Sewing - how do I learn?

Penelope_Penguin

Hi there :beer: I'll add your thread to the existing one for advice for novice sewers. You can also do a title search on "sewing" and you'll find lots of projects - some great ones for bags :j

Penny. x

arkonite_babe

arkonite_babe wrote: »

as the title says, I'm a beginner with a sewing machine. Anyone got any good easy starter projects I could try? I'm aiming in the future to make a patchwork quilt (that's waaaay in the future )

TIA for any replies or help

ab
x

I bought a new sewing machine today

Couldn't resist the bargain and the one my Granny gave me packed up before I managed to get very far with it. DH not impressed BTW, he says " I couldn't get you to bring the other one out so why'd you buy a new one?" Weeeeellllllll........ this one is lighter, easier to thread, easier to stitch with and it was reduced to £100 from £229 so bargain
This is the one I bought:
http://www.singerco.co.uk/4205.html

First project when I get fabric will be a Morsbag, nice and easy I think.

Any NI old stylers got any tips for buying fabrics locally?? I'm going to look in charity shops for fabrics to reuse but would also like hints on new bits and bobs too.

TIA for any replies

yanny2008

If any of you live in the Suffolk Area this lady is fantastic, very patient, beautiful setting. I love her courses. just go to
https://www.suffolksewingschool.co.uk
She really knows her stuff!

Barneysmom

When I was learning at school to use the sewing machine, my teacher would draw a stright pencil line with a ruler for me to sew along. It really helped and I still did it after I left school for a bit.
Good luck! Persevere, you'll get it!

morwenna

The best thing I have learned is to let the machine do the work - just "guide" the material. In other words don't actually force it. This little tip has helped me so much IHTH

sophistica

I went to a convent school and they "tried" to teach us to sew, But failed. I think you just need to start. Buy a machine and start to make what you want. You will make mistakes but you can learn from them. I bought my latest machine from ebay.

arkonite_babe

My straight lines tonight weren't exactly straight :rolleyes:

Olliebeak

notenoughcash wrote: »

My mum started me with peg bags, if I can get hold of cheap pretty cotton now I make up a batch and sell them at the car boot!

Then I moved on to curtains and make all of my own now, can put some together in a couple of hours.

It's all about practice, just get some old or cheap fabric and see how you get on!

You've just brought back a dim and distant memory for me!

The first thing that we ever made in school was a long thin bag for our recorders - and it was done by hand. It included stitching in a straight line/turning (and clipping) a corner/making a casing/and threading a cord through the casing. I think we must have been 9 years old because that was when we were all encouraged to get recorders to learn basic music.

looby-loo_2

I used to teach Needlework but when it changed to textiles I just couldn't stand it any more. All the skills counted for nothing and it became cutting and sticking with no real knowledge base.

Mrs_Flittersnoop

arkonite_babe wrote: »

My straight lines tonight weren't exactly straight :rolleyes:

Arkonite babe, try unthreading the machine and just sewing along the lines of lined paper until you get the hang of sewing straight. A tip is NOT to watch the needle but watch the right hand side of the foot or the line just in front of the foot, it's much easier to sew straight that way.

Did you get a quilting bar along with your machine? If so, fix that to your machine foot and adjust the bar to your normal 1.5cm allowance, then try sewing with that attached, watching the bar and not the needle as before.

Or if you didn't get a quilting bar, you can get a magnetic sewing guide which does the same thing fairly cheaply. I'll see if I can find a link: http://www.jaycotts.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejaycotts%2eco%2euk%2facatalog%2fUniversal_Presser_Feet___Accessories%2ehtml&WD=guide%20seam%20magnetic&PN=Notions_and_Gadgets%2ehtml%23a1559#a1559

You'll need to scroll down the page a bit.

HTH
Mrs F x