Ok, so it won’t teach you how to make a pocket or put in a zipper. It will, however, teach you something equally important: How to identify shape and how it relates to time period. The lines of the clothing give good demonstration of what clothing can do to reshape a body. Want to see how an empire waist changes a silhouette? Flip a page, don’t try on a dress.
Getting familiar with your clothing, the history behind the shape, the materials… this isn’t a requirement to making your own clothing. But there is nothing wrong with making intelligent choices and knowing why you are making them.
Also, if you have any pretensions of designing, you will probably want to draw it. Books like this are not a bad place to start.
Overall, you want a reference book like this. It doesn’t have to be this one, but one like this. Clothes have a history. If you sew your own, you can be just as aware and intentional about it as a designer would be.
Bonus round: fun hair styles.
