5 things I've learnt from sewing

I've only been sewing for around a year and a half now, however in the time, I've learnt so many different things, I really feel as if I've made progress. 

Rewind to my 21st birthday, where I purchased my very first sewing machine, my Brother LS14. It was cheap, cheerful and if anything, a little bit daunting. As simple as this machine was, I really felt as if I was out of my depth even when using a simple straight stitch. I had a dabble in a few odd sewing projects (albeit it disasters) and I remember trying to make my first vest top. Needless to say I was clueless, and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. 

From binge watching videos on Youtube, I slowly but surely started gaining more knowledge about different sewing techniques, terminology and what I'd need to do if something went horrifically wrong with something I was making, or my machine. I then also managed to find the black hole on Youtube for sewing...fabric hauls. My god, I have watched so. many. of these and lusted after all the fancy fabrics. 

Fast forward to today, I now have a fancy computerised machine and the majority of my wardrobe is me-made. And if I'm being honest, I'm actually really proud to say that. I love the reaction I get from people when they ask where I got my clothing from, and my response is, "I made it myself". I'm even taking the time to do alterations for other people and even making clothes for other people. 

I've had a little time to sit back and really think about what sewing means to me, and what I've learnt from it in the short time that I've been sewing for. So, I thought I'd narrow it down to 5 key points and hope that this is of some inspiration to you too! 


1- Don't give up too easily, take your time.

This is something I really have mastered in a short space of time. I've always been the sort of person to give up on something if A. I don't like it, or B. it's not going my way. With sewing, I've had to learn how to correct my mistakes and actually persevere. This has come from handing different types of fabrics, tackling patterns higher than my skill level and also the need to have a pretty garment at the end of my hours of slavery at my machine! One thing I also learnt very quickly is just to take your time cutting out patterns. Shoddy cutting leads to shoddy stitching and shoddy stitching leads to a...shoddy finished project!


2. Read. the. damn. instructions.

I cannot stress this enough. Even if you've read them once, read them again. And even once you've read them twice, read them three times. I learnt this from day one of using my first pattern. It's worth an extra few minutes noting all the different techniques required, knowing where every notch should match up etc. Also study the layout of the pattern pieces on the fabric, notice the grainline of the fabric and more importantly, measure twice and cut once! Don't be afraid to keep referring to your instructions, they're there for a reason! 


3. There's more to fabric than just cotton

I was so oblivious to the sheer amount of fabric which is available to us Sewcialists. I'll be the first to hold my hand up and say my first couple of skirts I made were out of a really cheap polycotton as I thought cheap prices = bargain = many masterpieces. This certainly is not the case. I quickly came to realise that sometimes it's worth spending the extra few pounds per meter of fabric as you really do get what you pay for. When I started out sewing, my aim was to make clothing cheaper than I could buy in shops, ready made. Please don't fall into this  trap, as it's just not true. Certain garments you can make cheaper, but the fabric quality will just suffer for the cheaper price tag. I now spend hours and hours flicking through different fabric websites and shops just drooling at all the different fabric available. One thing I will advise you to do is really understand what type of fabric your garment requires, as some fabrics just aren't suitable. Handle the fabric, understand how it's constructed and how it'll work with your pattern. 


4. Use the correct tools

This is also something I'm happy to admit - I thought one needle does all. Again, sorry Philly, but this just isn't true. I've now used denim, jersey and also the trusty universal needle and yes, you really can tell a difference, so if you have several projects in mind, invest in the correct needles. Also, invest in a decent pair of scissors as you will save yourself a lot of hassle, or if you don't fancy scissors, a rotary cutter. Similar with fabric, it's worth paying a little extra more as you get far better quality tools for your money. 


5. Don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone.

I found this quite difficult in my first few months of sewing, as I generally found myself going for quite boxy shaped patterns and very, very plain fabric. I've never been one for wanting to wear bright colours or anything skin tight, but if I'm being honest, I now very rarely buy plain fabric and if anything, I'm being more adventurous with the type of patterns I'm purchasing. If you've known me for more than a year, you'll know that I used to live my life in leggings. I'm not even joking, anything I wore was with leggings. I now find myself reaching for skirts and dresses a lot more, purely for the fact is that I'm proud I've made them myself. I'm also becoming more confident in wearing brighter and bolder patterns. This has taken me such a long time to overcome, as I'm really quite an anxious person however slowly but surely, I'm coming out of my bubble. 


