I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how and why people learn to sew.
I was discussing this with someone recently. She said that knitting really took off a few years ago, but it seems like sewing is still just on that verge of popularity. I think the reason for this is largely that knitting has a really low barrier to entry. You can literally learn just two stitches in an afternoon and make some pretty cool stuff without knowing much else.
Now, there is a lot you can learn about knitting: increasing/decreasing, lace knitting, color work, etc. But I feel like those skills are all really well defined with knitting. You can say to yourself, “I want to learn to do fair isle knitting,” pick out a pattern, look up some of the abundant resources online, and get started. By the end of the project, you know how to do fair isle.
But with sewing, it seems like it’s more difficult to even KNOW what skills you need. There are so many little tricks and ways of doing things that just come from experience. So it seems like a lot of people just learn to sew in a rather piecemeal way, by slowly figuring things out over time. It takes work and a real desire to figure things out.
So I was wondering, for you guys, how did you learn to sew? Did you have someone to help you? Did you just keep working on things on your own? Did you learn from a beginners book? A reference book?
What did you like about learning in the way you did? And what do you think is the best way to learn? Personally, I like to learn by doing projects.
I’m also curious about why you learned to sew. Was it to make cool stuff you couldn’t find in the stores? To address fitting issues with your body? To save money?
I’m very curious about your experience with this and hearing a little more about you guys and your sewing background! Do tell.
Comments
I had sewing lessons at school, some 40 years ago. The teacher was great and encouraged me to start big projects, like a blazer. Then I sew for me and later for my daughters. Back then, savings was the main reason I sewed. Then i stopped sewing for many years. Started again last year, because I lost weight and wanted clothes that fit my new figures. And learning to sew started again, with more accent on higher standards.
I learn a lot from the blogoshpere.
BTW, thanks for your posts!
Here in Sweden, sewing is a compulsory subject in school. You learn to sew easy things, like a tote bag, a quilt and perhaps also a shirt, skirt or trousers if you’re interested. Both sewing and carpentry/woodwork are compulsory, for both girls and boys up until they’re around 15, or what is your equivalence to junior high, I guess.
That’s where I learned the basics. Moving on from that I learned more from friends who were moe experienced and also from my mum.
i love that concept! having compulsory sewing and woodworking for both girls and boys in school.
That’s the way it was at my school in Canada as well, but the classes were so short we didn’t learn too much. I think we made bean bags and toast in home ec, and then piggy banks and clocks in shop class. My mom might still have the piggy bank I made for her!
Just like Anna, I am swedish and learned how to sew in school, but I am also lucky to have a mom that teaches those classes and we always had lots of fabric to use at home. I can say that I had quite “interesting” clothes in high school…
When I was pregnant with my first child I decided to get a serger since I was never happy with the results when sewing in stretch fabrics. I had a lot of help from Internet resources when learning how to use the serger.
Where I live now, many of my friends have bought a sewing machine but they have no idea on how to use it, but until now I have not had the time to teach them, so I would love to find some good beginner’s projects.
I started sewing in my teens. I guess I expressed an interest to my mom and we went out to buy a mailbag pattern. She even obliged when I said I wanted the strap extra extra long so that the bag hung to my knees! After the first bag, I was hooked. I took a sewing course in high school and already knowing how to sew, the teacher let me go at my own break-neck speed.
After I went on and completed fashion school, I found myself back teaching that very same high school sewing course. I started the students off on boxer shorts, then T-shirts, and then their own choice (some students made their prom dresses and an ambitious male student made a lined blazer!)… It was such fun, and I really hope my students are still sewing!
For me it is the thrill of taking a flat piece of fabric and at the end it becomes this amazing shape to fit the curves of a body or a bag to hold your books! Its so rewarding knowing that what you’ve made is unique and there is not one piece out there like it!
I think it is much easier though to continue knitting than sewing because knitting is sociable – you pick it up and sit on a couch or in a cafe and can still talk with friends. Sewing however, you find yourself holed away in your room for hours on end, and its very hard to set aside that time. I love knitting, but I do get a bigger thrill from my finished sewn garments than those I have knitted.
