Mend!: a Refashioning Manual and Manifesto by Kate Sekules

Mend!: a Refashioning Manual and Manifesto by Kate Sekules, 227 pages

I got this book because I am interested in mending my own clothes, despite my woeful lack of skill with a needle. Sekules is nothing if not thorough with the whos-whats-whys-whens-wheres and hows, in addition to an ample collection of charts detailing strengths and weaknesses of fabrics and which methods work best on what you've got in front of you.  But I learnt much more than rudimentary mending skills.

My favorite bit of trivia I learned was that fabric could be used as a sort of currency, and was so valuable that it would require its own provenance, from who grew the plants, who processed the materials, who wove the fabric, to who cut it, who tailored it, and who wore it. As someone who grew up in the grips of fast fashion, that fact was a paradigm shift.

 

Sew Kawaii: 22 Simple Sewing Projects for Cool Kids of All Ages, by Choly Knight

 Sew Kawaii: 22 Simple Sewing Projects for Cool Kids of All Ages, by Choly Knight, 176 pages
As a lover of all things "kawaii," I thought that these projects were very cute, but dare I say it, almost too cutesy for me.  They were mainly plush, stuffed toys or clothing- perfect if you know a young fan of anime/manga/Hello Kitty or maybe if you are a young fan at heart.  The best thing in here for me was a sushi quilt- each block in the quilt was a different type of sushi roll.  The directions aren't as step-by-step as a novice like me really needed, but you can figure most of it out.

Sewing in a Straight Line, by Brett Bara

 Sewing in a Straight Line, by Brett Bara, 160 pages

This was a really good book of projects for someone with very very very limited (read: no) skill with a sewing machine.  The one-hour skirt definitely took me longer than an hour, but it was absolutely accessible and even though I'll probably never wear it, it gave me some confidence to try other projects.  There are some basic quilt patterns in here that even I could attempt (although it will take far longer than an hour).  I would highly recommend this to someone who doesn't know how to sew but would like to try to learn.