What have you learnt since starting to sew? 
♥

Singer Starlet 6660

I've spent so many hours of my life looking at all the fancy computerised sewing machines and thinking wow, I'd really love one of those...but what I didn't love was the price tag that came with the majority of them! 

If you've been around for a couple of months, you'll know that I recently moved out of my privately rented flat and back to my Parent's house, meaning I had a lovely sum of money coming back my way in the form of my deposit! I though that there was no better way of treating myself after such a stressful time than to buy a new sewing machine. Don't get me wrong, I loved my little Brother LS14 but I just wanted something a bit more...substantial now I've really gotten into the swing of dressmaking. 

On one of my many trips to Hobbycraft with my Sister when she's up from London, we headed straight to the sewing machine aisle, just so I could have a look at the ones they have on offer, as I like the fact I could physically see the machine and have a go, should I choose to. I fell in love with one, but was a bit iffy about spending over £200 on a machine! We had a bit of a walk about and I thought, Philly, do your research first, you can always come back. 

After about...an hour...of thinking do I need this, can you justify it, blah blah blah, I decided I wanted to go ahead and buy one. I went back to Hobbycraft the morning after, walked to the till with the sewing machine box for a Singer Starlet 6660 in my arms and before I knew it, I'd spent over £200 on a new sewing machine. What, I must be mad. 

Okay no, really, I am so happy I spent this much money on a computerised machine. The quality is just unreal, the whole thing just feels so damn sturdy and I love how easy the interface is to use. I like how I can see all of the stitch "library" on the front of the machine, rather than on a dial like on my Brother. Also, one thing I never thought I'd use is an automatic needle threader - but I can honestly say it's a must on any machine I have going forward! I also like the fact you get a little bag of goodies to get you started as well. 

So, here it is, my new baby!

The one thing that I've noticed myself doing a lot more is experimenting with stitch lengths and widths. I don't recall having this option on my previous sewing machine (Brother LS14), but I found this so easy to have a mess with using the push buttons. 

I'll admit, I haven't used all of the stitches as of yet as I need to find a scrap of fabric big enough to test them all out on, but again, it's super easy to change stitches using the two arrow buttons. One thing I have had a go at doing was using the buttonhole stitch and couldn't believe how easy this was...the foot that was supplied to create buttonholes is quite nifty as you place your button in a little crevice on the foot and it creates a perfectly sized buttonhole. Needless to say I was absolutely amazed. 

The one thing that I worried about was spending all this money on this machine and not actually noticing a difference in the quality of my creations - but I'm so wrong. The stitches just seem a lot more...robust and everything just seems to feel that little more professional. I don't know if that's psychological but I can definitely tell a difference. Another big change for me is the fact that this is a side loading bobbin, as opposed to a top loading bobbin. I think I might actually prefer it, as I seem to have less tension issues - or am I just having a bit more luck lately than usual?! 

I could ramble on for ages about this sewing machine but if you're looking for a "budget friendly" computerised machine, I honestly would have a look at this one. As I said above, I purchased mine from Hobbycraft for £219.00.

♥

Sewing kit essentials & my setup.

This blog has been on a bit of a hiatus the last month, and for that I can only apologise. I've had a hectic month which includes family members going into hospital, feeling poorly myself and sadly, a death. I needed to take a bit of time to myself as I really didn't feel like sitting down and typing up a post knowing that my heart wasn't going to be in it. However, now all of that is over and things are slowly getting back to normal, I thought I'd start my blog back up again with a craft post, as I don't think I've ever actually done one on here!

I've always been quite a crafty person. My Nan showed me how to knit when I was little, my Mum taught me how to crochet when I was a teenager and I've taught myself how to sew. I also studied Art Textiles all throughout school, where I actually managed to get A* results! Over the years, I've gotten significantly better at crochet, however I've only just started out sewing, so my skills are still building there. Sadly, I've forgotten most of the skills I built when I was shown how to knit, but to be honest, I like the look of crochet more! 

As I've just mentioned, I've recently started out sewing. I bought myself a sewing machine for my 20th or 21st birthday (I actually cannot remember without checking the receipt!) and sadly, I've just not had the time to sit down and actually use it properly. I've dabbled here and there previously but never really gotten into it until recently. I also bought a sewing tin from Aldi about a year ago, but again, it hasn't been used properly until recently. After watching numerous videos on Youtube and reading several Sewing books, I thought it'd be nice to actually make my own basic Sewing kit and my own setup, so that's what I'm going to show you here! 

