9 BEST Time-Saving Sewing Tips & Hacks

hey everyone it's john from the last stitch sewing can take up quite a lot of time that is true but the good news is there are some really excellent time saving techniques that will also help you to make less mistakes sounds too good to be true well it's not so in today's video i want to share with you my nine favorite time saving techniques and the best part is that also absolutely stress free so without further ado let's start with tip number one now one big time waster when it comes to sewing is to localize things especially as once you get started sewing can be become really messy really fast so what i like to do is to organize my tools and notions before i start sewing so what i actually do very simple i just put these things like thread winded bobbins the needles i plan to use some other smaller notions i just put them in this little metal old candy basket it's very very simple if you have more larger tools i use a separate box for that as well just to make sure that it's very neatly organized and this little little thing can actually make a big difference especially once you get sewing for a bit you know how all of a sudden you're in this mountain of fabrics and paper and cut threads just a big big mess and talk about fine trying to find a needle in a haystack well if you are diligent about putting all the stuff that you are not using right now back in this little box you will not have these issues and speaking organization another tip that i highly recommend is to use some type of method to keep track of the pattern pieces so for instance sometimes it can be hard if you have two pattern pieces that are very similar for instance if you have an upper collar and an under collar they are separate pattern pieces but they look so similar so if you don't mark those initially you will have you have to go and you know locate the original pattern and measure and stuff like that and you get really like nervous did i do it right you waste so much time and energy trying to figure that out well it's an easy fix by using what i'm holding in my hand which is freezer tape this is what you put on plastic boxes to label what food is in when you put in the freezer it's very similar to masking tape and i know some people use masking tape instead another option is of course perhaps using those um what i call a washer tape any kind of tape that has a glue that will not re leave any trace on the fabric that's what you're opting for so what i do i just use this tape and for instance if i want to label the under color i just um you know perhaps right under like this on the pencil so there you go under and then i just put that on the fabric piece or the cut piece super easy another great way of using this type of labeling system is when you are dealing with fabrics that do have a right side and a wrong side but it's really hard to tell which is which especially i can give you an example if you are sewing dark jersey fabric now jersey fabric has a right side and a wrong side but if the fabric is dark and the light in your sewing space isn't that great well it can be really really difficult to tell the difference so what you should do then when you're cutting as soon as you're cutting the fabric out the piece is done you just again use your tape put an r for right side you put it on the fabric and then you're done super easy and it would just save so much time and grievous later on i can assure you that and why not use chalk you may ask well the problem with chalk is the fact that on many fabrics it tends to disappear when you're working with the the pieces so you'd always run a risk and especially on those slippery fabric that once you need to figure out which piece is which then the chalk is pretty much gone so that is why i prefer using the tape method another option is to use a sliver of regular white soap and do like a cross or write an or something like that on the fabric that will also stay put longer and i actually share that tip in another video which i highly recommend where i show my best tips for sewing with knits so you can try that out as well there are of course many other options as well please share in the comment section but finding some type of label system that doesn't ruin the fabric is easy to remove and will not disappear when you're working with it those should be the guides when it comes to using this label system now another challenge when it comes to organizing things is how to keep track of all the pattern pieces once you start sewing especially the smaller ones so what i like to do as soon as i've cut all the pieces i like to pin them either on an ironing board which is really helpful especially in the beginning if you're not doing much pressing i just pin the pieces together like the sleeves together the bodice pieces the collar pieces whatever piece i'm sewing i pin them together in a pairing on the ironing board if you have a dress dummy even better i like to place them on my dress dummy so then you can of course have easy access to your ironing board both these methods are really really easy and the benefit is of course because you're just using a pin and you're placing it on top of the the object that it also makes it very easy to move back and forth so that is also a method i really recommend when it comes to having that smooth workflow right where you don't have to shift through things you just pin them on or something remove them when you need it and then you pin it back again until you need them the next time easy peasy now my next tip is so simple i feel a little bit embarrassing even showing it but it actually is a big help and that is to wind two bobbins with the same color of thread before you start sewing now it saves time in two ways first of all you don't have to re-thread the machine halfway through when you run out of bobbin thread because a lot of project will actually require more than one bob in my experience especially if you do a lot of sewing on your regular sewing machine the second reason why i do recommend having two bobbins is if you're sewing a long sequence especially top stitching and you're a little bit unsure if the bobbin thread that you have will last the entire sequence you don't want to run the risk of having to re do everything because you run out of bobbin thread mid through it's such a annoyance right so in those cases we're a little bit unsure it's definitely much easier if you already have the wider thread you don't have to re-thread your machine everything just replace the bobbin with a fresh one and you can be assured that the thread will last all the way through so very simple tip but actually a really also effective tip sometimes you have to do a little bit more work up front to save time later on and a great example of this is making samples so when i so i always now make samples using the fabric i tend to use the stitches i plan to use and then i check for things such