Whether you are an expert or a complete beginner, there is always more to learn about sewing. The advantages of making and mending your own things are considerable, and the barrier to starting is lower than most people assume.
Start with mending, not making
The advice most likely to keep you sewing.
A beginner who starts with a garment pattern faces cutting, fitting, seaming and finishing all at once, on expensive fabric, with a result that may not fit.
A beginner who starts by replacing a button, closing a seam and taking up a hem gets three quick successes, learns how clothes are constructed, and saves three garments.
By the time you want to make something from scratch you already understand what you are doing.
What you need
For hand sewing: needles, thread in basic colours, small sharp scissors, pins and a thimble. Under ten pounds.
For machine sewing: a basic machine that does straight and zigzag stitch is enough for a great deal. Do not buy an elaborate one before you know what you use.
Also worth having: a tape measure, an unpicker (you will use it constantly), and an iron. Pressing as you go is the difference between a garment that looks made and one that looks homemade.
The order to learn
Mending. Buttons, seams, hems.
Simple straight-seam items. A cushion cover, a tote bag, a pillowcase. Rectangles, no fitting.
A simple garment. Something loose in a stable woven fabric, without a zip. A skirt with an elasticated waist or a simple top.
Then fitting, which is the real subject and where the satisfaction is.
Fabric for learning
Cheap cotton, and plenty of it.
A beginner should be able to make mistakes without counting the cost. Practising on expensive fabric makes people cautious, and caution slows learning.
Old sheets are excellent for practice and for test garments.
The two habits that matter most
Press as you go. Every seam, before crossing it with another. Skipping this is the commonest reason home-made clothes look home-made.
Measure and mark carefully. Most accuracy is decided before the machine is switched on.
Why it is worth it
Fit, mainly. Mass-produced clothing is made for an average nobody is, and being able to alter something transforms what you can wear.
Then cost, then waste, then the satisfaction of it. All good reasons, and any one of them is sufficient.
