11 Best Sewing Tips for Beginners 2022 (Read This First)

When you’re new to this hobby you might ask how to start to do it right, the 11 Sewing Tips for Beginners will make your start easier for you.

One bonus tips will be to enjoy every time to sit down in front of your sewing machine (your new best friend) and no matter if you make a mistake or two the first days, you should know it will get better.

Every professional of the sewing hobby started one day as a beginner, and all of us did a few mistakes, I can’t remember how many times I had problems with my sewing machine as a newbie, and how many times I had to take it to be repaired and the gentle man told me that it was simple to fix, I just got it threaded wrong.

I learned how to sew and how to work with the sewing machine by working on it, you too, you’ll get better as you work on it. Don’t be afraid to try, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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11 Best Sewing Tips For Beginners Will Make Your Journey To This New Hobby Better and Easier

1. The Thread Guide Should Be Always in the Higher Position.

The thread guide is right above the needle, you can notice it because it’s the metal piece that goes up and down while sewing or when moving the hand wheel.

When the guide is not in the high position, this will cause the thread to unravel.

As you get used to working with your sewing machine, you’ll get used to keep the Thread Guide always on the high position.

2. Keep the Needle Down Every time You Stop The Sewing Machine.

When you work with your sewing machine is good to get used to keep the needle down every time you make a stop, even when you’re working on a straight seam.

When you do this, it helps to continue working without losing the straight line of the seam. It’s also important to keep the needle down in the fabric every time you want to turn the fabric to sew a corner.

Always Keep the needle down when you work on any sewing project even if you want to take the pins out.

3. Start With the Hand wheel.

The first lesson I was told when I took my first sewing lesson was always to start with the hand wheel.

By doing it, you help the sewing machine to start smooth and it will keep the sewing machine in good shape for a longer time.

Never force the machine to start by itself with many layers of fabric, this will force the machine to work and it can break the machine.

4. Slow Down When the Fabric is folded.

Many times you need to work with many layers of fabric or when the fabric is folded and it will get to thick for any sewing machine, slow down and help the sewing machine to go through that point with the hand wheel.

Do the same every time you sew a zipper on a sewing project. By doing this tip your sewing machine will work better for longer time and the needle will be in good shape.

5. Get Used To Re-Thread

I know, it takes time and it’s a job nobody likes to do, but it will help you to do a better job every time you work with your sewing machine.

Most of the times when you notice your sewing machine is not working the way it should be, after you re-thread it the problem might solve out. You can always do the same with the bobbin.

6. Keep The Sewing Machine Clean.

Many people who love to sew love to make a cover for it not just because it looks fancy, it’s because keeping it clean will help to work better and it will last longer in good shape.

Even if you use just a piece of cloth to cover it, that will be fine.

But you need to read your sewing machine manual and learn how to do a clean of the machine every once in a while, the more you use it the more often you should do the cleaning, if you don’t use it often, you still can do a cleaning once or twice every year.

7. Use the Proper Needle

Not all the sewing machine needles are the same and there’s no needle that will work for all types of cloths.

Take the time to learn more about the different needle types for sewing machines and learn more about what type of needle is for every type of cloth.

If you know in advance that you’ll be working with a certain kind of fabric, you can buy a few extra needles to have at home or at your workshop in case you need to get a new one.

If you know that you might be working with different types of fabric, learn about what needles are the most used for different types of fabric and get a few of each one in advance.

Nothing is more frustrating that the need to stop on a sewing project because you need to get a new needle to keep working on it.

8. Practice Makes the Master.

I remember my first day with the sewing machine, my mom gave me a piece of fabric and told me to work on it, I did it and showed to my mom, she told me: “Just keep doing that over and over”

When you’re a beginner, take the time to practice in a piece of fabric, (cotton fabric are excellent for the practice).

Draw some straight lines with a ruler and with a pencil and sew over the lines, try to go straight, you’ll see how good this practice works after you do it for a while.

Draw curved lines, and do the same, practice to sew over the curved lines, then zig-sag lines.

Practice to stop in different points and start again, practice to do corners.

If you don’t want to practice in expensive fabric, a good idea is to find an old piece of clothing and cut it into large pieces.

When you get enough practice with the cotton fabric, it’s time to try different types of fabric.

9. Learn To Control Your Speed

Regular sewing machines don’t work to fast, but for every beginner it seems they work quite fast!

As you practice on scraps, work to control your speed while sewing, and go fast and go-slow.

When sewing, there will be long seams where you can go fast, but there’ll be some point where you need to sew slow and even really slow, taking the time to learn to control the speed of your sewing machine while sewing will help you to work better on different sewing projects.

10. Practice the width of the seams

Most of the times the seams will have a width of 1/4″ but from one sewing project to another it can be different.

Most of the sewing machines come with different marks on the plate, take the time to practice it and you’ll get better at it!

11. Get As Many Bobbins as You Might Need

One thing that will help to work with ease on every sewing project is to get a few extra bobbins and get them ready before you start a new project.

Get the right thread on a few bobbins so you don’t need to stop to thread a new bobbin every 15 minutes, it will make your work easier.

Check also how far you have used the thread on the bobbin as you sew, this will help you to know in advance when you need to change for a new bobbin and it will not end the thread in a middle of a seam.

Closing Thoughts,

Sewing is one of the best hobbies (or business) you can work on, it’s so creative and you’ll be making lots of great things with it, as a newbie you might need to learn some skills and tricks, but you’ll get better at it as you work on it.

Keep at it and learn as you go!

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