September is National Sewing Month

Hop on over to NationalSewingMonth.org for a bunch of ideas and inspiration or visit some of our favorite sites in the links over there on the right, try one of our projects or search this blog for projects and tutorials, and scoot over to Pinterest and see what others are sewing. You might even consider teaching someone else how to sew. With that in mind, here's an update to an article I wrote many years ago for Sewing.com, when I was doing community work for them.

Learning to sew can be fun and rewarding, but start small and work your way up. I've never been sorry that I caught the "sewing bug". 

The first stop is your public library. The Dewey Decimal System for sewing-related items in the nonfiction section of your library is here:

    640 Home economics & family living
    646 Sewing, clothing, personal living 

I have found that the children's section of the library is a good place to look for sewing books for beginners. Do a couple of the truly easy projects (no one has to know!) and then move on to something more "complicated" like a garment.

Browse through the stacks of sewing books. Some are great and others are lame, but there's sure to be one or two that suit your needs. Singer has a great set of sewing books, and the Reader's Digest sewing book is good for beginners. I've found "how to sew" books on eBay and at yard sales, so you don't have to spend a lot of money. As well, most pattern companies (Simplicity, Vogue, Butterick, McCall's, to name a few) have basic sewing instruction books, and there is a Sewing for Dummies and a Sewing for Idiots, both aimed at beginners. If you're interested in buying any of the books you see, you'll at least have a good preview by borrowing them from the library first!

Fabric stores often offer classes. Find a reputable fabric store in your area and see if they offer craft or sewing instruction. Even if they don't, they may know someone who does. Check the bulletin boards at the store. Another place to check is your yellow page directory. Sometimes you can find instructors there. Check with your local Extension Agency or 4-H, if they are available to you. Again, the phone book is of great help in this respect.

If there is a sewing machine dealer in your area, check with them. They may already offer classes for the general public. If they don't you can suggest it to them! Some public school systems and community colleges offer community education classes for adults.

Consider looking for an on- or off-line mentor. Other people who sew at church, sewing associations, quilt guilds, online communities, newsgroups, email groups - all good possibilities for mentors.

What has changed since then? There are so many sites on line with how-to information, including this one. Google is your friend and with a few keystrokes, you can find pretty much anything you want to know on the web. Nothing substitutes for having the human interaction, and that's something we can do for others.

Recently, I was working with my 30-year-old daughter on a graduate school art project which involved sewing. I followed her design lead, she did the cutting, color choices, etc., and I did the sewing. At one point, as she was cutting, she looked at me and said, "I have a whole new respect for what you do, mom!" It was a great moment!

Happy National Sewing Month everyone. Make it a good one.

Updated an older post - Christmas Stockings (teachers and otherwise)

Hey - lookie here - I updated the Christmas Stocking post with teacher's stockings and a link to how to make strip quilted stockings. Never to early to start making this year's batch!

How to machine stitch bias tape around corners

I admit, my placemats are almost always oval, my potholders almost always have rounded corners, and I avoid sharp corners on purpose. Why? I don't want to deal with binding and mitering corners. I am pretty good at it by hand, but never seemed to master the mitering by machine. Well, guess what? I found a blogger who has done a very nice, simple tutorial about sewing bias tape around corners:

"Smashed Peas and Carrots

I'm absolutely going to try her method the next time I get brave enough to do corners. I made my daughter a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt when she was younger and hand stitched bias binding all the way around, mitering inside and outside corners as I went. Jeesh. If only I'd had the internet or a friend to teach me how to do it by machine!

How to sew and a free beginning sewing book on line.

I was going through some old notes I had printed off the internet related to sewing. In the folder, I found something I've been looking for! Can you believe it? I often print things to refer to later or to try a project or for ideas to expand upon. The thing I found was this - the URL to the free sewing book online brought to you by Craft and Fabric Links

If you're new to sewing, check it out. I'm often asked how to do this and that, and this instructional manual covers most anything you'd like to know. I still refer to my Reader's Digest and Singer sewing books (my old go-to sources; we all have them, right?), but between our sewing dictionary and this online book, you should be okay. For example, here's the table of contents/chapter list:

• Chapter One: Introduction To Sewing
• Chapter Two: Choosing Your Pattern and Fabric
• Chapter Three: Pattern Instructions
• Chapter Four: Getting Ready To Sew: Lay-out And Cutting
• Chapter Five: Setting Up Your Sewing Machine
• Chapter Six: Now We're Sewing: Terms & Techniques
• Chapter Seven: Pockets
• Chapter Eight: Zippers & Buttonholes
• Chapter Nine: Sleeve Installation
• Chapter Ten: Darts & Pleats
• Chart: Needle / Thread

Looking for someone to teach you to sew? The Home Sewing Association maintains a database of Trained Sewing Educators in your area.

