Sewing with a machine looks hard. Sewing with a machine seems magical and a little bit dangerous, too. If you follow the instructions in this book, you can learn how to safely and successfully use a sewing machine.
And once you know how to sew, you can make whatever you want using fabric, thread, and your sewing machine. All of the projects in this book were kid-tested by sewers between the ages 7 and 13.
You might already be familiar with a sewing machine. Maybe your grandmother has one that she uses to make clothes. Maybe your mom or dad has a sewing machine that is stored on a closet shelf or sits on its own table in your family’s craft room. Maybe they’ve let you operate the foot pedal while they guide the fabric under the needle. Or maybe no one else in your family has ever sewed at all. Whether you’ve inherited a sewing machine, just bought one, or are planning to start sewing soon, this book will help you become a careful, independent sewer. Use the step-by-step pictures and directions included with each project to learn how to safely use a sewing machine without any help from grown-ups.
Before you jump in and start a big sewing project, please read through this entire chapter. It will teach you so much that will make sewing any project easier. It includes twelve lessons that teach the basics of machine sewing, like how to identify the parts of a sewing machine, how to thread a machine and make a bobbin, and how to sew basic machine stitches. You can also refer back to these specific lessons as you make all the projects in this book.