by Colette Georgii

Created on: November 18, 2007

The Best Sewing Projects for the Beginner

There are many people out here who would love to learn how to sew and the beginner's project should be something very simple - perhaps a simple embroidery project. Embroidery embodies all the elements of handsewing. With embroidery you also create a nice picture giving you a little gift made out of the fruit of your own labor.

If you are a beginner on the sewing machine a simple project might be sewing something without a pattern, such as making a pretty pillowcase. You can take an old pillowcase and measure it and then cut your pieces according to your measurements. Then begin sewing on the machine.

Embroidery

To start your embroidery project you can go to a sewing shop or craft shop and find some items to embroider such as a dolly, a dresser scarf, or a table cloth. You can also find baby clothes such as bibs to embroider and many other items.

You will now need embroidery yarn or thread. Buy all the colors you will need and more. It is always good to have embroidery thread on hand.

Next look for embroidery needles. Embroidery needles always have a bigger eye than fine sewing needles. The bigger eye is needed because you are putting about 10 twisted threads through the eye rather than one thread used in fine sewing. Buy a few packs of embroidery needles.

If you do not have a pincushion purchase one. You can use this for your needles being you will be using different colored threads.

You should also have an embroidery hoop. The embroidery hoop is used to stretch the part of the cloth where you are doing the embroidery. You can get them in different sizes. Maybe get a small one and a large one.

There are a great many different stitches that you can use in embroidery, so perhaps it will be good to get an embroidery instruction book.

Embroidery can teach you how to hold the needle and how to handstitch effectively. Hand sewing is important when doing your finishing touches on garments. Such as hemming, tacking, sewing on buttons. It is also used in putting your garment together as basting. It is also important when doing the sewing for craft items.

Of course you can even do embroidery on the machine now and many things normally done as handsewing can also be done on the machine, but it is still good to know how to handsew. You may be on vacation and need to mend something.

I was on vacation recently in a very warm climate and couldn't find the kind of blouse I needed in the store. I didn't take my sewing machine with me of

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>