Learning to sew: What you really need to know

So, you have been inspired by The British Sewing Bee or perhaps your mum, gran or friend or the amazing Instagram posts and Facebook. You have read and watched the videos on picking a sewing machine and got the basics tools to go. So whats next?...how on earth do you find and start projects. What on earth are people going on about with basting...basting what....a turkey? french seams....merde what is that. Your brain bleeding yet? Settle down, kids. This is the shit you need to know.

1. Free is great. Free is plentiful. Start off with free. Starting can be very cheap. There are loads of great resources for you. My first projects were all YouTube projects, second hand books from Amazon, 2nd hand patterns from Ebay. If you are plus size (like Moi), there are still resources for you but it will take a little work. Check out Jess from Broad in the Seams. If there is a free pattern for real women, this amazing woman knows about it. You can build quite a nice starter library for very little money. The QUEEN for starters is Debbie Shore. The woman is Nigella...but for sewing...no sexual groans though. All the basic skills you will need for sewing garments Queen Debbie will teach you and you can fall asleep with her dulcet sweet voice murmuring about fusible fleece....

2. Don't buy every tool under the sun. I'll save you several hundred pounds and hours of you life watching 20 Youtube where people direct you to affiliate links . Here is the stuff you NEED: Universal sewing needles 70-90 (£2-3), black thread (moons thread is decent stuff and economical), white thread, a ruler (a normal ruler your kids have), decent scissors (my first pair were IKEA £5 ones but if you can invest in FISKERS they are the worth the extra few pounds), a fishers scissor sharpener because there is nothing more annoying than a dull blade, a chalk pen if you can afford it but a normal pencil will do in a bind - the tailors chalk blocks will break in 2 minutes, a magnetic pin cushion (makes clean up 10 times easier), a A0 Cutting mat (helps with tracing, saves your surfaces) got mine off Ebay I paid about £12, medium weight interfacing, 1 safety pin, hand sewing needles, glass head pins (they don't melt with the iron). Thats it!

3. Yes, you need to iron seams. That REALLY makes a difference and makes the thing easier to sew. You don't have to iron your clothes once you make them...just while you are making them

4. Indie patterns - Yes, I use them. I love them. Yes they are expensive but if you are UK plus size (anything about a 46 inch hip, you are plus sized) Its unfair, its stupid, but its just a number

5. Forget shop sizes - sewing sizes themselves are stupid and variable, just like your favourite high street brands! Seriously, look at the size charts. A size 20 hip can vary by 6 inches across different brands. If you are sewing plus sized...congratulations....you are normal! Remember than pattern designers were often only taught about people who are size 6. There is a preference for thin, preferrably white women. Its changing though. Hold on! Viva Revolution!

6. Tracing paper....everyone has a different preference....some like greaseproof paper (not me, it rejects sticking together), IKEA paper, not tried it but looks a little narrow, I currently have plotting paper for amending PDF patterns and some nice wide expensive tracing paper for paper patterns. I like 0.6 m wide Gateway or Hahnemuhle Tracing Paper / Sketching Roll - 40/45gsm - 0.64 x 20metre - its a little more expensive but its like caviar for tracing. Treat Yo' yourself. You get about 5 projects on a 20 roll.

Fabric - going to keep this one short. Fabric can be like really, really expensive. Lots of YouTubers are like 90% sponsored by these companies. No judgement. If you can get nice stuff for free by dropping a name - you go Queen. Not jealous at all. Nope. Not even a little...

But there are alternatives. People can get super creative. Table clothes, duvet covers, curtains (Maria Van Trapp did lie though, made that shit overnight? Sod off. She didn't even have a serger.) I don't use these methods but I do shop around. Sewaffordable is great, miss Cloe (CJ-Fabrics), Ebay sellers like Vegatext, Cloth Control, MissyJ, etc, etc. if people want a full list let me know. I NEVER spend about £6.00 per metre unless its a birthday or special occasion. Support your local markets, particularly around Asian communities. Mine is a veritable gold mine.

7. You are going to fail. Accept it. Learn from it. Move on. You will fail time and timeagain. In this blog I'll show warts and all. The good, the bag, the supremely ugly. This hobby is fun. That means you can laugh....at it and yourself.

Thats all my pearls of wisdom for now. Hope you found this informative and maybe a little amusing.

#photography #blog #blogging