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September 11, 2017 by Amy

15 Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

Sewing Tips for Beginners

Check out these simple sewing tips for beginners! When I first started sewing I didn’t know many TIPS, ‘SEW’ I’m excited to share these sewing tips with you!  

Recycle Sewing Tips

1) Save belt loops off old pants to use as ‘coat hangers’ for coats that need to be hung on a regular basis, childrens coats, sweat jackets, and even mittens so they dry out sooner! Use a Hand Stitch to attach the Belt Loops.

2) Collect  buttons off any old garment that you plan to throw into the trash-buttons can be used for many things: Children’s artwork, embellishments on other sewing projects, new garments, or replacement buttons on other clothing items.  Read this post to get ideas on where to use buttons for your sewing projects.

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

3)  Save your fabric scraps no matter how big or small the fabric pieces are. You can use the larger scraps for making a quilt or add as embellishment or an appliqué to a quilt. The smaller scraps can also be used to make unique fabric scrap pictures. Read my post on FABRIC SCRAPS.   

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

4) Jeans can be recycled into MANY different things!  Use the hip/top part of the jeans to make into a nice sturdy bag.  I have also seen jean skirts that use the top of an old pair of jeans, and then fabric added to the bottom to make a cute skirt.

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

5) Do you have any items with stretched out elastic? Depending on the item, you can take out the old elastic and replace with new elastic and you have a  ‘good as new’ item!   I recently replaced elastic in several pairs of my mother-in-law’s pants. She bought them on QVC over a decade ago and won’t give up the pants for new ones. So, I took my seam ripper, ripped out the thread on the waistband and replaced the elastic. (rubber doesn’t stay stretchy forever) Who knew my mother-in-law would be SO HAPPY!

Sewing Projects Organization Tips

6)  Store all your project notions in a bag, whether it be a ziplock bag or other type of small bag or plastic storage box.   You can label the ziplock bag with your project name.  If you use another bag or box, write your project name on a piece of paper and insert the paper into your bag.  I like to use a full 8 X 11.5 piece of paper to also keep other notes about your started project.

7) Keep a sample piece of fabric from your project and staple it to an index card. You can use this card/sample piece of fabric to shop for sewing notions to match your fabric,  to purchase other accessories, and also keep washing instructions printed on the index card.  If you know the name of the fabric, you could also write this information on the card as well.

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

8) If you have made any adjustments to pattern pieces, keep these notes in the pattern envelope.

 Speaking of organization, read my post on Keeping your Thread Organized

9) Keep a list of your ongoing projects. Sometimes I like to have several projects ‘in the works’ at one time; and some of these projects may get put to the back burner.  Keep that project list handy and try to not have too many unfinished projects.  If you find yourself running out of space in your sewing room/storage, finish a project to get it out of your sewing room and to where it is meant to be.

Time Saving and Simple Sewing Tips

10)  Make a list of the sewing notions you already have. This will save you TIME by not having to make an extra trip back to the store because you THOUGHT you had a certain item. This list will also help you not to buy ‘extra’ of something you may already have.

11)   Purchase all the sewing notions for a project at once. Take the time to get matching thread, zipper, buttons etc., this will save you TIME later by not having to make a second trip back to the store. (Sometimes I just get the fabric and pattern and go home-then I have to make another trip back to the store for all the other notions)

12)  As you read thru the directions for project patterns, you will notice many projects have multiple steps. Read thru the steps and figure out if you can complete several sewing steps at one time. For example:  There may be several things you can take to your machine  to sew seams or baste even though a sewing task may not be the very next step in the directions.  This saves you TIME by not having to  get up and down after each completed seam.

13)  You can set up a  mini-iron next to your machine along with a mini ironing board; if you have the space.   This will allow you to press a quick seam and move on to the next sewing step without having to get up and go to the ironing board.

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.

14) Make your own pin magnet by gluing a magnet onto the end of a chopstick, dowel rod or yardstick.  If pins are accidentally dropped on the floor, grab your homemade pin magnet and pick up your pins right away without having to get up and crawl on the floor to pick up pins!

15) Keep a tape roller to quickly and easily pick up loose threads on the floor OR for rolling across fabric after you’ve just ripped out a seam and have a bunch of little threads on your fabric! 

Sewing Hand Tool Safety Tips

These Hand Tool Sewing Safety Tips are great tips to know for every beginner seamstress!

Sewing Machine Safety Tips

Check out these great Sewing Machine Safety Tips!

Learn Helpful Sewing Tips for Beginners. Tips about Recycling Fabric, staying organized, and other GREAT TIPS! Click this Pin to find unique Sewing Tips and photos.
ADD THIS PINTERESTING PIN TO YOUR FAVORITE BOARD!

Thanks for Reading and Happy Sewing!  Please share this post on your favorite social media!

If you have any questions comments please send an email to amy@amyssewingstudio.com

Amy

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Amy's Sewing Studio
Owner of Amy’s Sewing Studio

HI, I’m Amy and this is my blog I have created for YOU, the Sewing Beginner! You’ll find tutorials, techniques and other sewing tips.
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Sewing Project Journals- Keep track of the various details of your Sewing Adventures! 1)Make a Sewing Memories Journal-Pictures and Details of your finished projects. 2)Projects you want to do, or are in progress 3)Measurements Journal. These are a few examples of how you can use Sewing Journals in your sewing room!

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