I want to learn to sew really well... How?

Question

My goal is to be a costumer for movies/plays or anything at all! Maybe even a fashion designer. I like being able to show off stuff I've made, so anything is good really :). My mom has a good sewing machine, and thread and stuff. But I don't know how to sew. I mean sure, I followed a pattern and made a hat once. A real ugly one. She says I can't make my own patterns until I can sew, and I really like making my own stuff. Problem is, I'm not good at learning things slowly. I'd much rather just learn along the way, but I'm not allowed, so I have to be able to sew first. Where is a good site that can teach me? Or a book? Or anything, really.

Answer 1

I am a former 4-H mother and now grandmother and can sit beside the sewing center on my hands and watch 9 yr olds make incredible garments and other objects and win ribbons at county and State Fair!



Learn to make straight lines by sewing notebook paper along the lines with unthreaded machine til you are comfortable.



Make a lap back square or rectangle pillow cover using skills learned in notebook paper and doing perfect back stitching.



next make a gathered skirt and a simple peasant blouse. blouse will introduce curved lines.



Now go get a more complicated pattern and make it.



Ok, now you are ready to try a design of your own!!

I have about 6 basic patterns, blouse fronts and backs. I can use any collar I wish, and any sleeve treatment I wish. I can have an above the waist blouse, a regular length blouse, or make it into a dress!

2 years ago I made this incredible 13th century queens gown for a friend's wedding. Everyone else ordered their gowns from ebay from an English lady. But I had already found the material and pattern so went ahead and made my own.

so now everyone wants me to make their Ren Faire gowns!! Patterns and the way they work are a necessary evil, but we can alter what they will look like in the final rendering!!



So get going and start with sewing up a storm on what I suggested first, then get some patterns and fabrics and start making your own clothes to wear to school and for events. Make stuff for your room and for your friends rooms. Then next year I expect to hear that you are having a booth at a Ren Faire or a Civil War Re-enactment, or doing the costumes for the school theater group.



If you are really serious, start spending most of your spare time at the sewing center!!! Sew up that first dozen sheets of notebook paper being careful to go on the lines! Then do a simple square pillow cover! From there you can get clothing patterns and sew whatever it is you want to do. This should take you only about 2 weeks to accomplish - mostly weekends since it is time for school now! Is that too long to learn to sew? Not when you envision the next 75 yars sitting at that sewing machine!!!

Answer 2

If you want to be a professional costumer, you'll likely have to learn a lot of "real" sewing techniques (that's what your mom is thinking) at some point.

At the very least, you'll need to know how to thread the machine, make bobbins, do straight stitching and perhaps zigzag stitching, what a "seam" is, how to hem, etc, and there are loads of places online to learn those.**



But lots of teens these days learn to "reconstruct," embellish, or completely create their own clothing without going through all that first, and many of them make costumes for various kinds of things too.

I'd suggest you take a look at all the sub-boards at Craftster for doing that kind of thing, including Costumes and Reconstructed Clothing:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=348.0



** https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20120425143743AAZAQif

...and fairly inexpensive online sewing lessons at esewingworkshop (free then $15/mo or $99/yr, plus forums for questions, etc)

http://esewingworkshop.com/learn-sewing-at-your-own-pace

.

Answer 3

If you can borrow a machine from a friend or relative and you can only work at your own schedule, you can probably learn to sew from a basic sewing DVD that also covers basic sewing machine skills. The one I like is Studio Sewing Skills by Connie Crawford -- it's basically the elements of first year design school sewing in a can, taught by an experienced teacher, and covers all the basic parts of machine operation, fabric grain and layout, cutting, and sewing various garment types. It does not cover home dec sewing.

http://www.fashionpatterns.com/index.php… As an experiment, I loaned it to a couple of 9 year old cousins with access to Grandma's treadle machine, and found them an appropriate size camp shirt pattern (the basic project in the video is a camp shirt) and turned 'em loose. They both made credible camp shirts (better than most 9 year olds manage!), though I did do the buttonholes for them on a modern machine. Or if you're a book learner, head to the library for a handful of basic sewing books and teach yourself.



The reason I like Connie's sewing book and/or DVD are that she did teach the technical side (sewing, draping, patternmaking) at FIDM for many years, while continuing to be a patternmaker in industry. (Patternmakers are pretty much top of the heap -- they can get designers fired, and do.) Once you've learned the basics of various sorts of constructions used for different garments, you're ready to start improvising designs. Connie's patterns for Butterick are often scarcely-disguised basic patterns (called "blocks" in the industry) meant for taking and redesigning to your own purposes. Here, for instance, is the basic blouse block: http://butterick.mccall.com/b5300-products-9628.php?page_id=156 -- boring, right? Well you can turn that into these designs fairly easily: http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v1271-products-15134.php?page_id=858 http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v1272-products-15135.php?page_id=858 http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v1269-products-15132.php?page_id=858 Here's the basic princess seamed jacket: http://butterick.mccall.com/b5574-products-13464.php?page_id=156 which is the basis for: http://www.marfy.it/ENG/activenews.asp?idcat=63042&idart=64636&azione=detail&layout=standard&cid=A151L156L220120817000534OJTOKQVNNHA05534915 http://www.marfy.it/ENG/activenews.asp?idcat=67754&idart=69342&azione=detail&layout=standard&cid=A151L156L220120817000534OJTOKQVNNHA05534915 http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v8767-products-15147.php?page_id=850 http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v2859-products-6080.php?page_id=850



So yeah, I'm with your mom... learn to sew, learn your basic fabrics, explore techniques like underlining with silk organza or tailoring, and then move on to redesigning from basic blocks or draping (draping, done well, is usually considered a higher level skill -- it's what you often see happening in the workroom at Project Runway).



Start reading, too: I'd suggest reading at

www.fashion-incubator.com

www.costumes.org

www..threadsmagazine.com (and the magazine itself!)

for starters.

Answer 4

Practice, practice and more practice. You cannot learn it fast... it all takes time. If you don't have the patience to do this, then find some other career.