Sewing is All About the Details

One of the many things I find gratifying about making my own clothes, other than being able to play fashion designer when it comes to building my closet, is the reaction I get from people when I tell them I made the shirt or dress I’m wearing that day.  Their mouths gape open and they look again, closer, because they’re thinking there’s no way a person can make clothes look as good, if not better, than something you’d find in a department store – surely anything made by a hobbyist should look Becky-Home-Ec-y (not!).  My sewing didn’t always used to be that way though; a lot of sweat and literal tears over the years went in to learning how get garments to fit right, seams to look seamless, and making fabric behave the way I wanted it to behave.  Heck, I still run into problems every now and then that test my sewing skills and stretch me further in my abilities.

At the end of the day, sewing is all about the details: it’s having the right tools to get the job done, the right supplies and materials for the garment at hand, and knowing how and when to use them.  You could have the most beautiful fabric in the world to work with, but if you’re using the kind of pins that leave holes in your fabric and a machine that chews up your seams, it doesn’t even matter.  Your results are going to look amateur, and who really wants that after spending so much time on a garment.

There’s a lot of tools and gizmos out there for sewing.  Not sure where to start or what you really need?  Don’t worry, I got a freebie for you with what I consider to be my 10 most important tools in my sewing box, along with links to the specific tools I use every time I sew.  I wouldn’t ever sew without them and you shouldn’t either (Spoiler: #10 is the most important).