I learned the basics of sewing from my Mum and school when i was younger then i didn’t sew much through my teenage years or early twenties. I picked up sewing again when i was pregnant with my first child and made things like purses and other small things then progressed into sewing clothes. I started Wardrobrefashion.net as a way of saving money, being kinder to the environment and improving my sewing skills. If i could only wear clothes i had made or refashioned then my sewing HAD to improve right?! I was then asked by BurdaStyle.com to join their team and sew and alter their patterns. This was a big push for me to learn more.
I’ve learned most of my sewing skills through trial and error (you learn from your mistakes right?!), books, websites, other sewers and a class or two.
I’ve now gone almost 4 years without buying new manufactured clothing (there have been a few purchases that i could count on one hand), i’m not sure if i’ve saved any money by doing so (i tend to buy a LOT of fabric-one of the perks of working in a fabric store!) but i have improved my skills immensely and i have a wardrobe of clothes that (mostly) fit me well and is unique to my style.
Like many others I learnt sewing from my mum. She was always making things when I was growing up and there was always lots of fabric around to practice on so sewing just seemed like a natural and straightforward thing to do. As a teenager I used to make bags and drawstring trousers and shorts on her machine. I stopped sewing for a while when doing my degree in my early twenties as I trained as a painter at a time and was totally immersed in that world. I now sew mainly clothes and also bags and toys as presents as I find it stimulating and enjoyable. I am also short of money and cannot afford to buy many new clothes and like others I am increasingly fed up with the short-term attitude of the mass produced clothing industry. It is fun for me to try and increase my skills and knowledge with each project – currently teaching myself from books as I no longer live near my mum!
Well, I just really started sewing this past summer and I’m hooked. I’ve never taken a class. My grandmothers didn’t sew. My mom didn’t sew. I just discovered the blog world and was inspired by things that people were making, so I got out a sewing machine that my in-laws had given me and started following tutorials that I liked! From there, I started to try patterns and found that I’m not a bad sewer! People think it’s creativity, but really I just follow directions well. But I’m hoping that, the more that I sew, the more I will understand about garment construction and maybe then I will be able to design my own clothes.
I was about 14 when I jumped into the world of sewing. I was always interested in fashion design, so learning seemed like the best thing to do. I bought an easy apron-like dress pattern to start and made my way through the instructions, asking my mom for help when something confused me. I did a few easy projects like that to get comfortable with the basics. A couple years later I got really into revamping thrift store clothes, so that upped my skill set through trial and error. It wasn’t until I went to design school, though, that my sewing skills became advanced. We were assigned projects that required us to use certain finishes, seams, and design elements, etc. So, I guess you can say I learn the best through projects. And I continually reference certain books like Crawford’s Guide to Fashion Sewing and the Time Life Book Sewing series from the 70′s (so good!).
I now sew mostly for my handbag business (and that is always a learning experience!) and for myself, as similar to Nichola, I stopped buying newly manufactured clothing two years ago.I also sew lots of gifts. I love giving home sewn gifts.
i’m still trying so hard to learn! i took a make-a-skirt class five years ago that was mediocre, though i did learn the basics of pattern making. and i did a too-short day workshop on alterations once. i intended to sign up for a class this spring, or do private lessons with a local seamstress, but other commitments are putting that off till the summer or fall.
but i’m determined! i think why i don’t try more on my own is because i’m scared… i get nice fabric, good pattern, and i’m petrified i’m going to botch it up… plus making the pattern actually fit my body seems so daunting.
but i would like to create a more self-reliant lifestyle, and i love love fashion but i dislike the fashion industry for several reasons. including the social and environmental (and political!) impact of mass produced apparel. so these are my motivations. but i’m also tired of buying boring clothes for expensive prices that are shabbily made. which reminds me i ordered the sencha and beignet patterns last night!
two things:
1 any suggestions for beginner sewers with error-phobia?
2 do you suggest any particular dress form?
thanks so much!
If you are afraid of making mistakes, I HIGHLY recommend making muslins. I think it’s a good idea to keep lots of cheap fabric around just for this purpose. Maybe I will post some of my resources for bolts of muslin.
