Most of the time, I think of myself as an “advanced beginner” sewist: not really that skilled, but able to make more than a pillowcase. And then I remind myself that even a year ago, the idea of making a swimsuit made me laugh out loud!
Anyhow, the CSC editors were reminiscing about our earliest makes – the joys and the total failures – and we thought it would be fun to share them with you too. Of course the joy of blogging is that some of us also have photos and posts from those early days too!
For me, way back in about 2010, I took a sewing class which taught me pretty much nothing except how to thread a sewing machine. I immediately reapplied this knowledge to making a pillowcase and duvet cover using an online tutorial – and I must say it was sort of a success, as I still use them today.
Then I slowly started building up the courage to try to make something wearable. I was entirely convinced that there was no way I could ever sew something as complicated as a buttonhole or zipper so I picked up a copy of Christine Haynes’ Chic and Simple Sewing, which promises a whole wardrobe of button and zip-free garments! A very non-intimidating place to start.
My first attempt was a wrap skirt in a quilting cotton, as modeled here:
I must say this is much better than I remember! However, what you can’t see is that it basically only overlaps by about 2 inches, so it was entirely unwearable unless I wanted to flash the neighbourhood. The concept of grading up was entirely alien to me so it never crossed my mind that I could just make the pattern bigger. But all in all I have to recommend this as a first pattern: it was pretty simple to put together, and a quick project even for a beginner. I can’t remember what I did to the seams inside, but let’s just assume they’re probably raw…
Next up, I started my quest for a wrap dress! I was sort-of aware that I really wanted to make knit wrap dresses, but as that seemed like a task of Herculean proportions, I attempted Christine Haynes’ woven one instead. No FBA, no grading, nada. I used a slightly lighter cotton that I bought in Bali back when sewing was a theory and not a practice, and this was my first introduction to the idea that materials other than quilting cotton might be best for garment making.
And check out the AWESOME styling, lack of makeup, awkward face, and indoors-at-night messy spare room. Winning!
As evident from this pic, the dress ended up being a mini-dress, and as with the skirt alas it didn’t actually cover me up while moving. For this reason, it never got worn out of the house..
So I must say the photos are much better than my memories, but maybe that’s just the way these things go!
What was your first garment? Do you have any hilarious stories? What do you wish you could go back and tell your novice seamstress self? Or are you a beginner? If so, what advice would you like from sewists who’ve been at it for longer?
I do think that gray dress is darling on you. Wow, you have come such a long way and are now impressing us with cashmere coats! Great work, Jenny.
My first sewing project was a wrap around skirt from a pattern I chose back in the 80’s. Totally terrible fabric pick… it was more suited for drapes or pillows I think. I remember the horrors of the hemming process and my utter surprise that it actually didn’t look TOO bad when it was done. The next piece, a blousey, tubey-type top with elastic above the bust, however, was the REAL horror. After that I stuck to easy, square tablecloths and napkins when I needed new ones, until recently when the sewing bug bit me again. I made a periwinkle colored knit T-shirt that I sewed in a weekend after watching instruction videos on YouTube. I tried a simple shift dress after that with yet another horrible fabric choice. I’ve ended up with a semi-okay nightgown though. 🙂 So now I’m reading all I can, watching more videos, and trying to get to the place that I can feel confident about wearing my finished pieces out in public! Loving your blog BTW.
I actually think your beginner garments are cute! I would totally wear that wrap dress.
I took home ec. in like 8th grade and learned how to use a machine and sew in a straight line, but never really did any garment sewing until I was like 20. I remember buying a random Big 4 unisex pajama pants pattern because I was going to teach my boyfriend (now husband) how to sew. Welllll that was actually my first time ever following a pattern, and I completely ignored grain and the suggested cutting layout! I remember one side of the pants not fitting correctly at all, and now I realize, duh—I cut it on the crosswise grain, lol! I think I thought the fabric was just bad or something!
The next thing I tried to make was some kind of sleeveless yoked top from another Big 4 pattern. The problems there were 1-quilting cotton when it should have used something drapey, 2-the interfacing I used for the yoke was like the heaviest possible, so it was so so so stiff, and 3-I made waaaay too big of a size because of my bust measurements.
The next thing that was actually wearable, although barely, was this dress back in July 2013 when I first started actually trying to sew garments “for real”. You can tell even from that pic that the dress is too big overall, and the fit/sewing is pretty shoddy (especially in the sleeves). http://instagram.com/p/bUhgMYuofm/?modal=true
But hey, at least I can see progress, right?
