STEP ONE OF MY SEWING TUTORIAL

Hi Everyone

I hope you have been enjoying your weekend.  

Lots of people have asked me if I will explain how I sew on my cards .. .. or do a YouTube Video tutorial.  Sadly I don't have the technology for a video .. .. but I am happy to attempt to show you here on my blog.

It will have to be done over lots of blog posts because otherwise this one will go on for ever and ever.  So for however long it takes, I will hopefully encourage some of you to give it a go.

I will cover not only machine stitching but hand stitching and even faux stitching.

It all begins with getting to know, and feeling comfortable, with your sewing machine.  So grab it out of that cupboard, or from the cubbyhole under the stairs and remove all the dust!

It doesn't matter if it is an electric machine, or a hand machine.  As long as it does straight stitching you will be fine.

There is no need to even thread your machine - today it is just a case of trying to be in control and feel comfortable with your soon to be "best friend".

These are the two machines that I own:

An electric one that Mr Heart bought me .. .. it is nearly 40 years old. 

and the second is an old hand sewing machine I bought from an antique shop a few years ago simply because I loved it

If you are someone who uses a machine on a regular basis for fabric sewing projects then you are one step ahead already and may not be interested in my tutorials anyway.. .. .. and you will already know that you will need to keep a separate needle that you use just for sewing paper or card -  you don't want to use the same needle on your fabric creations.  (It is a bit like cutting card with your dressmaking scissors .. .. .. eeekkkk!!)

So here we go .. .. ..

You may have several "feet" that will clip onto your machine if it is electric .. .. the one I always use looks like this as I can do straight stitching or zig-zag stitching with it.

On my hand machine there is only one foot as you can only do straight stitching with a hand machine.

So here the work begins.  

Take a piece of lined paper and line up the needle on the machine with the line on the paper .. .. .. .. now either turn the handle of your manual machine or press the foot gently on your electric machine .. .. .. using thread or no thread.

When sewing don't look at any markings that may be on the machine foot or the edge of the foot .. .. .. just concentrate on the needle and the line on your paper.

If the first line you stitch is rubbish .. .. then that is fine  .. .. just move down to the next line and continue until the whole of your sheet has been stitched or has holes in it.  Hopefully by the time you have reached the last line on your page you will see an improvement from the very first line you did.

Keep repeating on other sheets of paper until you feel happy and in control.  Don't throw your sheets away .. .. I will be making a card using the one below at a later stage.

So that is Step One .. .. a nice and easy introduction to get you ready for what is to come.  

Keep practising until you feel comfortable and in control and I will see you for Step Two on Tuesday when you have had time to knock all that dust from your machines.

Don't worry if you don't have a sewing machine I will bring alternative options in next time.

In the meantime if you have any questions or points you particularly want me to cover then please let me know and I will try and incorporate those into future steps.