sewing101 | Recent Entries

Under construction. :) Please feel free to rec other resources and/or notes thereon. I'd especially love to add non-garment sewing resources (tote bags? quilting? ???). If I'm slow to add yours, I apologize - I'm dealing with health/schedule challenges so things may not make it into the post immediately. You can always check the comments for any new resources!

NOTE: Allied ~fibercrafts: Q1 2024.

Construction/How-to
General
- Baba Yaga Costume Design and Garment Construction - aimed at belly dancers, but it looks like a bunch of the techniques and tips generalize. :)
- Megan Grace DIY [YouTube], especially the Back to Basics playlist - From

nuh_s: "Basic sewing (for garments) that doesn't skip small steps. Really detailed walkthrough of sewing from commercial patterns and doing basic sewing. This was very useful when I was a beginner."
- Patternmaking for Fashion Design (flat pattern textbook): from

nuh_s: "There is a learning curve to using this book and wrapping your head around flat pattern, but absolutely key to me for learning patternmaking. It uses the slash-and-spread method (you draft a set of base patterns and then make copies that get cut up to make new patterns that always fit the original measurements -- No re-drafting!)."

Bags
- DIY totebag - beginner's sewing tutorial [YouTube, not yet tested].

Darts
- How to Sew Darts (beginner/advanced) [YouTube].
- Dart manipulation explained [YouTube].

Pockets
- Thread theory welt pocket tutorial.

Shirts
- How to sew a T-shirt [YouTube, not yet tested] - also introduces sewing with knit/stretch fabrics?

Skirts
- Skirt/petticoat tutorial [YouTube] - zero-waste with adjustable waist.

Dyeing
- Paula Burch's All About Hand-Dyeing
- Bleach dye tutorial [YouTube, not yet tested, sound is iffy in parts]

Fabric
UK
- AmoThreads - deadstock, very varied, some good bargains
- Backstitch
- Cloth House - expensive but nice fabrics, many Indian or Indian-inspired
- Empress Mills
- Fabrics Galore
- J. Hanna - Irish linen, limited colour range though
- Kayes Textiles
- The New Craft House - deadstock fabric with fast turnaround.
- Sew Me Sunshine
- Simply Fabrics

See

nou's comment for other possible places to buy fabric (not yet tested).

USA
- Dharma Trading Co. - fabric (especially silk, garment blanks), thread, and dyes.
- Stone Mountain Fabric - designer deadstock, including an explanation of deadstock.

Pattern drafting/making
- How to make patterns from your clothes (clone your wardrobe) [YouTube, not yet tested]

Patterns
- Folkwear - I haven't yet tested one but they have a lot of intriguing traditional/"ethnic" wear patterns. My instructor says that their patterns tend to have well-written instructions. Most are available in print and downloadable PDF.
- freesewing.org - printable free/open source patterns to your inputted measurements.
- Kelly Anorak pattern [Closet Core Patterns] - an instructor recommended this pattern to me (since I want to learn to sew jackets). Rated "Advanced," but probably less advanced than the...pattern book I have in Japanese. Will report back!
- Waves and Wild - various in downloadable PDF.

Pattern printing
UK
- SavvySewist

Sewing lessons
USA
- Fair Fit Studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, run and taught by Andrea Eastin: everything from "sewing machine n00b, what do?" to pattern drafting; she's worked in Hollywood professionally as well as creating runway shows in New Orleans. She's terrific, great at explaining, and super nice! She also offers online courses, although I have not attempted that; I prefer in-person and she's local to me.

yourlibrarian

Do you make crafts? Do you like to look at crafts? Would you like to get (or give) advice about crafts? All crafts are welcome. Share photos, stories about projects in progress, and connect with other crafty folks.

You are welcome to make your own posts, and this community will also do a monthly call for people to share what they are working on, or what they've seen which may be inspiring them. Images of projects old or new, completed or in progress are welcome, as are questions, tutorials and advice.

If you have any questions, ask them here!

nou

Hi sewists! Happy New Year! What have you all been doing with textiles recently?

Since our last check-in I finished my crinkle linen top and am very pleased with it. (In fact I’m wearing it right now.)

I also finally got my hand-dyed patchwork quilted and made up into a cushion cover (photos on Mastodon).

I did some experimentation with strip-piecing, using the contents of my “too small even for patchwork squares” scrap box. The backing (not visible) is made from partly-cut-up polycotton pyjamas that had been sitting in a carrier bag in a friend’s house for more than 20 years! This is going to become a bag, once I finish making the second side.

