Book Review: Tailoring for Women

Tailoring for Women: Step-by-Step

by Dorothy Donielson and June Pond

Published in 1963, 1969

Some Chapter Headings:
Equipment and Supplies
Pressing Equipment
Fabric Preparation
Layout, Cutting and Marking
Constructing the Skirt
Style Variations and Construction Hints

I liked:

• The great introduction that includes how-to's for Hand Stitches.
• An excellent measurement table to help you get started fitting.
• Instructions on creating the pressing tools you'll need.
• A great pattern alteration chapter.
• After a lengthy technical section on the basic jacket or coat, following chapters give you the modifications in constructions for other styles.

My dislikes:

• There are no photographs. All the images are line drawings.
• The pages are not "pretty" and very easy to get lost in, unless you are following along while working on a project.

Conclusion:
If you've read many of my "reviews", you've probably picked up on a couple of things. 1.) I love these older books. They have instruction and details that I just haven't found expressed so beautifully in today's books. 2.) I think hand stitches are a lost art and I'm always looking for tips to improve mine. 3.) Fitting is critical. Pressing is a close 2nd.

This book contains all those things and more. I actually borrowed this one from my local library. It's not pretty or flashy, but if you're looking for instructions on underlining or bound buttonholes, you can find it here.

Would I buy this book for myself?
I do like this book. A lot. But, I don't have any need to tailor anything for myself. If, and that's a major if, I ever do, I will probably try to track this book down.

Would I buy this book for a beginning sewer?
Nope. It would bog them down. There are plenty of other vintage sewing books out there that would be much more appropriate.