Sewing as a Hobby

A favorite past time and hobby for many people including myself is sewing. Now a lot of people do it just for fun and for others what seems like a hobby becomes their side hustle and sometimes even their full time business. If you are interested in starting sewing as a hobby I would like to think you have come to the right post. I would like to call this post in my own humble opinion sewing 101. Now I have been sewing a couple years now but I am far from being an expert but I would like to say I have learned a lot in this past years of sewing. I feel that it is easy and if you really invest time and want to learn YouTube might just be your best friend and at no cost it is an easy choice. And just like any other thing you learn the more you practice and learn the easier it is and the better you get.

So what do you need to get started? Well you will need a sewing machine. Now if you are barely going to purchase your first sewing machine and will be starting from zero I would recommend to get an inexpensive sewing machine that you will not regret spending an arm and a leg on. A Brother or a Singer domestic sewing machine will do the trick. You can pretty much sew anything you can think of. Examples are clothing, bags, hair accessories, pillowcases, quilts, and felt and fleece stuffed ornaments or toys. Now on to something very important that you also need to consider. What specifically do you want to do with your sewing machine? Even though you can basically do anything with the domestic sewing machine you might want to embroider with your sewing machine or you might want to sew leather and vinyl professional bags. For the embroidering you would need a special sewing machine that embroiders and for the thick leather and vinyl bags you should get an industrial sewing machine that will not break on you when you are sewing thick materials and will sew the material very effortlessly. Since many domestics will not sew that thick material properly and you will most likely break many needles in the process. Now I can say for a fact that I own a Brother sewing machine and it could and has sewn jean fabric and thin vinyl. But that is not the case for all domestics. So first think about what you really want to sew and go from there.

Second you might want to buy or gather the rest of your materials. They would include a pair of scissors preferably a new pair only for fabric and/or a rotary cutter with a cutting mat. Some people prefer scissors and others prefer cutting fabric with a rotary cutter on a mat. Needles and I will be honest I only ever use two kinds of needles for my domestic including my favorite the 90/14 universal sewing needle from SCHMETZ . But I am pretty sure you will hear from experts or family and friends that you need a different needle for different fabrics. But remember if you are barely starting don't complicate your life and overwhelm yourself. You will learn as you go and decide for yourself and what works for you at the end of the day. Sewing clips and pins are a must if you are barely learning since some fabrics tend to shift a little as you sew and specially if you like to keep things nice and perfectly aligned. Sewing chalk and/or colored pencils are a must if you will be tracing patterns on dark material. But if you are tracing on lighter fabric a pen will do the trick. A ruler and or rulers depending if you are making clothing, bags or quilts. Also doesn't hurt to have a measuring tape for sewing since a lot of things you will sew might need measuring. Last but definitely a very important tool the seam ripper since making mistakes is sometimes going to happen. Now consider if you will be making your own patterns or if you will be purchasing and printing them. If you will be making your own pattern you might want to have poster and card stock paper around to start pattern making. Or you can also use newspaper or long rolls of paper like butcher paper that you can get at a local craft store. Shoot you can even use gift wrapping paper if you have a lot of that left from the holidays. There are plenty of sewing YouTubers that will give you free measurements to make a pattern and free patterns sometimes for you to print. So you do not need to waste money on patterns right of the bat. One of my favorite sewing YouTubers is Miko Craft and he sews so many amazing bags and literally gives you a free download of his sewing patterns completely at no cost. Also Sewingtimes on YouTube gives all the measurements of her patterns for free and sews small pouches, wallets, crossbody bags and backpacks.

Third is where to purchase fabric and or sewing accessories. One of my favorite places to shop for fabric is Hobby Lobby since they have so much variety and a lot of the times it is on sale. Sometimes you can even get a coupon on your phone. Hobby Lobby also offers a lot of discounts on zippers a lot of times you can get thick good quality zippers for one dollar each and the bag accessories at 50 percent off. They also offer a clearance section with fabric costing 3 dollars per yard. Joanns is also good if you want a large selection of fabric in one place. Joanns also happens to carry very good quality vinyl that might be on sale if you are lucky. But you can also buy fabric from Etsy or other websites. Etsy has a lot of themed fabric to purchase such as Mario, Disney princesses, Harry Potter and even Kirby themed fabric. But if you have some fabric laying around, a pair of worn out jeans, or an old bedsheet you no longer want to use you can whip up something quickly using those materials you have on hand.

At the end of the day just remember it is ok to make mistakes since you will most likely make some wether you are a beginner or a seasoned pro. Youtube might be your best friend since you can learn how to thread a sewing machine sometimes even the specific model you purchased in a couple of minutes and remember you can always watch the threading video included with your machine. So from threading your sewing machine, to making pretty much anything, and learning tips and tricks YouTube and Tik Tok are really good resources. The more you learn and watch videos the more ways you will learn how to sew something different ways and with different techniques since there are so many sewers out there and everyone has different perspective and way of doing things. Sew what makes you happy and have fun learning and making something handmade with your new acquired skills. Hopefully you feel a little less overwhelmed and a little bit more informed about starting sewing as a hobby if you came across this post. There are still so many things that I can share about sewing such as different techniques I have learned for making bags, my favorite patterns from bags to plushies, easiest things to sew when starting out, how to make professional pillowcases with a hidden zipper and how getting and learning to use a serger can take your whole sewing game to a whole other level. Until next time.