Learn the essential sewing skills every beginner needs to get started with confidence. This category covers sewing fundamentals such as fabric types, tools and equipment, sewing terminology, cutting and pressing techniques, machine setup, and simple stitches. You’ll find step-by-step tutorials, practical tips, and troubleshooting advice designed to build strong foundations for garment sewing, pattern drafting, and DIY projects. Perfect for beginners and a helpful refresher for experienced sewists looking to master the basics and improve sewing accuracy and results.
Why Is My Hem Pointy at the Side Seams? If you have ever drafted or amended a sewing pattern you will know the pain of getting that weird looking jagged V shaped hem at the side seam. In my more than 10 years of pattern drafting experience, I made a few tops that had that […]
How to Eliminate a Pointy Side Seam (Why It Happens and How to Fix It) Read More »
Sewing a shirt can feel overwhelming when you look at all the individual steps separately. There are collars, sleeve plackets, cuffs, button stands, buttonholes, sleeves, hems and a surprising number of small details that all need to come together cleanly. When I first started sewing shirts from self-drafted patterns, I used to think the difficult
How to Sew a Shirt Step by Step: Complete Shirt Sewing Series for Beginners and Beyond Read More »
Learning how to attach sleeves to a shirt neatly can feel frustrating when pattern instructions leave you with puckered sleeve crowns, twisted sleeves, or uneven ease. I know because I dealt with all of it myself when I first started sewing clothes. Over time, I refined my process and developed three reliable methods for attaching
How to Attach Sleeves to Shirt (Three Step by Step Methods) Read More »
Sewing sleeve cuffs looks far more intimidating than it actually is. Once you understand the construction order, attaching shirt cuffs is a straightforward process that quickly becomes repetitive in the best way. In this tutorial, I will show you how to sew sleeve cuffs on a shirt step by step, including exactly how I prepare
How to Sew Sleeve Cuffs on a Shirt – Step by Step Beginner Tutorial Read More »
Sewing a sleeve placket can look intimidating, but once you understand the steps, it is a quick and repeatable process. In this tutorial, I will show you how to sew a sleeve placket on a shirt step by step, using a method I rely on to achieve clean, structured plackets with a professional finish. This
How to Sew Sleeve Placket – Step By Step Guide Read More »
The point where the collar stand meets the button stand is where most shirts either look clean and professional—or slightly off. In this tutorial, I will show you how to sew on a collar and attach a collar stand so that this transition is smooth and precise. I am a huge fan of classic shirt
How to Sew a Collar and Collar Stand (Step-by-Step Shirt Tutorial) Read More »
In this tutorial, you will learn how to transfer darts from a sewing pattern onto fabric and how to sew darts on a shirt with precision. This step-by-step method will help you achieve clean dart tips, smooth shaping, and a professional finish every time. This guide is part of my shirt drafting series and is
How to Sew Darts on a Shirt: Precise Marking, Transfer and Sewing Tutorial Read More »
In this post, I show you how to sew a grown-on shirt button stand step by step, using a method that creates a crisp, straight finish every time. This is the easiest type of button stand to sew and is the most commonly used method in commercial sewing patterns. Whenever I sew a shirt, I
How to Sew a Shirt Button Stand (Step-by-Step Guide) Read More »
To complete a classic shirt or shirt dress with long sleeves, you will need to draft a shirt sleeve cuff pattern. A shirt cuff finishes the sleeve opening, controls the wrist fit, and together with a sleeve placket allows the hand to pass through the sleeve comfortably. In this tutorial I show how to draft
How to Draft a Shirt Sleeve Cuff Pattern Read More »
Knowing how to draft a shirt collar pattern allows you to expand your handmade wardrobe to include well-fitting shirts and shirt dresses. In this step-by-step tutorial I show how to draft a shirt collar pattern that fits any collar stand, using a collar stand drafted from a basic bodice block. You can read more about the collar stand
How to Draft a Shirt Collar Pattern (Step-by-Step Tutorial) Read More »
