In our sewing studio, we have teachers from all over the world. We have a teacher from Germany, a teacher from Australia, and the founder of the sewing Studio Thimbles is originally from Russia.  So, we collected the best sewing tips for beginners from all over the world. You might be surprised, that sewing is a worldwide hobby with similar tips from sewing pros for beginners. These are similar best sewing tips for beginners, for one simple reason. They are very important, but very often overlooked by beginners thinking that they are not that important, as they sound very basic. Please read below our best sewing tips for beginners with an open mind and trust us when we say every single one of them we hear again and again from experience sewists worldwide. The 5th one is my favorite.

Our chosen best sewing tips for beginners

Tip #1 First is the most overlooked tip Patience is the key! Patience with yourself and with the process. This is all new to you and mistakes are part of the learning progress. The only person who doesn’t make mistakes is the person who doesn’t do anything and doesn’t try new things 😊

Tip #2 When you start making mistakes or losing your patience, walk away and come back later with a clear mind. There is no point in pushing through frustration and being in the rush. With this approach, you will make more mistakes and it might be like a closed loop with one mistake after another.

Tip #3 Pressing every seam is just as important as cutting and sewing. Your finished sewn piece will look great and more professional finish the more you press every stitch of the sewing process! When you don’t know if you should press or not, better do it rather than not. We prefer using steam generator for this job. At our studio we use Perfect Care Elite from Philips steam Generator from either The good guys or Retravision

Tip #4 Measure twice cut once is your standard English phrase. Just be aware this assumption is not 100% accurate. Some countries say measure 7 times cut once! Don’t be afraid to second guess yourself. It’s much better to take your time in the preparation stage than to find out that you made a mistake at the very beginning of your sewing process. That means it may be necessary to cut again, wasting time and material.

Tip #5 My favorite out of all best sewing tips for beginners is – Don’t ever give up! If it doesn’t come out the way you expected from the first go, try and try again! Ask for help, and join face-to-face sewing classes, but don’t give up. Rome wasn’t built in one day! We all were once beginners.

Here is my personal recipe for beginners’ success in sewing!

My best analogy for operating a sewing machine and finishing a sewing project is just like learning how to drive a car. None of us jumped in a car and started driving it confidently from day one. Firstly, we all take some driving lessons with an instructor.  Second, you build your driving hours with an experienced person by your side. And after that, you started feeling better to start driving on your own, but still need time to build that confidence of driving on your own at a different speed and on different roads.

Now converting this path of learning to drive to the path of learning to sew. Firstly, I would always recommend taking some classes with a teacher. You simply don’t know what you don’t know. This would have to be a face-to-face, not an online class. Something with hands-on experience and any instant feedback and correction from the teacher, so you can start sewing in the easiest and fastest way. It is not your free class from the place where you got your sewing machine. But rather classes specifically designed to help you start sewing on your own, not just to help sewing machine sales. If you look for classes like this, check our Sewing for beginners 5 weeks course Level 1. 

Second, you need more practice within a group of like-minded and maybe more experienced people in sewing. So, you can continue to accumulate your confidence and accumulate your sewing hours. That means maybe joining some sewing social club where you would go and work on your own projects once a week where help is support offered from others in the group. Or get together with a friend who shares your passion for sewing and have a sewing play date 🙂 If you are looking for a social sewing group, check out our Social Sewing Club.

And Third, start your own practice at home just you, a sewing machine and build your confidence in working by yourself with different types of projects and experimenting with different types of fabric.

With this approach, you won’t even notice when you will turn from novice sewist to the one who would be helping other beginners to start their journey.

Hope you enjoyed reading our best sewing tips for beginners. If you have anything else to add, please leave us a comment.

Best of luck! Remember last piece of advice is – never give up. If you feel an urge to create, to sew something, just keep going and keep trying.  

Happy Sewing

Olga