The Sewing Bible for Clothes Alterations: A Step-by-step practical guide on how to alter clothes

This book was out of stock for what seemed like forever. I am so happy it's finally in my library. I'm a home sewer and often find that thrifted or store bought clothing doesn't fit quite right. This book is exactly what I was looking for to start altering my clothes. There aren't a lot of them out there and this book is really great.

This book is detailed and easy to work with. If one still has questions, you can go to her website and email her. She responds very quickly. A great purchase.

Altering clothing is a genre all by itself and one I have never been good at. I can sew just about anything, but alterations and I just never crossed paths. The fear of making a mistake has kept me from this realm of sewing. This book outlines in great detail everything you need to know in order to be successful at altering. Thank you Ms. Turner for this fantastic book!

This is the best book and most complete of all I've purchased. If you can't find it here, watch the demos on YouTube. They were extremely helpful.

The good: there are very few sources for learning alterations and even fewer that are as comprehensive in scope.

The bad: this book needed professional editing.

My background: I've been sewing for 30 years and with that comes the inevitable friend who needs their pants hemmed and curtains made. So I've dabbled in altering though it's far from my passion and I'm nowhere near proficient. Enter this text.

I read reviews and countless sources that referenced this book which was nigh unto impossible to procure here in the states. I finally got my hands on a copy and was pretty dismayed to find so many grammatical errors and several instances where the layout was inconsistent to the point of utter confusion. Caveat: I have not read the book in its entirety, I've only thoroughly read through hemming trousers so perhaps some of these frustrations resolve further on. Also, I obviously have a preferred learning style from sewing books so maybe others prefer this casual style that assumes the reader knows how to do most of these alterations already, they just don't know the author's techniques.

Examples of my frustration with the text: The author suggests first that bodies are often asymmetrical, yet just after that she says "the right leg is the correct length" and to always use that measurement for both (pg. 39 "the right and left leg must be the same length"). But what if the left leg of the client is longer than the right? Why bother with mentioning asymmetry when it's going to be ignored in the subsequent process?

I consider myself fairly well-versed in sewing language but I found many of her instructions "clear as mud", missing specific details (i.e. Marking on pg 41: "you are going to place chalk marks in three positions on the front of the trousers and three positions on the back. The first position is next to the inside leg seam-approx 1 3/8 from the side seam. The second position is in the middle of the leg. The third position is on the right hand side next to the outside seam-approx 1 3/8 from the side seam." But she never references these chalk marks again! How far up the leg are we supposed to mark? Is this (I'm assuming) the amount to be taken up? Do we use just a tailor tack or a line, and if a line, vertical or horizontal? If she told us what these lines were for or had an illustration showing the lines, I'm sure it would make sense but as is, I'm left wondering what she's telling me to do and why!) and often lacking illustration or clarification on which illustration she's referencing.

Another frustrating example is pg. 43 where she says "release the inside leg first, OR the leg that does not have any top stitching." I know she *means* inside leg SEAM but saying just "inside leg OR leg that does not have top stitching" doesn't really make sense. Inseam or seam that doesn't have top stitching is a faster and more accurate way to say this. It's not which *leg*, it's which *seam*. Her examples of notes on hemming amounts shows "up X, down hem allowance" but she doesn't take the time to explain how to translate that on the garment.

Final thoughts: this reference is useful and covers many techniques. If you can ignore editing errors and a heavily casual tone combined with an assumption of some altering experience, it's worth having. If you're looking for step-by-step, refined & instructional, get Simple Tailoring & Alterations by J Francois-Campbell instead.

Contains information not found in other sewing books.

Just what I was looking for. I am a beginner and this book had lots of information on the alterations that I was interested in.

I have a bachelor's degree in clothing and textiles and about 55 years sewing experience, but when I needed to alter my entire wardrobe after a substantial weight loss, this book was a lifesaver! It's pretty clear in most of its instructions. I had a few difficulties deciphering what the author was describing, but when I tried to put it into practice it made more sense. I would recommend this book to a friend.

I don't normally write negative reviews. However, this book is so bad that I'm returning it. I'm a bit of a grammar stickler, but I can get past a couple of mistakes. This book is full of distracting random (inconsistent, even within the same paragraph) capitalization, errors with plurals and possessives, and plain poorly used language. There's a way to write conversationally, but this author has not found that. She would be very well served to find an editor of she decides to write another book or put out another edition of this one.

I could still have even gotten past all the writing errors, but the diagrams and instructions aren't always clear or consistent. She also uses half a page to list reasons why someone's legs might not be the same length. This isn't a biology or anatomy book, so I'm not really sure why that information is there. In that same section, she tells you how to compensate for someone with different length legs when hemming pants, but then gives you an all-caps directive that the right leg is always the correct length. She described casual trousers as any pants with a machine-stitched hem. I am unsure how that is supposed to differentiate then from dress pants.

Lots of people seem to love this book, and I'm not sure why they do. It certainly didn't live up to my expectations from reading the other reviews.

Has everything you'd need to make alterations for a business and personally.