Merchant & Mills Sewing Book: Hand Sewing Techniques / Machine Know-How / Tools / Notions / Projects / Patterns Hardcover – February 11, 2014

Straight forward beginners sewing for clothes. Nothing fancy

This is a vintage sewing book that covers every possible circumstance beginners will encounter. Step by step, you can make anything from making the pattern to finishing eyelets. The instructions are provided by completing various ... useful items. Aprons, document and flight bags, pillows and tailored shawl. Fantastic quality handmade gifts for all...

I love this book, but as another reviewer mentioned there is a rather large error on the flight bag instructions. Attaching the lining as written will not leave you with a well made bag. This doesn't change how I feel about the beauty and simple elegance of the book and my affection for Merchant and Mills, but buyers should be aware.

This book has some good information in it for anyone who plans to sew from Merchant & Mills patterns, and of course it's beautifully presented. I bought the kindle edition because it was priced right, and I thought it would allow me to see whether or not I wanted to invest in other M & M books. I was extremely disappointed to find that the pattern for the Fisherman's Shirt is going to be difficult if not impossible to use because I have no idea how to get it printed. It's the one project I'd like to make, and the kindle edition includes a link to a "full size pattern" but when you go to the M & M website and download the pattern, it's not set up for home printing.As an experienced sewer who frequently buys patterns online in PDF format, I often download and print sewing patterns. The PDFs are generally set up so that you print them at 100 percent and then tape the paper printouts together to form a full-size pattern. The digital file for the Fisherman's shirt, however, won't print that way, and the M & M website includes no instructions. To make matters worse, the pattern itself includes no measurements, so you can't even print it out at a smaller percentage and then bring it to a copy place like Kinko's to have them enlarge it. I may save the PDF onto a flash drive and see if copy shops can print it that way. If I wanted to spend the time, I could draft out my own version of the pattern, but the reason I used patterns is precisely because I have a limited amount of time to sew and just want to make the item. Extremely frustrating!I have also had difficulty with the actual kindle formatting of this book, which has never happened to me in all my years of reading kindle editions. Several times I've opened the book to find that all the formatting has disappeared and the text is all jumbled together. I've had to power down my kindle and re-load the book file to restore the formatting. No idea whether this is a corrupted file or what, but it's never happened to me with another book.So my advice is that if you decide to invest in the book, get the hardcover. And I really hope that Merchant & Mills addresses the problems with the so-called full size pattern file available on their website. If they fix that issue and make a PDF that you can print and tape together to create the full size pattern, I'd give the book 4 stars.

I had a hard time finding a decent book for a male starting out in sewing. This fit the bill with challenging fun projects I didn't mind making. I is well constructed with an almost art book feel. I really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it

The info was good, even for an old sewer, I learned how to use sissors properly and ended up ordering the dressing shears and the wide bow sissors, which are now my favorite. Amazon did not have the 8", so I ended up ordering them both from a UK store. They came fast. I used the instructions to recover my ironing board. A friend is unhappy about the patterns, she wanted to make the fishermans tunic. The 175% enlargement was her complaint. A person might have a computer, but not a printer to download the full-sized patterns. Then they have to be taped up. She prefers full sized to begin with.

Really cool book. I hope I make some of the projects that are included in the book.

This is a great book for someone starting out in sewing. For that I would give it 5 stars. For me, however, I was disappointed. The first part of the book is very good and inspiring. I would have liked more of that. However, the projects were very, very elementary, and mostly useless. I expected a few more varied projects. Who needs a scarf with a pocket? And how many bags does one need to make?

To get the best out of the excellent book, BUY THE BOOK not the Kindle version. There are patterns with the book but not the Kindle version. Otherwise the contents for both are excellent.Highly recommended.

I really love this book. I have sewn for a very long time, but have been a bit of a 'bung it together' dressmaker... Things look okay from a distance! ..this book provides me with the information needed to produce better quality and better looking garments etc. even if I don't bother photo-copying the patterns for the items featured...I love the tailored shawl though...it will still help me produce nice things from other patterns I already own.

I was really disappointed to find that the patterns advertised with this book need enlarging by 175% before they can be used. This needs doing by a professional print shop. The book is ok, a bit fussy in bits, looks very beautiful but I’m not sure how much use I’ll make of it. I love Merchant and Mills Camber dress so was disappointed that the book didn’t have the same level of usefulness.

Good inspiring read for the newly interested, but i decided quite quickly i needed another book to explain the basics in more detail,a referance book, and chose sewing for dummies to complement this book.

A really informative book but also entertaining to read. Perfect for completely clueless beginners like myself. Looks lovely on the bookshelf too!