The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes is a must-have resource on everything you need to know on how to sew clothes. Filled with valuable insight on sewing, tailoring, and making alterations, you’ll learn how to get a good fit for every body type out of any sewing pattern, install a zipper, use notions, and more. Whether you’re new to sewing or have experience, expand your skillset and build confidence so you can sew like a pro!
Book Synopsis
A comprehensive manual on everything you need to know on how to sew clothes! The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes is a must-have resource filled with valuable insight on sewing, tailoring, making alterations, and more. Learn how to take a pattern you already have and adjust it to your unique needs, install a zipper, use notions, and get a good fit out of any sewing pattern for any body type! Whether you’re new to sewing or have experience, expand your skill set and build confidence so you can sew like a pro! Also included is a bonus tutorial on making pants and fitting material, as well as finishing your garments and instructions on detailing to make one-of-a-kind clothes.
Watch the video here!
REVIEW QUOTES
A comprehensive book, packed full of Joi’s wisdom and designed specifically to help every sewist develop in their art. For the novice to the accomplished, this is a MUST have!!
– Lori M., Student and Perfect Fit and Pattern Club member
This guide is beautiful, easy to read and understand, and allows you to learn from one of the best. Before you know it, you’ll be creating amazing works of wearable art, just like Joi.
– Cassie Thompson, Client
Ultimate Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes” by the talented Joi Mahon is THE must-have handbook when it comes to perfectly fitted garment construction. The descriptive and practical imagery of this book helps creative minds to create new projects and achieve better results, we love it!
– C. Bauer, Head of BU Consumer, Mettler (manufacturer of high-quality sewing threads since 1883)
With this book, Joi covers all bases when it comes to sewing garments. Her clear, concise explanations and valuable reference guides are a jackpot for sewing enthusiasts everywhere!
– Gini Denninger, Intermediate Level Seamstress, Rochester, NY
A Quote from Joi
I am so excited about the debut of my latest book! It was an honor to have been asked to work on this title and to share my sewing knowledge. I am so passionate about sharing the love of sewing and encouraging those who love to sew of all skill levels to embrace the love of sewing and grow in their skills. Sewing is not only about the technical skills, but there is a bigger picture. Sewing is a wonderful pastime, it’s a great outlet for stress relief, it’s a skill that you can give back to others including charity sewing, as well as a viable career choice to name a few. One thing I embrace about sewing is continual learning. There is no limit to the skills you can master. With new fabrics, threads and notions combined with individual ideas and aesthetics you can truly customize sewing to your lifestyle. I hope I can be your “sewing coach or cheerleader” and inspire you throughout your entire journey.
– Designer Joi
Free Lessons & Using as Workbook
This book also doubles as a wonderful workbook and resource for refreshing, mastering or beginning your skills. Joi will be featuring techniques from this book all year on her Free Designer Joi Sewing Time Live Facebook Live every Thursday at 1 pm CST on the Designer Joi Mahon Facebook Page. Watch live or view at your convenience. Joi also does a weekly prize giveaway. For more in-depth study join Joi in Perfect Pattern and Fit Club. This is her paid learning community. More info is available in this website store.
Blog Tour
During the month of February, bloggers and media from all over the industry will be blogging and sharing their thoughts about the book after viewing an advance copy. It’s a small world and many bloggers and others in the industry know Designer Joi from working with her as a peer, supplier, mentor, and sewing friend so they may share how they know Joi as well as include an interview with Joi. Each blogger will have their own copy of the book to give away and some will have their own prized to give away. Additionally, Joi will be hosting a Designer Joi Sewing Factory Grand Prize Give-Away on March 1 and bloggers will be referring their readers here to the Blog Tour Home Page for participation. See below how to participate.
Give Away
How to Participate:
It’s easy to participate in our Ultimate Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes Ultimate Give Away. There are three ways to win:
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- For the Grand Prize, post a comment on this blog between Feb 1- March 1 to be entered in a drawing for our grand prize. We are looking for a genuine post. Include something you’d like to learn, share a sewing memory, if you’ve seen the book share a comment, if you have a sewing skill you’d like to master share that and more. Make your entry memorable. We want to inspire others to sew and build a love of sewing. Keep comments on topic. Please post your full name on the entry.
- For an added opportunity, sign up for the Designer Joi Newsletter by clicking the newsletter button at the top of the website and opt-in. We will draw an additional prize from our newsletter list. Plus, you won’t want to miss all the exciting studio news.