First things first, here's my setup. I actually bought this table about 2 days ago from a local Charity shop for £15.00, what an absolute bargain for something that's made from solid wood and not a laminated wood! This is actually a really useful table to have found as it's on wheels meaning I can place my setup anywhere that I fancy. It's big enough to hold all my fabric, sewing tins and also any books that I have. 

The sewing machine that I have is the Brother LS-14, which I purchased from Hobbycraft for around £70.00, but as I had vouchers for there for my birthday, this actually only cost me around £40.00. I think it still retails for around the £70.00 mark and to be honest, I couldn't be happier with this machine. It's a good starter machine and isn't too difficult to set up, it practically holds your hand with everything. It has diagrams showing you how to thread both the upper thread and how to wind the bobbin, it also shows you how to thread the bobbin too. It has around 14 stitches (if I remember correctly...) which range from various straight stitch positions, zigzag stitches and a buttonhole function. It also has a reverse stitch feature which is something that's come in handy whilst making my own clothes recently as it makes sure everything is just that little more secure when finishing off an item. 

You get a few items included in the box, such as a warranty card, instruction leaflet and a DVD. Also included is a buttonhole foot, a zipper foot, a set of spare needles, bobbin spools, a screwdriver and also the standard zigzag foot and foot pedal. 

So here are my two sewing tins. The small rectangle tin is the one I purchased from Aldi when they had a sewing "specials" week last year around the same time as the Sewing Bee on BBC. I think this was only around £3.00 and it's jam packed with essential items such as various threads, snappers, scissors and hand sewing needles. It's a good little tin to have as I always find myself delving in it to repair something. The heart shaped button tin is from B&M and I think this was about £1.50 a couple of years ago before I purchased my sewing machine. You know when you buy something just because you like the look of it...but you actually have no idea what to do with it? That was one of those moments. At the minute it's filled with little items I'm slowly collecting such as better quality threads, a bias tape tool and also buttons. There's more items in there, which are shown below. 

Okay! So here are the other items in the kit. These are what I'd class as essentials in my opinion, or different variations of these products should be classed as essentials. 

1. Tailors chalk, or any sort of marking tool. I purchased this container of 3 tailors chalks for about £1.50 and so far they've been really handy to mark out on fabric as it just brushes off if needed. I'm sure these will last me ages as I've already used the white chalk a lot and it's barely made a dent on the corner!

2. A tub of tins. I bought the little container for 60p and thought it'd be really handy to keep pins in as it's got a secure lid, so if I drop it, they wont go everywhere! I've had various boxes of pins for a couple of years so I've just emptied them out into this, however I also bought a basic box of pins for £1.00 to bulk out my stash a bit. 

3. Hand sewing needles. An absolute staple not only for finishing off any machine sewing mishaps, but also for hand sewing (as the name suggests!). This little tub was included in the tin from Aldi so they might not be the best quality but they surely do the job. 

4. Scissors. I have two types of scissors I'd consider essential, embroidery scissors to snip off any long threads and dressmaking scissors to cut your fabric out with. I bought both of these from Hobbycraft, the embroidery scissors were about £1.50 out of a reduction basket and the dressmaking scissors were also £1.50 from their value range, although I might invest in a better pair, going forward. 

5. Tape measures. This is pretty self explanatory, you need these to measure with believe it or not! I have two types, a retractable tape but also a long measuring tape, which I actually think was out of a Christmas cracker...! I'm not sure how much these would be new, possibly £1.00 each or so but as I say, both of these were actually given to me so don't quote me on that! 

6. A seam guide. Now this might not be essential to some people as you might use the markings on your sewing needle plate, but this has actually been so useful for me since I started making my own clothes! It's a simple metal object with a flat edge and a magnet inside so it sticks to your needle plate and is also adjustable. It simply guides your fabric evenly alongside it when you're sewing to ensure your hems/seams remain an equal distance rather than having a wobbly line! 

7. Stitch/thread ripper. Again, self explanatory. If you make a mistake and need it to be gone, these things are essential and make the job so much less tedious than sitting there with scissors trying to snip the thread away! This was also in the tin from Aldi but I know you can pick these up for as little at 50p if you shop around. 

8. Pencils & pens. Obvious, but essential for marking out patterns. 

I'm pretty sure that the items in my kits will grow inevitably as I get more confident in sewing, and I'll more than likely swap some stuff for better quality items. If you have any suggestions or any questions about my setup, please let me know as I'm always interested in hearing from you! 

♥