(Music Plays)
Hello!
So you guys have been requesting, for a long time, some videos that go through sewing basics
and tips for beginners – so today I’m going to go through 8 sewing items that, not
to be too dramatic about it – have changed my sewing LIFE.
These are 8 items that I wish I had been told about and invested in right from the start
– because honestly, without these items everything takes about 5 times longer, and
if someone suddenly took them all away from me – I probably wouldn’t even bother sewing
anymore.
They’re just that useful.
So, these are the 8 sewing items that I can’t live without.
I hate cutting out fabric.
It’s the most boring and tedious part of sewing for me.
However, this rotary cutter and cutting mat lets me do it super FAST.
So, instead of having to pin your pattern down onto your fabric and then use a pair
of scissors to cut around it, which can lead to lots of inaccuracies in cutting and also,
just takes a lot of time, you can, instead, zoom around the edges of your pattern in like
a minute to cut out your fabric using a rotary cutter.
The rotary cutter basically just looks like a pizza cutter – except that this blade
is titanium and it is super dooper sharp – seriously, be careful using this because I’ve sliced
my finger open far too many times just being careless.
And you’ll also need a good quality, self-healing mat, like this one, because you’ll ruin
anything else that you try and use the rotary cutter on.
Guys, it’s very sharp.
Did I mention that it’s very sharp?
Now, you don’t need to get a mat that is as big as this one to start off with – I
actually started off with a mat which was half this size, which worked basically just
as well – the only reason I got a larger one is because it looks better on camera when
I’m filming larger projects, and it does make cutting out larger projects like pants
slightly easier, but I’ve still been able cut out pants patterns using a smaller one
that was half this size and it was just fine.
Something that I don’t yet have, which I think would also help a lot with cutting out
patterns, using a rotary cutter and a mat, is pattern weights – they're basically weights
that you place on top of your pattern to hold it down flat on your fabric, so you don’t
have to pin the pattern onto the fabric.
However, this can basically be replicated using a couple of heavy items that you find
around your house so I don’t think that they’re totally essential.
Still, maybe I’ll change my mind once I get some.
Now this is an item that I only just started using in the past couple of weeks, and OH
MY GOSH has it changed my life.
It saves SO much time and it makes things so much easier.
I’ve wasted way too many hours turning fabric loops and trying to get elastic through casings
that – I just can’t get back.
But anyway, now I have this.
This is a bodkin, you could also use a loop turner – they’re slightly different items,
but this bodkin here can be used for both functions – um, they allow you to turn out
loops of fabric – so like, you might make a loop of fabric for a waistband for instance,
or for straps, and first you’ll sew it right-sides together like this.
Now because you want the seam on the inside, and the nice side of the fabric on the outside,
you need to turn the loop inside out.
It’s possible to do this by hand, but it's one thousand times easier and faster if you
use a bodkin or a loop-turner.
This is how I use mine, I put this end through the loop of fabric, bunching it up around
the bodkin, and then attach this end through the fabric, and then I pull it back out to
turn the loop around.
It is SUCH a time saver.
The walking foot is such a good item if you want to start sewing with stretchy or slippery
fabrics.
These little bumpy things on your machine, under your needle, are called feed dogs.
Not sure how they got the name dog, as they don’t look anything like a puppy dog - but
anyway - the walking foot also has feed dogs on the bottom of the foot here.
And when you use the foot on stretchy fabrics, it helps to pull it through evenly, by kind
of walking along the fabric.
Now this is really useful when working with fabrics that are either stretchy, or slippery,
because it stops weird ruffling from happening when sewing two stretch fabrics to each other,
or when you're hemming a stretchy fabric.
Okay, so I only started using this about 3 weeks ago but I am NEVER GOING BACK, baby.
I don’t like hemming things, because even when using a walking foot, sometimes everything
just goes horribly wrong and a hemline ends up all wobbly anyway.
Even if you've done your best.