And I did some experimentation with fake pintucks (using a twin needle, inspired by an article by Jean Liittschwager in issue 78 of Threads magazine) and with curved piecing (following a tutorial written by Helen Butcher). These were all done with pieces left over from making toiles that were too small to cut down into any more pieces for toiles.

I want to try out the fake pintucks on different fabrics, since I dislike the rippling and want to figure out a way to make it not happen. Ultimately I’d like to do these curved pintucks on some otherwise-plain fabric that I will then make clothing from. And I want to practice the curved piecing a bit more and then do it with some of my hand-dyed fabric for my next cushion cover.

nou

Hello sewists! What’s up? Have you finished anything recently? Started anything new? Learned a new technique or read a new sewing-related book?

I finally got all the stupid crinkle linen cut out and have started assembling it. I’m using french seams because it’s very inclined to fraying, but I’m doing them a bit differently from usual. I stay-stitched all the edges on the individual pieces at (not inside) the seam allowance with soluble basting thread, then sewed the narrow part of the french seam at the width I wanted it to be, rather than sewing it wider and then trimming. The stay-stitching meant that (a) sewing an extra-narrow seam to start was easier than it would have been otherwise, and (b) I could see exactly where to sew on the second pass.

Still to do: bias binding on the bottom hem, elastic casing for the sleeve hem (I want to be able to push the sleeves up and have them stay where I put them).

I also made myself another silk pillowcase, since only having one was annoying (you’re not supposed to dry silk in direct sunlight, so getting it washed and dried in between getting up and going to bed could sometimes be challenging).

nou

Hello sewists! What have you all been up to recently?

I’ve been very very slowly cutting out and doing the darts in a top for myself from the oil-green crinkle linen I mentioned in our last check-in. It is such a monumental pain to mark — it doesn’t like to take the chalk at all — but my top pattern has eight darts in total and I like to mark them all. Sleeves and front are cut and darted, just need to cut the back and then sew it all together.

watersword

Very pleased with this darn on a sweater, because the yarn and the original sweater are almost exactly the same color (I love teal and will buy pretty much anything that is the color that puts dopamine in my brain); all of my mends up to this point have been garishly visible because I was worried I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing if the base and the mend were the same color. But while you can see this mend, it isn't announcing itself! The photo is not true to color, unfortunately, but I'm very proud of myself.

( cut for image )

nou

Hi sewists! What have you been sewing? What are you planning to sew soon? Are you stuck on anything? Anything to show off? Any cool new techniques learned or tools acquired?

( My doings and photos are behind the cut. )

shermarama

Hiya! How's it going out there in sewing land? What have you been up to, what have you learned, what are you eyeing up next?

I have taken on another jersey / knit fabric pattern, this time for some joggers - the Waves and Wild Field Trip Joggers, in the adult female fit. This is for fabrics with less stretch, 20-50% widthways, and I have my eye on it for making winter trousers out of some heavy merino / polyester mix I got cheap from a local deadstock specialist, but first I made a test version in some fabric I've had sitting around for ages.

The fabric is a light-to-mid cotton / elastane knit, and it's a white base printed with a mostly solid black surface, apart from the pseudo-constellations, planets, moons and unicorns (yeah, no idea) in turquoise. I can no longer remember when I bought it, even, but it kept looking at me from the stash. Given the dark print on a light base, I wanted to use it in a garment where it wouldn't have to stretch much and have the light part show.

I sort of dislike print-at-home patterns because there's so many stages to printing, glueing, and tracing, but then also this is quite compatible with the size changes I need to make to things so it's not all bad, and I find once I've got to the point of having cut-out pattern pieces, I can just leave it a couple of days and then it's like arriving at a new pattern that I didn't have to do all that work for. So I did that with these, adding 2cm to the rise, but below the line of the angled hip pockets (so I wouldn't have to redraft any pocket lines) and added a straight 12cm all in one go just below the knee, since I reckoned that width would sit comfortably past my calves.

The waistband has you stitch most of it on as a big loop, then feed in elastic that's almost as wide as the waistband, sew that into a complete loop, and then finish sewing up the waistband; I made the elastic a little longer than suggested, and it's come out well in terms of being firm enough to stay up but not so firm it's constricting. Because the fabric is on the light and stretchy side compared to what was specified, too, they're very free-moving all round, really, without being loose enough to be annoying.

