Sewing Tips For Beginners
Having asked our customers and members within our Knit It, Stitch It, Share It Facebook Group for their favourite and most useful Sewing tips, we thought why not put together an easy list for those just starting out with sewing…
With over 200 amazing tips sent in, here are some of the popular ones:
1. ALWAYS measure twice and cut once, double check your measurements and then check again! Always read the instructions for your project fully prior to using the scissors too.
2. Buy the best scissors that you can afford and don’t use them for anything but cutting fabric. Use a general pair of scissors for cutting out paper patterns
3. Use the correct needle for the type of fabric you are using and make sure that you change your needle regularly (we have a blog about sewing machine needles HERE)
4. Use your iron as much as your sewing machine – pressing can make mediocre sewing look presentable and failing to press can make good sewing look mediocre. Keep your iron & ironing board handy and near to your sewing machine to make this easier.
5. Buy a copy of Sewing For Dummies. Its’s perfect for beginners. It takes you through all of the terms used in sewing as well as types of fabric and how to handle them and their uses. It tells you what you need to create a basic sewing kit. It literally answers every question. Worth its weight in gold.
6. Don’t attempt an over complicated piece for your first project. Start small and work your way up. Make sure to allow yourself three times as long as you think to finish a project
7. Pin seams or use clips. If you don’t, you will often find one side ends up longer than the other.
8. When using pins for a project place them horizontally, like this lllll not like this —- so that you can sew over the pins and remove them at the end rather than whilst are sewing. Make sure to put the pins facing away from you so that you don’t prick yourself with the pins as you are sewing.
9. Don’t buy an over complicated sewing machine to start with, and learn to look after your sewing machine and keep it clean
10. Cut off your threads as you go saving time when you get to the end of a project
11. Use a test piece of fabric first to check the needle, the tension and the stitch length
12. Remember everyone makes mistakes so don’t beat yourself up over it, mistakes are where the love is.
13. Get into the habit of moving your foot back from the peddle every time you stop, and every time you need to put your hands anywhere near the needle
14. Begin with learning to machine a straight line, to a measured seam allowance. Then a curved line, again keeping an even distance from the edge. Accuracy is so important when sewing.
15. When dressmaking from a pattern, go by your body measurements, not the size you buy from the shops
16. Having a seam ripper nearby is very useful when mistakes do happen!
17. Hold onto the threads when beginning to stitch at the edge of the fabric to stop the threads being drawn into the bobbin case (I find this often happens on the basic machines).
18. If doing lots of hand sewing, learn to use a thimble
19. When watching tutorials or videos, watch them through before starting to make the project & also make notes.
20. Have fun and if you get stuck get help from our large community on Facebook, Knit It Stitch It Share It facebook group HERE