And as hemming is often the thing you do last on a project, it can ruin that whole project
and… yeah.
I don’t like hemming stretchy fabrics.
ENTER FUSIBLE HEMMING TAPE.
Basically, you place the hemming tape down on your hemline, fold your fabric back over
it, and then iron it down.
This fuses the fabric together, and your hem is done and also super neat.
Now, you can also sew over the top to give it some extra hold, but it will usually hold
up in the wash if you just use the hemming tape – depending on the quality of the fabric
that you’ve used – but if you do then take this to your sewing machine to finish
it off, it totally gets rid of the wibbly-wobbly-hem, because it stabilises the fabric and stops
the fabric from stretching weirdly under your sewing foot.
The zipper foot is another essential sewing foot, and if one doesn’t already come with
your machine, then you should definitely invest in one if you ever plan on installing zippers.
Now unlike your regular sewing foot that allows the needle to go down through the center,
a zipper foot has a metal bar in the center and the needle must come down either side
of this.
This lets you sew along a zipper with a clear path, without accidentally shifting the zipper
with your sewing foot.
This tool gives you much cleaner-looking zippers, and it also makes it easier to sew them onto
your fabric!
So I used to draw all of my marks onto fabrics with pen or a felt-tip marker, and the problem
with that is that those marks are permanent.
Even if I didn’t make any mistakes on the right side of the fabric, I’d often end
up with pen lines all over the inside of the garments that I made, which is thoroughly
unprofessional-looking.
So washable markers and also dressmaking pencils are great because, as it says in the name,
they wash off.
I think that the pencils are made of chalk, so this either brushes or washes off, and
with the markers, I think that the ink dissolves in water – so you gotta make sure you only
use it on washable fabrics.
But they are so good.
Another item that makes sewing a lot easier is this wrist pin cushion.
It’s such a useful item because it gives you quick and easy access to something you
use all the time while you are sewing - pins.
I used to just have all my pins just sitting in a plastic container, and I’d constantly
be forgetting to bring it along with me to my machine, from my fabrics, and then I’d
have to get up and find where I’d put them all the time, I'd always lose it, and because
I’m clumsy as heck, I was also constantly knocking the container over, and having pins
all over the floor is somewhat dangerous – so yeah.
This wrist pin cushion has saved me from myself.
Now, I did just buy this one from a craft store, but it’d also be pretty easy to make
one for yourself with a cute scrap of fabric – and I’m sure you can find plenty of
tutorials on the interwebs teaching you how to make one.
Now this last one might seem really obvious, and you probably already own one, but an IRON
and an ironing board are both really important items when you’re sewing.
I actually didn’t used to pre-iron my fabrics or iron at any point in the clothing making
process for a couple of years when I started sewing – and I know, if you’ve been sewing
for a while then you are cringing as much as I am right now – but I’m here to tell
all of you beginners who think “why bother ironing” that using an iron REALLY makes
a difference to your projects.
Things will fit better, they’ll look nicer, they’ll cut out more easily, and they’re
just higher quality when you use an iron.
So please, please, please, if you're a beginner, use an iron.
Even if you think you don't have to.
Use one.
Okay so you can probably pick up all of these items from your local craft stores, or if
you’re really struggling to find them, you can DEFINITELY find them online – for example,
I had to go to Ebay for my cutting mat, because I couldn’t find any cutting mats that were
this BIG in any of the craft stores in Sydney.
And as always, I love learning from you guys and I would like to know – what are some
essential sewing items, that I haven’t mentioned here, that YOU can’t live without?
I’m always looking to make my sewing life a little bit more easy!
So thank you for watching, I hope this video was helpful, and I’ll see you all in my
next video.
Bye!!
HEY – do you like the stickers on my sewing machine?
Then you should totally jazz up your own plain, boring, sticker-less, pun-less sewing machine
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and to improving my videos!
Pick up a pack today from DFTBA.com – the link is in the description, and all the stickers
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