Notions: Over 50 Great Gadgets You Can't Live Without

By Jolynn Gower and Jolynn Gower (ed)

Notions can make sewing easier, faster, more fun and creative. Here is a sourcebook culled from some of the biggest names in the field. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561584150
• ISBN13: 9781561584154
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: The Taunton Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.9" x 0.9" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Who knew?

I have been putting off buying this book for some time, and I wish I hadn't. It not only lists the most practical notions to purchase, it includes really clear instructions and suggestions on how to use them.

A must for sewers, old and new

Like most seamstresses, I have a handful of tried-and-true notions that I keep right next to my sewing machine and many others that sit unused in my sewing desk. I usually purchased the latter based on a long-forgotten demonstration or on a whim. Finally, help has arrived. This new book from Taunton Press describes the favorite notions of 23 sewing experts from around the country. Its colorful illustrations and spiral bound construction make it both attractive and practical. Each of the more than 50 notions and tools is described in two to five pages; many are new to the home consumer market. They include embellishment tools, cutting and marking tools, stabilizing and structuring aids, pressing aids, machine accessories, needles and threads, and aids for precision sewing. Some of the descriptions also provide instructions for complete projects. Lyla Messinger, for example, describes a variety of uses for the new fusible stay tapes. She explains how to apply the tape to a neckline as a way to avoid a facing and how to use the tape to control gapping in a sleeveless garment. Another example: Ultra-soft double-sided fusible tape can be used to easily hem silk and other fine fabrics and to stabilize a double-needle knit hem before sewing it. With the book's help, I will be able to pull the "spinster" out of my bottom drawer and use it to twist ordinary yarns and cords into decorative trims for clothing and home dec items. The book might even convince me to buy the new "tatool," an adjustable device that aids in the construction of tassels for fashion and home dec projects. I intend to give some old and new "feet" a new lease on life, based on the information in this book. Connie Long illustrates how to use a binding attachment to finish edges; Clotilde describes the "Velvet V Foot" as the ultimate (no-slippage) way to sew silk or rayon velvet; Gayle Starbuck and Jan Grigsby say the Bonfit "No Hands! Elastic Wizard" is a stress-less way to apply elastic; Barbara Deckert show the correct way to use a tailor's ham to press darts and seams and to shape garment components such as collars, lapels, and cuffs. I kept thinking as I was reading this book about all the tools available to the carpenters who appear on "This Old House." Well, we've got them, too. Here's a great way to learn how to use our own sewing tools and notions.