- Post Card Contest: If you follow Joi on her Free FaceBook Live you know she does a postcard drawing weekly. Send a postcard to the studio address stating it is for the Ultimate Give Away and you will be added to a special giveaway different than the weekly prize. Make sure to include your name and mailing address. Mail Post Cards to: Sewing Factory, 4011 Floyd Blvd., Sioux City, Iowa 51108
- For the Grand Prize, post a comment on this blog between Feb 1- March 1 to be entered in a drawing for our grand prize. We are looking for a genuine post. Include something you’d like to learn, share a sewing memory, if you’ve seen the book share a comment, if you have a sewing skill you’d like to master share that and more. Make your entry memorable. We want to inspire others to sew and build a love of sewing. Keep comments on topic. Please post your full name on the entry.
Winners will be announced on Designer Joi Sewing Time Live on Facebook Thursday, March 4th at 1 pm CST on her Designer Joi Mahon Facebook Page!
THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED.
Purchase Your Copy Today
Available to purchase:
www.designerjoi.com (autographed copy)
Target
Amazon
Barnes & Nobles
Michaels
Missouri Star
Tacony
Your local fabric and quilt store
And more . . .
wherever books are sold
Looking forward to receiving my copy of the book. Have been enjoying the learning process in Perfect Pattern and Fit Club.
I am very excited to learn how to design my own clothes and clothes for my husband. I have been following Joi’s classes on Facebook and belong to her Perfect Fit Club. I love sewing and I have been sewing since I was a young girl. Sewing was put on the back burner for about 20 years because of working and life getting busy. I recently retired and purchased a new “fancy” sewing machine (which I love) and I am back enjoying sewing again. I have been quilting, bag making, and now, with Joi’s help and teaching, I am looking forward to designing and sewing my first tailored jacket!
I learned to sew somewhere between 8 and 10 on a farmhouse kitchen table from my grandmother. My passion began and through high school I sewed, however a long life got in the way of continuing this passion until I retired. Back to my passion with fervor I tried my hand at everything, clothes, bags, placemats, aprons, you name it. When it came to clothes for myself most of them wound up in the trash, no matter what I tried I could not get the fit right. God bless the day during Covid lockdown when I found Joi Mahon. Cue the music! My sewing has made leaps and bounds under her tutelage and she makes it fun. I am so excited to get her new book until then I am re-reading one of her other ones. Her pattern making class (now on my third year) is something I would have never thought was possible for me to accomplish but step by step she makes it easy.
I can do simple sewing and I want to learn a lot more. I have a husband and eight children so this would be both fun and helpful!
This book looks fantastic! I’m ashamed to say that at my age (66), I’m still a novice at sewing. I can barely sew a straight seem.
I would love to learn how to create dresses for my youngest granddaughters, and to be able to properly hem different types of pants.
Also, mastering buttonholes and zippers would be awesome.
My grandmother was a fantastic professionally trained sewer. She did some fantastic garments and alterations from her living room (where her sewing machines were). Unfortunately, I did not learn as much as I should have from her, as she passed before I followed in her footsteps and started sewing. However, I love to remember the multiple times I saw her cutting patterns from her kitchen table and sewing right there in the living room. It’s a great reminder that you don’t need a dedicated space or fancy equipment to do professional looking and well fitting garments.
This new book looks fantastic and I hope it’ll help me get a fraction closer to the skills my grandma had 😊
I’m excited to order this book! Joi’s approach to fit made so much sense when I found her through Craftsy. Love her books and they have really changed how I look at patterns. I just retired in August amd I’m looking forward to learning so much more amd ramping up the sewing!
I am so excited that this book has finally been published. Joi’s way of teaching how to fit and sew garments makes so much sense to me and although I’ve taken lots of notes during her on-line sessions, I look forward to having a reference book that will become my most-used tool in the sewing room.
My mother taught my sister and me to sew when we were in grade school. Throughout school it was economical for us to make our own clothes. Some time in the early 1970s clothes became cheaper than fabric and we stopped sewing so much. My sister was better than me. I still like to sew. I make scrub hats for my daughter and her friends who work in the OR. I sometimes make quilts for Project Linus.
I have had my book on preorder since November 2021 and I just got the notice that it has shipped! So excited. I have declared my 2022 sewing goal as the year of fit! So this book will help me on my custom fitting journey. Can hardly wait for it to arrive!
Plan to return to sewing clothing after decades away – fabrics and styles have changed much! I’m prompted by grand-children to sew for them as they decide design aspects (color, fabric motifs, sleeve length, pockets, trims, etc). Then I will want to make some to things for me to wear as well, so looking forward to the new book!
Just received my book. It’s very well written and full of inspiration. Love the pictures, as I am a visual learner. Can’t wait to go through the whole thing. Something I’m really wanting to learn from the book is the pant fitting method. Hopefully with lots of practice and this well written guide I’ll be on my way to sewing beautiful garments. Always a dream I’ve just kept in the back of my mind.