I know it seems boring to do first drafts in muslin, but it can be exciting to get the fit exactly right so you know your final garment will look great on you. And you don’t necessarily even have to do the whole garment. Lots of times I find just doing the more fitted parts, such as the bodice of a dress, can be extremely helpful.
There are a lot of good dress forms out there. I have had good experiences with the PGM Pro, which I’m pretty sure you can find for a decent price on ebay.
with buying a dress form… i’m assuming i want to get your my particular size. how can i be sure what size i am compared to the sizing of the dress forms? please forgive if my question is terribly novice! but between the varying sizes in the stores and with patterns etc it’s hard to know what “size 4″ means exactly.
Yes, you want to get it in your size, so take careful measurements. Though there are also adjustable dress forms, and many sewing stores carry these. I’ve never used one, but perhaps someone else can chime in on that. I’d think they’d be especially useful if your proportions are not average (e.g. large bust, small hips, anything like that).
The place you purchase it from should provide a size chart, so you know exactly what the measurements of the form are.
i got some muslin today to do as you suggest… $1.50 a yard. is that a decent discounted rate? thanks for the suggestion. the online creative community that you have been/are creating is so valuable. i know for me it really brings inspiration and confidence in moving forward with my sewing goals. thanks!
$1.50 seems like a pretty reasonable price! Even buying it by the bolt, I haven’t seen it retail for much less than that.
I learned to sew when I was really young, but mostly by hand. When I was about 8 my mom finally started letting me use her sewing machine to make things from scraps. There were always people around me who did amazing things with clothes or quilting, or knitting. I thought I didn’t need to learn further in middle school, so I signed up for woodworking and metalwork (making things out of any material is what interests me). Sadly, the class was too full and they remedied this by sending us 4 girls back to our “rightful” place in Home Ec. I’m still a little peeved 25 years later, but I went on to learn many useful techniques through my high school career. I really liked the Vogue Sewing Book, though I still haven’t used a Hong Kong finish on anything that I can recall. My mom and sisters and I sometimes have “sewing nights” where we get together to work on projects, though I find I’m a much better sewer when I work alone.
I took some sewing classes when I was little and my mom always sewed our halloween costumes. I did a little embroidery as well, but otherwise not much. I picked up knitting about 6 years ago and I think my interest in sewing was renewed from knitting. On your point on the popularity of knitting, I think it’s also because it’s so eminently portable. Sewing seems like a lot more “work” as you have to lay out and cut the fabric, actually go sit at your machine, etc. That being said, it’s sort of a false perception that sewing takes more time because when you have some experience, you can sew something up much much faster than you could knit the equivalent.
So many wonderful stories! Ironically, I find knitting way more intimidating than sewing. The few things that I’ve tried to knit have usually turned out too big, and it’s not like I can just take in the side seams to make them smaller (I had to make three drafts of a coffee pot cozy for my boyfriend to get it the right size!).
I did take a few weeks of sewing around the 8th grade or so where we learned how to make a bean bag, but I think I really started sewing in my early years of college when a roommate of mine brought home a broken sewing machine from the trash. We opened it up and watched an animation of how a sewing machine is supposed to work online, and eventually got it working well enough to hack away at things. Eventually my mom took pity on me and bought me a ~$100 Kenmore that was way less sad that the trash machine.
Most of the stuff that I made during that era was things like hacked up band t-shirts and skirts made of curtains. They looked a bit crazy, but I didn’t mind since this was kind of the DIY/punk aesthetic that I was going for. I actually had never used a pattern until last year when I downloaded something for free from the BurdaStyle website. Sewing up that pattern immediately changed my perspective on sewing, because I saw how it was possible to make tailored stuff that I could wear to teach in, not just refashioned knit tops or burlap bags.
