Learn To Sew: Free Sewing Course For Beginners

This free online sewing course for beginners was created for those who would like to learn to sew! With this free introduction to sewing course, you can learn how to sew in your own home, working through the sewing lessons in your own time.

You’ll be learning how to sew using a sewing machine, and at the end you’ll be able to make simple clothes for yourself and other! There’s no pressure, no cost, and you’ll work through the lessons in order to gradually build up your basic sewing skills.

By the end of this free introduction to sewing course, you’ll be able to follow a simple sewing pattern, sew your own clothes and even sew easy projects for your home too!

And you don’t even need to log in anywhere – just follow the links at the bottom of each article to move onto the next lesson! Win!

Let’s start with some questions people usually ask when it comes to learning to sew!

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. This means that I may receive a fee at no extra cost to you if you purchase a recommended product.

Is Sewing Hard?

Sewing isn’t ‘hard’, but it isn’t easy either. Like anything, if you put the time in to practise the skills, you’ll learn and so will find it easier.

There are some sewing construction techniques that are trickier to learn, but those will come much later in the course, so you do not need to worry about learning complicated sewing techniques until you’re ready! Promise!

Can You Learn Sewing On Your Own?

Yes. If you want to learn to sew on your own, this free online sewing course is perfect for you. Sometimes it is nice to have others around when we’re learning sewing, so that we can check that we’re doing things right.

But, it isn’t necessary, and this beginners sewing course is designed to help you learn to sew on your own at home!

I have a large selection of free sewing videos on my Youtube channel that will help you to learn to sew with confidence!

What Do I Need To Learn To Sew?

To get the best out of this course, there are certain things you need to learn to sew. These are mostly tools – and I’ll be providing in depth lessons on those so that you do not need to worry about how to use fill a bobbin, or sew a straight line.

This course will provide a checklist of the things you need to be able to sew, as well as guidance on how to use your sewing tools!

What Is The Best Sewing Machine For A Beginner?

I firmly believe that the best sewing machine for a beginner is one that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but does allow room for growth.

I started off learning on both my Ma’s and my Gran’s very old and clunky hand turned sewing machines! They were good enough for my Ma and my Gran, and they did the job.

When I bought my first sewing machine, I made sure to get a very basic Brother machine so that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

Today’s machines have so many buttons and dials, I feel certain that any sewing beginner taking a look at them will freak out at how complex a sewing machine can appear!

So, for the purpose of learning, I recommend that you look at buying a used sewing machine your local charity shops / thrift stores or  at online marketplaces such as ebay or Facebook to pick up a used machine for a minimal financial investment!

Once you have some sewing skills, and you know it is a hobby that you want to continue with, I recommend the Bernina 1008 which is a solid mechanical machine that I use and love but there are other sewing machines for beginners that work well!

Yes, it’s what I use to this day despite my occasional lusting over other more advanced and complex machines!

Is It Hard To Learn To Sew With A Machine?

It isn’t hard to learn to sew with a machine. It does take some practice, because you will be manoeuvering fabric under a moving needle, whilst controlling the speed of the needle with your foot.

Sewing is a little like driving a car in that respect, so if you have driven before, you won’t necessarily find it as daunting to start using a sewing machine.

The lessons in this free learn to sew course will guide you through understanding your machine – and the different parts of your sewing machine – to sewing different stitches and seams, until you feel more comfortable and confident to try more advanced techniques.

What Supplies Does A Beginner Sewer Need?

I will be providing a very extensive overview of all the sewing supplies you will need (and possibly want!) in the next lesson – sewing tools and equipment – but as a complete beginning sewer, all you really need to get started is a way to sew (sewing machine or hand sewing needles), something to sew (cotton fabric is the best to learn with!), a fabric cutting tool (covered extensively in lesson 3!) and thread.

Everything else beyond this is extra when you’re just learning to sew. Yes, the added tools and supplies for your sewing kit will help, but when you are just learning the very basic sewing skills, these four items will work as a great starting point!

How Do You Do Basic Sewing?

Sewing is the joining of fabric pieces using thread to hold them together. To do basic sewing, we can either use a sewing machine which has two threads – a top thread and a bottom thread – or we can sew by hand with hand sewing needles, and just one thread!

The threaded needle on the machine moves through the fabric to ‘catch’ the second thread held in the bobbin underneath, and this locks together to form a stitch. It makes for a strong stitchline!

When sewing with a hand sewing needle, we have only one line of thread, and so we have to be more considered in the stitch that we use. A running stitch with one line of thread is not so strong as a back stitch.

We’ll cover these stitch types properly in lesson 8!

What Do You Need To Sew Clothes?

Sewing clothes is a little bit trickier than sewing something simple for the home and so extra tools can be used to make sewing clothes a little easier.

These tools will be covered in the next lesson: sewing tools and equipment!

If you are excited at the thought of learning how to sew clothes at home – or even some simple home decor sewing projects for that matter! – then this learn to sew online course is perfect for you.

You will learn so much via the step by step sewing tutorials I will be sharing with you, and you can practise your new skills on other recommended sewing projects for beginners too, taking your skills to the next level.

You might also want to read the epic 18 step sewing guide I created, which covers how to sew clothes.

What’s Next In The Learn To Sew Course?

Ready for the next lesson in this free learn to sew course? Pop to this lesson ‘Sewing Tools and Equipment.

If you’ve already seen that lesson, pop over to this post to read my 18 step sewing guide which will teach you the right order to sew your own clothes!

Share it out to others!