Me and My Sewing Machine: A Beginner's Guide

As others have said, this is more than strictly a beginner's book. I'm a self-taught sewer- I sewed a lot 20+ years ago and am getting back to it after a few years' break. I just received this book yesterday, and am very impressed with it. There are many things that I never learned and a wide variety of techniques, all presented in a straightforward manner with specific instructions. There are photographs that show the finished product for each technique, so you can decide which suits your project best. The last section contains several patterns that are quite attractive and useful.My only criticisms so far are that the fabrics used in some of the examples are sometimes in a busy pattern that doesn't show the details of the technique as well as I would like, and on some of the colored pages, the print needs to be darker and more distinct.All-in-all, a very straightforward, non-intimidating, and useful book that will be a reference for me. The nice patterns are a great bonus!

First I wish to give credit to the photographer, Dominic Harris. The photos in this book are great and help to explain what using a sewing machines is all about. I think one person said that Ms. Haxell's explaination of how a sewing machine works is disappointing. She says to read your manual. I believe what she wanted you to do is become familiar with your machine. Modern machines usually have all the fancy stuff to some degree and that is explained throughout the book. As you may have gathered, I'm a male and at retirement age so you might ask what is your interest in sewing. Well, there were three babies born in my family this summer and I was in Wal-Mart one day and noticed the Simplicity book of patterns. I thought that the baby clothes would be fun to make, so I picked up a used Singer and needed a book to show me what to do with the thing. I didn't have the manual but you can d/l most of Singers manuals at their website for free. I haven't started sewing yet, but hope to this winter. Right now I'm busy with work. The book is great for someone starting out, even a young person could learn from it. As well as a 61 year old man. For the price, I don't think you will be disappointed.

It's a nice book to have if you're new to sewing or have been away from sewing for a while. If you know next to nothing of sewing this is the book for you. It has the basic information to get started and understand the sewing machine, different sewing techniques and sewing musthaves (feet, accessories etc). If you're a expert sewing this will do not much for you as it truly has the basics explained. But for a newbie + a quick reference on simple techniques easily explained its a good book.

Have not started doing lessons but have read some pages, and glanced through the lessons that build skills on each other as one tackles simple projects in book. Author writes very clearly, as she breaks down the steps for projects while demonstrating in nice large color photos, the concepts and skills to be learned. I would recommend this soft-cover intro-to-sewing with your sewing machine tutorial book.

i like the information covered. for a beginner it is a decent guide.i feel like the pictures do not show you what you are trying to do. there is an annoying fade on them that makes certain things blurry. this sounds super picky but when you are using a picture for tutorial purposes i feel like it should be clearly visible. i would not recommend this book to anyone based on the pictures. i am definitely a visual learner. when you can get all this information from blogs and youtube.com with clearer pictures it says something about the book.all that to say it isn't terrible. i like the voice of the author and think she just needs a new photographer for her books!

I've been sewing clothes for 60 years and I'm still learning more!This book is easy enough for my student to enjoy reading in preparation for lessons with me. It raises many questions as we compare the author's sewing machine to the one we're using.As I read it to see if it was a good choice, I learned a few more things about getting better results from sewing machines.The pictures and text are perfectly clear. Very well organized. Excellent explanations.

As a beginner with a sewing machine, this book helped make a lot of things and terms clear. Trying to follow a pattern without much of the basic knowledge in this book is very difficult. The book also has terms and skills that I skimmed over at this point because I won't be needing them until I get into more difficult sewing projects. The explanations of the different kinds of presser feet and descriptions of fabric types was very helpful too!

I bought this book for my son's girlfriend - her mother bought her a Brother sewing machine from Amazon for Christmas. I've taught a lot of people over the years how to sew. This book has beautiful photography and page graphics for the how-to and what the finished product will look like. Together we worked through the sewing machine booklet and this book so she would understand things. It's fun to help people learn skills and see them carry on using them. I'm going to be purchasing more books for gifts, and probably get myself one!