I still don’t really know how to sew “properly,” but I pick up techniques from reading people’s blogs, surfing the internet, trial and error, etc. Somebody talks about underlining something, and then I spend an hour surfing around to find out about underlining and think about all the places I should have used it in the past. I have an old Singer sewing book that I occasionally reference, but mostly I just dive in. Sometimes I also look at RTW clothes that I own to see how stuff is done (although this is not always helpful if you don’t have a serger). So I guess I learned to sew gradually, making things that were incrementally more polished. This worked out really well for me, since my tastes in clothes have also evolved from ripped up stuff to tailored shirts over time!
That is so true, I’ve knit a few things that came out entirely the wrong size. All you can do is frog them! On the other hand, I’ve had dresses I made that fit poorly, and I just take apart a few seams and add a few darts and they’re good to go.
I like your example about the underlining, I think that’s such a common experience. There’s just so much to know.
I am still learning slowly and just lke some other I have a fear of jumping in over my head and messing up a project. I took a community college class which gave me a good idea of the basics about a year ago and since then, work and school have filled up all my free time. I still have a desire to learn and have been slowing collecting projects and reference books for the future. I never had any sewing classes in my school, but I wish I did. It might have instilled a confidence in me that I seem to be lacking right now. I want to make things fit well and I also want to combat costs. I have a lot to learn about construction and techniques, but I am still working on it when I can.
My mom is an excellent sewist, so my first forays into sewing were under her guidance and on her machine. I got my first machine when I was in my early-20′s. Mostly I sewed without patterns, improvising curtains for the first apartment I shared with my new husband. Even though I’d used a machine and had sewing experience, I’d say I didn’t really properly learn to sew until we moved to Portland a few years ago and I took classes at Palmer Pletsch. Now I have the confidence to sew garments. I am a passionate knitter, but love the possibilities of sewing. I do find sewing far more intimidating than knitting. Mistakes seem so much more difficult to repair…
I come to sewing via the knitting/crochet world as probably do lots of others, and can make a couple of comments about my experience.
First, that knowing how garments are sewn together has really improved my knitting, I used to be mainly about the hats and scarves but now am much more aware of fit and how to achieve this for sweaters.
Second, that knitting and crochet are so much more portable, you can have a project to work on commuting to work so there is a bit more flexibility that way although the total amount of time for an equivalent garment is much greater than for sewing.
Third, one of the difficulties I am having with sewing is the complexities of all the equipment; not just the sewing machine itself, but the steam iron, the marking pens, the myriad types of thread and scissors etc make it intimidating to get started. I’m still trying to work out if I need special basting thread and if so where to obtain this.
Finally, one thing that we all have in common is the love of the stash and respect for the different fibers, whether in string or cloth form. The thrill of going from the one dimensional surface to the three dimensional garment is the same every time and this thrill is a great feeling.
Learning to sew was “compulsory” in my family. Everyone in our family sewed (male and female) and we were taught, little by little. When I was a pre-/teenager, I sewed mainly nightwear (needed something new for every sleepover!), but when I had my first baby, I started sewing in earnest for her and for me. Because my folks and my in-laws were in “the business,” I always had access to beautiful, and free, fabric remnants.
I am just learning the basics of sewing. My Mother and Grandmother both were awesome seamstresses. I have discovered the blogs and love the items that people have made. I had a cheap embroidry/sewing machine. It was in the shop and cost more to fix than it was worth. My husband decided to buy me a fabulous Babylock Elegante. I want to be able to sew for myself and children. I am collecting as many “how to” tutorials in a sewing notebook. I want to sew everything I can.
I actually re-learned how to sew (I first learned in my early teens) recently, and it’s all because of something very Andy Rooney of me: I got ticked off at how expensive the clothes I liked were, and how poorly made they were. I was tired of clothes falling apart after washing. Thus, to the sewing machine I went.
Haha, your Andy Rooney comment made me actually laugh out loud.
My mom was an avid home sewer and taught me basic sewing skills when I was kid. Like some of the others have mentioned sewing and “industrial arts” were compulsory for both girls and boys in my suburban USA junior high. We did a basic totebag project. Somehow none of that stuck, so here I am reading your blog and hoping I eventually get the nerve and energy to try to re-learn. I am a knitter and I do think learning how to make quality knitwear made me want to do the same with sewn clothing. I also like the idea of just whipping up a simple skirt or something when I need something to wear. Baby steps first though. Right now I’m intimidated from just hemming curtains.
