Contents
If you want to start sewing the best way is to do it by hand. This is especially true if you are a complete and total newbie.
That’s right-if you are wet behind the ears and sewing is just a completely new concept to you, you need to do it by hand.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Why should I bother with manual sewing when I can always start with the machine?”. Now, here’s the problem.
When you start with the machine, you’re basically letting the machine do the learning for you and the machine is very inflexible. While the modern sewing machine has a lot of features and options, at the end of the day, it’s doing the sewing for you and it has a fairly fixed range of operations.
It doesn’t matter how fancy that machine is. It doesn’t matter how much technology is packed into its circuitry. It’s still a fairly limited piece of equipment as far as learning goes.
When you, on the other hand, choose to learn how to sew manually, you know the basics of sewing. It’s not that hard. The good news is, once you know the basics, you can then set up your standards and anticipate the kind of problems or customization that you would want when you start using the machine.
In other words, you use a hand sewing to get the very basics of the sewing process down. Once you are able to wrap your mind around the mechanics of sewing, you can then recognize what your actual needs are as far as the sewing machine is concerned.
Here’s a short video with sewing tips you might find useful:
Make An Informed Decision When Buying A Sewing Machine
When you start sewing by hand, you learn the basics of sewing. You also get to understand why you’re going to have to use a sewing machine.
When you stitch the clothing by hand and put together hems other special parts of clothing, you get to truly appreciate what goes into crafting and piecing together clothes. You then apply this information to how you would automate them using a sewing machine.
By understanding this transition from hand-sewing to machine sewing, you can then isolate a specific set of features that you would want in a machine.
These features reflect your particular needs as well as the actual volume and difficulty of the clothing that you will be sewing. It’s not like you’re just buying some random generic machine.
Instead, this piece of equipment is actually intended to enhance the things that you already do by hand. It’s supposed to supplement what you’re already doing and bring out the best in the sewing process as far as your output is concerned.
By learning to sew by hand first, you can get a clear idea of what you should be looking for in a sewing machine.
Can I Teach Myself To Sew
There are all sorts of YouTube videos that you can use to get the basics of sewing.
Again, if you’re going to be sewing by hand, it’s pretty straightforward. You don’t have to worry about puncturing your fingertips. You don’t have to worry about bleeding or any of that.
As long as you get the basics down and you have a clear idea of the kind of clothing that you’re trying to piece together, you should be fine.
Of course, there’s always a learning curve and you shouldn’t expect to be a master tailor overnight. That’s just not going to happen. Instead, allow yourself to experiment and figure out the essence of sewing step by step. There’s not that many moving parts.
As long as you know how to basic operations work and you can tell a buttonhole from a seam, you’re fine. Take your time. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself.
The best thing about learning sewing using YouTube video channels is that you can learn at your own pace. You’re not under pressure to sew a lot of pieces or to sew a certain way or to follow a specific path.
When you go from video to video, you start identifying parts of the sewing process that you appreciate.
So, you can start with those and then proceed to more difficult or challenging operations. You don’t necessarily have to follow a specific script because everybody learns at a different pace. Different people have different comfort levels.
What comes easy to you might actually be close to impossible for somebody else. The reverse could also be true.
So, do yourself a big favor. Teach yourself how to sew by watching our videos until you can get the basic mechanics of hand sewing down.
What Tools Do You Use For Sewing?
If you’re hand sewing, the most basic tools that you would need is an ironing board, an iron, a seam ripper, pin cushions and pins. If you are sewing by hand, you also need scissors, needles, and thimbles.
When you get a thread and a sewing needle, you use all these resources so you can get to sewing. It’s pretty straightforward and there’s not much mystery to it. It just takes a little bit of getting used to it.
Once you get the basics down, you then switch over to machine sewing tools.
Basic Machines Sewing Tools
Basic machine sewing tools required are a machine, a screwdriver, a duster, a bobbin and a foot pedal (this is what you step on to get the machine going). You also, of course, need oil to lubricate your machine.
There are more modern machines that are self-contained units. They tend to be more compact but they have their own versions of the parts described above.
Of course, when you start sewing with a machine you’re going to have you’re going to need cutting tools.
So, you’re going to require thread nippers, pinking shears, rotary cutters, spring action, bent scissors, tailor’s scissors, and sewing scissors. You would also need a nice selection of sewing needles. These come in different sizes.
If you’re going to be using a sewing machine, you’re going to need a spare set of machine needles.
Finally, you would need to measure the materials. So, you would need a hem guide, a button guide, a French curve, and a clear ruler.
When it comes to marking whatever it is you’ve measured, you need tailor’s tacks, disappearing ink and tailor’s chalk.
Happy sewing!