Top15+ Strategies To Effectively Sew Like A Professional

I really enjoy sewing. In the beginning, sewing was a necessity because I had to do it myself if I wanted decent clothes. However, it is now a pleasure and my lifelong interest.

And as with any lifelong profession, I’ve picked up a few tricks that make stitching quicker, easier, and give you more time to enjoy the finished product.

I’m going to provide you some useful sewing advice in this post on how to sew professionally, quickly, effectively, and attractively.

The following are 20 strategies to effectively sew like a professional:

1. Set up your sewing area and make it as cozy and spotless as you can. To save time switching between them, place a serger and a sewing machine close to one another.

Keep your sewing table next to your ironing board. Keep everything organized and simple to find. Take everything you know you won’t need, such as books, magazines, toys, and other items that have no influence on the process, off of the workstation.

If everything is placed close enough together, a mobile swivel chair can be quite helpful. If your floor is concrete or hardwood, it can be covered with a plastic mat (or any other cover that allows the chair to roll).

It saves a tremendous amount of time and effort to not have to move 20 times in the course of 15 minutes.

I also have two organization guidelines for sewing rooms on my website: IKEA sewing room ideas and Small sewing room ideas.

Building a sewing room with Ikea’s modular furniture is feasible, it offers a ton of bespoke space, you can arrange it whatever you like and customize it to the area, and it won’t break the bank. only an arm (ha-ha).

2. Gather all the materials you’ll need before beginning your project, including fabric, fabric interfacing, the pattern, thread, needles, zippers, buttons, and other necessities. Put everything in a basket or a Ziploc bag.

Using a needle book to store your needles deserves special mention. Instead than rummaging through a drawer or box to find a needle, it is much simpler to choose one from such a book.

This is where my article DIY Needle Book can be helpful.

3. Maintain good lighting in your sewing area. You will make mistakes if your vision is poor, and fixing them takes a lot of time. I have a very helpful guide called “Sewing Room Lighting Ideas” that might be of value to you.

4. Leave your iPad or smartphone in the adjacent room. You won’t be tempted to check your emails or Facebook updates, watch a funny video, or read the news if you don’t see them.

5. Keep a little trash can underneath your sewing table so that you can dispose of all the loose threads and leftover fabric there and spend less time cleaning up after stitching.

6. Consolidate related stitching tasks into one operation. If you started cutting the fabric, do it all at once. Don’t put off interfacing or cutting minor details, for instance. You are typically told exactly how many pieces you need to cut in sewing instructions.

Then, before beginning to sew, pin or bast anything you can. Then, before pressing, take a seat and sew as many seams as you can. Next, press everything before reassembling the components, etc.

Keeping in mind that it will likely deviate from the sewing instructions that came with your pattern, keep in mind that this arrangement will reduce movement between sewing chores while still making the sewing process obvious.

7. Use the thread (or threads) you’ll be using for the project to wind enough bobbins. You will stitch much more slowly if the bobbin thread is finished while you are doing so.

Alternately, you might use pre-wound bobbins. Initially only available in white and black, these bobbins have recently begun to appear in a variety of colors. You might find my tutorial on “How to thread a bobbin correctly” useful.

8. Keep your sewing machine handbook nearby so you may immediately consult it if you have any questions.

9. If you’re using buttons for closures, make the buttonholes first, then sew the buttons on while indicating where they should go through the buttonholes.

10. Whenever you can, try to sew. For me, daily sewing for an hour is more satisfying and productive than many hours of continuous “heavy” weekend sewing.

11. Ensure that all of your sewing supplies, including your machines, are in good functioning condition. Are your sewing scissors, for instance, sharp? If not, cutting will be tedious and slow.

Purchase a serger. It will quickly and expertly polish all of your rough edges while saving you a ton of time. You must cut the fabric closely to the stitching if you want to fix raw edges with zigzag stitches on a conventional sewing machine. This takes time.

Additionally, you can overlock and sew simultaneously using a serger. Additionally, if you want to stitch knit fabric and maintain elastic seams, sergers are a need.

13. Acquire knowledge of various sewing machine presser feet. They are readily available right now in abundance and significantly speed up sewing.

14. Use fabric glue to rapidly affix appliques, trimmings, ribbons, and other embellishments to a cloth. Before you sew them permanently, it holds them quite securely.

Use pinking shears, please. They can be used in place of serger or zigzag stitches to swiftly finish raw edges.

However, they can also be utilized to quickly cut notches. To keep curved hems and edges flat and even and to reduce bulk within seams, we must cut tiny notches in the fabric every two inches while sewing a facing to a curved edge.

On the seam allowances, there are tiny triangles called notches that resemble Vs. Without those notches, you will have too much fabric in there jamming it up if you turn the facing right side out.

Normally, we would use small, sharp scissors to cut these notches in the fabric, but I have since learnt another way.

Cutting a lot of them at once while following the curving lines is a time-consuming task. Additionally, it’s very simple to cut past a notch unintentionally and ruin your stitches. However, using pinking shears is the simplest approach to cut notches.

16. Avoid “difficult” materials that are slick, flimsy, heavyweight, have a nap, or are too elastic. Fabrics having a loose weave fray more readily than those with a tight weave. Synthetic fabrics sometimes unravel more quickly than natural ones.

A personal observation, not the product of research, leads me to believe that wool is the fabric that is least likely to unravel, followed by linen, cotton, and then silk.

17. Steer clear of materials with stripes, checks, lines, and designs that include a recurring motif or pattern. However, fabrics with intriguing, non-repetitive prints are ideal for quick stitching because they hide your mistakes, which you will undoubtedly make.

18. Opt for a pattern with few design components. Clothes that are lovely and attractive are frequently simple. Do not give yourself difficult projects if you want to sew quickly.

19. If suitable, select loose-fitting styles that flatter any form. If so, you won’t spend time fitting it. But be cautious when picking a pattern, and avoid dressing up as someone else.

Check out my tutorial on how to make this off-shoulder dress, which I fashioned from incredibly thrilling silk and later reduced to create a tunic, for an example.

20. Pick a design that you’ve already used. If you enjoy the outfit you made using the template, you may quickly sew another one using other fabric and accents.

Alternately, you may make a top instead of a dress, shorts instead of pants, or alter the length of the arms, for example.

It is amazing how, even while using the same design, a change in fabric and embellishments can produce a completely different garment.

Conclusion

There are other more techniques for sewing more quickly, and they can vary depending on the project. However, if you employ all of the techniques I have discussed, you will sew more quickly in no time.

They are all fairly reasonable and easy to follow, therefore it is not difficult to understand them. Just keep practicing; the more you stitch, the quicker and better you get.