I would love to start sewing and am planning on getting an easy sew from the infomercials. I’m just wondering if this is a bad idea or if anybody has any suggestions on a good (cheap) beginners’ machine to use? Also is it hard to stitch by hand and make something that looks good? Thanks so much.
Not sure what an “Easy Sew” is. Is it a brand name?
Yes, sewing garments by hand with a needle and thread, unless you’ve been doing it for, like, 50 years, ends up with a garment that looks like somebody sewed it by hand–in other words, like doll clothes.
Doll clothes that a little girl sewed, “all by herself!” 
So do your sewing with a sewing machine, you’ll end up with garments that look like actual garments. The stitching is more even, is the main thing.
Go down to Wal-Mart, buy a $99 Brother sewing machine. Get some books out of the library, or at Walden Books, on “Beginning Sewing”.
Also, the It’s-So-Easy[sup]R[/sup] sewing patterns by Simplicity really are incredibly simple. Wal-Mart sells them, too.
However, if you go find a place like Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, where they not only sell patterns and fabric, but you can also ask them for help, you’ll have an easier time of it. Where do you live?
Easy Sew was this infomercial thing I saw on t.v. that cost like 20 bucks and is a “miniature sewing machine” miracle. Probably not real but I ordered one about a month ago in hopes of getting something that might just work. In reality though I think I need to get a REAL sewing machine. Thanks for the suggestions. We have both Walmarts and Joanne Crafts over here in Connecticut. I definitely don’t want to make clothes that are “clever” but look pretty much like crap. I agree with you on that one definitely. It’s funny, are you from the north too that we both have these chains in common? Take care, Liz
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Look at the various pattern books like Simplicity, McCalls, and so on. Many of them have ‘Sew Easy’ kinds of patterns that are good for the beginner. They are actual, working garments but they are very simple and quick to complete. One of the things that frustrated me most when I learned to sew was that it took FOREVER to finish anything.
Also, my local JoAnnes (Texas) has several racks of patterns with black and white covers that are supposed to be quick, simple garments like mittens, vests, plain skirts, etc. but for the life of me I cannot think of what they are called - you might look into those too.
I’m with DDg, beg, borrow or steal a real ssewing machine. It doesn’t have to be brand new or have a whole lot of fancy widgets on it to be a good machine. My very favorite machine (and I’m currently using it) is a mint-green Zig-Zag that my mom won in the fifties by writing an essay. It weighs a metric butt-load, but can and has out sewn many newer machines I’ve had.
JoAnnes has online message boards here where you can get advice from other folks about sewing, too.
Have fun!
bunnymom
Geeeez… She’s talking about an Easy Stitch[sup]R[/sup]? One of these? :eek:
Liz, honey, take a tip and just shoot yourself in the head, you’ll save 20 bucks and a lot of grief.
Not to mention carpal tunnel syndrome in both your hands. You have to sit there and hold the wretched thing, while it plods through the stitching, and if you’re trying to sew an entire garment, like a dress, that’s a long time you’ll have to sit there holding it, with nothing to balance your aching hand on, not to mention trying to guide the stitching in a straight line, and keep the fabric taut, so it doesn’t pucker.
Get a real sewing machine, because it does 99% of the work for you, feeds the fabric through, stitches it, everything.
I personally can’t visualize trying to use an Easy Stitch to make a dress, or for that matter, for anything other than quickly tacking up a drooping skirt hem. It would be like trying to paint the house with a teeny artist’s paintbrush.
Singer sewing machines have a reputation for being temperamental. If you’re just starting out, I’d stay away from the real complicated sewing machines that Jo-Ann Fabrics will unfortunately try to sell you, the kind with “Over a hundred embroidery patterns built in!” You don’t need that, at this point.
Also stay away from “sergers”. Learn to sew first, then you can fool around with sergers, IMO.
I’d also avoid the rummage sale specials, of unknown parentage (“no, I’m sorry, there’s no manual”), since they can be really strange, and you won’t have the experience to know that it’s not supposed to do that, whatever it’s doing, and ten years down the road you finally learn, “Oh, so it’s not normal for the feed dogs to be hammering away like that…”
I received a Singer for a wedding present in 1974–it’s built like a tank, weighs about as much, and every time I picked it up and moved it anywhere, the bobbin case would go out of whack, necessitating a weekend stay at Mr. Fixit Man’s place and a $25 fee for “adjustment”.
So I finally gave up on it one day and went down to Wal-Mart and got a $99 Brother. I really like it–it’s super-simple to use, only about three moving parts, the manual is written in plain English with lots of diagrams, and best of all, it’s light. I can pick it up with one hand and put it on the dining room table to sew.
And the bobbin case has yet to go out of whack (knock on wood).
