Basic sewing skills
If you are just starting out with sewing, these patterns are easy and fast to make for beginners to learn basic sewing skills. Building these skills gives you the confidence to start sewing garments successfully and sets you up for learning more advanced techniques with ease.
Applying bias tape
Bias tape is a fabric strip cut on the diagonal, allowing it to stretch and curve smoothly around edges. Learning how to apply bias tape gives your projects clean, professional finishes on necklines, armholes, and curved seams.
Creating romantic ruffles
Ruffles are strips of fabric gathered to add volume and movement. Learning to sew ruffles lets you add playful or romantic details to garments.
Attaching a collar
Collars frame the neckline and define the overall style of a garment. Learning how to attach collars teaches precision and structure, helping you create polished shirts and dresses with a professional finish. Here you can also practice using fusible interfacing.
Making beautiful French seams
French seams fully enclose raw edges within the seam, creating a clean and durable finish. Learning French seams helps you achieve a professional without the look of raw hems.
Making a flat-felled seam
Flat-felled seams are strong, enclosed seams commonly found in jeans and shoulder-seams. Learning this technique gives your garments extra durability and a crisp, structured finish, making them ideal for everyday wear.
How to shirr fabric
Shirring uses elastic thread to create stretchy, gathered fabric. This allows non-stretchy fabric to have stretch . Learning shirring allows you to make flexible, forgiving garments that fit beautifully.
Attaching buttons and making button holes
These patterns allow you to practice making buttons holes and attaching buttons. Buttonholes allow garments to close neatly using buttons, adding both function and style.
Attaching zippers
Attaching zippers can seem daunting, but it is a critical skill to have when learning to sew. Zippers can allow you to create tight-fitting garments with non-stretch fabric.
Stretchy fabric garments
Stretchy fabric garments are made using knit, jersey, or other stretch fabrics. Learning how to sew with stretch fabrics allows you to create comfortable, flexible garments. These types of fabrics need different sewing techniques than non-stretch fabric.