Sewing 911: Practical and Creative Rescues for Sewing Emergencies
All books in the category Comprehensive
by: Barbara Deckert
Topics include: utility sprayer, rectangular gusset, fusible thread, waist seam, sleeve cap, modesty panel, contrast bands, rolled hem, hem allowance, press cloth, lengthwise grain, garment pieces, bias binding, matching fabric, seam allowances, contrasting fabric, extra width, shoulder seam, enough fabric, grosgrain ribbon, press the seam
Book Description:
Editorial Reviews -- Amazon.com -- Even sewing experts occasionally run into sewing emergencies, and for many of us they can happen all too often. If you're tired of coping with accidental snips, fabric shortages, bungled buttonholes, lopsided hems, gapping necklines, and any number of other mishaps, check out Barbara Deckert's Sewing 911. Loaded with practical advice and laced with humor, this terrific guide offers at-a-glance troubleshooting for more than 65 common sewing calamities. So the next time an ill-timed phone call causes an ironing accident or that pair of pants you worked so hard on winds up too short or too tight, instead of panicking or cursing (or both!), turn to Sewing 911 to rescue your garment with confidence. --Amy Handy From Library Journal You say you've just discovered a tear in your daughter's new prom dress? Or maybe you realize that the form-fitting miniskirt you just finished sewing is more form fitting than you intended. What to do? Deckert, a regular contributor to Threads magazine and the author of Sewing for Plus Sizes, has anticipated most of the problems faced by home sewers, and here she offers a variety of practical solutions. Illustrations and step-by-step procedures are excellent, as is the section on sewing-machine troubleshooting and on burn testing to ascertain the fiber content of mystery fabrics. A good choice for public libraries. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Book Description Everyone who sews has had at least one sewing emergency and most have had more than they care to mention. Sewing 911 to the rescue! In her many years as a professional seamstress, author Barbara Deckert has experienced countless glitches -- and lived to tell about them. With good humor and a practical approach to improving sewing skills, Deckert shares her secrets for salvaging projects, even when things have gone terribly wrong. This book offers common-sense solutions the professionals use, including step-by-step instructions and more than 200 color photos. The enclosed spiral binding allows it to lie flat on the sewing table.
Practical and creative rescues for sewing emergencies Suppose you have just run out of fabric, clipped through a seam, or made an awful welt. If you do, don't panic -- emergency help is on the way. With humor and understanding, Barbara Deckert draws from her personal experience to show you how to correct all the possible mistakes that you may encounter while sewing. The first book of its kind, Sewing 911 is an indispensable manual for newbie and experienced sewers alike. With step-by-step text and photographs, Deckert explains how to salvage your project -- even if things appear to have gone terribly wrong. You won't have to work by trial and error -- or worse -- give up out of frustration. You will learn to correct fitting flaws such as clothes that are too short, too tight, too wide or too low cut -- and have fun doing it. The book also features enclosed spiral binding, so you can lie it flat on the sewing table while you work. "This book is a first-aid manual for sewers -- knowing how to fix your mistakes will help you sew with calm and confidence." -- from the Introduction
Do you have sewing emergencies? We all do, no matter how well we sew or how many years we've been sewing. Mistakes just happen, and they always seem to happen when it's least convenient. The phone rings and while you're screening the call, you accidentally cut off a hem allowance on a skirt. Your toddler sneaks up behind you and tugs at your sleeve just as you're clipping open the ends of a welt pocket. It's 6 p.m. the day of your daughter's prom, she's hovering over you in electric curlers and hysterics, and you run out of the right color of thread to topstitch the hem of her dress. The circuit board in your electronic sewing machine shorts out in the middle of your last keyhole buttonhole on the new jacket that you wanted to wear for the big meeting in the morning. So what's a sewer to do? As in any emergency, when we make a sewing mistake it's easy to succumb to panic and exasperation. For our common medical problems, like a sprained ankle or a bout with the flu, most of us are prepared with a little basic knowledge of first aid, some elastic bandages, and canned chicken soup. Sewers also need to keep remedies and supplies handy for their sewing disasters. This book is a first-aid manual for sewers. Please note that you will find few if any "you should have dones" in this book. Hindsight is always clear! Nor will you find many admonitions to "rip and resew," since that's a straightforward solution to a sewing error that just won't help in many situations. What you will find here are practical and easy-to-follow instructions for other methods of "saving the patient," that is, the labor and materials you have invested in your sewing project. Some of the treatments in this book are quick and simple. Some are more elaborate and creative. You get to choose how much effort you wish to put into your sewing emergency, and that will depend on the monetary and emotional value of the project. Remember that while not every "patient" can be saved, most can. Knowing how to fix your mistakes will help you sew with calm and confidence.
