The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook [Paperback]

Charlene Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2009

It's time to sew with your feet!

Sewing machine attachments don't have to be scary. With The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook, you'll gain the knowledge you need to conquer that box of metal and plastic.

This indispensable guide will:

• Help you identify 25+ of the most common attachment feet and accessories with detailed illustrations and pictures, including rufflers, binders, hemmers and more
• Give you clear step-by-step instructions for using each foot to yield the best results
• Guide you in choosing a sewing machine, including information on what to look for in a new or used sewing machine

Whether you've just begun or are an experienced sewer, The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook will walk you through the ins and outs of what your machine can do. So grab those feet, and start sewing!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlene Phillips owns and operates The Sew Box where she collects and sells used machines and attachments, as well as provides history on various vintage machines. She has written books for Singer on the Singer Featherweight and on Singer attachments (available only through Singer). She has run a successful seamstress business for over 10 years in addition to being an educator, teaching sewing and quilting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Krause Publications (May 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896899233
• ISBN-13: 978-0896899230
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Needlecrafts & Textile Crafts > Sewing

More About the Author

Dust off your sewing feet and join in the sewing fun! Author Charlene Phillips will guide you step-by-step as you learn over 25 sewing machine attachments in her newest book, The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook. Charlene is the author of several digital publications, contributor/author for several sewing machine magazines, presenter, and teacher. Join her at her websites www.thesewbox.com. Follow her blog for many sewing tips and instructions - http://thesewbox.blogspot.com. You can even find her on FACEBOOK - search for The Sew Box.

Charlene believes in "Stitchery" - her notion for combining sewing feet, stitch patterns, and decorative threads. Join her and see what magic you can do with your machine! So dust off those sewing machine attachments and begin sewing!

Charlene has created patterns, and many sewing instructions - jump right in and follow her own trials and errors. She is now working on the next book to be released fall 2011. Just a little "tease" - how to control your sewing machine AND don't let it control you!

"Over the years I have had my trash bin filled with mistakes and errors! We all start somewhere and it is always at the beginning. I started jotting notes, drawings, and ideas in my sewing journal. Now I have something to refer back to when beginning a new project - so much easier and gives me more sewing fun time!

Join me on twitter and on facebook! Love to hear your ideas and even any questions you might have! Love to hear from readers, and we have a nice fun time!"

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating for presser-foot fanatics May 22, 2009

By Wilhelmina

Format:Paperback

This is a great little book for those of us who love sewing attachments (in this book it's 98% pressure feet). This is especially true of the pre-computerized machine owners like myself who can't just program in a special effect, and who wonder how to use all those little extra feet that came with the 1980 Sears Kenmore, or whatever. My original machine handbook had very sketchy descriptions for its attachments and barely covered what they were for, without any insight on how to use them. This book does a wonderful job of filling in all those missing details, along with handy little tips on how to expand the original purpose of all those exotic, odd-looking pressure feet. This is a book that will nourish the soul of mechanical gadget junkies like myself.

A caveat is that unless you do a heck of a lot of sewing, and feel compelled to make your own bias binding, etc. you probably won't purchase or use many of the special feet and attachments described. Even so I found this book fascinating reading, and really expanded my ideas of what I can do with my machine as far as creating my own ruffles, pintucks and so forth, should I ever need to.

The only quibbles I have with this book is that it isn't inclusive enough. I still have a couple of mystery pressure feet that weren't described in this book, possibly because for some reason Sears Kenmore isn't even mentioned in the book's long list of sewing machines. Also, I didn't find any discussion at all of why some of the more exotic feet are really necessary, when their function can be performed adequately by a standard zigzag pressure foot. Otherwise this is a great little reference, with nicely detailed photos and descriptions that make the various techniques seem so foolproof. We know it's not really that easy, but it's nice to have a book that gives you a good idea of where to start. Definitely a need-to-have for the serious home sewer.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Sourcebook June 5, 2009

By Officemonk

Format:Paperback

Warm photos with clear details make this a must have for vintage sewing machine owners! Close up photographs, clear written instructions help a lot. I like the fact that it works for many different machines, not just Singer models or the 221 Featherweight. Entertaining as well to see what developed in time, and what is unchanged today.

82 of 91 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sewing Machine Attachments July 30, 2009

By Gail Rodgers VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I got this book in the hopes that it would shed some light on more uses for the 10+ presser feet that came with my modern sewing machine. What I found was this book focuses for the most part on old and VINTAGE presser feet and sewing machines. The first 20 or so pages of the book dealt with buying a used older sewing machine including the feet that may come with it. Then it went through the most popularly found vintage feet and how to use them. Thankfully a few of the feet are still being made and come with modern sewing machines so it was nice to get a better working knowledge of some different ways to use them, for instance using a hemmer foot to do Flatfelling if you don't have a flatfelling foot. There are plenty of full color photo illustrations in this book.

Don't count on being able to find the featured presser feet and being able to fit them on your modern sewing machine. I have two nonworking vintage sewing machines with plenty of old presser feet and none of them fit my machine. So if you are going on a presser foot hunt, be very careful that you get ones that fit your own sewing machine. This book at least helps you determine what to look for in the many types of presser feet that were manufactured.

I would have appreciated knowing prior to purchase that this book was mainly about vintage presser feet as I would have skipped buying it. If you are looking for hints on using all the different feet that come with your modern machine, you are most likely going to have to look elsewhere for many of them.