If you know anything about me, it’s that I’m a crafty-wannabe. I grew up with my mom being great at crafts and me being decidedly less so. I’d try something for a while and then grew bored of it and gave up. But I always have the desire to be crafty. For a long while there, I was able to satisfy the itch by designing my websites, but I’ve grown disgusted with that too. I’ve tried crocheting, knitting, needlepoint and scrapbooking among other things and I never lasted more than a month doing any of that.
I think I want to try sewing now. It’s not only crafty, it’s practical and I’m all about practical applications!
The problem with this is that besides the cost of fabric, a sewing machine is not a cheap investment. I don’t want to spend more than $200, but from brief research, anything less than $100 is just a piece of useless junk.
For any of you sewers out there: Do you have any sewing machine recommendations? Any supplies I’ll absolutely need to get to be prepared to sew? Online resources? In your opinion, can someone teach themselves to sew? (I taught myself to crochet and knit without too much difficulty, I sewed a bag in the 7th grade and watched my mom sew for years. I think I’d be able to manage simple patterns to start with, but I might be kidding myself.)
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I love Bernina sewing machines. I think they’re the most user-friendly and I curse my cheapy one for not being a Bernina every time I have to use it.
You’ll want good sharp scissors, pins, a seam ripper, tape measure, marking pencils, extra bobbins, an iron… that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Things I consider more extras than necessities would be a cutting mat and a rotary cutter though they are pretty handy.
Six months ago I bought this sewing machine (though, I swear it was under $100 when I bought it.. maybe it was on sale?). I bought it with the express purpose of learning how to hem my child’s pants. I read the instruction book and figured out how to do the most basic of basic things (wind a bobbin, thread a needle, sew fabric).
Then, a couple of months ago, I used it to sew a lining for a bag I’d knit. I was so freaking proud of myself after – it’s the first thing I’ve ever really truly sewn.
Then, I got crazy last week and made a bedskirt.
I have no idea what’s getting into me.
The lining I made by following the pattern instructions that came with my knit bag. The bedskirt came from reading DIY tutorials on craftster.org.
I’m now thinking about going to a fabric store and buying a pattern just to see if I can do it.
No one taught me anything – I’ve been completely winging all of this between the instruction book,, the internet, and my brain. If I can do it, I know you can!!
Oh, and my sewing machine came with three bobbins, three needles, and a seam ripper. And as Heather said you’ll need a measuring tape, a good pair of scissors, an iron, and straight pins. Mine have little colored balls on the ends.
Morgan gave me my sewing machine for my birthday a few years ago, and he got it very cheap at a local sewing machine repair shop, locally. It was used, but fixed up by the shop and sold. If you’d like to cut some corners on cost, used would be my first suggestion. I don’t feel like I’ve used enough different brands of machines to be able to compare them, but mine (and my mothers) are both oldish Singers, and I have nothing bad to say about them. Very sturdy, long-lasting machines.
I learned the very basics from my mother, but the rest I have taught myself. There are so many really great tutorials out there now!
Even though I haven’t done many projects on my machine, I’ve found it incredibly handy to have around when something comes up, like mending the bed cover when it ripped, hemming some pants, altering a skirt, making curtains for the front window. So if it doesn’t become a hobby, a sewing machine will probably still be useful, anyway.
“a local sewing machine repair shop, locally.” Ha! My, that was eloquent.
Thanks! I’m really excited to get a sewing machine now and start fooling around with some simple stuff.
I’m going to be watching this post
I’m a lot like you – a crafting wannabe. I’ve tried a lot but nothing seems to stick. I’m *very* drawn to fabric but a) can’t sew a straight line to save my life and b) don’t own a machine. MIL has one I can have since she got a new one but it’s an old one and I have no idea how to work it.
So, um, yeah. Just watching this post will I be!
Tons of good information in this post; we have two older machines, neither of which works very well – I’d prefer my “learn to sew” experience be as painless as possible, so I’m looking at new ones too.
Hey, I found you through destinymanifest and I wanted to add you. Hope that’s ok!
I love my Singer but I don’t know the model. It cost me about $250 and it has lots of cool stitches. If I had my way, I’d buy a Bernina, but those are some really expensive machines.
Yes, you can teach yourself to sew. I did!
PS – added you as a friend. Hope you don’t mind.