I'm alive!

[Ebony]

AND I have a question

My guy got me a sewing machine for xmas which is EXACTLY what I wanted. Now I don't know where to start. What equipment will I need? Can you recommend any books?

I've done a little sewing on ma's old machine but she always threaded the bobbin for me so I'm basically a complete n00b.

Thanks for your helpies and man, am I glad to be back.

[ColleenSwerb]

Read your manual It'll show you how to thread a bobbin, thread your needle, and good stuff like that.
As far as equipment, that depends on what you want to sew. If you want to do a lot of stuff with fabric, good fabric shears would probably be a wise investment (and then never use them to cut anything else but fabric).

[lovely1m]

Its been a while since I did any sewing, but all I ever really needed was a great scissors (like Col said only use it on fabric) and some pins. Everything else you can buy with the project you are sewing. I should get back into it.

[mlrw70]

Nice to hear from you again Ebs

[nun69]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Read your manual It'll show you how to thread a bobbin, thread your needle, and good stuff like that.
As far as equipment, that depends on what you want to sew. If you want to do a lot of stuff with fabric, good fabric shears would probably be a wise investment (and then never use them to cut anything else but fabric).

TOTALLY this...especially the fabric shears!

[MandaT]

depending on what you want to do, the things I use the most: fabric shears, pins, cutting mat/rotary cutter/ruler (if you're going to be quilting)

[mrshobbes]

YAY! You're back! I totally do not remember how to even thread a machine, lol. But I'm sure you'll rawk the sewing!

[heathergw]

yeah, read the manual and practice on some scrap fabric

I don't have anything to add... my list would be fabric shears, rotary cutter, pins and cutting mat

[Ebony]

Alright, good fabric scissors and no cutting the grass (yes, seriously) or paper with them What's a rotary cutter?
Oh the manual! That'd be a good start
I wanna make my own clothes... hahaha. Obviously I'm gonna start out with cushion covers and the like.

Glad to be back. Now lets see if I can scrap something. Guh.

[Nevada Jen]

I reccomend a sewing class. Its a much easier way to learn and they teach you things like making button holes, how to make a blind stitch and adjusting tension to your specific machine and thread etc . . . All the manual told me was how to use the buttons and levers on my machine. It seemed to assume that I actually knew how to sew! I took one when I got my fancy machine and I learned that I had been using the sewing pedal backwards my entire life!

[glumirk]

There are some good blogs that give you some of the basics of sewing, along with helping you know how to make your own patterns, etc. so that you don't have to mess with buying patterns.

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/
http://www.dana-made-it.com/

And probably like a million others. I highly recommend Ashley (Make It) because she's my kindergarten teacher's daughter.

[scrap2day]

Glad your back, Ebs! Looking forward to seeing your first sewing project.