If you are a beginner trying to learn how to sew, then reading and practicing from sewing books is an excellent way to learn sewing and polish your sewing skill. While there are a lot of video tutorials, but it is very tiresome to find the best one, especially from all the scattered useless videos. On the other hand, books are easy to read and comprehend and stay by you throughout your career.
For this, I have picked my top picks for the best sewing books for beginners that would help to learn sewing techniques and practice them more efficiently.
Top 5 Sewing Books For Beginners: Sewing Books Review 2022
Before starting the review, It is pertinent to mention that two types of content are covered in almost every book. First is basic sewing skills, an introduction to sewing, different sewing tools, etc. While the second is project-oriented content that will polish your skills through different sewing projects.
The best sewing book will be the one that covers both types of content in a more balanced and comprehensible way. While keeping this point in mind, here is my top book review.
First Time Sewing – Best Sewing Book for Absolute Beginner
Why Have I Selected This Book?
I have found this book to be great for absolute beginners who have never used a sewing machine or done hand sewing. The details and content of this book are simple and self-explanatory, yet this is a short book with precise content so that beginners can easily comprehend all the content.
Regarding the book’s content, the first few chapters are dedicated to familiarizing beginners with different tools and their functions, machines and their components, sewing supplies, and fabrics and stitch patterns. Thus, justifying its title, ‘First Time Sewing: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide.’
And after teaching basic sewing skills, the books also have a dedicated section for 9 common projects, including zipper closures, baby blankets, T-shirts, Jackets, and many more. Thus, maintains a balance between sewing and project skills.
Why Have I Selected This Book?
‘Sew Me’ is another handbook that I found to have precise content coverage and clearly the best pictorial representations. But the most prominent aspect of this book is its numerous practice exercises, making it one of the best sewing books for beginners.
Clearly, this is a project-oriented beginner’s guide without dragging theoretical details. After a brief introduction to sewing, sewing supplies, and techniques, it starts with some short exercises and then moves to 15 different straightforward projects. And the best part is that each and every piece of content in this book is divided into steps with highly comprehensible images.
And, if you ask me for one book that every beginner should own, then ‘Sew Me’ would be my straightforward answer.
Why Have I Selected This Book?
Now, as my first two picks were for absolute beginners, this one is for beginners who already know the absolute basics of sewing. ‘The Sewing Book’ is written by Alison Smith MBE, one of the most well-known sewers around the globe, and I found it to be one of the best sewing books for beginners that covers almost every aspect of sewing in much more detail.
I found the sewing book a proper guide for beginners as it has extensive content for sewing techniques, gears, and fabric styles. It covers over 300 different sewing techniques and over 250 tool usage, which are adequate to make you a sewing expert.
For me, this book was really interactive that had a comprehensive explanation with pictorial representations that made it easy for me to tackle even the hardest techniques with the closest instructions.
Why Have I Selected This Book?
Now, this is another extensive book that covers every aspect of sewing. As the title of the book depicts, this book is meant for absolute beginners who don’t even know the basics of sewing and leads them to become sewing experts.
It has the first section for absolute beginners, teaching them the basics of sewing and what to buy and what to not, which helps to keep the sewing budget to the point. Then in that later section, I found this book to extensively discuss ‘how to’ perform different tasks, thus keeping a much more pragmatic approach.
Thus, this is a beginner to advance book that covers a lot of sewing techniques and projects as well as contains many repairing techniques.
Why Have I Selected This Book?
‘How To Start Sewing’ is regarded as an encyclopedia of sewing among the sewer community. It has an extensive combination of knowledge for people of all skill levels. So, whether you are a beginner or an expert, this book will help you a lot, and I would highly recommend this book to those beginners who want to excel at a professional level.
I bought this book recently and recalled many sewing techniques that I already knew, and I learned a lot more. Even after finishing the book, this is still a reference book for me whenever I need to revise any sewing technique.
This is definitely a career-oriented book that might be the best option for early enthusiasts and even experts. It provides detailed suggestions for buying the right sewing tool. It helps keep the sewing economical as it has a good tool instruction guide with their usages and tells which one you purchase and which you should skip.
