How to Sew – The Advanced Stage is Sewing For Fun and Profit

There are three stages to learning to sew. They are: 1) learning the basics, 2) garment construction skills and repairs and 3) sewing for fun and profit. When you reach the third stage, you enjoy sewing and find that even if you are not a professional seamstress, you are competent to achieve most of the sewing objectives you seek.

Now that you’ve learned the basic and intermediate skills of sewing, you are ready to speed ahead into your dream projects and reap the benefit of the time and effort you’ve invested in learning to sew. As with most skills, start simply and continue to build on your skills. Each person has strengths and weaknesses that effect how they advance.

For instance if you prefer to follow step by step instructions, you will most likely prefer to purchase patterns for projects that include full instructions. If you prefer to sew with little to no instructions, you may prefer to watch videos about projects or even just look at pictures and a few descriptions of how something was made. Each person will find the system that works best for themselves.

At this stage there is one tip that is very crucial:

Start with easy projects. You’ll feel more confident if you start with easy projects.

In the classroom of home economics, simple projects often include aprons and laundry bags. These are considered easy for beginners because they reinforce the basic sewing skills of sewing in a straight line, gathering, and back stitching, without too many new complex construction techniques being added.

At home, you may find it more satisfying to start with some easy yet useful garment. There are plenty of free patterns online that you can try, however many are not available as printable patterns. If you are good at drafting from measurements, this may not bother you. If you need a pattern that you can just print and copy and begin cutting the fabric, you may need to spend a few dollars (really, under $5) for a simple pattern that you can then print out on your computer at home.

Mending is another skill that will save you money over the years now that you are an advanced sewing student. Flat buttons can be sewn on by machine, not just by hand, for instance. Some people prefer this method because they keep their fingers out of the needle’s way better with a machine, and because it involved only threading the needle once for all the buttons that need mending. The uses of your sewing machine for garment repair are endless. Just use all your basic and intermediate skills to tackle any mending project you have.

Congratulations on reaching this level of learning how to sew. As with any skill, the more you practice, the better you get. You will find that you get more and more competent and confident as you go. You may even consider starting a small home business teaching sewing to groups. The possibilities are endless, just keep on sewing!