Thousands of people buy a basic sewing machine and never get it out of its box, lacking the confidence to get started and daunted by off-putting manuals. This book will change all that. Sewing machine guru and popular author, Wendy Gardiner, has written a user-friendly guide to using a basic sewing machine, with the elements you would get in a manual, naming parts, showing how to thread up, checking stitching and tension etc, followed by a section building skills as you start using a sewing machine. This is followed by 9 great projects: a Drawstring Bag, an Appliquéd Pillow, a Clutch Bag, a Pillow with Piping, Tab-Top Curtains, a Quilted Pot Holder, a Scarf, Apron and a Decorated Towel, all specially designed to build skills such as sewing seams, buttonhole sewing, adding zips, blind hems, quilting, free machine embroidery, using twin needles and making pleats, trims and pockets. There is a glossary of all the important terms, and an excellent trouble-shooting guide.
Table of Contents:
Foreword 2
Introduction 6
Your sewing machine 8
Tools and equipment 14
Winding and fitting the bobbin 24
Upper threading 26
Checking stitching and tension 28
Trying out your machine stitches 30
Using your machine 32
Straight stitch 34
Drawstring Bags 36
Zigzag stitch 40
Heart-Felt Appliqué Pillow 44
Buttonholes 48
Party Clutch Bag 52
Zips and piping 56
Perfectly Piped Pillow 62
Hemming ways 66
Café Curtain 68
Quilting 74
Quilted Pot Holder 76
Free motion 82
Swirls and Flowers Scarf 86
Twin needles 90
Retro Apron 94
Bobbin work 102
Decorated Guest Towel 104
Advanced techniques 108
Tucks 110
Trims 112
Couching 114
Patch Pockets 116
Useful information 118
Troubleshooting 119
Glossary 124
Index 127
About the Author :
Wendy Gardiner is a sewing guru! She has been editor of various sewing titles for many years, and for the last ten years editor of Sewing World, Britain's leading sewing magazine. She loves everything to do with sewing by machine and has recently presented six DVDs on the subject. Keen to promote sewing as a fun, affordable hobby, she is also co-manager of the ISEW website, a magazine resource site packed with sewing projects and techniques and backed by leading companies in the sewing industry. Wendy also continues to run creative sewing weekends.
Review :
Dec 13
The Very Easy Guide to Using Your Sewing Machine takes the mystery out of sewing and helps readers to develop their skills and make the most of their sewing machine. It’s an extremely comprehensive, user-friendly manual that includes nine great projects with step-by-step instructions and photographs, which help put what you read into practice. Making items like drawstring bags, a café curtain and a decorated guest towel will build every sewist’s confidence. Neither patronising nor overly complex, and backed-up with a glossary and trouble-shooting guide, this would help keep your sewing on the right track whether you are 16 or 69.
Dec 13
If sewing machines look as complex as the controls on the bride of a spaceship, then this is the book for you. Learn how to get to grips with your new machine and embark on a lifetime of machine sewing fun!
I wish I had had something like this when I got my first sewing machine. It tells you what everything does on an average model, what all the feet and accessories are for and what your need to buy in order to get started. You can also read why you need these things (always a good idea) and all about different needles, how to work with all the fabric types and what thread is out there too. There are those useful staged projects with plenty of photographs that Search Press do so well, and these include how to do things like wind a bobbin, thread up an check tension. When you can do all that, get stuck into making lots of simple but useful and attractive items to practice skills like buttonholes, putting in a zipper, hemming and piping. It is true that the book that comes with your machine tells you some of these things and it does of course pertain to your particular model, but it certainly does not tell you all of this in such detail. There is even a chapter on free machine sewing, another on using twin needles and an exhaustive troubleshooting section. All of this might sound daunting, but everything is explained in remarkably few words and plenty of pictures, so I reckon that my eleven-year-old self on receiving my first sewing machine would have been happy with it. I’ve seen lots of books on this sort of thing for beginners, but this is the most user-friendly.
Feb 14
Perfect for beginners this guide contains the answers to all of your sewing questions. It contains a concise but comprehensive overview of the basic components of a sewing machine as well as advice on equipment, fabrics and the fundamental skills involved when using your machine. Illustrated throughout with incredibly clear photographs and diagrams for each tutorial, this book is extremely user-friendly and shows just how rewarding and enjoyable sewing can be! With nine engaging projects placed strategically throughout the book you can utilise what you have learnt and gain confidence as you progress to more challenging techniques. An invaluable reference source for the slightly less experienced sewer.
Dec 13
This book would be a great guide for a beginner just getting to grips with their machine. It covers the machine settings, the feet, the different stitches, needles, fabrics, threads etc. It tells you how to thread a machine, how to wind and install the bobbin, how to sew zips, sew buttonholes, do applique, add piping, sew bias binding and many other techniques. There are easy to follow clear step by step photos of each stage as well a written instructions. For several techniques there are projects to encourage you to experiment and apply what you are learning in the book. You can also find a useful trouble shooting guide in the rear of the book as well as a glossary of sewing terms.