How to start sewing acts as a complete sewing teacher as a partner, as it has small patches for patterns attached to it which we can use to practice the designs on multiple fabrics and become a pro. The book has precise high-end details which we can use to sew both men’s and women’s clothes and become able to tackle tricky fabrics like leather and silk.
Buying Guide
Multiple books available on the internet might help you learn how to sew. Between all these, it can be an overwhelming task to find the best sewing book for beginners. In this case, you should consider multiple factors for an enhanced righteous purchase. For your ease, here we have listed some of the top factors to keep in mind.
Paperback OR Kindle
The world has moved towards technology. You do not need to buy hard copies of every book and store them in your library. If you are a person close to technology and find it comfortable to read on your mobile devices or laptops, choose to buy from the Kindle. Kindle provides an ebook version of the hardcover with the same content. You can access it anytime from anywhere. But if you love to read traditional books in hand and are not comfortable reading with technology appliances, you can buy a hardcover.
Before you jump into the market, it is mandatory to see the book’s print style. If the book is for an older person or anyone with a weak eye-sight, try buying the one with bigger fonts that are easier to read and put less strain on the eye. It is all about your preference, and you can buy one with your comfortable viewpoint.
Paper
The paper of the book in your hand matters a lot. Good quality keeps you bound to reading. Whether the book’s title is either a storybook or a sewing book, it should be of very high quality and good quality, so the reader enjoys getting information. A good book has quality paper with bright prints for easy reading.
Publishing Year
Authors keep on updating information over time in their sewing books. Every book comes in editions with multiple editions on different dates. It is recommended to buy the latest edition of the book to get all the latest information. Check out the publishing date of the books with only one edition; older books might have outdated information with less usage. Always try to buy the latest one with the information on new additions in the field. These new editions might include a new technique or a new tool.
Content Of The Book And Author
While buying a sewing book, you must see what you want to learn. If you are a beginner and want to learn new skills, buy a book that gives information from scratch, but if you want to polish your skills, go for the one with some new tricks and techniques to make you a professional. Buy the book from the author so you understand more.
There are a few factors of learning sewing which affect the content of the book you should buy. If you find diagrams a good source of learning, buy a book with a good picture gallery but if you learn from reading, buy a book with fewer pictures and more explanations. I usually prefer a sewing book with some extra diagrammatic description for an easy practical idea of the technique.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the sewing patterns one should start learning with?
There are five sewing patterns one should initiate to learn with.
1. Sew Over It.
2. Tilly And The Buttons Coco.
3. Tilly And The Buttons Cleo.
4. Grainline Studios.
5. Liesl & Co.
What are the basic things I should learn before I start sewing?
There are a few basics a beginner should know in detail.
1. Get through the sewing terminology.
2. You should know how to thread the needle.
3. Choose the right thread according to the fabric.
4. Practice sewing with a straight stitch.
5. Sew buttons
6. Use multiple simple patterns.
7. Tools and to tie a knot.
What is the type of fabric a beginner should use to learn sewing?
There are multiple types of fabric available in the market. To learn sewing, a beginner should choose any simple fabric, preferably Cotton fabric. It is non-slippery and easy to handle.
Can we learn sewing on our own?
Sewing is not a hard job. All it needs is a good sewing machine and some practice. You can learn to sew patterns from multiple books and other aids like tutorial videos.
What are the principles of neat sewing?
The five principles of neat sewing include accuracy. You have to keep the extra fabric clear and manage the threads. Finish all the edges and press at the end for proper finishing.
Concluding Remarks
I hope that my review of the best sewing books for beginners has helped you to select one. So, read and learn from that book and practice a lot to polish your sewing skills. See you again with some more interesting and exciting book reviews. Bye Bye.
Hello, My name is Malinda Spicer. in my 10th grade, my granny gifted me a mechanical sewing machine. Since then, my whole life revolves around sewing. I made my hobby into a profession by getting a professional degree in fashion designing. I had learned quite well about sewing in the past 20 years. I hope to be of help by sharing these experiences and expert advice with my fellow sewers.
