Random I know. This is what you do when
you're bored at home. First off, don't make your side seams look all janky on
your t-shirts with mismatched thread like I used to do. The struggle
was real! I've got eight sewing tips for beginners or for people who were just
getting into tailoring their own clothes that are gonna save you so much time and
frustration. I'm SD, I don't like long intros though let's uh let's do
this. Cut your threads when you are finished sewing a new stitch. I have a
dress shirt from like five years ago, it was it was one of the very first dress
shirts that I've ever tailored myself. It's this one right here. And yeah, it
still has the threads dangling on it. I've worn this shirt like seven hundred
times. I've worn it to weddings, I've worn it on dates all that kind of stuff. I
love it I got it at JC Penney's it was like 20 bucks. But does little little
does anybody know, you got all these like dangly threads down here. I didn't even
cut these off! I left the straight stitch, I left the zigzag stitch on there. Like
it would have taken me two seconds to do. And it's funny because after kind of
like looking into it and doing some doing a little bit more digging, I
realized this used to be kind of a prevalent problem. Cause did the same
thing on this shirt right here. I have one strand on this one. Let me just focus
okay there we go. I have one strand on this one in it why? Why? I cut off some of
them but I didn't cut off all of them. So don't be SD, cut off those threads from
that straight stitch in that zig zag stitch. It just looks so unprofessional.
Yeah nobody's gonna notice in a million years but you will. Oh and quick question
you're you're using the right scissors right? As in you're not using some random
pair of utility scissors you uh, you found in your drawer? Yeah? Okay good. Your
thread! Yes! Pull it properly out of your machine! Now
when you want to change the color of your thread or use a different type of
thread make sure that you pull that thread, yeah you got you got to pull it
out of your machine the right way. You want to make sure that you cut it at the
top, and then pull it out. Why? Well because if you're like me, you ended up
pulling that thread up through the needle which ends up causing a whole
bunch of lint. And it's kind of like it's kind of like, you know your dryer
lint trap. Not the end of the world if you forget once or twice but if you keep
doing that it can kind of add up and it can cause a fire. No your sewing machines
not gonna catch fire if all that lint starts to accumulate but it will break
it. That's not true it's totally gonna catch fire from all those lit AF dress
shirts you're gonna end up tailoring. I think I'm way too old to say lit AF but
meh, is what it is. You ready for this one? Pay attention to your take-up lever. Your
take-up lever is that little hook inside of your machine and it can kind of hide
on you if you don't know that it's there. Or if you don't know where to look. And
you might be blaming your bobbin for all that all that bunching you have going on
underneath your garment but it's actually not your bobbins fault. This one
is so common and I still make this mistake myself on a semi-regular basis.
Make sure you actually put your thread through the take-up lever. Man I could
not tell you the number of times I have tailored something and my machine starts
struggling and grinding. And so I go what I do is I go when I check the bobbin 56
times and I replaced it 56 times. Only to then realize that it was never my thread
in the first place. It was my take-up lever. Did that and then it was smooth
sailing. This is what you're gonna find on more higher-end machine so we
got our crank over here, let's let's take a look at this take up lever. Oh wait,
where is it where is it at though? Where it at doe. Okay there it is, but see
notice that what doesn't come up nearly as high as it does on the Necchi and you
might look at it and be like "oh my Gosh what did I do? Did I like break it take
it out of the box what's going on?" No no no no no, just relax. This is this is how
these ones work. So, you got your thread, you're running it over here like you
normally would. Lalalalala. And then you come down this way. And then you thread
it up there. And you come up here but whoa whoa here's where the biggest
difference is! You see that little piece of plastic in there? It actually does, it
loops it onto that little hook there automatically for you! You just kind of
push it and then it's on there! And then you come down. So you don't ever have to
worry about not putting your thread on there, and then messing up down here.
You're sitting there messing with your bobbin like "what's going on why am I not
stitching properly?" 90% of all sewing issues can be solved by checking your
take-up lever. And 56% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Always always always and I mean always use a back stitch. When
you are sewing a straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch, it is incredibly strong
and durable in fact it's just as strong as the stitch was when you bought it. But
it's only as strong as its weakest link which is the beginning in the end of
your stitch. You my friend you want to make sure you lock in that stitch
properly by holding down your back stitch lever for one maybe two seconds
to nice and make it down nice and locked in. If you drop the ball on that step
what could end up happening is your stitch can actually unravel and it's
most likely gonna happen at the most random time ever. Like when you're at
work giving a presentation in that DIY tailored dress shirt that you're wearing. Yeah that's, that's awkward. This one is quite near and dear to my heart, buy the machine that you
can afford the first time. It's near and dear to my heart because yo I
TOTALLY get it, I completely understand. I'm the type of
person where I would rather buy something that's like relatively
inexpensive or like the the medium level. I'd rather buy that thing multiple times
instead of buy a more expensive version of that particular thing once. Buying a
cheap sewing machine is totally fine! That's not what I'm saying at all. But
what's gonna end up happening is you're going to develop an addiction you just
are. And you're gonna end up outgrowing that cheaper sewing machine WAY faster
than you realize you're going to. As in like, you're gonna use it for a month. And
then you're gonna be like "why didn't I just drop a little bit more coin on an
expensive machine". I've got a Necchi FA-16 which is great but it kind of sort of
struggles on thicker materials. It can do them but it's it ain't happy about it.