I heard that White is a good brand as well.
How about just shooting yourself?
Let’s keep all suggestions of suicide and/or murder out of this thread, OK?
Having said that…the local community college offers several sewing classes* each semester. Some are for beginning sewers, some are more specific (quilting and such), and all are fairly reasonable. A couple of the local fabric and crafts shops also have sewing courses, though these tend to be more along the lines of learning a specific technique, like how to make a log cabin quilt.
From the commercials, I get the idea that an “Easy Sew” or similar machines are mainly intended to do things like minor repairs, stuff that can be done in under 15 minutes or so.
It’s POSSIBLE to stitch a garment by hand, but it’s time-consuming. And it does show. I made myself a half-slip by hand (my machine was in storage, and not easily accessible), and even just using a running stitch, it took forever. And this was about the simplest garment to make, too! One seam, one hem, and one elastic casing. I don’t recommend sewing garments by hand, unless you want to do nothing else with your life.
*These classes don’t give college credit, they’re just offered for people who want to learn a skill. The same college offers dog obedience classes, and other interesting things to learn.
Hey man, nothing but friendly suggestions here! Anyway, I couldn’t resist that one.
I’d rather just buy a sewing machine and get a beginners book than take classes. It’s prolly cheaper and I can mess up on my own time so nobody watching pulls their hair out. Thanks for the suggestion though! I might take you up on that dog obedience class; I could definitely use it. hehe.
Consider going to a sewing machine dealer and seeing what they’ve got, too - including used machines, which can be a great bargain. (I <heart> Pfred, my gently used Pfaff.) The advantage of buying from a dealer is that you start a business relationship with someone who really knows sewing machines. A dealer is usually only too happy to help a customer who needs more bobbins, a new foot - or just some free advice. In any case, I would never buy a sewing machine I couldn’t try out. Take some fabric with you of the type you want to sew - old clothes are fine if you haven’t bought fabric yet - and try the machine out yourself.
Though the company is small and not well-known, I absolutely love KwikSew patterns. They are printed on real paper which is much easier to use than that brown tissue, and the instructions are wonderful. Their books are especially helpful, and a bargain if you sew a lot because they include basic patterns (though the photos are humorously outdated!). I’ve used the toddlers’ and children’s book enough that they’ve paid for themselves already; now I just have to get some time to sew for me… (the other moms who sew are nodding in recognition!)
Hand-sewing is hard and time-consuming. It’s not uncommon to have to hand-sew a few finishing details, but you really don’t want to get into doing that for the whole garment unless you’re doing reproduction stuff that has to be authentic :eek:
Good luck and have fun!
Since you’re looking for advice and suggestions more than facts, I’ll move this to IMHO.
First, I have no sewing machine, no funds to get one, and no place to put one. So, I’m gonna have to stick to doing things by hand.
Can you give any specific book reccomendations for a beginner?
Does any company make a thimble that actually works?
Just how far will the basic sewing techniques take me? Is there one set of skills for mending clothes, another for making clothes, and another for pillows and stuffed animals?
That reminds me- My Batman pillow (an old shirt had the front of Bat's head and shoulders on the front and his back on the back) has lain unfinished for over a year now. I keep worrying that I'll mess up the final stitches. I've got the seams on the inside and I don't know how finish without leaving a protruding seam.
PS- I admit it. I like to sew. First I was just practicing so I could suture limbs onto my creature. Then, came the pillow. Then, I made a Cthulhu mask for Halloween. Now, I can’t stop.
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All thimbles work the same–they’re just there to protect the skin on your finger while you shove a needle through the cloth. If you don’t have the proper finger technique, then you’ll think, “This thimble doesn’t work.” Don’t blame the thimble.
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The needle-and-thread “push through fabric, pull out other side, repeat” routine is the same whether you’re sewing stuffed animals, new clothes, or mending. The differences in the basic skills have to do with other things, mainly with “what part do I sew first?” and “how does this thing go together?”
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You close up a pillow opening with small hand stitches (slip stitches), but dang if I can find an illustration of that.
All the arts-n-crafts websites seem to assume that you know how it’s done, you don’t need a diagram.
Anyway, that’s what you do–just sew it closed very carefully, with small stitches, but not too close together or it’ll tighten up and look obvious. And this is why you have your opening as small as you can in the first place, because you’re going to have to close it up by hand, from the outside.
You might have to look for a thimble that will fit a manly finger…my little girly paws have trouble fitting into the Medium-- so I can’t even imagine the Large fitting anything bigger than a 14 year old boy.
Other than that…hm. I hand-sewed a long skirt with a gathered waist one weekend…it wasn’t too bad. I haven’t figured out pants yet though.
Corr