A reader commented on the Miki Fukai post asking me how I learnt to sew and how did I manage to produce my make-shift DIY garments. Want the ugly horrible truth? I can’t for the life of me sew AT ALL! If anyone actually did a close up shot of my garments, they’d see flaws everywhere. I don’t possess any technique or skill, just a brainful of ideas. The one thing I know is how to use my mother’s old singer. If you put me on any other machine, I’d be frantically lost. Since my mother is not in town enough and leaves me to my own devices, it’s just me, some needles, many hours of trial and error and sore eyes afterwards.
However, the trick I use is to think of shortcuts and ways to avoid complex sewing procedures. Since I’m the one wearing what I make, as long as nothing falls off mid-walking, I’m fine with a bit of shoddy sewing, or some discreet glue-gunning/velcro sticking action. I do know I can’t carry on in this haphazard manner so I have taken to educating myself a little and being a bit smarter about embarking on DIY projects (of which there will be MANY more over the winter months….you wait and see!). I read a brief review about this book called "Yeah I Made it Myself: DIY Fashion for the Not Very Domestic Goddess" by Eithne Farry and thought it might be a useful starter book.
My personal opinion is that unfortunately, though this book has many ideas and is written in a witty, humourous way, the level of instruction is pretty poor. The cartoon-like illustrations don’t help either. The lack of photos means that it’s hard to see what the finished product is meant to look like with just a few basic illustrations. Call me old-fashioned but I like my instructions spelt out to me in a textbook kind of way. However, it does have a few nifty ideas, like easy dress that require minimum outfit. It has inspired me to expand on what is shown in the book but other than that, I don’t think the book serves its purpose as a beginner’s guide to sewing. 
My next tome of self-education on sewing will be ‘Sew U’ by Built by Wendy founder, Wendy Mullin, which looks very promising indeed. It’s been touted about in the press and judging from the reviews, I think this one might be less of a clanger. I’m very intrigued as to how this one pans out, since I’m a huge fan of Built by Wendy clothes so I think as well as providing instructions on basic sewing skills, it will hopefully show innovative ways of clothes customisation. Included in the book are also three patterns for basic pants, shirt and skirt which is a bonus. I may even advance onto using ACTUAL patterns (previously, my idea of pattern cutting was attacking a piece of fabric with pinking shears with a vague shape in mind). If you any of you have this book, is it a yay or a nay?