Beginners Sewing Course - Day 1 - The Basics Video Lecture | Sewing: A Tutorial for Beginners - Fashion Designing

hello I'm Anika from a torso and welcome
to our beginners crash course in sewing
now this is the first of five tutorials
that we've put on for you and the idea
of this course of five tutorials is to
help those of you that maybe are new to
sewing and you want to sort of take your
sewing to the next level
all those of you that have been sewing
for a while and want to learn some sort
of tips and techniques and ways of doing
things that might make your sewing more
professional so we're going to start
today by looking at the sewing machine
and really going back to basics we're
going to be looking at threading the
sewing machine winding a bobbin looking
at what thread you should be using and
what needle size to use and also sort of
changing the needle and changing the
foot so let's get started so we're
firstly going to be looking at a thread
that you should be using for your sewing
machine now I tend to recommend 100%
polyester thread for the majority of
projects and that's the best thing to
start with as a beginner now you would
have found that your machine may have
come with some threads and you may have
picked up some sort of cheap polyester
threads and they will be absolutely fine
to work with when you're starting and
generally speaking the cheaper polyester
threads are slightly fluffier in texture
and you will find that you can probably
break them with your hands and so
they're perfect for sort of you know
everyday jobs and when you're beginning
your trying things out when something
isn't maybe really important that it
looks really professional and then it
lasts so if you are moving on to making
things that you want to last you want
them to you know to be very strong
thread that you're sewing with and the
threads that I tend to use on a sort of
daily basis and that I recommend is the
GU Turman 100% polyester it's the GU
term so all thread okay and this is a
very very strong and smooth thread so
you'll find it you can't break it in
your hands as well
and therefore it's perfect for sort of
jobs that need to last and giving that
really professional finish to your items
now this thread comes in numerous
different sizes depending on what you're
working with and numerous color ways so
it's really what you need for your job
and in terms of the top of the spool
you'll see that they're different colors
now this is one thing to really point
out for when you are going to
I your thread now the smaller sized
spools I believe a cream and the
slightly larger ones have a white top so
if you're looking for the hundred
percent polyester it's a cream or a
white top that you're after
because gutten and threads do come with
lots of different color tops you can get
blue you can get gray I believe you can
get green these are all different
threads for different uses so if you're
looking for 100 percent polyester just
make sure you get the white or the cream
so that you're not disappointed when you
get home so hopefully we've sort of gone
over the thread that you should be using
next we're going to look at the sewing
machine needle and the size that you
should be using so looking now at the
sewing machine needle that you should be
using in your machine if you've
purchased a new sewing machine you
probably would have had a pack of
needles that would have come with the
machine and they'll be perfect for you
to be using if you're a beginner if you
picked up a second hand machine and it's
come with some needles I would probably
recommend picking up another pack
because obviously you won't have know
how much they've been used and in what
condition they're in so I tend to work
with the schmitz and sewing machine
needles I get on very well with these
and in terms of sort of the average size
of needle you're going to be working
with an 80 12 or a 90 14 and that's the
metric followed by the Imperial number
now they're 80 1290 14 will be perfect
for use on your Cotton's your poly
cotton or linen your lightweight
upholstery fabrics and those are really
the fabrics that as a beginner you're
going to want to work with you don't
want anything overly complicated that's
going to put you off your new hobby but
what if as you progress you want to go
to lighter weight fabrics lighter weight
fabrics require a smaller needle size so
you're going to want to pick up a 75 11
or potentially smaller than that
and there'll be fabrics like silks and
things like that for heavier weight
fabrics so say denims or heavy wet
canvases or upholstery fabrics you're
going to want to go to a larger number
so that's going to be a 116 or a 110 18
and so forth so average size is an 80 12
90 14 smaller sizes are for lighter
weight fabrics larger sizes are
heavier weight fabrics hopefully that
helps you decide what needle you should
be using for the job now the other
question I often get asked is how often
do you need to change the needle in the
machine I don't tend to abide by sort of
the manufacturer's rules on so many
hours of sewing I think that most of you
will probably not know how many hours
are sewing you've put in to the the
project that you've been working on with
that needle so what I would recommend if
you're starting a new project that's
really really special or you're starting
a project and say lightweight fabric
then I would recommend that you do start
with a fresh needle but most of the time
I tend to check my needles check that
it's not bent you can lay it down on a
flat surface and check that it isn't
bent and I always test my fabric before
I start a project
so put your fabrics through the machine
check that the thread is ok for the
fabric and check that the needle the
stitch length all of those things are
going to be fine for your job if you do
that you should find then that if the
needle is too small or too large for the
job and you should also find then if
maybe there's the needles become a
little bit blunt you'll find that it may
scag or pucker the fabric slightly that
will usually mean that either the needle
is blunt or you need a smaller needle
for the job so as I said I don't tend to
abide by the manufacturing rules but
just double check before you start
always test your fabric and see how you
get on so now we're going to move on to
looking at the sewing machine so first
year quick look at the machine that
we're going to be working with now this
is a Husqvarna Viking
and this machine in particular is an
emerald one one six however I believe
that there is also a one one eight and
one two two in the same series now I do
