I’ve got the supplies, now what? Blog 4

Learning is never a straight line. You will make mistakes and you will learn from them.

Do you know what you are going to sew or the type of sewing you want to learn? That is the first question I’d ask myself. There is a foundation that you will have to have regardless of the type of sewing you want to learn. Before you get started, I will teach you a few sewing terms and how to choose a pattern.

1. If you do not know or understand sewing terms you will not be able to read and follow along with patterns. This is by no means an exhaustive list but here are a few terms to get you started:

   1. Right side and Wrong side of fabric: Think of the right side as right side out and the wrong side as inside out. The right side is the side of the fabric with the color or print as it is intended to be worn showing the bold colors. The wrong side is the inside of the garment or the muted color. All patterns will tell you when to sew right sides together or wrong sides together. 99% of the time you’ll be sewing right sides together and can generally assume this as you begin to sew.

   2. Seam allowance: This is the allowance needed on the seam to prevent it from fraying. Often seam allowances are used as a guide and will be trimmed in garment sewing. You will align your fabric on the machine at the specified seam allowance noted on the pattern. Generally, quilt patterns are written for a 1/4” seam and garment sewing is done at 5/8” seam allowance. There are deviations from these allowances and they will be specified in the pattern or on the specific pattern piece.

   3. Knit and woven fabric: Fabric can be broken down into these two categories. A knit is a type of fabric that has quite literally been knitted together. When you look at it really close you will see that the stitches are looped together to form the stretchy fabric. If you have ever seen a knitted blanket using yarn, it looks just like that except on a smaller scale. A woven fabric is made on a loom and is weaved together. If you look closely at the fabric, you will see that it is formed with the threads going over and under each other. You can compare this to how a woven basket is made, but on a smaller scale using fabric. You will need to understand that patterns are all made based off of the type of fabric, woven or a knit. Rarely do these two fabrics go together in the same garment.

   4. Selvage: The selvage edge of the fabric is where it was placed on the loom, or the edges. It is used as a guide to place pattern pieces and also prevents the fabric from fraying.

   5. Bolt: Fabric comes on a bolt. The fabric is folded in half with the right side showing and wound around the bolt. They generally come in 15 yards. When looking choosing your fabric in a fabric store you will look at the information on the top of the bolt. It will tell you what the width of fabric is and what it is made from. This can help you determine if this is the correct fabric choice for what you are sewing.

   6. Bias: This is a term used to describe the diagonal of a woven fabric. It is the stretchiest part of a woven fabric. The crosswise (the line perpendicular to selvage) and grainline (the line parallel with selvage) have little to no stretch. This is useful for cutting pattern pieces that need a bit of stretch around the waist or around curves.

   7. Width of fabric (WOF): This is the width of the fabric when it comes off of the loom. It measures selvage to selvage. Fabric comes in different widths depending on the use, 44”–108”:

      44–45 in: A typical width for quilting cotton and craft fabrics

      54–60 in: A standard width for apparel fabrics like cotton, linen, and polyester 

      72 in: A common width for home design fabrics like table linens, bedding, draperies, and upholstery 

      108 in: An extra-wide width for curtains, quilt backs, and tablecloths 

      20 in: A narrow width that's usually only used for interfacing 

      36 in: A width that's common for vintage fabrics

Choosing a Pattern:

**An experienced sewist will make a pattern out of a muslin or inexpensive fabric first and then make adjustments to it. After adjustments are made they will get their expensive fabric out and make it again.**

A good rule of thumb to use is, the more pieces the pattern has, the more complicated it is to assemble. Choose a pattern that says easy or has few pieces, to get you started. Choose a pattern BEFORE you choose your fabric. All patterns come with details noted on the back of the pattern. This includes the recommended fabric choice, sizing, and notions (notions are everything else needed to assemble the garment except the fabric, buttons, zippers, elastic etc.). Pay attention to these details. Getting started requires you to get the proper fabric and notions.

Have someone take your measurements, bust, waist, hips. You can look up how to measure each accurately. On the back of the pattern, you will see a chart that specifies what the garment will measure once it is made. These are not based off of your actual clothing size. They are based off your measurements. DO NOT be alarmed if you measure different sizes for your bust or hips. You could be a size 20 in the bust and a size 16 in the hips, it’s okay! If your bust measures 40” look at the finished measurement to be about 2” greater than the final fit. This is called “ease”. Ease is the extra room you need in a garment to sit, bend, or move. You do not want your garment too tight, it will not lay on your body properly. Ease is most important when using a woven fabric due to the lack of stretch in the garment. When I sew with a knit, I do not plan for ease in the same way, this is due to the stretch in the fabric. I will make the garment a bit smaller than my measurements if my fabric has a lot of stretch, 30% or more roughly.

There are free patterns and tutorials that can be really helpful when getting started. If you are a visual person, you can jump on YouTube and begin your sewing journey by following along. I would recommend a craft before a garment. They are smaller projects that do not require a large amount of fabric and can be extremely useful when learning the basics.

Resources:

Fabric websites:

https://fabricwholesaledirect.com/ - This is a great website to get started. They have really affordable fabrics that you can play with or make your custom garment from. You can search by fabric or by use.

https://www.bluemoonfabrics.com -This site has fun and affordable fabrics. You have to know a little more about what you are looking for, as you can’t search by use.

https://www.moodfabrics.com - This site has notions as well as fabrics. You can search by fabric type and by use.

Free Beginner patterns:

For crafts: https://blog.spoonflower.com/category/tutorials/free-sewing-patterns/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Performance_Max_FBTY_WideFormat_US_CA&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADSZg_Ni0t31UT033CsczHPT7CB-K&gclid=CjwKCAiA65m7BhAwEiwAAgu4JP41lNZP-5vAHamx9yNu9ls7CqlYEJ9ZL4460ZfoSpkTFN5itSLipxoCCJcQAvD_BwE - This doubles as a pattern and as a fabric website. This is absolutely amazing for beginners, it has all kinds of craft projects to get you started and building a foundation for sewing.

For anything quilting related, I would recommend looking up Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilting company. She has great tutorials on basic quilting and even advance. Pat Sloan is a great beginner friendly quilter who has tutorials and also a Facebook group.

Garment sewing:

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/free-patterns-to-sew-clothing-2977357 - These patterns are all beginner friendly. You’ll see that they are oversized and do not have a lot of notions. No buttons or zippers.

https://www.moodfabrics.com/blog/free-sewing-patterns/ - Mood has free garment sewing patterns! This is great if you are an advanced beginner or learning to sew with a mentor.