It doesn’t take much to get started with hand sewing: Once you’ve learned the basic stitches, there’s a lot you can do with very simple tools. However, gathering some helpful tips before you tackle your first stitches can make the next steps on your journey easier. This tutorial focuses on information that will help absolute beginners choose their supplies so they can start on the right foot, and then goes on to explain how to prepare the thread for sewing by hand. If you’re an experienced sewist already, I hope you might find a thing or two here that will improve your hand sewing experience.
Introducing Some Tools Specific to Hand Sewing
Whether you sew by hand or with a machine, many of the supplies you need are the same, including fabric shears, paper scissors, a tape measure, pins, marking tools, et cetera. However, there are some that are specific to hand sewing, and you may not be quite as familiar with those, so let’s get to know a few of them.
1. Hand Sewing Needles
At first glance, a sewing needle is a very simple thing, but a closer look reveals how many different types there are. Short, long, thin, thick, sharp, blunt… How do we choose which needle to use?
Quality matters: Even the best needles aren’t expensive, and they’ll make your hand sewing experience much more enjoyable. A variety pack can be a good choice as it allows you to experiment to find what you prefer but avoid cheap ones: As shown, some are poorly finished, and their rough, abrasive edges will shred your thread, your fabric, and your sanity.
Thickness: The needle has to create a space for the thread to slide smoothly through the fabric without being so big that it’ll distort the fabric or leave holes. As a general rule, a thinner needle will be a better choice to sew thin fabrics and thicker needles work well with coarser fabrics although there are exceptions. For example, some thick fabrics are so dense that a thin needle works best.
Length: It’s faster and easier to make small, precise stitches with short needles; those are also well suited for sewing techniques that are done one stitch at a time, like backstitch. A long needle is perfect when making longer stitches, or when you sew with running stitch (which lets you put several stitches on the needle before drawing the thread all the way through).
Tip style: Sharp needles are great for woven fabrics, whereas blunt needles (also called ballpoint needles) are the tool of choice for knit fabrics.
Those are general guidelines; your sewing style and preferences, which you’ll develop with practice, will also play a role. To help you make your final choice for any given project, use a bit of ‘cabbage’ (the fabric that’s left over after you have cut the pieces) from your project to practice the stitches you plan on using: in addition to being a good warm-up, this lets you test out various needles to find the best one for that specific fabric and stitch combination.
2. Thread
There are linen and silk threads marketed specifically for hand sewing, but using regular sewing machine thread from your local sewing store is perfectly fine too. Keep in mind, however, that when sewing by hand, the whole length of the thread is drawn through the fabric multiple times, which increases the abrasion it is subjected to. So, once again, getting the best quality you can will improve your experience and the durability of your finished project.
A common misconception is that it’s better to double your thread when sewing by hand. A single strand is sufficient to make strong and durable seams, and it’s better for the seam not to be stronger than the fabric anyway: Redoing a seam is easier than repairing torn fabric. With a single thread, it’s quick and easy to fix a stitch that’s not to your liking—get the needle off, unpick the stitch, and rethread your needle. Two strands keep the needle captive, which makes that simple fix harder than it needs to be.
3. A Third Hand
Manoeuvring the needle with one hand while the other holds the fabric, you may find yourself wishing for a third hand to hold the other end of your fabric taut as you work up a seam. In this video, Raven Ranson shares how much using a third hand reduced her hand fatigue and made it possible for her to sew for longer periods of time. She shows how she improvised one using a binder clip and a piece of string to determine whether she wanted to invest in a reproduction “sewing bird,” a device used as a third hand by sewists in the Victorian era. Pinning the fabric to a cushion or putting it between two dictionaries are other good solutions using common household objects.
When sewing outside, you can simply pin your project to your bag or to a ribbon that you can tie around anything that is handy, such as your leg or a tree.
4. Thimble
Wearing a thimble lets you sew with increased efficiency, precision, and comfort. Out of the many styles and materials available, find one that suits you and take the time to get comfortable using it; you won’t regret it.
Thimbles come in multiple sizes. Choose one that fits snugly on your finger; it should not fall off as you work with it. If you don’t already have a well-fitting thimble lying around, you can easily make a custom-fit one out of lightweight cardboard rescued from your recycling bin, following Louisa Owen Sonstroem’s video tutorial (at the bottom of the page).
I wear mine on the middle finger of my dominant hand and use its side to push the needle through the fabric; this is called the tailor’s technique. To see an example of it in action, you can check out the videos I’ve shared in the resources section of this article. But that’s not the only way to use a thimble; and it’s worth looking for other techniques if that one isn’t a good match for you.
5. A Small Cake of Beeswax
Treating your thread with beeswax makes it stronger and smoother, which helps it go through fabric more easily, reducing premature wear and tear due to abrasion. This is particularly important for sewists who like to use long lengths of thread. That treatment has at least two additional benefits: the thread becomes slightly less prone to tangling, and you’ll have an easier time threading your needle. Read on to learn how to do this.
Preparing the Thread
To avoid putting too much stress on the thread when you treat it, you don’t want your cake of beeswax to be too cold and hard, so you might want to warm it up a little in your hands, or—even simpler—tuck it in your pocket or put it on a sunny windowsill for a bit before treating your thread.
Take your cut thread and run it a couple of times across the cake of beeswax. (Don’t forget to also treat the end you were holding.)
Et voilà! You’re ready to thread your needle and start sewing.
Sewing tools photo by Josiane Richer dit Laflèche.
