What do I need to sew?

Basic needs to sew a project

If you have never ever done any sewing before then this post is for you. It will help you understand what the basic sewing equipment are that you need to sew and make a success of your project.

I am a firm believer in the fact that you can get away with using almost nothing to sew. You need a couple of basic pieces of equipment to do things with, and not much more!

Sewing need 1: A sewing machine

The first thing you would need to sew is a sewing machine. Not having a sewing machine can make your life tedious, difficult and take hours and hours of your precious time. If you are anything like me, I don’t have much patience to sit and wait it out until I have finally finished a project. That is exactly why I don’t knit or croche. I don’t have the patience! But I do have the patience to sit and sew. Why? Because it’s quick, easy and fast on a sewing machine. Most of my projects have taken about three hours to complete, although there has been projects that have taken longer.

Make certain that you get yourself a sewing machine that is electric and can plug into the wall. This is a basic sewing need! The sewing machine must also have a foot that you can press on with your foot! Ideally, the sewing machine must also have several different types of stitches that can be used on the machine like in the picture below. At the very minimum, it must have the zigzag (c) and the straight stitch (a) in it.


Basic need to sew 2: Pins!

It doesn’t matter how good or how fast anybody can sew, you cannot sew without sewing pins! This is a basic need to be able to sew any item. I like to use the sewing pins that have nice colorful heads, although the plain ones also work. Below is a picture of these pins I am talking about.

Basic need to sew 3: A good pair of sewing scissors

Another thing you need to sew is a good pair of sewing scissors. Sewing scissors can be awful and that’s why you need to make sure that you have a good pair that’s sharp! If you don’t have a pair that is sharp and can cut fabric, toss it out the window! It’s no good! Not evening sharpening will be ok in that case. Go out and get yourself a new pair.

The secret about sewing scissors are that you need to keep it away from everybody in the house. The moment the scissors touch anything other than fabric or thread it is basically useless and can be thrown. Sewing scissors only work if it hasn’t touched paper.

Basic need to sew 4: Measuring tape

The last basic need to sew item I am going to talk about is a measuring tape. You need a measuring tape to measure yourself, your clothes and other items you are making. Without a measuring tape you could use a piece of string but it will leave you confused and really not help at all! Make sure that you get a measuring tape before you start your sewing project.

Basic need to sew 5: Thread

Another basic need to sew is thread! Yes, whether you are sewing by hand or by machine, you need thread! Make certain that the thread can fit onto the sewing machine no problem. I prefer the longer thread spools as shown in the picture below.

Basic need to sew 6: Needles

Of course your sewing machine needs a needle and probably comes with one. But sometimes it needs replacing. You can replace your sewing machine needle quite easily as the sewing machine needles are mostly universal and can be bought at any shop like Wallmart or Checkers, depending on what side of the hemisphere you reside on.

But if you do not have a sewing machine, you are going to need a good pair of needles that you can use to hand sew with. Even with a sewing machine you need hand sewn needles to sew little things on that sewing machines can’t take care of.

Basic need to sew 7: A steam iron

What? A steam iron? I asked “What do I need to sew?” not “What do I need to do washing and ironing?”. Well, actually, the two go hand in hand. When you are sewing, you constantly have to go back to the iron for pleats, seams and other things. So yes, you need a good steam iron to do the job!

I hope that I’ve been able to answer your questions in this post. If you are still wondering about what you need to sew you can look at the rest of my blog posts and see if there is anything in there to help, but this should cover the question “What do I need to sew”.

So go on out there, get these basic items and set it up! Enjoy!

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