Reddit reviews Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing - Revised + Expanded Edition: 1200 Full-Color How-To Photos

I think part of it is that I’m not aware of this being taught in trade schools. Take this with a grain of salt, because my experience is with theater costuming in middle, high school, and college (including designing costumes for a play), home sewing, and historical re-enactment, but my major was neuroscience in college, so my knowledge is less extensive than a fashion major.

I have been sewing; however, for more than two decades.

That being said, Rosika Parker’s The Subversive Stitch makes a pretty good argument for the historic devaluing of sewing during the Middle Ages with concurrent social movements to restrict female power.

Here’s my perception of the hierarchies in the different careers and the education requirements (see further down)

1. fashion designer
   
2. line/season/show manager
   
3. higher level seamstress (might manage a couple outfits)
   
4. likely more layers of hierarchy
   
5. underlings (actually sewing the outfit parts)
   
   .
   
   
6. costume designer
   
7. levels of hierarchy (sorry)
   
8. underlings (actually doing most of the sewing)
   
   Here’s what I’m aware of for schooling (skewed because my experience is at a four year university)
   
   

• four year universities have majors in fashion design (which includes flat and dress model pattern drafting as well as rendering the patterns and concept art online), costuming (similar to fashion design but with more of a theater focus), and theater management (which includes designing concept art for plays, choosing and altering costumes, hair, and makeup)
  
  
• whatever the name for the fashion design seamstresses who manage an outfit for a fashion designer’s show is a one year masters program after four year university (for more info check out Zoe Hong on YouTube)
  
  
• theater set work (including costume making and alteration; not management) and (less sure for this) the actual sewing and embroidery work for fashion design is more of an apprenticeship area of work. You get hired already knowing how to sew and then receive on the job training to meet the costume designer’s standard (for theater and fashion design)
  
  
• and then there’s the tangential stuff like preserving and repairing historical garments for museums (likely masters maybe grad school) or working at historical sites like Jamestown, Williamsburg, etc. which from my understanding are also more of an apprenticeship (William & Mary undergrads are allowed to do this for the summer, so a college degree is not required)
  
  You might have better luck hunting down your local theater (you might be able to do this with fashion designer houses too; no idea) and asking for the required qualifications to be hired.
  
  For historical costuming, try an apprenticeship or membership with your local re-enactment society or SCA
  
  For learning how to sew (may not include pattern drafting, rendering patterns digitally, or concept art generation) try your local sewing machine service shop (search vacuum service shops too because they overlap).
  
  Here are some books to recommend:
  
  Fashion:
  
  For someone who already sews
  
  Here are ones I feel I have to include, but they’re kind of impractical:
  
  
  
• Patternmaking for fashion design by Helen Joseph Armstrong (textbook; too expensive to just buy)
  
  
• Draping for Apparel Design by Helen Joseph Armstrong (textbook; too
  
  Here are cheaper options
  
  
• Transformative Reconstruction by Shingo Sato
  
  
• Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi
  
  For learning to sew
  
  
• The Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing
  
  
• I don’t recommend Gertie Sews books for beginners because several of the patterns are misdrafted, also ignore older (pre mid 2000s) Burda Patterns because the seam allowances are wrong or inconsistent between patterns
  
  Historical Reconstruction
  
  For someone who already sews:
  
  
• Patterns of Fashion series by Janet Arnold
  
  
• Copies of historical fashion magazines like La Mode Universelle Ilustree (in French) and Harpers Bazaar are sold on EBay. They are only in one size and therefore require pattern drafting and alteration knowledge to use.
  
  
• Reconstructing History
  
  
• Laughing Moon

What kind of sewing are you interested in? Is there something you want to be able to make? I make quilts, and I am teaching myself how to make clothing so I recently picked up a few books to help me improve my skill and I really enjoy them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589235126/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589234340/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574327968/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933027002/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My favorite book is the Singer- The Complete Photo Guide to Sewing. It literally tells you and shows you about everything. From the types of needles to different fabrics- it's my bible!

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