Learning To Sew

I'm hopeless with a sewing needle. I had very few textile lessons at school and my mum isn't a sewer either, so learning to sew sort of passed me by. I recently watched the Children In Need Great British Sewing Bee and though some of the celebrities taking part had never touched a sewing machine in their life, they did ok. I think the Great British Sewing Bee programmes are really inspirational and make you want to have a go yourself.

I still have this Ladybird book from my childhood all about sewing.

I know I attempted this simple needle case as my mum still has it.

Eleanor developed an interest in sewing at an early age. I wanted to nurture this interest as I think it's such a good skill to have. We bought her a sewing machine one Christmas and she chose Textiles as one of her options at school and subsequently took a GCSE in it.

I thought I might borrow Eleanor's sewing machine and have a go at teaching myself to use it. I came across My First Sewing Machine Book by Emma Hardy and thought this might help. I know it's a children's book but I often find that they explain things in simple terms which makes it much easier to understand. It's also got some great, easy projects in it.

There's information on techniques, templates for various projects in the back of the book and each project comes with step by step instructions.

There's some very easy projects like these cute Pin-On Popsicles, but harder projects too for when you've learnt the basics.

Each project is grouped in to four different chapters:- Clothes and Accessories, Bags and Cases, Things For Your Room and Toys and Games.

There's 35 projects in all, I'm sure that even I'll manage to find something I can make, and as I build up the skills, I'll be able to move on to something a little more difficult.

I've never touched a sewing machine since I was at school, and I wasn't very successful with it then, so it's definitely going to be a steep learning curve.

I've got some Christmas knitting projects on the go at the moment but I aim to get started in the new year. Who knows, I may want my own machine once I get going.