Ends up kind of going ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG EHHH- The difference between this machine and
the Necchi FA-16 that I've been using for a number of years. It's completely
night and day, they're actually relatively close in price. I mean they're
close together. And this thing? Oh my Gosh this thing eats through anything! This
thing glides through anything that I've thrown at it like butter. So if you're in
the market for a new machine you're thinking about getting a good one just
get this. Because this is an example, I in the beginning I never would have paid
for something like this. I would have been like "no that's way too expensive
I'd rather just go find a used sewing machine for like 40 dollars". And I would
have got frustrated in the beginning. And I would have just said "no tailoring is
stupid! It's way too hard!" Well no, it's not hard. It's just that I didn't get the
proper machine that I should have got from the beginning. So I would have swore
it off completely. You don't need anything fancy. It doesn't have to be
computerized nor does it have to have a variety of different stitches. On this
channel we usually only do two stitches. One of which is actually optional
sometimes. A straight stitch, and a zig-zag stitch. So you want to look for
and find a machine that can do both of those stitches. Which pretty much all of
them can and then you're good! Remember that take-up lever that we were talking
about a couple of minutes ago yeah before you start sewing make sure that
it's all the way at the top! When it is at the top that means that your needle
is at its highest point too. Which means that when you start sewing your thread?
It's way less likely to come out when do you start. I still forget that one from
time to time as in when I'm making tutorial videos to put on YouTube on how
to put darts in a dress shirt. So yeah that that was fun. Funny thing is is you
wouldn't have even noticed it had I not pointed it out. And now you're gonna go
back and watch that video and be like "oh yeah he did make that mistake!" Again
wait till the end cuz watch time. There is a handle or a dial or a crank on your
machine that actually controls the needle when you spin it. Now, you want to
make sure you do the right thing with it. What's that you might ask? Well you want
to make sure that you turn it the right way which is always always towards
you. Not the wrong way which is away from you. It is not good for your machine if
you turn it the wrong way it's kind of like um, it's kind of like the gears or
the mechanisms in your car. The transmission in my 2011 Chevy Cruze
controls my car and makes it go forward. This is kind of an ironic analogy since
my transmission is slipping. Now those same gears in my transmission
will make my car go in reverse just fine but! Not for long periods of time. It's
it's not really a fan of that. It's gonna end up burning out my transmission after a
while which is already burning out as it is I guess. Well it's the same with your
sewing machine! You can turn that dial the wrong way every once in a while but
it's not really a habit that you want to develop. Because the next thing you know
times gonna go on you've been doing it for a while and then you end up breaking
that expensive sewing machine. Change your needle way more often than you
think! They do not last forever and in fact they don't really last that long at
all. The usual professional rule of thumb is you want to change your sewing
machine needle every eight hours. But in my mind it's like who actually you know
sets a timer for eight hours when they're sewing? No what's weird! You're a
weirdo if you do that! So instead this is my go to ask yourself one question and
one question only. Did you go on a tailoring binge? Yeah? Did you spend your
Sunday afternoon tailoring three dress shirts, five pairs of chinos and two
pairs of jeans? Yeah? Mmm, then change your needle. Universal needles are your usual
go-to and yo you can get those things at Walmart for like $4 for a pack of six. I
would say try JoAnne Fabrics too but A they're closed right now and B not
really a huge fan of that place had kind of a bad experience. But that being said
yeah Walmart actually has a lot of different pretty good sewing accessories
and no this is not some awkward segue into a sponsorship. I've gotten the
majority of my accessories there. Now they end up selling denim needles, they
sell stretch needles, they sell a universal needle, they sell all kinds of
thread. Like the sky is the limit! So if you're just getting started and you're
kind of intimidated and you want to just like dive into it just kind of sprinkle
yourself in and you want to make any sense but go check out that place. So
you're probably wondering why there was such a giant shift in tone and color and
sounds and all that. Here's what happened. I'm editing this video that you're
watching currently right now. And hands down the worst possible thing could have
happened. Well one of the worst possible things could have happened. I got
everything done. I got all my sound edited. Got my sound effects put in there.
Music. Everything. And I'm finished and it's ten minutes and three seconds! Now
the reason why I despise that number with the passion is because anybody and
everybody knows that if you see a video that's ten minutes and
three seconds or ten minutes and thirty seconds or whatever it is? That basically
just means if they took a they took a topic that's like two or three minutes
long and just stretched it out to ten minutes. Now don't get me wrong! Mid-roll
ads are great! I think they're fantastic! This video very well might have a
mid-roll ad on it. But they have their place. Mid-roll ads should be put on a
video when the video is purposely or not purposely, when it's actually relevant to
being the length that it is. To give you an example I search on YouTube just like
everybody else does. And I will not watch a video that's ten minutes and whatever
seconds. If I see a video of that is seven or eight minutes I'll watch that
video. Or if it's let's say 13 14 or 15 minutes? I'll watch that video too but if
it's 10 minutes and anywhere around there at all? Absolutely not! I'm gonna
keep scrolling and I'm gonna find something else. So then I was presented
with the problem of okay well I already cut everything that I possibly can out.
Otherwise if I cut anything else out I'm gonna lose a bunch of context. So what do
I do? Well, I'm gonna take this opportunity to
say thank you! Because I just checked uh I just checked my YouTube studio a
couple minutes ago when we hit eighty thousand subscribers a few minutes ago.
And that I think is just dope! Turns out that a lot of other people just like me
hate wearing baggy clothes! And they now realize that there's an easy fix for
that! Just learn how to use a sewing machine. I still get a ton of push back
and I get made fun of all the time by my friends, or people that I know or used to
work with. But, jokes on them! How many people in Ukraine or Germany or Idaho or
Indiana or Canada watched all their videos? Oh! Oh that's right!
Nobody did. And now that you were all set up to go on a banging tailoring binge
let's uh, let's go learn your sewing machine huh? Let's go do that! SD out, see ya!