understand that you may not have the
same machine as this and that is
absolutely fine what I would recommend
though is that you go and find the
manual if you haven't got a manual there
maybe try and download one from the
internet so that you can check about
what how the manual suggests you should
be threading the machine and winding the
bobbin because it can make a difference
in how the machine performs now I wanted
to sort of go through quickly all the
little buttons and bits and pieces that
as a beginner you will need of the
machine before we get started with
winding the bobbin
to start this is our key little dial
that we need to know about this is what
stitch you were going to be stitching
and you'll see here this is the list of
stitches with the corresponding number
that corresponds to the dial here now
below that this is the length of the
stitch that you will be stitching and
the little green dollop here is the
width of the stitch okay so as a
beginner these are the key things you
want to know what your stitch in
parallel the stitch is and how wide it
is okay now another thing to point out
is this button here and this is the
reverse or backwards button on the
machine and you will need to hold it
down to use it okay and you've also got
the hand wheel on the side here which if
you were to turn towards you would allow
the machine to stitch so that could be
great when you are a beginner and you're
maybe you're worried the Machine might
go a bit too quickly that you can use
that if you need to finally really and
the only other thing you may come across
as a beginner is this dial here which is
the tension dial now with this machine I
believe the manual suggests that you
keep on number four and I pretty much
have everything I've hardly ever changed
it and number four seems to work with
most fabrics but do check what your
machine recommends and obviously find
out where it is if you do need it then
finally really it's just a case of the
on/off button now with this machine
that's to the bottom right and if I flip
the switch the light will go off and
then back on again
sorry back here in a second and we'll go
through how to wind a bobbin and then
how to thread the machine so now we're
going to go through how to wind a bobbin
on the machine now we're going to start
by positioning this spool of thread onto
the spool pin and we're using the
horizontal spool pin here now on this
machine the thread has to be coming
underneath from the spool itself so
coming out underneath when you position
it onto the pin like just like that but
I would check your individual manual for
your machine and see which way it
suggests then we're going to be using
the spool holder
to hold the spool onto the pen now with
this machine may come in different sizes
this is the small one for smaller spools
and this is the larger one for large
spools okay so next we're going to take
the thread and we're going to wrap it
around from back to front
this little tension silver little
tension gauge here and you need to make
sure that you really pull the thread
between the two disks and you should
have hear a clicking noise if you don't
you'll find that your bobbin doesn't
wind very nicely because it just won't
have a nice tension on it okay
next take your bobbin and here you
really need to make sure that you're
choosing the right size bobbin for your
individual machine
now with our bobbins there's a little
hole in the top of them and we need to
take the thread and feed it from the
inside to the outside through the hole
there we go
so from the middle to the outside next
we're going to take the bobbin and put
it onto this silver bobbin winder here
and push down hard and then we're going
to push the bobbin to the right now
before we start winding there's one last
thing we need to do and that's to pull
the hand wheel out at the side of the
machine now what this does is stops the
machine from sewing whilst you're
winding the bobbin and allows it to go
therefore and it's a bit quicker so
we're going to hold onto the thread
coming out of the bobbin here very
tightly and I want you to wind it for a
little a little while a couple of whines
around the bobbin okay perfect now we
can cut off this thread so just reach in
with a little pair of scissors and trim
it off just like that and then we can
continue winding the bobbin until you're
happy with the amount on there now if
you're completing the bobbin full of a
whole project then if you keep winding
this is the bobbin stopper and this will
stop when the bobbin is full okay so
find that you wind your bobbins until
they're full then what we're going to do
is take the bobbin off the bobbin winder
so we need to push it back to the left
and lift it up
and then we can trim thread off here so
that the bobbin is a separate piece and
that's ready to go now before we start
threading the Machine there's one last
thing we need to do and that's to push
the hand wheel back in so that it would
allow the Smith's machine to stitch
again so join me back here and we'll
start threading the machine so before we
start with threading the machine I just
wanted to talk about how you should
position the spool onto the machine now
there are sort of two different types of
threads or if for the different way a
thread is wound on to a spool now the
sort of standard method nowadays is this
where the thread is very much zigzagging
up in deine spool and this is what's
called cross wound thread okay the
alternative option though is a slightly
older method which you don't see as much
nowadays where the thread is really one
on top of the other there's no
zigzagging going on here it's very very
smooth and this is what's called stacked
thread my both of these ideally need to
be positioned on the machine
slightly differently for the machine and
the thread to run through the machine
happily so we'll start with this with
the standard cross wound thread now with
this thread majority of the time you
want the thread really to be coming off
the end so coming off the end of the
spool now therefore this works perfect
with the standard horizontal spool pin
that we've got here it also works well
if you've got a vertical spool pin
that's maybe down at the back of the
machine very low you'll find that it
will again come off the top of the pin
happily if I position that on there just
to show you again we'll use the spool
holder and pulling on the thread there
that's happily you're not going to get
caught that works really nicely now if
you're going to be using the other
thread so that's the stacked thread
you'll find as an example if you
