Tuesday, November 6, 2012

More Fabric Savvy by Sandra Betzina


Good evening all,

I wanted to take some time to talk about books written by Sandra Betzina.  This first one is the updated edition of her Fabric Savvy guide for selecting and sewing fabric.  This time it's titled, "More Fabric Savvy".  The book provides exactly what's indicated on the cover, a quick resource guide to selecting and sewing fabric.  The book includes a brief introduction followed by a list of 101 different fabrics, glossaries, more helpful tips for handling fabrics, sources, and index.

It is a handy hard cover book with spiral binding so the book lays flat on the table for hands free reading. The pages are nice light weight card shock that can withstand tons of page turning. 



I really like how the book is organized.  The fabrics are listed in alphabetical order with two pages of content devoted to each one.  Each section includes facts about the fabric, what it's suitable for, and sewing tips.  Tips for working with the fabric include recommendations for preshrinking, marking and cutting, interfacing selection, the best thread and needles to use, stitching guides, seam finishings, pressing, and hems.  A photograph of a garment made from each fabric type is included on the fabric fact page to provide a clear illustration of how the fabric can be used.



You can purchase the book on the Power Sewing website for the reasonable price of $24.95. I highly recommend this book. The holiday season is upon us and this would be a nice stocking stuffer for yourself or for your crafty sewing friends.

Parting Shots:

Ron Collins at the September 2012 Power Sewing Retreat demonstrating how to do a burn test. 

Also below is a quick reference sheet for determining fabric fiber content using the burn test.  Caution:  hold fabric with tweezers and have a cup of water to extinguish the flame when conducting your burn test.











4 comments:

  1. Love the tips on correct needles for each fabric! I'll add this to my Channukah wish list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning, Cenetta. I am up bright and early watching election results. I have the first Fabric Savvy book and find it an essential in the sewing room. It is so nice to just flip it open to figure out which needle, etc. Thanks for reminding everyone

    ReplyDelete
  3. This book has saved my bacon many times. Or at least it's saved me huge amounts of time by leading me at least close to how I should be handling it. It's not absolutely complete, there are some modern technical outdoor fabrics missing, but it's as good as it gets. One of my desert-island sewing books..

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree this is a must have book....I have the first and this one too. They are wonderful books to have as references and you just can not go wrong having Sandra's books on hand :)

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin