The Handsewn Wardrobe
A Complete Guide to Making Your Own Clothes from Patternmaking to the Finishing Stitches
Author: Louisa Owen Sonstroem
A comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide to creating a custom capsule wardrobe, featuring in-depth, step-by-step instructions for hand-sewing nine pieces of clothing (no sewing machine required).
13th October 2025
Hardcover
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
A comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide to creating a custom capsule wardrobe, featuring in-depth, step-by-step instructions for hand-sewing nine pieces of clothing (no sewing machine required).
Description
Discover the slow, quiet joy of sewing clothes by hand in this one-of-kind guide.
Featuring step-by-step, illustrated instructions, this hand-sewing course-in-a-book shows you how to create nine wardrobe staples, including a t-shirt, button-up, and jeans, using simple hand-sewing and hand-stitching techniques. Author Louisa Owen Sonstroem shares her sustainable, empowering, and portable craft with gentle encouragement and guidance. Sewists of all experience levels will learn how to: - Draft a pattern to fit custom measurements. - Select and cut fabric.- Make nine pieces of clothing with simple hand-sewing techniques.- Construct each garment without using a sewing machine.Critic Reviews
As someone who is already aboard the hand-sewing train, I am thrilled that The Handsewn Wardrobe now exists to inform those who seek the skills to sew clothes any time and place! Let us not be tethered to our sewing machines!--Cal Patch, author of Design-It-Yourself Clothes
Louisa's gentle encouragement and easy-to-follow, thorough instructions will empower sewists of all levels to slow down and experience the satisfaction of creating a handmade garment.--Nina and Sonya Montenegro, author-illustrators of Mending Life and founders of The Far Woods
The absolute best thing about making something yourself is the feeling of power and accomplishment you get, knowing this beautiful, useful thing you've made came from your own two hands. With The Handsewn Wardrobe you'll develop the skills and the confidence to make one of our most basic essentials, clothing, from scratch. Celebrate the artistry and satisfaction of making clothing that's not just wearable, but meaningful and enduring.--Abby Glassenberg, Co-founder and President, Craft Industry Alliance
About the Author
Louisa Owen Sonstroem is a maker, illustrator, educator, and technical designer. She studied design and patternmaking at Fashion Institute of Technology and pattern drafting at RISD and MassArt. She has worked in the garment industry as a technical designer at Macy's and Eileen Fisher. She teaches hand sewing and patternmaking classes and is the founder of Patternmaking in Public Places (PIPP), a project seeking to democratize access to patternmaking skills. She is the author of the self-published book, Hand Sewing Clothing: A Guide.
Product Details
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13th October 2025
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