Other options are your fabric stores, local 4-H resource people, church groups, local mentors and friends, and self-teaching by using patterns, the library, and the internet.

And if you have a chance, stop by your local library. In the nonfiction section, sewing books are in the 640 section (domestic arts), specifically the 646 section. Head for the children's department and browse through 646 for truly beginner projects. Don't laugh; that's one of the things I did to learn!

Enjoy sewing. Start small and aim high. There are no real rules, just methods. And even those are adjustable to your own talent and desire.

Bee Potholders 2 - How a project progresses

Trial and error - that's how it works, especially when you're either working with no pattern or creating your own. The potholders continue. I consulted the drawing and used a water soluble pen to draw antennae, eyes, and legs for my big bee. I tried a couple different decorative stitches on the Bernina and came up with one that suited the design, stitching the legs per the picture. I created half circles on top of the black piece of the bee to serve as eyes. And then, I did the satin stitch around the whole body.

Looking at the picture above, it looks eh. the legs are not the same length and seem to have a cattywampus placement. That alone wouldn't be a problem, but the antennae aren't quite right either. Check it out in comparison of the drawing.

I didn't stitch the wings on, but did want to see how they looked, so placed them on, trimmed them down to fit so the legs would show, and then stood back and reminded myself this was my prototype and that I get to keep this one. Argh. Sometimes things don't go perfectly the first time! The position of the legs looks even worse with the wings, but there you go. This is how a project progresses. For the next three bees, I'll follow the drawing a little closer when drawing the legs and antennae. I hope that I won't have to cut down the wings any more than just a smidgen; they should be bigger than shown on the piece above.

I'm laughing as I type this because it is really kind of funny the first time you try something and it turns out a little wonky. I'm sharing it with you to show you that you will make "mistakes" along the way and you need to not let them bother you. It's never a waste; it's always a lesson. And I'll end up with a pretty groovy potholder to use in my kitchen. What I won't do with this one is use the bee fabric for binding since I know for sure I'm keeping it. I'll use black bias binding, which will work just as fine. For an item I want to sell, I prefer to use handmade bias binding that matches the design a little better.

Hopefully, the next post will show you the one above completed and one that is a little more like the drawing. I do love the colors and like the choice of bee fabric for wings.

Projects You Can Make

You can find most of the projects I've done here, with photos and instructions. I will add more as time allows. Let me know if there's something you'd like me to try. (Updated 02/19/10)

Wonder Under is my friend, yours too!

Wonder Under is an amazing product. I use it often, so buy online since prices are usually better than offline stores, especially since WalMart stopped carrying sewing items.

I have used Wonder Under to recreate pictures that my children have drawn by tracing the picture, cutting the pieces out of fabric, fusing them to a piece of muslin and then doing a tight zig-zag or satin stitch around all edges. I finish the edges with Fray Check or a similar product and the life of the piece is endless. I have washed and dried many pieces I've made using this method. Check out my dish towel project - this is a typical Wonder Under application, as are the many potholders I've made. I've used Wonder Under to fuse photos printed on fabric for use with memory quilts as well. You can see another use in my bib project.


Some people use Wonder Under without stitching the edged; they simply fuse and let it go. I've not had good luck with that method. In order to make something that you can wear or use several times, items you are able to wash and dry, you really do need to stitch the edges. The only reason I use a fray reducer is that one project with printed photos did some unraveling on the edges. The fabric upon which the picture was printed was fairly fragile. Better safe than sorry with usable items. As mentioned above, I made hand towels using Wonder Under and have washed and dried them a lot with only minimal expected wear that is uniform and not limited to the fused fabric.


You can buy WonderUnder on line and off. There are other products similar to it, but I've not used them. I tend to stick with what I know most of the time. Now, go crazy and make some stuff!

Decorated dish/hand towels

This is a project that I did several years ago when I ran SewingWeb.com (sadly, the site is no longer with us). I used new dish towels, added colorful fish, and created hand towels for my downstairs washroom. I've used this process in a variety of projects and you can too. Great for a gift or just a pick-me-up for a boring towel rack.
Click on the link above for instructions on how to make your own machine zig-zag appliqued dish towels!