Hey, my name is Nickie, and I dont know how to sew one stitch, but I wanna learn! Eventually I wanna start making my own costumes for fire dance performance.
Any pointers?
Any pointers?
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Los Angeles
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Re: I don't know where to start!!
Mon, January 29, 2007 - 2:49 AMBuy a pack of needles, some thread and cheap cloth.
Start simple: make pouches, wristbands, simple tops (etc).
Next get a machine. A cheap one is fine as long as it has at least a good straight stitch and a zigzag. You don't need one with a bazillion stitches, though you'll love yourself if you get a buttonhole feature.
Practice lots on the sewing machine. From now on, don't throw any clothing out, you can use the scraps for practice.
Start with cheap fabric or scraps and try replicating simple items: t-shirts, hoodies, etc. this will get you accustomed to working with the machine and teach you important lessons aobut the basics.
Next, get a pattern and follow instructions. Try it once with cheap fabric, then again with the good stuff. -
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Re: I don't know where to start!!
Mon, January 29, 2007 - 10:02 AMGood advice Tedward... couple of additional pointers I might add to what you said...
Sewing machine : cheaper is fine, but I know people who've gotten old machines for super cheap, then they can't figure out how to fix, maintain and even thread the darn thing... I have a cheap-ish machine I got new at Sears about 7 years ago and it works great and is easy to thread :)
As far as learning, once you have a machine, it will be very easy to have some one at least show you the basics... I already know you'll end up at some costuming sewing session I'll have / be at, and I would be more than happy to give you pointers... hand sewing you're on your own ;)
Patterns... start with a pattern that is labeled as being an easy pattern... I've seen patterns that friends have bought based on price or what it looks like, only to find out they have to cut out and sew 20 peices of fabric for a halter top... they make patterns with different difficulty levels, and you can learn pretty well from those...
Also, I think Joann fabrics sometimes has sewing classes if you really want to dive right in. :) -
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Re: I don't know where to start!!
Wed, January 31, 2007 - 2:00 AMyeah, i have a 5 year old kenmoor too. It's a 3/4 siz so it's easy to sling around, and it was on sale, so I think I ended up paying less than $75 for it. it's got three straignt, three zig-zag, a buttonhole and a couple of fancy hem stitches. Totally all the machine I've ever needed. It even goes through several layers of kevlar, leather, etc. -
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Re: I don't know where to start!!
Wed, January 31, 2007 - 10:20 AMhee hee... I think we might have the same machine, mines a kenmore too, and I love that as light as it is to carry, I can sew leather and heavy materials :)
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Re: I don't know where to start!!
Tue, January 30, 2007 - 4:08 PMhoray!! thank you! that was all very helpful!