as stitch length tension settings if i'm using stretch fabric you know stretchability stretch properties like this for instance just to make sure that it actually is the way i have intended it to and that can save so much time later on so once you've figured out those settings you will have easy breeze later on no ripping no nothing i also recommend using samples if you're using fusible interfacing again do a sample just to make sure that the the interfacing and the fabric looks good together if you use interfacing stretch fabric that it stretches without breaking all that stuff is so important so that is why i highly recommend that you before you start sewing you put in those extra minutes just to test things out to make sure that you will not be disappointed later on if you have found a setting that you really like for instance for top stitching if you're happy with the stitch length and the tension settings why not write them down either in a physical notebook or use a computer document there are many ways of doing that and i would love to hear your favorite ways of documenting your settings because especially if you're going back and forth and you have to re-thread your machine for doing different things for instance when you're sewing jeans you will have to go between top stitching settings and regular seam settings if you have those settings easy to access you will not have to do samples again and again right because you've only done it once in the beginning and then you just use your notes to make sure that you're on track and you don't have to do everything over and over again and of course that would also help you save time if you're doing a similar project again so having those settings written down and what type of fabric you're using if you're using a serger of course differential feed settings tension setting perhaps presser foot pressure settings all those things will be absolutely super valuable if you're doing a similar product later on because you don't have to start from scratch because you already have so many things figured out so i highly recommend that you use some type of note system for your sewing now we talked so much about prep work but i guess you're curious now about what about sewing how can i make the sewing faster well now i'm going to share some really great tips for that too and one thing you can try is chain piecing now chain piecing is like an industrial inspired method where you're actually inserting pieces of the pieces of the pieces without stopping and cutting the thread so for instance if you're top stitching an opening of a pocket then you stitch the entire pocket for the first one then you just secure this stitch by going a little bit back and forth then just insert the next piece without cutting the thread without removing the first piece and then you stitch over that one as well and you repeat that process for any type of object that has the similar type of sewing this is for instance excellent when you're sewing jeans you can save so much time by using this chain piecing method you can also actually use it when you're interfacing i like to place several pieces that i'm interfacing you know if they have the same strip i just place the pieces next to each other and i have one long strip and i iron over that and then i just cut into separate pieces and if you have a serger this system is even easier because surgery can leave a chain of threads so you just sew the first piece then you stitch a chain and then you insert the next piece you stitch a chain insert the next piece so forth and so forth and then once you're done stitching together all the pieces then you cut it up so for instance i highly recommend that if you're sewing shoulder seams for instance on a garment using a serger you just stitch the first shoulder seam leave a chain and then you insert and you sew the second shoulder easy pc again and then another great way of saving time is to sew in batches and what that means is that you sew everything that requires the same type of settings and thread at the same time again an excellent method to use when you're sewing jeans and if you head over to my website thelonstitch.com you will see some great examples there on how you can but sew and another way where batch sewing is super helpful is when you are maybe doing two to three garments at the same time you can of course install the neckline just as one sequence and then you move on to the sleeves etc etc so bad showing can actually save a lot of time it can be i find a little bit boring if i do that too much but as i said as a principle batch sewing is super helpful and if you have any great tips how to match so please share in the comment section another tip to save time when it comes to sewing is to skip over casting now i say that with a big caveat right because of course you need to overcast a lot of edges to keep them from fraying but if the seam is being enclosed and what i mean by enclosed is that it's 100 covered so a good example for that would be a waistband on a pair of trousers on a skirt and another example would be a placket on a shirt a third example would be a color on a shirt all these things when you fold in the edges of the fabric and then you stitch over to secure them you will actually don't have to worry about fraying in 99 occasions now there are of course some exceptions to this rule but you will probably notice those fabrics those are the one that starts to disintegrate just before they leave the cutting table keep those overcasted i do recommend that but a regular type of woven fabrics and of course with knit fabric you don't have to overcast at all those skipping those is absolutely risk-free and will save you quite a bit of time so that's also a tip that i highly recommend to save time when you are sewing so these were my nine favorite time sewing tips and of course there are so many more which is why i also would love to know your favorites so share them in the comment section so we can learn from each other and figure out ways to optimizing our sewing workflow while also making less mistakes thank you so much for watching and of course check out my other videos on workflow and optimizing sewing links will of course be in the description section thank you so much for watching stay safe bye-bye

Channel: The Last Stitch

Views: 50,804

Rating: 4.9269605 out of 5

Keywords: Sewing tutorials, sewing techniques, dressmaking, sewing vlog, sewing vlogger, the last stitch, learn how to sew, sewing youtube channel, sewing tutorials for beginners, sewing tutorials for beginners youtube, sewing techniques for beginners, dressmaking tips and tricks, dressmaking tutorial, the last stitch blog, dressmaking tutorial for beginners, sew faster, sew fast sew easy, how to sew faster, sewing hacks, sewing tips and tricks, how to sew better, sewing vlogs

Id: W8F6OxkbYo8

Length: 13min 58sec (838 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021