Learning To Sew

Another very large misconception about sewing that many people have today is that only
clothes can be sewn and that those clothes generally turn out very unappealing. Not true.
Practically anything can be sewn, from pillow covers to curtains to bed sheets. Say you’ve been
eyeing that new fancy curtain for a while now but it’s just way too pricy and you can’t afford it. Or
maybe you’ve been just dying to get that new dress or skirt but you don’t have the money. Why
not sew it yourself? After you’re done, you’ll have a great piece of work, and if it’s a skirt or
dress, you can even go around and show it off to your friends. Nothing can match the sense of
accomplishment you feel after you take a look back and see something that you created with

your own hands.

Sewing in general is not an overly hard to learn skill, nor is it something that you’ll be able to
pick up and master in a few days. Like every other skill out there, becoming good at sewing
requires practice, practice, and more practice. Once you’ve got everything down, sewing
becomes a breeze.

If you’re just starting out in the world of sewing, it’s easy to get lost in the mumbo jumbo of
sewing technical talk. Just as in every other sort of activity out there, sewing comes with its own
words and definitions that you may never have heard of before. These are a few very basic
terms that you should familiarize yourself with before choosing out your first pattern.

-Basting is a method of sewing pieces of fabric together with long stitches so that they are
easier to remove later on. If a sewing manual instructs you to baste, keep in mind that the
stitches are only temporary and that you’ll be getting rid of them later.

- You may often see the terms “ease” and “gather” in your pattern guide. These two terms can
be a bit confusing at first, but once you’ve managed to grasp their individual meanings
everything should become clearer. To “ease” means to make a few rows of stitching on a piece
of fabric but to only pull them together hard enough to make the fabric compress a little. The
aim here is to make the fabric fit the edge of a smaller piece of material. Gathering, on the other
hand, is also done by stitching a few rows on a piece of fabric, but it differs from an ease in that
the stitching is pulled together, resulting in a sort of wrinkle effect.

Remember, the key to successful sewing is patience. Always preshrink your fabric and don’t be
discouraged if something doesn’t come out looking the way you wanted it to be. Practice as
often as you can, and before you know it, you’ll be getting requests from all your friends to make
them that beautiful skirt that you were just wearing!