The Gentleman's Wardrobe: Vintage-Style Projects to Make for the Modern Man Paperback – Illustrated, 7 Mar. 2017

This book has a range of different garments we can make and full sized patterns that are superimposed on each other to a degree and is expected. I have not made anything yet but did cut a collar and under collar pattern using melton on which I added horsehair canvas and made a padding stitch sample for a bespoke tailoring class. Definitely a book I will come back to when I have some time.

About a year ago, I decided to take up sewing at the age of 53. I’d never sewn before - though my mum was a keen sewer and I’d become an avid follower of the Great British Sewing Bee.I purchased a basic introduction to sewing course online - which I followed and found very useful. Then I purchased this book, and within a month I’d actually made my own shirt!I see some very negative reviews on Amazon - mostly about the fact that this is not a book for beginners. Well, if you don’t know how to thread a sewing machine or switch on an iron, you’re hardly likely to be purchasing this book! So yes, the absolute common sense basics you will have to source elsewhere. There are loads of brilliant videos on the internet if you do happen to get stuck (I had to look at one to do a flat fell seam on a long shirt sleeve - which was a very odd experience). HOWEVER, this book is brilliant for explaining the making process step by step - in a way that you certainly don’t get if you start with a basic, shop bought pattern.Which brings me to the patterns. A shock for me as a first time sewer is the price of patterns! This book contains a huge wealth of pattern - which alone make it more than worth the purchase price. OK, you have to trace them out first - but that’s ok.I’d like to give a big thank you to the author for guiding me - and, occasionally challenging me - on my sewing adverntures!

This isn't a book for a total beginner, but it's really darn close with its very very clear instructions. (with only a couple of unclear and possible mistakes, but the rest of the instructions around them are so clear it's usually easy to figure out what should have happened) ) I'd say it's for someone who's dabbled and wants to step up their game a bit, and is then a really good introduction to moving onto "proper" patterns. The number of patterns this book comes with (effectively almost EVERYTHING for a man's wardrobe, missing possibly only a normal tie) makes it a bargain to start off with. I've now made almost everything in here at least once, and it gave me the confidence to use my evenings and weekends over a fortnight to make an entire 3-piece suit + tie + shirt for an event I was attending.

Good starter book to learn the basics and what to expect going forward.

I was looking for a waistcoat pattern and could not believe the number of patterns available in this book for the price of one alternative waistcoat pattern. There is no 'look inside' function so I purchased hoping for the best.The book is very well presented with a focus on the instructions. There is modelled photographs of the finished articles, but this is not the focus.The attention to detail is fantastic; possibly the best of any sewing book that I own. Every step of every garment has an accompanying instruction and very clear sketch. I have not yet made the waistcoat, but I have used this book's instructions to sew a fly zip closure and cuffs on two separate garments that I had in development.I will be making the waistcoat, but now also have both the long sleeved shirt; summer shirt and slippers on my to-sew list.

Great book, varied projects well explained. Beautiful photography and ideas. And with sewing patterns included within a sturdy envelope wishing the back cover. Best book on this subject I’ve found for far.

This book was so close to being excellent, but I must confess to being rather disappointed by it. There are so few crafting books aimed at men, whether knitting, crochet, sewing etc, that I was thrilled to spot this on Amazon just prior to the release date. The book is clear, well presented and styled, and covers a great range of vintage inspired items that most men could make use of. However, I really think the author missed a trick with a couple of things... Firstly, there are no customisable options within the patterns... I.e I wear a flat cap almost every day and would love to make my own. However the pattern here features an abnormally large/deep peak with no mention of how to scale this back to a more regular style... The same applies for other patterns... Most annoyingly, however, the sizing in this book is ridiculous. The only options are small, medium and large. Large equates to a 42 inch chest, which means that the patterns are of no use for my partner or I who are both a 44 inch chest. I could, of course, endure the laborious process of grading the patterns up another size, but surely the joy of this type of publication is that its more of a 'plug and play' type of sewing...get the book and some fabric and off you go... So many genuine vintage sewing patterns for men come in very small sizes because we were all, generally speaking of course, much slimmer then... To have updated the styles whilst keeping the frustratingly small sizing is such a pain....

Having only very recently taught myself to sew out of necessity it became apparent to me that this was something I should have done many many years ago. I quickly got to the point where I wanted to make something wearable rather than just for display. The techniques in this book are very simply described and illustrated step by step and the patterns/projects included are easy to follow and also very practical, I have learnt so much from just the first few chapters and no doubt will learn so much more from the rest of the book. An absolute must have for anyone that has a sewing machine (or not).