Machine Sewing Basics | Leisure Learning | UNB Art Centre | UNB

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College of Extended Learning

Machine Sewing Basics

If you are a beginner enthusiastic sewer, this is the course for you. This course will guide you from the very beginning of your sewing journey, starting with the first steps of sewing machine operation.

At the end of five weeks, you’ll be able to confidently operate a sewing machine to alter your clothing, do basic repairs and make simple custom pieces. The important thing to remember going into this course is that mistakes are your best tool for learning.

Materials:

  • Something to carry your sewing kit in
  • Sewing kit:
    • Sewing needles
    • Fabric scissors
    • Snips (small scissors for snipping thread)
    • Thimble (optional but recommended)
    • Cotton fabric (any kind you like, could be an old sheet, factory cotton, or fun print)
    • Thread
    • Straight pins or clips as you prefer
    • Pencil
    • Sewing ruler (long, wide, see through)
    • Tailor’s chalk/wax
    • Seam ripper
  • Sewing machine
  • Bobbins
  • Small flathead screwdriver (usually comes with sewing machine)
  • Regular presser foot

Week 1:Preparation: Threading the machine, loading a bobbin, changing the needle, changing the presser foot.
Fundamentals of stitching: Sewing straight lines, sewing curved lines.

Week 2: Fundamentals of alterations: Pinning fabric, sewing hems, seams and darts.

Week 3: Making adjustments: Removing stitches, adding fabric.
Quality: Finishing raw edges.

Week 4: Fundamentals of repairs: Repairing holes and adding buttons.

Week 5: Projects: Work in pairs to do alterations, how to follow a pattern.

Fall term

Mondays, Nov. 18 to Dec. 16 (5 weeks)
6 - 8 p.m.
UNB Fredericton
9 Bailey Drive, Memorial Hall, Room 26
$130 (+ HST)

Register now

Winter term

Mondays, March 17 to April 14 (5 weeks)
6 - 8 p.m.
UNB Fredericton
9 Bailey Drive, Memorial Hall, Room 26
$130 (+ HST)

Registration opens Oct. 18.

About the instructor

Dana-Lynn Farrell has been sewing since childhood, beginning with creating dresses for her Barbie dolls with the help of her grandmother and learning how to read a sewing pattern from her aunt. Passionate about creating costumes, she often wore her creations on stage in musicals and operas, eventually doing cosplay as well.

In her twenties, Dana-Lynn began working as a seamstress full time, accepting a job at lululemon in Halifax doing repairs and alterations, and opening a small studio for her own clients, doing repairs, alterations and custom pieces.

In 2020 she made masks of various sizes to accommodate beards, large chins, small chins and a special kind of mask for singers. Though she no longer works as a seamstress, she continues to enjoy sewing as a hobby, occasionally making pieces for friends and family.