Hand Stitching for Beginners

Have you decided you’d like to learn how to sew?  It’s something that can give you a lot of pleasure, as well as save money.  Kids clothes and items for the home are good sewing projects to start with, but don’t forget to investigate hand sewing.

Sewing is an age-old art.  Tailors and seamstresses put intricate hand stitching on costumes for kings and queens as they perfected their craft.   New patterns and embellishments were designed and the public began to take an interest in learning how to duplicate the work themselves. 

Although the invention of the modern sewing machine changed things, there is still an interest in sewing by hand.  There is a relaxation and satisfaction that is gained by the needle going in and out of the material while quilting or embroidering that is hard to duplicate elsewhere.

The beauty is right in front of you as a piece of plain fabric turns into a finished piece.  Some people have turned hand stitching into an art form by using found objects such as buttons and lace to enhance their work. 

Hand sewing can be an easy way to decide whether or not you’ll like working with fabric.  It involves very little in cost but pays out big dividends in gratification.  Here are a couple of tips to get you started:

You’ll need some supplies:

1. Needles
2. Thread or ribbon
3. Fabric
4. Embroidery Hoop
5. Pattern
6. Batting
7. Ruler
8. Scissors
9. Iron-on embroidery transfer
10. Book of embroidery stitches

Use these steps to get started:

• Use an iron-on transfer to put a pattern on plain fabric.  Pick the color embroidery thread you’d like to use and thread a needle with two strands of floss.   Anchor the thread underneath the fabric with a small knot.  Follow the transfer line with a row of backstitches, following the instructions in the book of embroidery stitches.  
• Another thing to try is marking a grid on a square of plain fabric.  Cut another square the same size.  Sandwich a square of quilt batting between the two pieces.  Be sure quilt batting is cut at least ½ inch less all the way around so there's room for a seam allowance.  Pin and baste together through all layers.  
• Apply a running stitch to follow the transfer lines and quilt the fabric and batting together.  Finish edges as desired. 
• You might want to learn hand stitching by doing ribbon embroidery.  It’s done in much the same way as regular embroidery, but with ribbon that is very narrow.  Some of the stitches are a little different, but a book can help you learn them.  It’s easy to make wall hangings and embellish clothing in this way.

Hand stitching, sewing, or embellishment - what you choose is up to you.  Once you learn one kind you may want to move on to another, and so on.  Practice on scraps of fabric until you feel confident.  Pick colors you like so you don’t get bored with stitching.  Learn to take really tiny, neat quilting stitches.

You may decide to move on to a sewing machine and that’s ok.  You’ll still need to be good at hand sewing to do finish work.  One day you can proudly tell your friends you made it yourself!