When you first start sewing, there's
so many things to take your attention and what to spend your money on.
How could you possibly start sewing with all these things that you have to buy?
Well, in this video, I decided it would be super fun
to talk about if I was going to start sewing and learning
and I had a $200 budget to do so to get all the equipment I needed.
What would I buy?
This is going to be so much fun
welcome my sewing friends.
Welcome.
If you are actually brand new here, then.
Welcome very much.
Welcome.
My name is Evelyn Wood and on the Creator of
VintageSewingSchool.com and I have helped thousands of students
learn and develop their sewing skills and I see lots and lots of new beginner
sewists in here on YouTube.
We talk about everything sewing so you can get better at your garment sewing.
And we have like every day new
people start sewing very quickly you realize
I know you've already been there that is how many things there are in sewing.
It's not just the sewing machine.
There's fabric, there are scissors, there's chalk, there are patterns
there are tape measures, there's all these things that you need to buy
and how could you possibly get started if you don't have all these things?
Well, my friends fear not because these things
should not hinder you in getting started sewing.
Sure.
Lots of these things are nice and you will want to upgrade as time goes
by, but that you do not need fancy equipment to get started sewing.
So I'm going to run you through a list of if I was going to start
sewing again and learn to sew
what would I
spend my sewing budget of $200 on?
And now this is not to get needy picky on a dollar here and a dollar there.
Think about it very much more.
The percentages
and the ideas that I'm giving you on on where and what to spend money on
and where to save money on.
So don't go.
We're not going to get too nitpicky on the on you know, every single dollar.
We're talking big picture here.
And the first one, the most obvious is the sewing machine.
I would spend
$100 of my budget on a sewing machine.
Here's what I would do.
I would look for a good well maintained well looked after second-hand machine.
I would probably go to Marketplace or local classifieds
and I would find one there.
Might take a few weeks to find something.
You won't find it straight away, but that would be my preference.
And honestly, probably find one full list.
What I think you should really, really do if you're on a tight budget
I bet there is someone that you know that has a sewing machine
that they are not using that you could borrow.
I almost guarantee you.
80% of us there will be will fall in that category, you could borrow
a sewing machine from someone.
That's what I would really, really recommend getting started sewing.
Now I've made videos here on choosing sewing machines.
The first and foremost thing when you're starting is
you do not need anything fancy.
Trust me,
you won't be using all those fancy things and you don't know how to use it all yet.
You just need to get started and learn.
Because once you've made a few projects and you get used to knowing
what a sewing machine does,
you'll know what kind of features that you want in a sewing machine
to then buy something really nice later on and you will want to upgrade.
You know, probably like many of us here have several sewing machines,
but that's later down the track.
So borrow a machine, get a good quality second hand one, or if you really have to,
there are be like $100 brand new machines that you can get.
If that's all you have access to, then do that.
They're not the best quality.
And that's why I would pick a good second-hand one that's a bit
older over there, sort of cheaper $9 ones.
But there's something there that every single one of us has access
to either borrowing, getting a secondhand one
or buying the cheap new one that will be absolutely fine.
For you to get started.
The next allocation I have would be learning aids and I would allocate
$55 of my budget for learning aids.
I can only do this with hindsight because I've been there
and I know the process, but if I was going to learn again,
I would absolutely invest in learning so yes,
you should learn from all different types of sources here on YouTube is fantastic.
Lots of free resources.
There are lots of free resources on the Internet these days.
Everything is there, but there is also cause
for investing in some good sewing books.
And I've made several videos here and here we'll link them all down below
on sewing books, ones that I like, essentials to get started,
all of these types of things.
So I won't go into detail about what kind of books,
but some really good around us sewing books are a must.
And I would also enrol in well, of course I would roll in vintage sewing school
that is my own online course that I run because it is exactly
the kind of online learning course I wanted it when I was learning to sew.
And that's what I've created and now teach my students there,
but find something there is so inexpensive
to enrol in these online courses these days,
whether it's a membership or a one-off course.
But learning to invest in the learning because you need something
step by step when you're learning and you need to be
told in order the things that you need to learn.
So I would do all of these.
I would YouTube, I would get books and I would enrol in an online course
and I'll leave links to vintage sewing school down below.
Of course, if you are interested, I have a free class,
so that is always there for you to help
learning your sewing machine and just get started.
But enrol in these because learning and having access to
this will save you so much money and all the mistakes
that you make on fabric, etcetera, later and will just speed up
the learning process so much, having a helping hand
to help you teach yourself this process.
So I would invest in learning aids.
Absolutely. 100%.
You need someone to help
hold your hand through the process to make it so much easier.
Next on the budget is the sewing essentials for my sewing kit
I would spend $25.
Now I have lumped all these together because as I said, we're not getting nit
picky on individual pricings.
