Learn the Historically Proven Stitches Every Seamster Needs with Beloved Historical Fashion YouTuber Bernadette Banner
Whether you are just getting started with sustainable fashion and need to alter your new secondhand finds, or you want an introduction to sewing techniques for making your own clothes, Bernadette Banner’s signature voice will guide you through all the traditional stitches and techniques you need to extend the life of your favorite pieces and take fashion into
your own hands!
From tips and tricks on choosing your materials and preparing your fabric for sewing to more complex techniques like mending small holes, adding pockets to garments, making your own buttons and beyond?this book has everything you need. Complete with step-by-step photos and insight into what alterations each sewing technique is best suited for, Bernadette walks you through every step of your sewing journey. For added inspiration, this book also includes profiles on exciting voices in the historic sewing community and their perspectives on how taking fashion into their own hands has changed their lives for the better. Make, Sew and Mend is the perfect foundation for beginner sewers to start making their fashion their own.
About the Author
Bernadette Banner is a filmmaker and dress historian, best known for her YouTube channel documenting the exploration, reconstruction and interpretation of English dress predating the widespread use of the electric sewing machine, with a particular focus on the years between 1890 - 1914. Her reconstruction work seeks to put period authentic techniques and machinery into practice while simultaneously seeking to learn how historical sewing techniques and attitudes towards dress can be adopted today in an effort to fight the effects of 21st century fast fashion.
Banner graduated from New York University in 2017 following an earlier career in costume design for Broadway in New York. She has since worked with the School of Historical Dress in London, including publication projects such as Janet Arnold's "Patterns of Fashion 5: The Content, Cut, Construction, & Context of Bodies, Stays, Hoops, & Rumps, c. 1595-1795". She currently works as a content creator and research consultant in London.
Industry Reviews
"From inspirational essays on style, finding your voice, and exploring your roots through
clothing, to how to mend, decorate, and maintain your modern clothes, this book is perfect for anyone who is interested in style and clothing."
Abby Cox, Dress Historian, YouTuber and author of The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking
"This book is a must-have for all who sew, buy, or wear clothing. Bernadette Banner provides readers with a charming, thoughtful and informative guide to the
practicalities of stitching garments by handyet this book is so much more. In a world that pushes for constant consumption, Banner encourages us to stop, think, and stitch our way to a sartorially sustainable future."
Dr. Serena Dyer, Dress Historian
