Customer Reviews

Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking, and Sewing (F.I.T. Collection)

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'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' has the potential to be an extraordinary book. The style is clear, instructions are easy to follow and, as if by magic, the initially baffling techniques of garment construction and design are revealed. Selma Rosen's book can make it for you, but there is one warning. This book is completely unintelligible to the un-initiated without its companion volume 'Master Patterns for Children's Clothing' also by Selma Rosen and published by Fairchild Books, 1984.

For those of you who don't know 'master patterns' or slopers in the American vernacular and blocks in the British are the sine non qua of garment design. In other words, without a master pattern you won't be doing any designing, patternmaking or sewing. And, since 'Master Patterns for Children's Clothing' is out of print, it is unlikely that the lucid style and gorgeous illustrations that comprise Selma Rosen's 'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' will be used for anything other than an expensive door jam.

It beggars belief that Fairchild Books continues to make available 'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' in the knowledge that it is effectively redundant without additional information.

I found this to be a wonderful addition to my collection of design and patternmaking books. The illustrations are adorable, and the writing is clear.
Another reviewer stated that this book would not be useful without the previous book. I have not read the previous book, and I did not have a problem understanding this one at all. It might be that if you do not have sewing or patternmaking knowledge, it would be confusing to just jump right into this book. Also, I'm assuming from the title of the previous book that it contains slopers for children. If that's all that's holding you back, you could just purchase a generic McCalls pattern, and work from that.
It was nice to see some details that are "retro," and there was a good explanation of how to face some garments.

I have been looking for Children's drafting, to make historical costumes for my child, so I thought this book would be useful.
It wasn't useful at all.
This book is meant to have a supplement which includes master sloper patterns.
You then use these slopers and modify them to achieve certain design elements as shown in the book.
The master sloper patterns that are a supplement are not available.
If you are looking for information on drafting children's patterns, this isn't the book for you.
If you want to modify slopers or any other pattern (like ones you can buy in your local fabric store) you may find this book useful.
Over all, there are better books out there for both issues.
Of course this book is outdated as well, being a couple of decades old.

'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' has the potential to be an extraordinary book. The style is clear, instructions are easy to follow and, as if by magic, the initially baffling techniques of garment construction and design are revealed. Selma Rosen's book can make it for you, but there is one warning. This book is completely unintelligible to the un-initiated without its companion volume 'Master Patterns for Children's Clothing' also by Selma Rosen and published by Fairchild Books, 1984.

For those of you who don't know 'master patterns' or slopers in the American vernacular and blocks in the British are the sine non qua of garment design. In other words, without a master pattern you won't be doing any designing, patternmaking or sewing. And, since 'Master Patterns for Children's Clothing' is out of print, it is unlikely that the lucid style and gorgeous illustrations that comprise Selma Rosen's 'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' will be used for anything other than an expensive door jam.

It beggars belief that Fairchild Books continues to make available 'Children's Clothing: Designing, Selecting Fabrics, Patternmaking and Sewing' in the knowledge that it is effectively redundant without additional information.