Whip that stitch
Make Your Own Clothes will teach you to do exactly what the title commands
By Lori Finkel
Published: February 28th, 2008 | 9:25am
This is one of those craft books that you can tell was created for the purpose of teaching you how to sew, and not just to flaunt the author’s expertise.
Make Your Own Clothes offers 20 clothing patterns, stitching techniques, a simple guide to choosing fabrics, and a CD with PatternMaker software so you can tailor designs to fit your figure. Although PatternMaker looks like a rough form of Microsoft’s “Paint” program, Marie Clayton made good use of technology when she included the software found in the back of this book. To get a pattern tailored to fit your body, you no longer have to consult a chart to figure out if you’re size A, B, C, or D, none of the above. Just type in your measurements and the program calculates a pattern for you. Then, you print the pattern out. Are you a sewing n00bie and don’t know how to find your measurements? When you select a new pattern to work with, a pop-up screen shows you exactly where to measure.
Learning new techniques for making clothes is nice and all, but I tend to buy books based whether or not I’d actually wear the clothing featured. The cover of this book features a blonde with side-swept bangs posing in a mod, Twiggy-esque “Sleeveless Dress” and wide black belt, which lead me to believe that this book would be another DIY hipster handbook. Not the case. From patterns for children’s clothing to a hooded sweatshirt to business blazers, I really couldn’t get my tape measure around just who the author was trying to target.
The patterns look like copies of the clothing worn by the middle-aged moms of the ‘60s through the ‘90s — stuff you can now find at thrift stores. That isn’t meant to sound like a bad thing — I’d loved to have found some of these pieces at thrift stores, like the adorable pleated, knee-length “Tulip Skirt” that tapers into the shape of the flower it’s named for, or the school-bus yellow, short-sleeved “Swing Jacket” that looks like it could be paired with just about anything.
Still, others like the “Shawl-collared Jacket” — a charcoal gray, high-shouldered suit jacket reminiscent of the outfits Melanie Griffith wore in the 1988 film, Working Girl — make me pray to the journalism gods that I never have to enter the 9-to-5 working world if it’s required that I don something like that.
Suit jackets may be your thing. So might the stiff-collared “Double-breasted Cropped Jacket” encrusted with two vertical rows of brass buttons, if you’re trying to tackle marching-band leader chic. But I’m not going to tell you what to wear or how to wear it, and neither will this book. The best feature is that the software will give you the creative freedom to alter the book’s patterns and download more from elsewhere. And that’s what makes it sew cool.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Make Your Own Clothes (St. Martin’s Griffin)
By Marie Clayton
128 pages
List Price: $24.95
Issue #29
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