What To Buy for Learning to Sew
- Be prepared for this to be a journey. Moreover, learning to sew is like any skill, it improves with practice, and there aren’t any shortcuts.
- Equip yourself correctly. A good machine does not need to be an expensive machine. Please have a look at my tips for buying the right machine for you.
- Don’t buy too much too quickly in terms of tools, and you can build as you need to. You will need a good pair of scissors, an unpicker, pins, and a rotary cutter, cutting board and ruler. Remember, most of the patterns you will be working with use imperial measurements.
How To Start
- To practise sewing, use calico or repurpose old sheets. It is all you need to get going.
- Quality thread is essential, and using less will mess up your sewing machine and frustrate your sewing. I sew seams with white, grey and black threads. I only use colourful threads for visible stitches. Excellent brands I use are Superior, Gutermann, Filtec and Aurifil.
- Get to know your sewing machine before you move onto a project. Even a couple of hours setting it up and working through the manual is time well spent. To be guided through this process, look at this video tutorial.
- Before you embark on a big project, you will find lots on the internet. Why don’t you try starting with my free teen sewing series? There are several bite-sized projects available. This free tuition will allow you to familiarise yourself with your machine.
Your First Project. 
- When you are ready to get started ‘for real’ do not be over ambitious on your first project. If you are beginning with dressmaking, begin with a top rather than a tailored coat. If you start with patchworking, start with a cushion, table runner or lap quilt rather than a king-sized project.
- You will find patterns written by new indie designers much more straightforward to follow than traditional dressmaking patterns. I have created a list of Indie designers I have used. I have created a Pinterest board with lots of free patterns for you to use for patchwork patterns.
- Sew in a group. You will learn more and find new friends by joining a local sewing group. If you are interested in GillyMac local class or zoom classes, then please get in touch by emailing on mail@gillymacdesigns.com My next beginners class can be found here.
- Bonus Tip – Keep an eye out for my Sewing Made Simple Initiative which will launch at the end of this month. Sign up for my monthly newsletters to hear more about Sewing Made Simple and all the sewing projects I share.
