand needles, machine needles, stitch lengths, threads, interfacings, linings, buttonholes, etc. to use in its construction. Plenty of illustrations and charts. Also like the spiral-bound design that allows the book to be laid flat.

The most helpful sewing book I have ever owned! -- I have been sewing garments for several years. This book has been a great quick reference guide. I have always had a difficult time with certain fabrics, they would snag, the stiches would bunch up or the fabric would stretch and slip. With the help of this book, I have been guided to use the right needle, foot, stitch and finishing touches. Now, sewing difficult fabrics have become a breeze. An example is sewing on Tissue Lame, with this guide I was able to use the correct needle, the perfect stitch length and finish the seams, with no problems! Thank you Sandra for this helpful guide! Good for reference, but not everyday -- This is a good reference book. I wish it had a glossary of sewing machine accessories, since I wasn't sure about some of the feet Betzina was recommending (my machine is older). I also wish she had more pages about the kind of fabric you find in the local fabric stores. There are many different kinds of cotton and poly-cotton blend fabrics. It is very handy, though, when you are unfamiliar with a fabric. I used the interfacing suggestions for voile for my daughter's Easter dress. All in all, a good book to have, but not one that I use constantly Sewing reference essential -- Before acquiring this book I frequently had doubts and concerns about suitability, treatment and care of fabrics. Sandra's book is very easy to use, with clear photo of a garment made with the referenced fabric. What is the best needle to use? thread? style of pattern? method of cleaning? interfacing? This is not a sewing manual, but a very useful guide to fabric. Even when I assume I know my fabric, I check it's page and usually find a crucial tidbit of information. At the very least, I proceed with greater confidence on my project.