When I was 12 I cut down to fit me, a blue skirt of my mum’s (She made it herself. I didn’t know the words at the time but it was a lovely a-line skirt, in a now-vintagey retro-ish style. I wore it to school so proudly! It was 1988 – maybe mum was behind in fashion, or maybe it was just so simple and easy to sew and wear that it works for any era. Anyway I think my 12 yr old self would be quite fascinated to learn I recently made a skirt from a reproduction 1940’s style, that was almost exactly the same 🙂
Not just fascinated about the style of the skirt and it’s place in history, but that I am still sewing with as much passion as I had back then, and have been all along.
My mother set me loose early, as it turned out that she hated sewing. Double knit vest and pull-on pants for fifth grade. 1970: first year we could wear pants to school. Purple, brown and dark purple abstract pattern….with purple doubleknit foldover trim. First and last project in double knit, what I didn’t snag with the seam ripper, I snagged on other stuff in the first 24 hours of wearing. It didn’t fall off me, I did wear it out of the house. It wasn’t http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Simplicity_8955 but it was it’s best friend. Mostly I was a jiffy wrap dress girl http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Butterick_4699. One pattern piece and a year of trim application, which I only recently became good at. Beware these endless bias trim projects!
People were remarkably kinder about homemade then, I suspect.
I grew up sewing little things but it wasn’t until high school I decided that I could sew clothes. I didn’t really try to teach myself or learn any techniques, I just jumped right in and made my own patterns from existing clothes or sewed things that were way beyond my skill level. I guess that’s the beauty of learning as a teenager – I believed I could make anything! I started a bunch of projects that never got finished because I had no concept of fitting. I even made a pair of plaid pants! I bet I didn’t do any pattern matching though.
In junior year I decided I would make my prom dress. I bought a very complicated fancy dress pattern (Vogue 2239) and god knows how many yards of blue satin. I just plowed through that thing. It was strapless and was supposed to have boning, but I decided I didn’t need it (ha!). I sewed in a bright white zipper and did such a sloppy job that it really stuck out. And the huge hem? I zoomed through that with the machine. It was a mess. But hey, I was probably the only girl at prom with a home made dress!
I kind of wish I could have that kind of youthful confidence again – to blindly jump into projects without hesitating. I would get so much more done!
Thanks for sharing your early makes! I think you’re right – our memories of things like that are usually worse than the reality. 🙂
I decided to make a cape for my then husband. I bought a very expensive wool and as I was cutting it out, all I could think about was how expensive it was! I came to cutting out the facings and the interfacings. I read these as the same thing, so I just couldn’t get past having to do different things with the same items. Finally I called a friend who, at first, couldn’t figure out what my problem was. When she finally grasped that I was trying to do one thing with the facings and another thing with the same facings, she got a good laugh, and then pointed out the problem to me. That was back in the early 1970’s. I actually had no idea what an interfacing was.
My first garment was a zip up the front jumper in broadcloth, which was not a good fabric for the design, in which I slipped while ripping out the zipper I had put in badly leaving a hole patched by my teacher. Of course, never worn. 7th grade 1970.
My very first garment was a pair of pajama pants that I made in a beginning sewing class. I wore the heck out of them until I gained weight and couldn’t fit into them any more. I still have them though–I’ve held onto them for sentimental reasons.
Most of my early sewing mistakes had to do with poor fabric choices–e.g. making a knit wrap top out of interlock with no recovery and having it “grow” during the day, or a peasant top out of a crisp shirting poplin.
Amen to the bad fabric choices. I never bothered to look at the recommends, or would figure that wasn’t really important. Best fail: underestimating fabric and/or ignoring grain and patterns!
As I said, people were kind….
I remember sewing a vintage pattern — a shift dress — when I was a sophomore in college. It was such a hopeless mess because I had never heard of a FBA. My grandmother the seamstress was already gone and my mother never had much time for learning any of the details and she fit into a perfect size 12 McCalls pattern. To this day she STILL fits into a perfect McCalls pattern (albeit a larger size).
Once I learned the FBA I realized the sky is the limit! Since then most everything has been wearable, not at the muslin stage, but once I cut into good fabric, I’m golden.
I love this post. That is all.
My first garment was pants…& within an hour of wearing them the first time the tush blew out when I sat down! Haven’t been brave enough to try proper pants again but am determined to give it a go (again) soon!
I have been sewing off and on my whole life, but only have gotten in to garment sewing in the last few years with the exception of a few costumes throughout the years. The advice I would give my novice self (though I still consider myself a novice) is to just jump in and do it. Many years of standing crying in front of a dressing room mirror could have been avoided if I would have just started sewing garments earlier. Having clothes that actually fit instead of trying to work around RTW has been life changing. Now…to concur pants!!!