Ideal Order of Projects When Learning to Sew Clothes

After teaching sewing every week for almost two years, sometimes as many as six classes a week, I now have some suggestions on an ideal order of the projects to make.

The Purl-Soho “Easiest Bag.“

Start with the Purl Soho free tutorial on the Easy/Easier/Easiest Bag. This is the Easiest one. It’s an elegant design with French seams, and the handles are sewn on at the same time as the top hems are done. Importantly, it makes sense to new sewists, they can see how it comes together and understand how it’s going to come together as a tote. I’ve taught this one dozens of times and people are so proud of their bags and actually use them!

Here’s the tutorial: Easy/Easier/Easiest Tote

Start with the Easiest Bag and then move up to the lined one if you want to.  I realize this isn’t clothing, but it’s a good project to do to gain skills and make a useful item.

Flannel yardage ready to cut and make into infinity scarves; completed scarf.

Next up, an infinity scarf and some scrunchies. Fast, useful and satisfying. Practice with the important skills of sewing long, straight lines, turning, and beginning to see how making garments takes the fabric from flat to 3D.

Here’s a good tutorial for the infinity scarf: How to Sew an Infinity Scarf in Minutes.

It’s a good tutorial, but one step isn’t explained well and you may need a video for that. I’d explain it, but I don’t know how without showing you.

For scrunchies, Made for Mermaids has a good tutorial and a pattern. You don’t really need a pattern, just the measurements.

Tutorial: Scrunchies in 3 Sizes.

I don’t have a photo for this one, but a classic “rectangle skirt,” which is a skirt with an elastic waist. Measure your waist, then multiply that by 2 or 2.5 for the width of the skirt.  This book has detailed instructions on how-to, including an extra wise waist band for style reasons.

Tutorial: How to Make an Elastic Waistband Skirt

Now you’re ready for PJ pants. Or, if you don’t wear skirts, go straight to PJ pants. PJ pants are a terrific first item to sew because you don’t wear them out of the house and the fit is generally kind of loose. Choose your favorite pattern from the Big Four sewing patterns at your local fabric store, or find one from an indie pattern company. The simplest to make is one with no pockets.

For a pattern with patch pockets, I like this Pay What You Choose pattern from Peppermint Magazine: The Loungewear Set. Peppermint Magazine is Australian, so know that the instructions and sizing are a bit different, but it’s not a big issue.

Pattern: Peppermint Magazine Loungewear Set

I also like their shirt pattern from that set, which is the last item on my list. There are a number of patterns out there for a simple, boxy shirt. Some of them have you use binding at the neck, which beginners find tricky, because it is tricky. This pattern uses facing, which I think is easier.

If you buy that pattern, you’ll need to get it printed. I’ve recently learned about a service that will print your pdf patterns and mail them to you, I wrote it up in this blog post.

After making all these items, you’ll be ready to level up to more complex garments, maybe a circle skirt, or a shirt with inset sleeves, or a raglan sleeve jacket.

For a circle skirt, you can make that without a pattern, and By Hand London has a really terrific calculator that does the math for you.

Circle Skirt Calculator: By Hand London

Once you’ve made the circle skirt, you’ll need to hem it and hemming a curved edge is different from hemming a straight one. By Hand London has a blog post for that.

Blog post: 3 Ways to Hem a Curve.