I bought this book, Fit and Sew Custom Jeans, a couple of years ago and I refer to it often. It is a Palmer Pletsch book written by Helen Bartley. It is a terrific book if you, like me, love to make your own jeans!
What’s in the book
The book basically ranges from the history and hardware of jeans making to inspiration, care tips and templates. This is a very comprehensive book that will have something for everyone.
One of the things I really like about this book is that there is so much information included that’s easy to understand. I also appreciate that there is such a variety of fit models and examples included. So no matter what your shape and size, there is information you can use. There is also a chapter (and ideas) for sewing men’s jeans.
Who is this for?
I would say this is for anyone who is interested in sewing their own jeans. If you are a beginner to making your own, it is a great source of information and inspiration. If you are more experienced, you will find the fitting advice and creative ideas to be excellent.
I’ve made many pairs of my own jeans and its something I really enjoy. Once you get a pattern to fit you really well, it’s a easy to “hack” the pattern and make changes to it. You can end up with different looks from the same pattern.
My Conclusions
I really like this book. It is not only informational, but inspirational as well. There is so much advice on fitting, of course, since it is a Palmer/Pletsch publication. As I mentioned before, this is one of the few fitting books that has fit models of different sizes. That’s important so that you can get a visual idea of what an alteration may look like on you. The information in the book is easy to understand which I really appreciate too.
Here is the link to video review that I made for this book if you’d like to see that also.
https://youtu.be/M7quJBfDSm4?si=zTRCs3aucw4t73jl