So... especially with the turquoise cuffs at the bottom, basically I've made pyjama bottoms, but ones that I can just about get away with wearing out of the house :D The biggest problem I'm having with that at the moment is that most of my wardrobe is variations on greens and browns, passing through yellow and orange and red if they're warm ones, and most of it doesn't really go with turquoise at all. But, hey, for something to wear around the house on a slow morning, they're a winner.

nou

Hello sewists! What have you all been up to recently?

I finally finished making test sleeves and made a REAL clothing item with ACTUAL sleeves, and all of that long slog was 100% worth it because they’re the most amazing sleeves I’ve ever made. They fit me beautifully and they have a great range of motion. The first day I wore the top, I couldn’t stop staring at them in the mirror because they’re so good. (Overall it took about 9 or 10 test sleeves to get this result, but that’s OK because now I have enough muslin scraps to do more dyeing.)

The pattern is now completely unlike any sleeve pattern I’ve seen before, since it has a dart in the sleeve cap and another dart in the back seam. Long sleeves do sometimes have elbow darts, especially in couture, but this is a short sleeve which ends at the elbow and hence traditionally would not have any darts at all.

(If anyone else is aware of other sleeve patterns with darts in these places, or discussion of doing so, please point me at it! I’ve tried googling to find other people’s thoughts on doing this, but have drawn a blank so far.)

fred_mouse

Over on my journal, I've written up a (rather long) summary of my exploration of making cotton tote bags, using one I already had as a pattern.

yhlee

Howdy, all! How's sewing going?

I have been AWOL thanks to work blowing up, but I FINALLY traced the pieces for trunks (Comox trunks by Thread Theory) and am, uh, attempting to cut them with a rotary cutter to baste. I picked this because Smaller Than a Jacket in terms of fabric required and the instructions seemed semi-beginner-friendly.

(I traced rather than cutting the pieces because I am terrified I got the size wrong lol.)

Right now my biggest obstacle that working outdoors on the patio table means taking breaks because of 90 F weather. (I'm in Louisiana.)

What are y'all's projects, or plans for summer / winter (depending on your hemisphere!) sewing?

nou

Hi sewers! What have you been up to recently?

Since our last check-in, I’ve made a bra top, a pair of underpants, a cushion cover, a pair of viscose challis trousers, and a mock-up for a new fancy neckline. I’ll put details and at least one photo in a comment.

yhlee

Howdy!

What have you sewn lately? What are your plans for April? Any extremely pettable fabrics or interesting patterns or techniques?

I have aspirationally picked up a pattern for boxers and plan on tormenting my Long-Suffering Husband by making him be my guinea Joe. :) I've never sewn knit fabric before so this will be an adventure. Also considering a jacket pattern (McCall's M8474) although possibly basting it up in muslin will reveal that I AM NOT READY. I aspirationally picked up the matching pants pattern as well, but in looking at the fabric, uh, apparently I'm okay with my black-with-silver-glittery-things fabric for a jacket but not pants?

In a completely different direction, I am semi-seriously considering making a plush felt model of, uh, the muscles of the arm, complete with detachable velcro'd muscles and color-coding, because I am going to remember the coracobrachialis if it kills me. I took a figure drawing/anatomy for artists online workshop earlier this year and I loved it, but I have no visual memory so diagrams are hard. And this is the "for artists" version where they group things together and it's only surface anatomy!! But I have tactile/kinesthetic memory just fine, so I'm wondering if constructing a model would cement the anatomy in my head?? Y'all may now all flee. :)

fred_mouse

Today's sewing project is a small lined pouch, suitable for putting a set of keys and a pocket knife in, so as to protect the trouser pockets of the owner. This is our preferred solution, rather than having to reinforce multiple pockets (argh) or a drawstring bag (risk of the string tangling in the pockets).

I have a pouch that's perfect, but it is used as as sewing kit, and I don't wish to give it up. Instead, I went hunting patterns. I haven't found quite what I'm after, but the two links I like (one text, one video) are

text (with some pics): Damjana Jakos at Apple Green Cottage has a small pouch sewing pattern - with linked paper pattern if you wish. This wasn't quite what I wanted, because some of the lining is done with the outer fabric, and I'm planning on using a heavier lining for functionality and a lighter cover for aesthetics. Also because turning two heavy fabrics at that size will be horrid (the heavy fabric is likely to be an upholstery weight cotton, because that is what I can think of that I have). I also wasn't enthused about the janky sewing on the inside.

video: Connie Brad at The Craft Channel Easy Lined Pouch - First Sewing Project. Stylistically, this is much more what I'm after, but much larger. However, it helps to watch the larger one being made. If this one interests you, it is worth watching the whole thing first, because at least once there is a 'oops, should have ...'. Mind you the one I noticed was 'should have used more pins', which yes, a beginner would certainly need more pins than that! While usually I hate video tutorials, this one is 10 minutes, shows me what I need, and I can work out how to convert to what I'm after.

