Sewing Machine Basics: A step-by-step course for first-time stitchers

I found this book explained the subject clearly and well. In particular the diagrams very clear. Extremely useful to beginners .

This book is fantastic. It covers all the basics right from the start. I am a complete beginner. The diagrams show exactly what to do. There are also some patterns included. Many stitches are shown too.

There is some helpful practical advice in here.Sewing machine and the accompanying manual often makes what I suspect is not that hard seem very complicated. Or decide not to mention some things at all. Other books find it hard to assume you really are a beginner. And quickly move onto how to make all manner of complex things when you are wondering how to change a bobbin, needle or foot presser. A beginner is a beginner.I think this book will help a great deal.

I was a complete beginner before buying this book at the same time as a sewing machine. Long term, my plan was to alter curtains, make slip covers for furniture and fancy dress outfits for the kids. However, this book might make me expand those aspirations. I sat quite daunted before my machine and wondered if I’d done the right thing as I struggled to get it working and made some crap tester lines in some fabric!! Thankfully, it really is a simple and straightforward guide. The projects are carefully considered to expose you to many different types of stitches and hand/machine sewing. I bought a few meters of different remnant fabrics as well as a large dust sheet from screwfix to practice with. It’s given me such an appreciation of different fabrics already, eg by not using the suggested fabrics in the book I’ve probably made my jobs harder. That being said, I’m really enjoying it. I’m on workshop 3 (bound apron) and decided to adapt the pattern to make little aprons for each of my children and it’s working out much better than I’d thought hahah!I’ve just ordered the follow-up book I’m so pleased with this one. I wish I could go to a class but this is the next best thing. Thanks Jane!

I bought this for my young niece who is getting her first sewing machine for xmas. I'm so impressed with it I'm going to keep it and buy two more copies as gifts. It starts at the very basics: how to thread a machine, the different machine feet, types of fabric and thread and works it way through to zippers and pattern cutting. There are 11 projects included ranging from a cushion to a pin tuck blouse but also including a scarf, an apron, a roman blind and a line skirt... so a nice range of things that are modern and usable. As the book goes on the level of detail given increases, for example the formula for working out how much fabric is needed for a blind/curtain where the fabric has pattern repeats, The difference between lining, interlining and underlining..... And best of all, at the back are full-sized patterns for all the projects. They do need tracing because they overlap one another, but they are full sized.I really think this is a good book for beginners and improvers alike.

I'm not a beginner, but I am an entirely self-taught needlewoman and I fully realise that there are probably easier ways to go about things than the way I do them. This book was remarkable in that it covered every detail of my sewing machine and introduced me to things like the various feet that I'd never fully understood.After the "getting started" section, the book is divided into a series of workshops and each workshop ends with a project to make up, a cushion cover, an apron, a skirt and so on. Just about all the techniques you will ever need are used in these projects and the patterns included seem simple to use. I'm fairly certain I will use all of them - even the child's dress when I have no children, because it looks so pretty (and the charity shop will appreciate it).One of the most useful features is a chart showing different fabrics along with the most appropriate needles, thread and so on to use with them.So far I've had the book less than a week and my new sewing machine arrives tomorrow. My fingers are itching to get started.

This book is good for beginners and gives you projects to do

I purchased this book after buying a sewing machine like several other reviewers and like them I wanted a book which not only taught you the techniques but also gave you some projects to work through and put them to practice and in that respect this book fits the bill. There's several nice projects, giving you a wide variety of nice items at the end including bags, scarves, aprons, curtains, blouses and dresses many of which were items I really wanted to own (rather than just made to meet the criteria of testing my new skills).However, I was surprised to find given the universally good reviews on Amazon that I frequently found sections of the book (particularly the "teaching" sections) very confusing. I had to read text many times in some sections and even then I resorted to "having a go" in order to work out exactly what was meant. The diagrams were sometimes helpful but I also found these hit and miss. I think the main issue is that in each "step" you will be given multiple instructions, usually with one diagram which relates to only one of the instructions - often you don't know which! I usually end up either referring to another book to cross-check what I think is meant or looking up videos online.I don't think myself to be someone who usually struggles with such things, so was surprised to see no one else had mentioned this on Amazon. I am potentially comparing this to a wonderful knitting book (Knitty Gritty - by Anneta Patel) which I recently learnt to knit with and it's coming up short against that quite high standard.In summary, this is a nice book with some nice projects but unless you are already familiar with the basics or are willing to do a lot of re-reading and cross-checking as I have done then I feel there may be more clearly written texts available for the novice sewing machine owner.

Good book with great information and illustrations. It's going to be helpful to me as I'm still learning.

Es un poquito demasiado básico, y no explica todos los prensatelas que han venido con mi nueva maquina de coser. Viene con unos" projects" que no me son utíles. Para mi, es una devolucion.

non ho trovato recensioni buone per manuali italiani, così ho acquistato questo e sono soddisfatta: è fatto bene, con spiegazioni dettagliate proprio per principianti, spiegazioni anche dei punti base eseguiti a mano e alcune schede progetti semplici (cuscini/tende)

it's better to watch some video on youtube than buy this book.

The book is good but using more pictures could have made the book more easy