Sewing for dummies..

[copper68]

i posted this on the community board and thought i'd post it here as well..

I was thinking of trying to learn to sew.. my cousin had some cute little dresses for my toddler this past weekend.. and she said her sil made them.. sooooo cute.. they had smocking at the top and her sil said if you could cross-stitch you could smock..

so, of course, now i'm interested in trying to learn to sew a cute little dress and add smocking.. i would love to make this my new hobby..

think i could learn to do this? i'm not very artsy/crafty.. but, if i have detailed instructions i think i could do it.. any ideas on how to get started?

 

[bubbasmom99]

I am so glad you asked this question because I have a sewing for dummies question too!

So I got a simple pattern for my daughter's dress but I am lost as to what kind of fabric to use. It is a simple tank style dress and it says I can use cotton or cotton blend fabric. Would I be able to use the calico from the quilter's aisles or should I be looking for something more substantial?

As far as your original question -- I don't sew really well at all, but the pattern I bought has pretty detailed instructions on it to follow so you might want to start with one of those "sew easy" patterns.

 

[yummy72]

I remember my Grandmother used to do smocking all of the time. She was a wonderful seamstress. I remember her showing me a little bit when I was a child. She started me out using gingham fabric so I had the squares to work with. I did a quick web search under "smocking" and found a few websites. This one had some tips for getting started.

http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/3351/smkstch.html

Hope that helps you get started. My mom has some aprons that she smocked when she was a little girl. They were gingham too.

Bubbasmom: If you pattern style isn't form fitting, then a calico fabric (these are usually 100% cotton or pretty close to it) should be fine. If it is more form fitting then you would want something like a cotton knit (like a tshirt)

A simple tank style dress is a good way to get started sewing because you don't have to mess with more advanced techniques like buttonholes, putting in sleeves, etc...


I used to sew all of the time (my college major was fashion illustration so I had to take all kinds of tailoring and sewing courses) I got kind of burned out, I haven't done much sewing in probably 10 years. I did inherit my Grandmother's sewing machine, and as soon as I have a little more time and space, I would like to get started again!

Good Luck,
Candi