Principles and Practice of Needlework and Dressmaking

Plain sewing taught from the first tacking stitch to a finished frock cut from your own measurements: Anna L. Hird's Principles and Practice of Needlework and Dressmaking, complete.

Hird wrote it, in her own words, to meet the requirements of students and to help the home dressmaker, and she assumes nothing: the book starts with materials and tools and the stitches every worker needs, then builds through seams and fastenings to taking body measurements, drafting and adapting a paper pattern, cutting, fitting, and finishing a garment with its linings and trimmings.

It comes from the years when needlework was taught seriously in British schools and evening institutes, and it shows: the sequence is a proper course rather than a set of projects, and each stage is illustrated so that the hand can follow the eye. Anyone who sews today will recognise the techniques and will find them explained rather more thoroughly than most modern manuals trouble to.

This edition features:

• A graded course in plain needlework, beginning with materials and tools and working up through the essential stitches
• Step-by-step instruction in taking body measurements and drafting a paper pattern that actually fits the wearer
• Practical guidance on seams, fastenings, linings and trimmings, and on finishing a garment properly
• Illustrated throughout, with figures showing each stitch, pattern layout and stage of construction
• The full text of a manual written, in the author's own words, for students and for the home dressmaker alike