Like most people here, I learned to “officially” sew from my mom when I was 8. We went to the fabric store and purchased fabric, thread, elastic, and a pattern for a pair of shorts. I still remember them. That was when I learned how to use a pattern and a sewing machine. Before then, I was always hand sewing clothes for my barbies or making little hand sewn pillows or whatnot.
When I was in high school I sewed some of my clothes, but I didn’t really have much time to sew. They were all improvised and never from a pattern. I hated patterns because I could never get a good fit.
Years later my husband and I bought a house and I sewed alot, mostly curtains and pillows.
Many years later, while in my mid-20′s I was thrift shopping with my mom and was so frustrated that everything seemed to be polyester. We went to the fabric store (again) and bought fabric and patterns. I worked really hard at learning how to get a good fit, and found a few patterns I really liked for dresses and pants, and I made a ton of them, mostly from quilting calicos because I like the prints and natural fibers.
Then I had babies and found I had alot less time to sew, and an ever-changing body shape. I sewed mainly for my babies.
But now my kids aren’t babies anymore and I am getting back into making my own clothes. But I’ll admit I am so depressed about the lack of decent fabric at the local superstore. It’s just an ocean of polyester. I really have to dig hard to find any fabrics I like. Mostly cottons and linens. I live in Florida so there’s not much wool to be had.
I know many many women who had mothers who sewed, but never learned. There are so many young women who want to make their own clothes but don’t even know where to begin. I’m (slowly) giving a young friend sewing lessons and I forgot how difficult it is in the beginning. It takes a long time to be able to buy a pattern and get a good fit on the first try.
I’ve always sewn, but I don’t recall anyone ever showing me how. Some things I picked up by watching, others I figured out on my own, either by logic or by taking something apart. I also started by hand-sewing outfits for my barbies, and eventually graduated to threading my mom’s Singer for her (she didn’t mind the sewing but she hated messing with the machine).
After I flunked home ec in high school (both cooking AND sewing), I didn’t bother with it for a few years, basically on the theory that if I flunked it, even though I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t ever be good at it. Not so. I just would never be good at making drawstring bags or pillow covers.
I started sewing again because I had to. I wanted to make things, and clothing seemed like the most interesting thing to make. I didn’t always start simple – a lot of my projects were far above my skill level – and sometimes I crashed and burned, but learned a lot, and other times, surprisingly, I got a result good enough to make me come back for more.
Along the way I accumulated a few shelves of sewing reference books, which I refer to sometimes, but mostly I read them for entertainment and when I get into a bind when sewing, I go back to my sewing roots and try to figure my way out of it.
It’s the puzzle aspect of sewing that I love best, turning flat pieces of paper into pieces of fabric into a three dimensional garment, and being able to visualize the process.
I first learned to sew when I bought a cheap little Brother sewing machine from Wal-Mart out of sheer curiosity and desire to start making my own clothes that nobody else would have.
I started out by finding patterns online to make my own purses & handbags and loved the aspect of construction – taking pieces of a puzzle and turning it into something valuable.
The best thing about sewing is that if you can’t find something you want at a store, you know that with enough determination you can make it yourself.
What I love so much about sewing is how complicated and intricate it can be – you can sew for years and still be challenged by a new project.
I started messing around with my mother’s sewing machine when I was five years old (I scratched “I love you” into the wooden console that it sat on with a T-pin). I was putting basic things together with a little guidance from her by the time I was 8 or 9, and by 7th grade, I could sew pretty well. In Home Ec class that year, I made an (admittedly ugly) princess seamed jumpsuit (after the obligatory and mind-numbingly dumbed-down stuffed ladybug pillow).
The following year, I made a lined fake fur coat. I think the same year, my mom signed me up for a class at Stretch and Sew – my former kindergarten teacher was in the same class, it was so much fun.
