5 Tips for Sewing Beginners, or, Things I Learned In my First Month of Sewing

Now that I’ve been sewing for over a month (okay, maybe closer to six weeks) I thought I’d write down five of the big discoveries I’ve made along the way. Some of these beginner sewing tips I had read beforehand, but I never truly understood them until I experienced them for myself!

1. A good pair of scissors is really, really worth it

I started out buying two cheap pairs of scissors (less than S$7 or £3.50 each), but I ended up going back to the store a few days later to upgrade to a pair of Fiskars (around S$60 or £30). The cheap ones felt like they were tearing through the fabric rather than cutting it. With the Fiskars I can make nice, clean, accurate cuts, and they’re genuinely a joy to use.

2. A decent iron makes a world of difference

I upgraded our 10-year-old iron for a new one that actually takes out creases, produces steam, and doesn’t leak. It’s heaven! I genuinely enjoy pressing (and normal ironing) now that my tools are working with me rather than against me. It’s not even a particularly flashy iron – just having one that works is the key! And on the topic of irons…

3. Leave your ironing board out (if you can!)

Pressing is less of a chore if the ironing board is always out. It does seem to be true that you spend as much time at the ironing board as at the sewing machine. A large part of why I used to hate ironing my clothes is that it’s such a chore to drag the ironing board out of the cupboard and set it all up. Now the ironing board is up all the time and next to my sewing machine, it’s so easy to switch between the two whenever I need to.

4. Foot pedal control gets easier with practice

I don’t drive, so I don’t know if the same thing applies to driving – but I found it very hard to have decent control over the pedal at first. I could only make my machine run at two speeds: off, and way too fast! After a few weeks I think my foot muscles have gotten acclimatised to things, and I have much finer control now. I still mess it up now and then, but practise does seem to be making a difference.

5. A lint roller can collect threads after seam ripping

This may be a well known technique to experienced sewists but I was so proud of myself when I figured it out myself! After ripping out stitches, you end up with lots of short threads in your fabric. Running a lint roller up and down them in the direction of the stitches will collect them easily. Just need to be careful not to catch the raw edge of the fabric with the lint roller, or else you’ll unravel it!

There you have it. I will share more discoveries as I go along! See you next time.

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