r/sewhelp

There are a few if any good options for stylish baseball caps that are UPF 50 for kayak fishing.

Hi, I have a Brother SE-400, and recently, when I sew, it’s loud and I see that the bobbin case twitches. I’ve dusted the inside of the machine. I’m not sure what the issue is. please help, thank you!

Here’s a link to a video, also attached on this post: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xMqBNoFZIMk7Chi-qQAV7NZULSFIQ8Fg/view?usp=drivesdk

I have been agonizing about this decision for days! For context I am a very new sewist, and this is will be my first machine. My budget is $350 at most. I mainly hope to do alterations and sew my own clothes; however I am a guy who wears a good amount of denim and canvas menswear/workwear as well as more standard materials. Would the Janome HD 1000 or 3000 be the worth the extra cost, or is the 1522 adequate for my purposes?

Okay so, I’m making a pair of jeans out of denim scrap, and basically quilting them together to fit the pattern, now I have a concern about the inner seams. I’ve never made an actual quilt and my question is am I going to have to finish ALL the seams?

(Sorry if this is a dumb question it’s probably obvious it just seams like a lot of overlocking)

Hello,

I started sewing about a year ago as a self-taught beginner. So far I’ve mostly done simple things like hemming, tote bags and small pouches without zippers. Recently I realized that if I want to stay motivated, I need to start making the things that truly inspire me: clothes I actually want to wear, fitted to my body and my style.

What really interests me is not only learning sewing, but also understanding garment construction and pattern making. My goal is eventually to be able to see a garment (in a picture, in the street, or even imagine one in my head) and then recreate it by drafting the pattern myself before sewing it. That part is extremely important to me.

I’m especially drawn to lightweight, fluid fabrics like satin, silk, chiffon, viscose, etc., although I want to learn all kinds of materials over time.

At the moment, I specifically want to learn pattern drafting by hand/on paper rather than digitally. I work in tech/software, and sewing is something I want to use to disconnect from screens and computers, so using CAD software would honestly ruin part of the experience for me.

I also don’t own a dress form/mannequin, so I’m thinking flat pattern drafting might make more sense for me than draping for now.

I feel overwhelmed about where to begin. I don’t currently have the possibility to take in-person or online classes, so I would really like to learn through books and structured resources rather than jumping between tutorials from different people using completely different methods and approaches. I’m looking for something progressive and coherent that helps build solid foundations and skills step by step.

What would you recommend as the best learning path for me ?

I’d like to learn:

- sewing garments properly
- understanding fit and garment construction
- flat pattern drafting / making my own patterns
- altering clothes to fit me
- copying existing garments without taking them apart

Are there any books, methods, or step-by-step resources that helped you build strong foundations as a complete beginner?

Thank you so much!

Background: I'm a fan of oversized styles, but have wider hips, so I often run into issues with t-shirts being super baggy up top but then stretched tight around my hips, which looks ridiculous. I've 'solved' this problem by cropping the t-shirts to just above my hips, fixing the issue and having the added benefit of making the proportions look a lot better and far more stylish than just a plain t-shirt. However, my current process has just been hacking at it with my regular sewing machine, using a straight stitch. This has worked fine thus far, but as I'm getting to my more expensive and/or smaller t-shirts, I'd like something that retains the stretching ability and has a more professional finish. My research has led me to believe I am in need of a coverstitch machine, but the options are a little overwhelming, especially since I'm not really a sewer as a much as a 'hacker' (modifying existing clothing, making the occasional Halloween costume where no one will look too closely at finishes, etc.) and don't really understand all of the features and terminology in the product descriptions.

Budget isn't necessarily a problem (though not quite several thousands of dollars levels), but ease of use is - I'm concerned that if I just buy the best machine I can afford, I will need to spend weeks trying to figure out how to work the thing before being able to stitch a simple t-shirt hem. On the other hand, the cheaper standard beginner models seems to have a lot of manual steps or consistency problems, which, knowing myself, will almost certainly either make me ragequit and never use the machine again, or make me too worried to use it on my nicer shirts and never use the machine again.

Any recommendations for a nice coverstitch machine that's great for hemming t-shirts and at least somewhat intuitive to set up/use, but worth the money and won't need to be replaced if I feel like becoming a 'real' sewer in the future? Bonus points if it's a brand/model often used in youtube tutorials and the like, because reading manuals is a slog.