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Are you thinking about starting to sew?? Here is my story
In this post, I talk about how I went about teaching myself to sew. I will walk you through all the the blogs I read and the videos I watched! Hope this is useful
#thehemlineeclectic #slowsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewing #sewcialists #handmadewardrobe #handmadefashion
Hi, Are you new to sewing? Do you want to sew? Then read on!!
The need for a hobby!
I moved out of my hometown in Chennai, India to do my PhD in Vancouver, Canada. I lived on campus on top of a mountain in Burnaby, BC. Little did I realize how isolating this can be in the wintertime when Vancouver is grey all the time and burnaby is covered in fog (Think London weather, think Seattle weather, except higher elevation). I used to spend a lot of my evenings alone watching TV shows. This is when I taught myself how to knit. I watched videos and used a PDF I found online with illustrations. I made my first scarf which was wonky but I loved it!! Knitting was a great decompression method after a long day and before bed. I then went on to obsessively having 10 projects on the go. I will write a post on my knitting another time.
7 years later, I moved to the Bay Area and had kids! I attempted to knit a few sweaters before my first child was born, very excited about how I will be making him these handmade items. Little did I know that my hobby time is going to be consumed by life! After my son was born, the sweaters I started making for him were only finished in time to fit my daughter!!! Between, 2 kids, a full-time job, my hobby was forgotten!
Enter 2020!! My kids are older, my son is now 5 and my daughter is 3. COVID-19 happened and we were in complete lockdown in March 2020! I had so much free time. My husband, a serial hobbyist, was busy fixing some old stereo. I decided I needed a new hobby! I picked up my husbands old sewing machine (which had so much tension issues) and learnt to thread the machine and the rest was history.
I realized my style, I realized how to dress my body and this now gives me and the people around me immense pleasure.
After this long preamble (thank you for staying with me), I would like to talk about all the different resources I used to teach myself. It would have been much easier to take a class, but I am a scientist and I know how to research any topic and this is how I went about it.
What you will need
Learning to sew can be initially expensive. But if you choose to buy second hand/gently used items you will be up and running in no time. Here are the items you will need
A Sewing Machine! Duh!
These days you can buy simple sewing machine for less than $100. These machines from good brands would take you through your learning process very well. You do not need to invest in an expensive computerized machine. All you need is for the machine to be able to stitch straight and zig-zag stitiches.
Fortunately for me, my husband already owned a machine. It was an old singer with a lot of tension issues. Never the less, I learnt to thread it up and made some pillow covers with it. I soon realized I could not learn if I had to fix the tension every seam. So I invested in a Brother cs6000i. This is a great beginner machine. It is a quilting machine so it comes with a lot of additional parts that was fun to try to use. It was on sale when I picked it up. Yay!
Tools
Sewing machine is not the only instrument you will need. You will need to purchase -
1. Fabric shears (i use my shears only for fabric
2. Rotary cutter (I much prefer to cut). Try to get one that fits your hand well. My husband's was too big for me, I bought an 18mm one and it is perfect! I have an Olfa
3. If you are using a rotary cutter you want a self healing mat to cut on! They come in a variety of sizes. Choose one that will work for garment cutting, mine is 24X36.
4. Pins to hold your fabric
5. A good steam iron and an ironing surface
6. Thread snips
7. Thread (I prefer the all sew Gutterman threads
8. Extra needles of different sizes. Yes different garments will need different types of needles to get the job done well. (I talk more about what I used in each post)
9. Rulers with markings to cut your pattern and fabric straight.
Thats it for now. Once you are comfortable sewing, you can add to your collection.
I bought most of these on Ebay or Amazon. I usually buy my thread at Joann's. If you want to know specifics of any of these, msg me!
Simple first sews
After I learnt to thread my husband's old singer machine, I decided I wanted to make something very simple. I watched several youtube channels and one that really stood out and made everything look easy was MADE everyday by Dana Willard. I watched most of her videos and decided to sew up some pillow covers for the kids. I also tried a circle skirt for my daughter, leggings for both kids, headbands with scraps and a pencil skirt for myself. Sewing these garments gave me more confidence.
I was still a little afraid to start on a full fledge pattern and try to fit it to my measurements, so I decided why not try to copy something that already fits me. I was also following With Wendy on youtube at that time and she has a wonderful video on how to make patterns out of your own favorite garments.
I copied a few of my well fitting garments and surprised how well they came out!
I used her tutorial to draw out one my t-shirts and a top and made new ones! Was this a great shirt?? NO! I messed up the neckband! stretched it out - Rookie mistake!
Phew!! Are you ready for more?? - Garment sewing from patterns!!
I looked at several books to purchase about sewing and fitting garments. I then bought Sew your own capsule wardrobe by Arianna Cadwallader and Cathy McKinnon. This was also highly recommended by The Fold Line, which I was also following!
This is when things all came together. I learnt about fit, finishing seams, and how change a design of a pattern. This book, although very dense and requires slow reading for a beginner sewist, was amazing!!
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