One of my very best friends, André Williams, has written a book on alterations. For the last 27 years, André has been doing alterations in Northwest Arkansas and I know from personal experience that she is great at it. Writing a technical book is not easy and she's worked really long and hard, even thru the death of her husband, Kenneth. She got the book finished, though, and last weekend had her book signing party, which was a lot of fun. She was very sweet and gave me a free copy for myself as I had helped her a little bit by proof-reading the book and offering opinions, but I also bought 2 books specifically to give away to my bloggy buddies. These books sell for $20 each, but I'm going to give these 2 signed copies away to 2 randomly picked readers who leave a comment here. I'd really like them to go to someone who wants to do her own clothing alterations, or her family's, not just to a book collector, so please leave a comment only if you think you'll actually USE the book, OK? Thanks!
Here's the cover of the book- it's spiral bound so you can lay it open right next to your sewing machine and read the instructions and see the photos without the book closing on you! Isn't that a clever feature!?!
And here's a great photo of André, my lil' Cajun friend!
Just a peek at the great photos....
...and the Table of Contents.
I even got an honorable mention in the credits!
Leave a comment for a chance to win- you can even tell me a funny story about trying to alter something yourself and botching it up (or succeeding!). I know I've done it, so my copy of this book is going to be treasured. It'll be hard to not ask André to do something for me, though. She's so good at it and nothing seems to faze her, except for rude customers. LOL I used to work in the frame shop right next door, so I heard the occasional story! People are just weird sometimes. Fortunately, though, most of the people around here are really, really nice.
Good luck to you! Oh, I'll be selling these books in my Etsy shop, too, so if you don't win one but still want one, come to my shop. FlossieBlossoms
Thanks for reading all this. I hope you're all having a fun weekend!
This drawing is now closed!
This drawing is now closed!
Not alterations, but you know it's time to stop when you've sewn the sleeve In The wrong way round for the third time! I speak from experience of course! Looks like a fabulous technical reference, very timely :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks a great book!
ReplyDeleteThe last alteration I tackled was shortening a dress for my son's godmother - to cut a long and painful story short it ended up as a blouse!
This looks like something I could use. I have to alter almost anything I make for myself. I have to make a fitted skirt for a fancy do soon and found I need to alter it before I get much farther along. The skirt is lined, so essentially I will be making two skirts plus the muslin! I can use all the help I can get!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like something I could use. I have to alter almost anything I make for myself. I have to make a fitted skirt for a fancy do soon and found I need to alter it before I get much farther along. The skirt is lined, so essentially I will be making two skirts plus the muslin! I can use all the help I can get!
ReplyDeleteI sewed clothing before I made quilts. Would love to have this book. You have neat friends.
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ReplyDeleteOnce I was making a shift-type knit dress (all straight lines, nothing fancy) for my sister without a pattern. I took all the measurements, cut the fabric and sewed the garment only to find out it was too small. I cut the fabric wrong! I ended up having to add panels on each side. She used this one to wear around the house. Then I made another one and luckily that one turned out perfect. Always measure twice and cut once (speaking from experience here). LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't sew garments for myself anymore because I need to learn how to do alterations. This book would give me the necessary help I need. Thank for a great, helpful giveaway!
LOL - I made myself a set of lounge pants, thinking I can't possibly screw up the simplest pants ever!
ReplyDeleteHa!
I managed to make them a good four inches too small rather than the expected four inches too big. Ahem. I did salvage them but they have an extra butt shaped seam in the back on both sides....
I make a lot of alterations to tshirts and pants - I am too short for tall pants but too tall for various regular length pants. Sounds like a great book!
How generous of your friend to donate two books! For me it would be THE book I am looking for at the moment. Friends who have realised that I 'sew' have started to ask me to do alterations for them. It started with shortening jeans but now it gets to shaping busts with darts and button holes in silk coats I get scared..... Help !! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow what a great giveaway, we all need this book to help us with these simple alterations that always seem to go wrong. Thanks for the opportunity Sooz.
ReplyDeleteHaha...this is amazingly timely as our son is now back home and he is always altering his jeans BY HANDSTITCHING cause his mama isn't quite sure how to do it on the machine....double stitching on seams just makes me cringe!
ReplyDeleteAlso I'm about to try making a wrap skirt and I want to make it reversible...small waist...big hips....I need help!:) Thanks for the chance!!:)
Wow very timely, I was just thinking of my Grandmother the other day and how most of her sewing she did was alterations , tiny waist big boobs big hips, nothing ever fit her correctly and well lets just say I do take after her ( although I got to be a good head taller than she ever was). All of my sewing has been quilty crafty and for the home and I really could use the tips on how to alter clothing, sadly my grandma isn't around any more to help teach me how to alter. Perhaps I can pick up the tips I need from this guide book .
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I've just been looking at patterns again...I quit sewing clothing when it became too hard to figure out how to make the pattern fit me.
ReplyDeleteThe best was when I made a Halloween costume (saloon girl) with my architect student daughter. I would never sew clothes without a pattern, but she just started cutting and building it. The biggest thing I learned - stop being so scared, it's only fabric!
I'm in the middle of altering a fully lined dress for my daughter. To say I could use a little help is a bit short of the whole truth:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win!
I really loved reading your blog. It is very well authored and easy to understand. Unlike so many other blogs I have read which are really not that good. I also found your posts very interesting. In fact, after reading, I shared it with my friends and everyone liked it!
ReplyDeleteYou make like my beautiful
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