Easy Guide to Sewing Tops & T-Shirts, Skirts and Pants

After sewing quilts for many years I have recently returned to the apparel sewing fold and was looking for a good "best practices" book about sewing my favorite 'fashion accessory' -tops. I had not been having any luck finding an appropriate book until I went to grinds house one day to feed her feline. I spied this book on her shelf, flipped through it rather quickly and then went home and promptly ordered it! This is a 2009 book that I think may be a composite if earlier (circa 1998) books by Marcy Tilton. I knew her name from Threads Magazine, but had never owned a book written by her.Initially I thought that it was odd that there are no very recent sewing books available about general sewing- or, more specifically, about sewing tops and tees. Then, as I thought it, I realized that "best practices" in apparel sewing are far from new and so new books in it are not really needed. My older issue if Vogue Sewing is as appropriate now as it was when I first purchased it. This book too is a reference that will last me a lifetime and it will be as relevant today as it will be tomorrow. One reviewer mentioned poor illustrations. I find that the illustrations in this book, while not all photographs, are very good- better IMHO, than in other, similar sewing books that I have seen. Perhaps a "new" sewing book with photos would be an idea? In the meantime I am thrilled to have a copy of this excellent reference book.The book covers the basics of how to choose a pattern size (based on American sizing), how each pattern company uses an exclusive slower (which I had not realized), body types (and what works for each), pattern adjustments, fabric choices (and relative easiness or difficulty for them), cutting sewing, etc...and the book includes a lot of etc! As I mentioned the illustrations, both photos and drawing, I think, are quite good. This is great reference book for all sewers from beginners to advanced sewists that may just need some refreshing of one technique or another.This book is a great addition to my sewing library and, if you particularly interested in sewing tops and tees as I am...or need more information about skirts and pants as well then this is a book that you should find eminently useful.Ps: I DO wish that some of the patterns that are shown in the book were referenced by pattern brand and number....maybe that information is hiding and I just haven't found it yet ...but it would be good to have since I like some of them quite well.

Given that the Taunton Sewing Companion Library has gone out of print, I have been picking up the titles as used books. So imagine my delight when Taunton published this new book "Easy Guide to Sewing Tops and T-Shirts, Skirts, and Pants." It's an excellent book, covering all I wanted to know about sewing t-shirts, skirts and pants at an intermediate/beginner level.However it's a consolidated reprint of three books: "Easy Guide to Sewing Tops and T-Shirts", "Easy Guide to Sewing Skirts", and "Easy Guide to Sewing Pants." If you already have these three volumes you can skip this new offering from Taunton. If you don't, I highly recommend you invest your time and money on this sewing book.My favorite things about this book are the comprehensive reference of general information that is included and the excellent organization of the material:Selecting styles for your body and patternsChoosing and preparing your fabricFitting advice for the garment and how to alter patterns for many fitting issuesConstruction Guidelines ( it is totally worth the cost of the book to get this advice)Ending each topic (tops, skirts, and pants) with a project that uses what you've learnedWell, I'm off to finish a t-shirt dress now that I have lots of information to help me get professional looking details. Have fun sewing, everyone!

I got this book mainly hoping for a good reference on making knit tops, and also as a general topic book for other wardrobe pieces in this combination of the Easy Guide books. The book itself looks impressive and authoritative from the outside.Unfortunately it just doesn't deliver despite the title. For one thing,the author isn't much on using sergers. Knit tanks and t-shirts beg for serged seams and coverstitched hems and bindings. The notion that everyone doesn't have a serger is a poor excuse for leaving them out altogether. It would have been nice to have more techniques using the capabilities of newer machines.The other failing is that almost no modern edge finishes are discussed. Instead the author recommends that you get some knit fabric and try to figure out how it's done on your own. In addition, she advises the reader to sneak around in RTW shops with a notepad in hopes of unlocking the secrets of commonly used construction techniques. Quite honestly, I can do that without paying twenty bucks for a sewing book.

I ordered this book because I love Marcy Tilton's patterns and her website. But I was sort of disappointed with this book. For one thing, there is at least one really confusing, and probably simply wrong, illustration in this book. On p. 40, there is a picture illustrating how to add a bust dart to a tee shirt, an alteration that I have to make frequently. Tilton rightly recommends putting this dart in the armhole rather than in the side seam. But whoever did the illustration had no understanding of darts: the illustrator drew the dart pointing the wrong direction, and added the extra fabric right on top of the dart instead of above it. I had to go to Marcy's website and look at her video excerpt to figure out how to do this correctly.Threads used to have beautifully illustrated instructions in its magazines, but lately the illustrations have gotten less clear and more confusing. I guess this book is a symptom of this. Probably it wasn't Marcy's fault.

Over the years I have purchased many, many books on alterations and fitting, and for me, this is by far the BEST. I am a visual learner, and the illustrations are very clear. The pants section was very helpful. Having attempted to make the perfect pair of pants , over and over again, it was not until I followed the instructions from these two talented ladies that I finally had success. I am thrilled! The entire book has a wealth of information and is definitely my "go to" book for alterations.