Like cooking, sewing is an incredibly useful hobby for expressing yourself artistically and making or mending your garments. Before you begin, however, there are some considerations you should make and a bit of research you should complete. Here are a few tips for beginners learning to sew their own clothes.
Deciding Between Manual vs. Machine
Before starting, you need to decide whether you’ll sew by hand or with a sewing machine. While a sewing machine is convenient, sewing by hand is often better for beginners because all you need is a single needle and a thread. This will introduce you to the very basics of sewing, such as stitch construction. Once you have the hang of sewing, you can decide whether to graduate to a sewing machine. You’ll have an easier time operating the sewing machine if you have a good understanding of the process first anyhow.
Knowing Your Fabrics
Another good tip for beginners learning to sew their own clothes is to become familiar with the various fabrics. While this may seem overwhelming because of how expensive fabric variety can be, you can narrow down your choices by selecting one of the three most common fabrics used for designing fabrics. These are the kinds of fabrics you’ll encounter and use the most. So understanding how they work will give you a good foundation for your projects moving forward.
Managing Straight Pins
Straight pins are common and important tools for sewing. However, keeping these little needles in one place is a challenge. The best recommendation we have is to keep your straight pins in a saucer “pincushion” that has magnets underneath it to keep your pins from escaping. Nothing will ruin your day faster than a loose pin on the floor that pricks you. This solution will eliminate such worries. A magnet is also the best way to clean up stray pins if a few get loose.
Testing Fabric Scraps
While you may be eager to start and fix imperfections later, you’ll have a much better experience if you take the time to test your fabric for stitch length, width, and tension on scraps of fabric before starting your project. This will ensure there aren’t any kinks or issues within the fabric that may surprise you in the middle of your sewing. It’ll also make adjustments easier to accomplish.
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