Sew Those Seams---Easy How to Sew Tutorials!

I'm proud to admit that I'm a stitch-a-holic. I was bitten by the highly contagious sewing bug many, many years ago. There is no cure, no remedy and temporary relief can only be found at the nearest fabric store with a new stash of material under each arm. I'm happy when sewing a new set of drapes, quilting, building a three piece suit but never happier than spending hours and hours putting together a wedding gown from scratch that is fabulously lacy, complex, full of embellishments or embroidery. (I love it)

The sad thing is I had to learn to live with this affliction no matter how hard it was or is, so without further ado:

Let's Start At The Beginning! And according to the song the beginning is usually a great place to start. Well, sewing can be called a craft or an art, depending on who is doing the calling. I personally consider taking a piece of cloth and shaping it into something wearable or decorative for the home as an artsy obsession.

However no matter what direction of sewing you want to pursue, making clothes for your children, sewing those roman shades for the new house or quilting that beautiful log cabin throw, some basic techniques or fundamentals will have to be learned. And as in everything, practice makes perfect. That having been said, there are a lot of shortcuts and tricks that can make the practice, practice, and practice way more fun. That's where I hope I come in and get you positioned just right so you too can be bitten by the 'sewing bug'. Right in the 'Bee-hind' right where it counts...

I will put together a series of hubs here that should give you the Step-by-Step Sewing Essentials that will cover the basic terminology and the basic know-how necessary to get started in the art or craft of sewing.

These are some of the hubs that are in the works:

• Basic facts about your sewing machine and it's upkeep,
  
• Basic sewing tools with definitions and how to use them.
  
• How to measure accurately, which is one of the most important task when sewing clothes or home decor alike.
  
• I'll try to explain sewing notions such as thread, buttons, snaps, hook and eyes, zippers. Which is the right kind to use for what purpose.
  
• I will post photos of how to do seams: plain seam, French seam, etc. and what application to use them in.
  
• We'll do hand stitching: running stitch, back stitch, hemming stitch, etc., machine stitching: straight stitch, zigzag stitch, etc.
  
• We'll find out about Fabric: choices... which type to use for what application.
  
• Pattern reading, adjusting, making.
  
• And a whole lot more.

I forgot to add one major thing....we'll have a lot of fun too. If you have questions or if you're in a pickle with regards to some sewing dilemmas, I'll try to help you through them too if I can.

Unfortunately before we can jump into our new hobby we need to get a few things out of the way. Some of the theory can be boring so I’ll give it to you in small little chunks that are easily digested in each of the hubs (you won't even know that you're getting some of the theory). I'll even put together a few follow along project that you can make with me or not... naturally it's up to you.

What tools and equipment you'll need are grouped together into three different lists:

1) Have to have!

2) Sure would be nice to have...

3) Oh yeah baby...now we're talking tools!

But please remember that although I will point you into the direction of certain tools it doesn’t mean you have to rush out and buy the same. However that being said every job, no matter if it's sewing or fixing cars, needs a proper tool or at least will make the job easier to get done.

For example you can use an ordinary wrench to remove a spark-plug but (there is always that little three letter word 'but' ) chances of that spark-plug coming out without a problem, are much better with the appropriate ’spark-plug wrench’. It’s the same with sewing. Most tasks can be accomplished but are much easier with the right tool and equipment.

I'm not quite sure yet how a continuous series of sewing tutorials will work here on hubpages but we'll never know until we try... Will we?