Sewing tips & tricks for beginners

Here are a few practical sewing tips for beginners - from which even advanced sewing fans can still learn something.

Sewing isn't always and only about great results, of course. The most important thing is perhaps the moment of being creative. The immersion into the project at hand - the zen of sewing, so to speak. ;)

To help with that, I have a few tried-and-tested sewing tips & tricks for you here!

By the way: Here you can find my post on the most unusual sewing ingredients!

Water, Steam & Heat

Sewing trick no. 1: You can read everywhere that fabrics should be washed before sewing to prevent them from shrinking later. For larger garments, dresses, pants, or blouses, this is, of course, necessary so that the piece tailored to your body still fits after the first wash.

Reading tip: Wash fabrics before sewing

However, if you want to sew smaller things out of cotton fabric, simple steam ironing is often sufficient. With cotton fabrics, washing often causes unsightly permanent wrinkles; this is due to the heavy sizing, especially with so-called decorative fabrics. In addition, the cut edges fray.

Alternatively, I iron my fabrics hot and with plenty of steam. For some projects, the slight shrink effect is even desirable: patchwork quilts, for example, shouldn't look like they were measured with a ruler, but rather like they came straight out of Granny's cottage, right?

Reading tip: 10 practical ironing aids

Sewing & Ironing

Even if it sounds clichéd: If the instructions say to iron, do it. Ironing smooths the fibers, lays the seams as they should lie, stabilizes the sewing construction, and prevents mistakes from creeping in during further processing.

And if you don't like ironing because your ironing board is not a pretty sight: sew a new cover from your favorite fabric in no time. That helps.

SewSimple Podcast Tip: Ironing correctly with Inge Szoltysik-Sparrer

The Rolling Pin Trick

One of my favorite sewing tricks: You can easily iron seams open by stretching the seam over a rolling pin or a wooden spoon and then carefully ironing over it with a hot iron.

Project: Sewing a bag

Don't forget to measure

It’s better to measure once more than to have to rip out stitches. The things I've experienced - let me tell you! By the way, it is extremely useful to stick an old measuring tape to the edge of your table. This works very well with double-sided tape. That way, you always have your measuring tape at hand, for example to quickly have some webbing ready for sewing a bag.

The Anti-Slip Trick

You know that feeling when your great patchwork ruler always slips while measuring? The anti-slip stickers available in stores are really expensive.

The solution is gel strips, the kind you stick into high heels for better comfort, for example. They are transparent, adhere well, and keep the ruler where it is without leaving a sticky residue.

The 3rd hand when sewing

When ripping out stitches (see above), I like to clamp a corner of the fabric under the presser foot (the needle remains up, otherwise there will be holes in the fabric if there is tension on it). Then I can tighten the fabric comfortably. This is also called the "third hand."

The Tweezers Trick

Get yourself a good pair of tweezers, about 15 cm long, that are slightly ribbed at the front and have a good grip.

With these, you can, for example, nudge bias tape into place while sewing without sewing into your finger. You can use them to shape corners without piercing the fabric.

You can pull thread remnants out of the fabric after ripping out stitches without getting a cramp in your finger. I use anatomical tweezers - you've surely seen them in action in many of my tutorials! You can order such tweezers^* inexpensively at Amazon.

The Lint Roller Trick

Have you had to rip out a long seam and the fabric is full of thread remnants? You can remove them very quickly and easily by picking them up with a lint roller.

The Operating Room Trick

Another insider tip from the world of medicine is artery forceps.

Because they have a pointed but not TOO pointed "snout," they are great for shaping bag corners and, more importantly: turning anything reversible. Simply grab a bit of the bag through the opening, close the clamp, and pull. This also works well for bag handles.

Artery forceps^* can be bought for little money at Amazon.

The Party Tablecloth Trick

Do you want to trace a pattern, but don't feel like spending a lot of money on expensive specialty paper? Then why not try a party tablecloth?

You can get them by the roll; they are transparent enough to allow tracing, they can be easily fastened to the fabric with pins, and they are both stable and flexible, so you can fold up the finished pattern afterwards and reuse it. You can simply iron out any wrinkles.

Reading tip: Reading and understanding patterns

The Sharpener Trick

Sharp, precisely cutting scissors are an essential part of sewing happiness.

Please use the scissors only for fabric, never, for example, for cutting out patterns or similar.

Sharpening scissors is very easy: Fold a large piece of aluminum foil a few times and cut through it with the scissors. Et voilà! They are sharp again.

In the past, scissor sharpeners used to go around the villages and towns - today you have to do it yourself. An alternative to steel wool are knife sharpeners with a special scissor function. Some time ago, I bought myself the Fiskars scissor sharpener^* and find it very practical - sometimes aluminum foil just isn't enough anymore... ;)

But be careful: The blade must be pulled through the sharpener very straight so that it keeps its shape!

Reading tip: Fabric scissors test

The Steel Wool Trick

Dull pins become sharp again if you fill your pincushion with steel wool instead of polyester fiberfill. Then the needles sharpen themselves when you stick them in.

Craft tip: DIY pincushion for sharpening

Reading tip: Pincushion test report

The Threading Trick

Before threading, pull the end of the thread you want to thread through fingers greased with a little bit of lip balm or candle wax. This prevents it from fraying and makes it much easier to guide through the eye of the needle.

Now just moisten the eye of the needle a little from the back - and thread it skillfully! ;)

The Zipper Trick

If you steam-iron zippers before sewing them in, they won't shrink during the first wash (which causes ugly wrinkles and shortens the garment as a result).

Important: The zipper must only be shortened to the desired size after steam ironing, as it shrinks when ironed.

Reading tip: Sewing in and binding a zipper

Project tip: Sew a cosmetic bag with an angled zipper

Observe the grain

If you want to sew by hand, the thread will glide through the fabric much better if you follow this tip:

Thread the end of the thread, but let the spool of thread stand upright. Pull the thread through and only then cut it off. This way, you aren't threading it "against the grain."

SnapPap Tamer

Do you love vegan leather, but hate the moment you have to turn your self-sewn SnapPap model inside out?

Try cutting into the corners up to the seam (don't touch the seam!) and then dampen the SnapPap a little. Let the water soak in for a few minutes, repeat if necessary, then turn and shape the corners well. The moisture makes the material softer and easier to work with.

Reading tip: Sewing with SnapPap

The Trash Can Trick

Do you also save botched sewing projects in the hope of being able to save them later?

Nonsense.

At some point, you won't like the fabric anymore, the child will have grown 3 dress sizes - and if you think about how much you would have to rip out to be able to use the fabric again, you'll get dizzy anyway?

Get rid of them.

Failed projects prevent you from developing and they bind negative sewing energy because they always remind you of how it could have been. So toss them in the bin and devote yourself to your new favorite creative project!

Reading tip: 10 tips against sewing blues

Happy simple sewing,

yours, Sabine

P.S.: Here you can find even more ideas on the topic of “Sewing for beginners”.

P.P.S.: Fancy even more cool sewing secrets?