My Favourite Sewing Resources on the Internet
Hello hello!
This is my 1 year anniversary on Instagram, and I wanted to celebrate by giving back to this wonderful community. Whenever I mention the fact that I’m a self taught sewist, I get tons of questions about the resources I used to teach myself how to sew and how to make clothes. Well, I have been working on compiling a list of my favourite resources before I even started this blog, and I’m happy to announce that it’s finally here!
So What Is This List?
Before we begin, I would like to clarify the nature of the following list of resources: This is not meant to be a comprehensive and exhaustive list of all the good sewing related content on the Internet, it is merely what I personally found useful when I began sewing and what I turn to now when I’m looking for guidance. View it as one sewist’s trajectory through the vast world of sewing related content on the Internet, and not as a set list of resources that will teach you how to sew from beginning to end. My personal philosophy when it comes to learning new stuff is to start with the most obvious place to look and move my way up. So, if I don’t know how to implement a certain technique or if I’m feeling lost on how to construct a certain part of a garment, I just start by googling and searching them on YouTube. More often than not I will find either a blog post or a video tutorial on the confusing part and will move on. Long story short: don’t underestimate the power of googling stufff!
Alright, enough of my introductory rambling, let’s get into it!
YouTube Videos to Help With Construction & Finishing Techniques
Diane Deziel has an incredible YouTube channel full of extremely helpful videos focusing on patternmaking and construction techniques. She is always the first person I turn to when I’m looking to learn how to construct certain parts of a garment in an easy and effective way. Here are the videos I frequently reference:
If you’re scared of zip flies and want to construct one quickly and easily, this is the video that taught me how to do it. I will say that it’s sort of a shortcut in that it comes together super quickly (in just 4 seams!) but it doesn’t produce the cleanest or sturdiest insides. I still use this method if I’m making a toile of trousers with a zip fly closure, and I think it’s good for beginners since it demystifies the whole process :) She also has a video on a slightly more advanced method, but I know that many people use this tutorial as their first and have great success with it. It’s not my current favourite method, (more on that later) but it’s a good one for sure.
If you want to learn how to sew welt pockets, I will direct you towards these three videos:
When I got stuck on how to assemble a neat tailored collar, this is the video that came to my rescue!
She has many, many more videos on her channel, from how to sew a shawl collar to how to sewing lapped zippers, but these are the ones that I personally reference. I would highly recommend searching for “diane deziel + [insert what you’re trying to sew]” if you’re stuck on a part of a project!
Aneka from Made to Sew is another great teacher on YouTube who has an excellent channel full of incredible content. If you are just beginning, I would highly recommend you just watch her Sewing for Beginner series all the way through! Here are some of my favourite videos from her:
Professor Pincushion is another one of those YouTube Channels that is overflowing with helpful tutorials. Their videos cover a wide range of topics from how to do different types of stitches to how to construct various elements of garments. Here are some of my favourites:
Marika from Enchanted Rose Costumes has a great video on 10 seam finishes you can use if you don’t own / don’t want to use an overlocker. She covers everything from pinked edges and zigzag stitches to flat felled seams and Hong Kong finishes!
Laurie Kurutz’s YouTube channel came to my rescue when I was rather confused about how to padstitch the lapels of my cropped blazer and coat! I believe she is a theatrical costuming teacher and has a number of videos on how a tailored jacket is constructed. She is an excellent teacher and I love her pace and style of explanation.
Here’s a link to her padstitching tutorial, but make sure to check out her other videos if you’re interested in learning how to canvas the front of a jacket, or how to assemble the collar.
MadeByAya is another great channel on garment making: in her videos she usually walks the viewer through how she constructs garments in a simple and effective way, and she was the person who taught me how to do slanted slash pockets on trousers!
Keiko Olsson’s channel is more focused on accessory making but I just love the way she does things. Her videos are really nicely filmed, and watching her sew things is such an enjoyable experience. Her tutorial on how to sew a 3D face mask is my go to for mask making, and that’s also the video from which I picked up the tip about pressing the seam allowances in for getting sharp corners.
Bernadette Banner is a magical human being who is primarily interested in recreating historical garments using original practice. Not only are her videos incredibly pleasing to the eye and fun to watch, but I also picked up lots of great tips from them. She also has a few more tutorial-like videos:
Sew Alongs & Pattern Instructions
I find sew alongs for specific patterns to be surprisingly helpful for sewists who are just starting out, since they offer sort of a virtual sewing experience where you get to see how a certain type of garment comes together! They are also a great place to learn different construction techniques, since different pattern designers favour different techniques. I often read through the sew alongs of patterns that I don’t own and don’t intend to purchase, just to absorb the knowledge they contain. Here are a few of my very very favourite sew alongs:
Great for learning how to sew a stand collar, cuffs, button plackets, sleeve plackets and that famous 90 degree angle on the shoulder!
