#I've been a quilter for over a decade but sewing is new

[tuttle-4077]

Look at this cute little dirndl I made!

[sleepycatmama]

Hi ma'am, I'm one of Origin's friends, and they've mentioned often you like to sew. I've always wanted to learn, but I get anxious about failing or learning incorrectly. Would you happen to have any advice on how to start sewing by hand?

Hello, sorry for delay but I was downstairs knitting most of the night. Christmas and birthday presents, oy.

Firstly, know that most of my stitching is ornamental. I've done cross stitch for decades, needlepoint for about a year, free hand embroidery and blackwork occasionally. I've done some clothing sewing, but way more for SCA garb than for modern clothing. And I've done patchwork sewing. So I don't know how good my advice will be, but I'll try for you.

The biggest thing I want to tell you - and this is true for sewing, for any of my other fiber arts (knitting, crochet, bobbin lace, spinning, inkle and tablet weaving, starting hardanger, and I've mucked about with a few more), and probably for ANY art - choose to give yourself permission to screw up. EVERYBODY doing this kind of work felt awkward and weird and like they were doing it all wrong at first. Anybody who tells you otherwise has probably been doing it so long that they don't remember what it was like to start. One of the things I'll tell people who watch me and say stuff like oh, I wish I could do that, or I could never do that - usually for stuff like knitting and bobbin lace - I ask them can you tie your shoes? Can you sign your name? If they say yes, I say then you can do this. They used to have 6 year old kids doing this. The tricky thing is, people don't tend to REMEMBER how awkward and difficult it was to learn to tie their shoes and write their name! But now they do it easily, it's in muscle memory. So it's OKAY to be awkward and have mistakes, don't let that stop you. You have to take the time to develop that muscle memory. And even for someone experienced, when you start a new project of something you already KNOW, it will generally look/feel awkward to start - when I first cast on the sock I'm knitting now, as always, it looked like some sort of weird tangle on needles, until I get about 12 rows in.

Also I'll put this in now before I forget it - little quilter's tip, if you poke yourself with a needle (okay, WHEN you poke yourself with a needle), if you bleed on your work, your OWN saliva will dissolve your OWN blood. So yeah, spit on it a little and rub and it'll come right out. And if you're like me, you'll want to work with really long lengths of thread because it feels like a PITA to bother with the steps of tying it off and threading again, but try not to work with really long threads - it tangles, and the thread undergoes wear as you pull it through, and you can end up fighting with overworn thread that's coming apart and that's not good.

You totally can do this. We get intimidated because there's people out there with the fancy sewing machines (I never have been able to figure out sergers, they intimidate me!), but this ALL used to be done by hand! You can learn it. Especially now that we have this wonderful thing called the internet. oh it's SO MUCH easier to learn new things than when I was a kid. Here is a link for what looks to be a decent video going over some basic stitches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvxqtc8thRg

There are HUNDREDS more.

I recommend natural fibers, they are WAY easier to work with. That's cottons, linens, wool, for the most part. Cotton is what you're likeliest to be dealing with, try for 100% cotton fabric, it breathes easier and is easier to work with. Try to get thread that's cotton, too. Hand sewing means you can work with little projects that you can carry around with you. Hand vs machine sewing is going to be like drop spinning vs wheel spinning - yes, the machine or the wheel is faster per hour, but the hand work is faster per month, because you can take it with you, do it wherever you are. I take hand work with me to waiting rooms, and I've had people tell me oh, they'd never have the patience to do that! I tell them I don't have the patience to sit in a waiting room with nothing to do. You might try learning basic simple classic patchwork, stuff like ninepatch, it's a nice way to practice getting an even running stitch, learning your seam allowances, you can carry it with you, and you can later turn it into a pillow or a baby blanket. And don't get intimidated by fancy equipment in videos - yes, the fancy cutting mats and templates and rolling cutters ARE awesome, but you don't have to have that to start - pioneer women did this on the trail with a needle and a pair of scissors and maybe some paper pieces if they were lucky.

this one looks pretty good - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJTcK9tgn0

yeah, she's doing minimum equipment and beginner instructions.

I can't give you lots of clothing help - when it comes to patterns and people start talking about different types of inset sleeves, I tend to go hyperventilate and hide. Never really got that sort of thing. My mother was expert at it. And my mother should honestly never teach a beginner anything. Sigh. BUT - there are SO many resources out there. The internet is the one I know you have access to. I have no idea what country you're in or if you're in a city or a rural area. BUT there are often shops with classes - I know quilt shops do great classes, many machine oriented but they might have hand sewing classes too. And they may know where else to go. Craft shops like Michael's or JoAnne's sometimes host classes.

Where ever you go with this, I want to encourage you. Taking up this sort of thing WILL enrich your life. Textiles are one of the oldest technology humans have, and it's a great rabbit hole to go down. I hope this gives you some good starting encouragement and let me know what more specific questions I can try to answer for you.

Wishing you the best,

Sleepycatmama / Mama Laura