The Sewing Tips That Will Change Your Life!
So, you think you know every trick and tip in the sewing handbook? Think again! We’ve got 8 special sewing tips that will change your life and improve your crafting skills, whether you are a beginner or a pro. All these hacks involve cheap and easy to find tools that you will most likely have at home already. Let’s get started!
1. Happier Together: Thread & Bobbin
One of the most annoying experiences when sewing is not having a spare bobbin to hand just when you need it. Having to drop everything mid-project to look for a bobbin interrupts your workflow. This sewing tip is essential if you want to abandon the dreaded bobbin search forever and keep your thread neat and tidy. It’s super easy and involves the most underrated of household items: the humble rubber band!
Here’s how it works:
Pull the rubber band through the bobbin hole so that there is a loop on each side. Now pull one loop through the other, so that the rubber band is secure.
Now you can wrap the newly created loop around your yarn and forget all about the nightmarish searching and untangling you’ve been doing for years!
2. Pretty & Practical Sewing Storage
As crafters, we are naturally drawn to create beautiful things. That tendency can extend to your sewing storage and organisation as much as it can to your projects. Storing the items you use most often on a cake tier means your essential tools are quickly accessible, but also look great!
3. As If By Magic: The Mattress Stitch
If you are sewing something that has a turn-around opening and you want to create a professional and clean seam, use the invisible mattress stitch as a perfect finish. Here is how it works:
First off, fold the fabric at the turn-around opening as far inward as the seam allowance dictates. Ensure that the fabric fold is equal.
Take a hand needle and thread the same color as your project (we are using an orange thread here to make the tutorial easier to see). Push your thread in and engage at the end of the machine seam so that the knot sits invisibly inside the fabric when cutting it out.
Flip the thread, so to speak, upwards. Since we want to close the turning opening to the left, we first fold up the thread and then sew to the left. If you want to close to the right, you fold the thread down and sew to the right.
Tighten the thread upwards and at the same time insert the needle under the thread, into the fabric and off again. The stitches are made in the fabric, close to the turning opening – as you can see in the picture above.
Now, fold the thread down and back under the thread again and again. So you continue sewing first – about six stitches long.
After about six stitches, carefully pull the thread and – as if by magic, the seams in the fabric disappear. Repeat the whole thing until your turn-around is closed.
The smaller you sew the stitches, the neater and more difficult to notice the stitches will be in the end! Here’s to professionally finished sewing projects with just a hand needle and a secret stitch!
4. Never Lose A Button Again. Ever.
Anybody who’s spent hours and hours making their own sweaters or shirts knows the frustration of noticing that, at some point, a button has disappeared from your handmade and much loved item. Good news, though, there is an easy way to keep your buttons extremely secure. Simply painting a few coats of clear nail polish over the threads will keep them from fraying and becoming loose. This is especially handy for children’s clothes that have to contend with lots of wear and tear!
5. Organised Chaos
To avoid the tangled mess of thread, bobbins and everything in between every crafter has hidden somewhere in their workstation, grab a pedicure toe separator to neatly store your bobbins. Yep, it’s that simple to bring some order and organisation into your sewing box!
6. Perfectly Equal Seam Allowances
Even expert sewers make mistakes when sewing seams sometimes. A slip of the hand or the fabric and suddenly you’re back to square one, using guesswork to approximate an even seam allowance. Simply stick masking tape of the desired width onto the needle plate of your sewing machine, which will make it really easy to follow!
7. Clean Iron, Clear Mind
Sewing and ironing go hand in hand. Therefore, it is really important to always keep the iron perfectly clean. This is particularly easy with a magic dirt-erasing sponge. You can get these in drugstores and discount stores. Moisten the eraser lightly, rub over the iron and think happily to yourself, ‘so this is why they are called magic erasers!’
8. Thread Needles In Seconds
The best sewing tricks usually come from the ingenious re-purposing of household items most of us already have to hand. Grab that can of hairspray, because it’s now your best friend. When threading a needle, spray a little on the end of the thread. It will become much easier to handle and won’t fray as easily.
Why not try this step by step free pattern for a Christmas apron to put your skills into action!
Whether you’re a beginner or an expert with years of experience, there are always useful ways to improve your craft. We hope these essential sewing tips are helpful in your next project!