Reviews:
Introduction
Chapter 1 Accidental Fabric Injuries
Flaws and Holes
Rips and Snips
Overly Enthusiastic Clipping and Trimming
Chapter 2 Shortages
Not Enough Fabric
Not Enough Buttons
Not Enough Thread
Chapter 3 Defective Design Details
Lopsided Laps and Lower Edges
Uneven Hemlines on Layered Skirts and Dresses
Wounded Welts
Fixing Flap Fatigue
Flipping, Flopping, Puckering, and Pulling
Bungled Buttonholes
Mismatched Plaids and Patterns
Chapter 4 Fitting Flaws
Too Short
Too Tight
Too Wide
Too Low Cut
Gapping Necklines
Not Enough Ease
The Sleeve Doesn't Fit the Armscye
Chapter 5 Surface Problems
Ironing Accidents
Spots and Show-Through
Finicky Fibers and Weary Weaves
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Your Sewing Machine
Appendix B: Emergency Supplies
Appendix C: Stain Removal
Appendix D: Burn Testing for Fiber Content
Index
Sewing 911 -- This is an excellent book for "disaster contros" for the inexperienced or experienced sewer (I hesitate to say "seamstress--probably not politically correct). She has a wealth of very practical advice for fixing or disguising problems ranging from scorched places from errant iron placement to creative solutions when suddenly you discover that there isn't enough fabric. She has an extensive section on stain removal, which is extremely useful. She knows what to do when that garment that one just lengthened still bears the tell-tale line where the hem was. She knows what to do when that buttonhole on the front of your garment looks bad or is too big or too small. She not only tells and has illustrations showing how to mend spots where there is a hole or the seam is trimmed too close or cut clear through; she also has very creative suggestions to disguise such things when mending them isn't practical. She knows how to fix it if the right and left sides of the front of a double breasted garment are not the same length, or if the underneath layer sags. This is a really useful book for anyone who sews. It opens up to lie flat so that as one works on a problem, using the book as a guide, one doesn't have to fight the book to make it stay open. The book, itself, does not present yet another problem. I highly recommend this book as an ideal gift for anyone who sews, including one's self.
Sewing 911 Came to My Rescue! -- Don't feel like the Lone Ranger if you make an occasional sewing boo-boo. We all do, and author Barbara Deckert encourages us, through her imaginative examples, to find fashionable fixes for those annoying errors. Pesky puckers on a lapel? Neckline gaping immodestly? Bungled buttonhole? Now there's no need to toss that garment aside in frustration. Barbara addresses these and dozens more sewing emergencies with highly creative but perfectly do-able solutions. Concise, engaging, and packed with information, Sewing 911 will take the stress out of those inevitable sewing mistakes by sparking the sewer's aptitude for creative problem solving. I finished this book in one sitting because I was so riveted by the possibilities. Find out how disguising an accidental snip in your fabric can actually take your garment to the next level - from ordinary to designer-detail stunning. Sewing enthusiasts have long needed an author who is not afraid to admit that she, too, encounters the occasional "oops!" Barbara Deckert has made this taboo topic highly approachable and even fun to deal with. Sewing 911 is a must-have reference for every sewer's shelf.