position this on to the horizontal pin
and we put the spool holder on but this
will get caught as you're pulling the
thread off
and you'll find that as you're sewing it
will get caught and it just won't run
through the machine as nicely so what
you want to do instead for the stacked
threads is that you want them to sit on
a vertical spool here now with my
machine I've got a little hole here and
you can get your you will get with the
machine a sort of other spool pin that
you can pop on the manual recommends
putting a little bit of a felt circle
around the bottom which again comes with
a machine and this thread can pop on
here and you'll see it should be coming
off at a right angle to the spool so the
thread should come off at a right angle
to the spool and that will so much
happier in that method so I'll let you
get started by working out how to put
your spool on the machine and then join
me back here and we'll start the thread
the machine so we're going to start by
threading the machine down this area
here up to the top of the needle because
that will allow you to complete this
threading a couple of times to get used
to it and then I can zoom in and show
you the needle in greater detail so I'm
going to be using the crosswires thread
that we spoke about before and that's on
my horizontal pin with my spool hold it
in position to hold that nice and
securely as we spoke about when we were
winding the bobbin the thread is coming
underneath from the spool so that's all
as it should be so most of the time you
will have instructions down here some
arrows or something that are really
going to help you navigate this area but
I would recommend just checking the
manual and checking that you are doing
it correctly so there's a little sort of
slide arrow area you can slide the
thread into it the back here where I've
got an arrow so my thread is going to
come into that area and then I'm going
to come down this first channel all the
way down there and then at the bottom
I've got an arrow that's going to go
across the bottom and allow me to come
back up the second channel so we're
going down the first channel around the
bottom back up the second channel next
up here we've got this little silver
lever now this lever will move up and
down so if you can't see it turn the
handwheel on the side of the machine and
get it to come up so that you can see it
now the thread needs to go
from the right side of this to the left
into the little lever and there's a
little I at the front of the lever and
the thread literary does need to click
into the front of that so that you can
really see the thread then we're going
to come back down this channel and we'll
be stopping there ready to move on to
the needle so I would recommend watching
that and doing that a couple of times so
that you feel comfortable doing it join
me back here and we will thread the
needle
once you've threaded the top part and
you've come down this channel here
you're then going to need to position
the thread behind the little groove on
the left-hand side here so just into
that groove at the top of the needle
next just thread the needle you can
either do this by eye from the front to
the back or you can use the little
needle threader to use the needle
threader use your left hand to push it
down at the side here now you'll need to
make sure these are quite temperamental
so make sure that your needle is as high
as it will go so by doing that you need
to turn the hand will at the side to
move the needle as high as it will go
then push down with your left hand
though underneath this little nook here
from left to right and in front of the
needle okay it's caught at that time
make sure you collect your thread from
the back of the needle not from the
front because you'll all you'll be doing
is to pulling out your little handy work
once you've got the thread at the back
of the needle we will tuck that
underneath the foot out of the way now
to position the bobbin into the machine
we need to open the bobbin case here
I've got an arrow and a little button
that you need to push to the right which
will pop open at the clearcase now the
bobbin itself thus rode needs to be
sitting on the bobbin going
counterclockwise to start with okay and
then you're going to position that in to
the little area okay and then place your
finger on the bobbin grab hold of the
thread and pull it
that you're really clicking it back and
you'll hit you should hear it click okay
and there's a little groove right in
here a little silver groove that you
need it to click into now you need to
catch the bobbin with the needle thread
so hold on tight to the needle thread
and use the hand wheel turn it one full
turn towards you the needle will go all
the way down and all the way back up and
then you should be able to pull on the
thread of the needle to collect there we
see the bobbin thread pull both of these
threads and tuck them neatly out of the
way underneath the foot and you can
replace the case for the bobbin with my
case I need to put the left edge in
first and then click the right side down
so there we have the threading of the
needle and the insertion of the bobbin
now draw me back here in a second so
that I can explain how to remove the
foot on the machine and change the
needle how do you change the needle on
the machine now we spoke about this
earlier changing the needle and the size
that you will need so to change it
you'll need to unscrew the little black
screw here be careful not to drop the
needle in the machine so be ready to
catch it and take it out there we go now
if you want to know what size needle you
have in the machine you should see it
edge onto the top part of the needle
somewhere it is very small so you may
need a magnifying glass to place the
needle back into the machine there is
one flat edge or flat side of the needle
you want to position the flat side to
the back of the machine away from you
and when you're positioning it in you
need to make sure to hold onto it tight
so that you don't drop it and to push it
right up so that it's right up into the
area up here turn the screw to tighten
it and to make sure that it is tight and
you will obviously need to rethread this
to remove the foot you literally push
the foot toward yourself
and then you would be able to change it
there's a little bar on the foot here
that is what sits onto this white groove
to put it back on you'll need to line up
the bar with the white groove and push
them quite hard back together with a
clip I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial
and I will see you tomorrow for day two