Reddit reviews Fitting and Pattern Alteration: A Multi-Method Approach to the Art of Style Selection, Fitting, and Alteration

For fitting you should check out Fitting and Pattern Alteration for Fashion Design. it's an amazing reference and worth the 90 dollars because it shows you how to alter clothing if its already assembled, fix premade patterns, or fix it in a new pattern draft. Every time you see a wrinkle it shows you what it means, why it's there and how to fix it. It'll help really hone your skills of making patterns to fit YOU, and as you get good at it you'll immediately make the necessary changes to the pattern before wasting any fabric. 100% worth the money.

For Sewing (with some Fitting)

The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. I think my edition is from the early 1990s. The earlier editions like mine and earlier are supposed to be better, but they're all good.

The Sewing Book by Alison Smith.



For Fitting

Fitting and Pattern Alteration: A Multi-Method Approach to the Art of Style Selection, Fitting, and Alteration 2nd Edition


Cheaper books include the "Fitting for Real People" series and "Fitting Finesse".

I stopped getting excited about pattern sales once I realized how much work it was to fit them. I have to make a muslin, as do most people. There are many books on fitting. The one that usually gets the highest recommendation is this.

For now, I would pick a pattern you like and will want to sew many times in different fabrics. Hire someone to fit you. Learn what you can from those alterations. Then work with other patterns or learn how to draft a sloper.