But I would.
You don't need anything fancy here for your,
your kit and you need very few to get started.
So, I've made so many videos on essentials to get started sewing things
that you can just have at home that you can use.
I'll take all those videos down below as well as heaps.
So I would get a pair of fabric scissors.
I would invest in that.
But honestly,
you can get a pair for about $12 or so very cheap to just get started.
Your kitchen scissors are probably not very sharp and you, you find it
so much more pleasurable, I promise, with a pair of sharp scissors,
just get a real thread, either get natural or pick your favorite color
or black and white does something don't need anything fancy, just obviously real.
A thread
I would get some chalk and unpick some snaps.
Honestly, all these things for a couple of dollars
each and I would get a pack of machine needles gets that
if you're just using a woven plain woven fabric and a cotton
something like a 12 or 14 size and a universal, it will be perfect,
but you probably will need some extra ones and you want a brand
new shop on in your machine, so get yourself some needles.
Those ones will be fine.
Also, I have made all the videos on sewing machine needles.
If you're interested, I'll get down below two and if you're really lucky,
honestly, you could probably thrift all of these little sewing bits as well.
You might be able to, or they might be able to find some on
your local classifieds, someone giving away their sewing stash.
This sewing box, that stuff like this.
Yeah.
Or it comes with the machine that you borrowed.
They'll have all these bits and pieces so you can save yourself money there
and spend it somewhere else.
But if you need to, you can get these brand new for very,
very, just a few dollars each.
You don't need anything fancy.
Okay.
Next up on the list of the budget is the fabric.
I know you're down here already.
I would spend $10 on fabric.
This probably surprises you, right?
So what I would get is just I'd spend my $10 and I would get lots of thrifty
bedsheets, 100% cotton bed sheets just for practicing.
So trust me, those of you that have made
a few garments already, which would be most of you,
you'll know that the first garments that you make,
although you're really proud and you should be at the time,
how wonderful to get through it.
And you've made it in the fantastic.
It doesn't take you very long.
A few garments more before you look back at that
first one and think, oh my goodness, you know, we're learning.
And that's the point.
And so there's no point spending on any fabric, anything,
get some thrifty bedsheets because then you won't feel bad about just
practicing it, just getting in and maybe making a mess of it and making mistakes.
It doesn't matter it's just some bedsheets that you don't hold dear
and need to like your favorite printed
fabric that you've found in imported for 12 months.
Don't do that.
Just get some as I said, you might even have them in your own cupboard.
You can just get them from your stash.
They're just for practicing.
So do not spend anything very much on fabric.
The next one is the pattern and I would again $10.
What I would do is I would go to the thrift store
or have a look on eBay right now.
All of you have access to a sewing pattern and I would just get some
older pattern from
70s, 80s,
90s and 2004 are probably really good because honestly, a pattern is a pattern.
They haven't changed since then.
They still pretty much look almost exactly the same and identical.
And if you've invested in the learning aids,
you'll have a course that will take you through step
by step on how to read it, how to use it and all of that business.
So I would definitely not spend a lot of money on a pattern to begin with
because a skirt is a skirt, whether it's from the seventies,
the eighties and nineties, and A-line skirt isn't A-line skirt.
Pencil skirt is a pencil skirt.
You should you only want something really simple and easy to just get started with.
There are lots of free PDF print patterns to print at home as well
if you want to start with a bag or something like that.
So you can absolutely get away with very inexpensive patterns, even thrift.
Go to eBay right now and Google it.
You can get something even with shipping for $10 and under.
I mean, look at this.
This one, $1.
I could actually get ten patterns at the thrift store,
but all of us can spend a minimal on that pattern.
You don't need anything much.
You just learning.
It's about letting the process
to start with that amazing design you have in your head that comes later.
And by practicing having the fabric to practice on having
your learning aids to get you there, you will absolutely get there.
It just takes practice
and you will get to sew those amazing things that you dream of.
So what do you think?
How does my budget allocation
meet?
What would you spend your budget allocation on?
I would absolutely love to hear it down below.
Do leave the comments because remember to read them too.
If you particularly if you're brand new and give me some ideas on where
to search for some of these sewing items that we need to get started.
And remember, if you are just starting
and you're about to get a machine and you're thinking of sewing,
do not let any of these things get in the way of you starting.
Just get started.
You accumulate and build your sewing kit and your stash as you go along in time.
It's all about practice and getting skilled.
That's what makes the difference.
Not fancy equipment, not fancy tools.
It's the time and the effort, the practice you put in that makes a difference.
Of course, the fancy tools are nice and they do make it easier,
but it's just up to you and practice.
Okay, leave me those comments down below on your best tips on what
you would spend your budget on.
I really look forward to reading them.
And so next time I sewing friends happy sewing by.