So, the differences: I'm looking to make something roughly 5cm square, and the front closure will actually be a ribbon (or possibly a thin fabric band) sewn into the side seams that the front flap slots under.

yhlee

Book report that is (I hope) sewing-adjacent enough! Although, uh, probably sewing British naval uniforms is not 101. XD

Amy Miller's Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions, 1748-1857. IT IS FULL OF FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND PATTERN EXCERPTS. Apparently it's a publication of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich?

More pics behind cut. :)

( Read more... )

nou

It’s nearly the end of February, so let’s have another check-in. What’s everyone been sewing recently? Any in-progress or actually-completed photos to show off? Are you struggling with anything and would like some support, have you had a lovely month of all your sewing going just right, or are you somewhere in the middle? Any new techniques learned? Or anything else to share?

nou

Let’s discuss fabric! What are your favourite fabrics to sew, and why? Are they the same as your favourite fabrics to wear (or to have around your home)?

Are there any fabrics in your stash that you can’t work out what to do with? Are there any fabrics you’d like to sew with, but that you find difficult to work with? (Do you want advice on these topics or just sympathy/solidarity/commiserations?)

Is there anything else you’d like to say about fabric?

fred_mouse

I had a tablecloth needing repair, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in terms of the seam. I knew that I was going to take a strip out of the middle (long side to long side), and thus I was going to be seaming across the width of the tablecloth. I decided that I wanted something that was 'good' on both sides, and thus needed to learn something new -- everything I already knew had exposed edges on the back

After some research, I thought what I wanted was a flat felled seam, and I found two resources that I found useful in 'how does that work'

How To Sew A Flat Felled Seam: A Tutorial With Pictures - Eve Tokens
Flat Felled Seam : Sewing tutorial - Sarina Tariq

These were particularly useful in showing me that this was not what I wanted, because I thought I'd end up with a ridge. Instead, I worked my way through this list of seam types until I found the counter seam.

This worked well, and I'm happy with the result. What I would do differently though, would be have the turn under be half as wide, so that they didn't overlap, but the cut edges touch.

Also, I didn't do the calculations correctly on where to cut and where to iron / sew, and thus I have a narrow repeat of the distinct pattern where I was attempting to take out exactly one repeat.

Conclusion: good for heavier fabrics, not great for pattern matching unless you are meticulous.

nou

Our lovely admin invited us to make check-in posts at various points, so...

What’s everyone been sewing recently? I mended a sheet (I’ll put a photo in a comment), made a sleep mask from my leftover silk (details will also come in a comment), and started cutting out what I really hope is the final muslin for my latest round of trouser-improvements.

yhlee

I got back from my first Pattern 101 lesson with Andrea Eastin of Fair Fit Studio (local to me)! It was in fact very 101, which was what I needed. :D Cut for length. ( I am such a n00b )

yhlee

(You should know that I am distracted/busy/random, so if someone with a better sense of time feels like making check-in posts at various points of the month, please go ahead.)

What have y'all been up to sewing-wise?

Today I attempted a janky curved seam for practice! This mainly consisted of me chanting, "Parallel to the tangent to the curve...parallel to the tangent to the curve..." to dubious effect. XD (Photographic evidence in comment to this post.)

Profile

Support group for novice sewists

June 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Oct. 3rd, 2026 07:19 am

Support group for novice sewists

Recent Entries

Sticky: sticky: resources

Every Kind of Craft now open!

January check-in

It's November! What’s up?

An October check-in

in/visible mend

September sewing summary

Aperiodic check-in number X

An end-of-June check-in

Tote Bags

aperiodic check-in

An April check-in

aperiodic check-in!

Lined pouches

Dressed to Kill

End-of-month check-in

Let’s discuss fabric!

Investigating seams

Let’s have another check-in

pattern lesson 101!

mid-month check-in

Profile

June 2025

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags