Sewing Lessons

[blackdawg]

I am going to take some lessons to learn how to sew, time to step up my game and do all my own mods and repairs..The lady teaching me asks what do I need to learn, she has about 40 years experience sewing virtually everything for a living,so I suspect she has seen most everything, could some of you guys help me form a list of sewing skills that I would need to know that I can give her? Thanks


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[doncarpenter]

Flat felled seam
Edge binding
Setting up a machine for different thickness materials
Zigzag stitch if your machine is capable

Just to name a few...

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[blackdawg]

Can you name a few more, that’s the kind of stuff that I need to tell the woman


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[doncarpenter]

Can you name a few more, that’s the kind of stuff that I need to tell the woman


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What are you looking to make or get out of it? Backpacks, tents/tipis, clothing or smaller gear? That will kind of help me answer your question.

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[blackdawg]

I am looking to do quite a few modifications on my horse packing gear, duck hunting gear, some deer hunting blinds, need to sew a stove jack in, seems like I also have various repairs to gear each year that I need to do, like zippers, new button holes, patches in clothing. Hope that is decent description of what I want to accomplish.


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[*zap*]

Sounds like a great idea.

 

[ragz]

I would also suggest the approach of just diving into a cost-effective project so you can more directly learn how certain sewing techniques apply to the type of gear you wish to work with. An example would be doing a flat felled seam on cotton vs silnylon. You may find you will need a certain type of basting tape with the silnylon for it to stick versus cotton, or having to iron the edges of the fabric to even be able to work with it, or can you even iron the fabric without damaging the integrity of fibers? All things to take into account.

 

[Antarctica]

I'd take her the list and get some examples of finished products you want to make. Maybe even take in some materials that you plan to use.

I know you said she's sewn just about everything, but in my experience, there's a whole lot of people who 'sew' that only sew a few things over and over.

Case in point is my mom, who sews quilts out the whazoo and did clothes from patterns back in the 70's. But everytime I ask her to repair something for me I get back a disaster. Like the time I asked her to replace the zipper in a Carhartt jacket. She is simply a sewer. Not a fixer or a designer or capable of doing stuff that is actually useful.

Sorry mom. I hope you never find this!

I now do my own sewing. I can't do what she does, but she can't seem to do what I do.

 

[OpticsNorthwest]

The best thing she can teach you is how to set up a machine and what all of the different knobs control. Once you work on your own projects you'll need to adjust tension, foot pressure, ect. for each material/thread you run through it. If you can make the right adjustments to your machine, using all of the different stitches will be fairly simple to figure out. I assume you have a standard home sewing machine. There will be some projects you won't be able to do with it. You mentioned horse packing equipment, and stove jacks. Your machine will probably do one or two layers of the heavier material but when you hit overlapping seams and corners where you might run into five, six or more layers it isn't going to like it.

 

[OpticsNorthwest]

You might buy a yard of ripstop or similar technical fabric and have her help you make a stuff sack. You will learn a lot during that project plus you might get a useful bag out of it.

 

[colonel00]

Search this forum for my thread on making DIY pullouts and pouches. Start with making simple stuff sacks and then go to pullouts with zippers. From there, maybe make a water bottle holder that will help with sewing small curved @#$@#$!@##!@ things. From there, learn some of the seams mentioned before that you will use in shelters.