I sewed all through high school and college. Lots of Cyndi Lauper/Madonna knock-offs, a copy of a one piece tuxedo swimsuit (Oscar de la Renta?) worn by Brooke Shields in (I think) Vogue…a suitcase full of clothes I took on my honeymoon to Mexico (the suitcase was STOLEN while we waited to check in…I was SO sad to lose those clothes!).
I need to get back to that level of LOVIN’ my sewing again. Sure, I LIKE it just fine, but now I’m soooo nitpicky about it that it’s lost a lot of the fun.
Thanks for reminding me what it used to be like. :-)
My grandmother taught me. I was only 6 but dying to learn. At first she gave me scraps and a hand needle but that did not satisfy, so finally she took me to the store to buy flannel and lace and we made a gathered neck nightie. I realy did the work, she just coached. I had been watching her a long time. She propped the foot pedal up on a stack of catalogs so I could reach and I just took off running. She coached as needed for years, but I eventually got away from my need for much and perhaps even surpassed her in some of my skills but she was always my cheerleader! To learn something now I read or ask a sewing friend.
I, too, learned how to sew in school (I’ve still got the needlebook I made when I was eleven or twelve). Even though I liked all kinds of needlework, the school projects weren’t all that inspiring, so I eventually gave up on needlework altogether.
Last year, when I spent nearly all my waking hours in front of the computer, scribbling away at my doctoral thesis, I suddenly felt the urge to create something with my hands. I surfed the net, stumbled across several crafters’ blogs, was much inspired, and sewed a little softie bunny for my friend’s baby girl. Then I bought Aimee Ray’s book “Doodle Stitching”, was even more inspired and started with embroidery. Then I stumbled across a quilting blog and started to buy quilting books. Then I thought, Well, if you want to quilt, you’ll need a sewing machine, right? For if you do it by hand, it’ll take ages and you’re not the most patient person on the planet. And so I bought a sewing machine. And more quilting books. And fabric. Ordered from the USA, because that’s way cheaper than buying fabric in Germany (it’s a weird world!).
Then my shiny new sewing machine arrived, and after I had figured out how to bring up the bobbin thread (took me an hour…) and had managed to sew a decent straight seam, I was utterly and completely hooked. :) I love figuring out how things go together, I love creating things without using the computer for once, and I love how much joy I can give to people simply by sewing something for them.
Last Saturday I finished my very first quilt — it’s very basic, and it’s got some serious flaws, but still, I consider it a great success. :)
[...] 1, 2010 I was reading Sarai’s recent post in the Colette Patterns blog about why she started sewing (and other bloggers’ ideas about [...]
My thoughts are to go up to the K-Mart and buy it! LOL
This is one of my favorite stories, now that it’s all turned out fine – my mother was very sick (we didn’t know if she was going to get better. She did! She’s fine now!) and could only do things around the house for an hour or two at a time before she had to go to bed. And I was in school in another city and never got to see her. Well, she decided when I was home that she was going to teach me to make a dress (I’d taken a sewing class and promptly forgotten everything some years before), and she used one of her rare afternoons on her feet to help me pick out fabric and a pattern, and then I sat down in the sunroom and stitched and stitched and stitched and took what I’d done to her on the couch so she could tell me where I’d gone wrong. Trust me, pretty much everything I learned during that weekend is fixed permanently in my memory – I’m not a particularly detail-oriented or small-motor-skilled person, but because of the situation I hung on her every word. I know this sounds like a sad story, but every time I bind a hem I remember that my mother loves me :-)
My mom was quite the seamstress, all self taught, she could make anything with out even using a pattern. She was talented and creative. When I was younger she offerd to teach me, Of course I was a rebel, and didn’t want to learn. She has been gone nearly four years now, and I have two daughters of my own, I started learning how to sew, because I remember the hand crafted toys and dresses she made for me and my sisters. Watching tutorials online, and visiting blogs such as yours, is how I am learning to sew. I am so grateful to learn what I can from talented ladies such as yourself! Keep up the good work! IT COUNTS!!!! :)
[...] What are your thoughts on learning to sew? [...]
I first learned to sew from my mom (by example) and picked it up mostly by trying projects on my own and learning from my own experiences – the best teacher of all.