Dawn / Ash Jeans by Megan Nielsen
I found it extremely helpful when I was clueless about how to make pants. Great for learning how to sew jeans pockets (or slanted pockets since they are basically the same thing), waistband, flat felled seams and everything else that comes with making jeans!
Cornell Shirt by Elbe Textiles
This isn’t a full sew along, but it’s a great tutorial for sewing the sleeve plackets on the Cornell shirt.
The entire tutorials section of Closet Core Patterns
Shirt collars, sewing with bias binding, lapped zippers and so, so much more!
My all time favourite front fly construction method comes from the instructions of the Deer and Doe Acajou Pants! If you don’t own that pattern, Closet Core Patterns has a photo tutorial on sewing a fly front zipper on trousers that includes pocket stays and it’s essentially the same method. If you don’t want the pocket stays, they have this tutorial on the Ginger jeans without the pocket stays.
Instagram Accounts
I have learned so much from following certain accounts on Instagram, the community is full of people who are extremely generous with their time & energy and who are so willing to share their knowledge with others. Some of these lovely people have ways you can support them (via patreon, kofi, paypal etc.) so if you find their content helpful, please consider supporting them. This is by no means a comprehensive list and I’m certain that I’m forgetting some key people, but I think it’s a good starting point. I’ll update this list whenever I can think of someone else!
Grace from @wzrdreams is a technical designer and she often does pattern analyses over on her stories. Even if I’m not interested in the specific pattern she’s making I make sure to watch all her stories because I find her way of approaching a new pattern and making it fit her body so interesting and helpful! Also she’s super cool and an absolute joy to watch.
Michele from @winmichele is another wonderful sewist who taught me so many good habits like blocking fabric before cutting it or measuring key points on a paper pattern before even making a toile. She has a blog and a YouTube channel in addition to her Instagram account where she often shares her process. She was also the person who taught me (and a majority of the community) how to use an L shaped ruler to help fit the crotch of pants but at the time of writing this blog post, she is working on an update to her original blog post / videos on the matter, so they aren’t available. I will make sure to update this post when she puts them back up!
Rachael from @minimalistmachinist has an absolute goldmine of information on all sorts of sewing related topics: from community sourced mind blowing sewing tips to her solo fitting processes on many different patterns, her highlights are just full of useful and interesting bits of knowledge.
Julia from @juliabobbin is a hand sewing and tailoring goddess! I would highly recommend taking a look at her mini tutorials on hand sewn buttonholes and padstitching, as well as her process highlights on her gorgeous jackets and vests and suits!
Aneka from @madetosew made an appearance on the YouTube section of this blog post, but she also has an amazing Instagram account! On it she shares bite sized versions of her video tutorials and a plethora of tips on sewing and fitting.
Bird from @birdy_sew_obsessed is a great person to check out if you’re curious about how rather complicated garments like leather jackets, winter coats or aviator jackets are constructed! She generously shares her entire process on her stories while making her beautiful clothes, and I’ve learned so much from just following along her stories.
Shelley from @m_o_l_l_y_m_o_l_l_y often shares ingenious little tips about construction on her stories, like “lubing” your elastic by rounding off the corners before inserting it into a waistband!
Ruth from @ithacamaven has been posting stories about pants-fitting for a while (all saved under highlights) and they are so interesting! I would highly suggest checking them out if you’re trying to solo-fit pants!
Craftsy
Up until this point, all the resources I mentioned are free, and I debated about including this section on Craftsy but ultimately decided to tack it on to the end. Craftsy is a learning platform with tons of courses on sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting and more. From what I can tell, it changed ownerships (and names) a couple of times and it’s not as user friendly of a platform as say Skillshare. However, it has some truly excellent courses tucked in there, so I wanted to briefly mention some of my favourites. Two quick notes before I get started: 1. I’m in no way affiliated with Craftsy. 2. If you’re interested in getting a subscription, I would highly, highly recommend following them on Instagram and waiting for one of their seemingly never ending promotions. They currently have a deal where you can get a full year’s membership for 3 US dollars, and they do this sort of deal quite often.
I love the teaching style of David Page Coffin! He currently has two classes on shirtmaking and pants construction and they are both golden!
I also really enjoyed Kenneth D. King’s class on cloning your favourite pair of jeans. The method he uses can be applied to lots of different cases and I think it’s worth it to take a look at.
Peter Lappin’s class on how to sew a camp shirt is a super fun watch and it’s packed full of helpful tips for sewing a nice and clean camp collar shirt!
While I haven’t fully made my way through them, Suzy Furrer’s many classes on patternmaking are incredible!