 Hey guys, welcome back to week two of our beginner series. I hope you liked our sewing kit We shared with you last week today We have some patterns that we think would be really good for beginners and it's some of the first patterns that we ever sewed with So we'll get started sharing with you some things that are great to start with first up I have a pattern by collect This was probably my second thing I ever sewed Another collect pattern was my first collect is a really good job with their directions. They really the ones that are marked for beginners Really teach you how to do what the pattern needs you to do So for instance this one you have to insert a zipper she teaches you how to insert a zipper. So that's really helpful There's pictures tips It's pretty easy to fit because it's just an a-line so you don't have to worry too much about you know pencil skirt really fitting Correctly. So just get that waist Fitted and then it flares out from there. So you don't even need much Nope, no dark than that just the waistband She teaches you the trick on how to get those really nice corners that we talked about last week with you know poking out with your bamboo stick So this is a really great one. It doesn't take a whole lot of fabric either too So, you know, you don't know how it turns out then you didn't lose too much. Yeah, so that's the collect ginger cool And then next up is my first pattern that I use with knit fabric, which is always a scary first Very different than woven fabrics, but it's the Megan Nielsen Briar t-shirt It's really nice. I actually have a review on it. Yeah, remember a lace version. I did it's a nice pattern It's got a few different sleek lengths It's a high low ham and then Megan Nielsen does a really great job on her website with so long So she tells you how to do each step you can go to on her blog. You can see her so long She really teaches you how to do each step attaching the the neckband hemming So I really recommend yeah, and the thing with them so long says a lot of times in your patterns You're gonna have drawn illustrations and a so along uses Photos they take a picture of each step. So for some people the line drawings just don't They can't differentiate what they're looking at but in a picture of a of an actual garment being sewn They can't some people really prefer the pictures Yeah, so a lot of times even though the instructions are included in the pattern They'll do a so long too so that you could have either or that's really what really separates the indie pattern designers from the big four and The big four being McCall's butteric vogue and simplicity They just really do a great job of making sure that you are gonna have a successful garment at the end Yeah, so so along to really good Colette does not sew along necessarily, but they'll do tutorials on on different techniques The technique for inserting an invisible zipper from Colette is still the one that I use me to my learned on and it's the Technique that I still use today. Yeah, and her trick for the waistband, which you'll you'll see if you Use this pattern. Yeah, so when I use every time I do I spin with an invisible zipper Yeah, they do a really good job. Yeah, okay, so my first one is another indie pattern actually it's from Green Line studio Relatively new pattern for them. It's their willow tank dress It can be a shirt or a dress and I chose this because it is You know a sheath dress it doesn't have any waistband It doesn't have any fitting the same thing Abby was talking about with an a-line skirt This is basically an a-line dress So you just have to make sure that you get the bust line fitted and then Usually everything after that kind of just falls into place You will need to double check your measurements Especially if you have like a wider hip if your pear shaped or if your apple shaped and you're bigger in the middle You'll just need to double check those and make adjustments accordingly, but for the most part You're just yeah, it's really really easy to fit And it's really cute. I also chose this one because It's sleeveless and you know sewing sleeves for the first time can be a little bit intimidating So you can try a dress or a top without sleeves In this pattern, you'll learn how to sew darts, which I mean 95% of all the garments are gonna have darts whether it's bust darts where it's waistline darts back darts You'll you'll have you'll come across that a bunch and then you'll also learn how to finish off a neckline with bias binding Which is also something that you will use a lot If your garment isn't lined then you only have a couple more options and one of them is the bias binding And I think that they do a really good job of walking you through each step and teaching you how to sew this And it's just really cute and she has so long for most of her patterns. I'm sure there's one for the willow I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe check. Yeah, maybe those different patterns And I know on her website. She has tutorials on touching bias, so you need a little extra help Her website is full. Yeah, those pictures. Yeah, so this is a good one and then So this is actually the very first thing I ever sewed It is simplicity E1828 Again, it's a shift dress. It's just a straight a-line dress This one does have a seam across the chest here and then it gathers underneath that seam So it's a little interesting detail that will elevate you a little bit from this look But again, I think it just proves that you know in the beginning Don't go crazy trying to So address that is like super fitted or has a ton of seeming or a ton of details You're just gonna get really overwhelmed and frustrated and probably quit and that's the last thing that we want. Yeah, so So, yeah, I mean I have basically two a-line things here, but I really love this and I was so proud of myself We should go back and make our first ones again. That would be so fun I think yeah and see the difference now. Yeah. Oh, this one's long been a good. Well long It started coming apart actually But I still think it'd be really cute. Yeah All right, so the last thing we have to share for you is a book that we both love It is Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walms. Mm-hmm. That's how you say my name? Yeah, I'm Tilly in the Buttons That's her blog. She came out with this book and it is really like a beginner's guide It starts you out at the beginning of the book with a simplest project So a pair of pajama pants so easy But included in that is just so many tips and so many directions about how to mark things So it starts with the the pajama pants and then it progresses to the very end Which is a more fitted dress with a zipper and these two and sleeves. Yes, there's sleeves In one of the dresses there. I've made a skirt and I've actually made the pajama pants from this book Yeah, she does a really great job teaching you in this book. I highly recommend it. The patterns are super cute So it's a really great place to start Yeah, exactly if you're only going to pick one thing of everything we talk about today, obviously I would suggest picking this book because you're gonna get multiple patterns in one But if you start in the beginning if you don't skip ahead Yeah, don't stress that there is the book But you start at the very beginning so the pajama pants first then move on to the skirt Like she tells you to do then move on, you know and keep progressing and learning a new technique each time one technique each time You will you will find yourself really falling in love with sewing as you go through this book I really truly believe that. Yeah, and you'll have pretty much a whole new wardrobe at the end First time is actually this really beautiful head scarf. I wish I could only pull it off as Yeah Get you into doing some straight stitching so so yeah I mean literally if you start at the beginning and work your way through it's like a semester at Sewing school, and it's a whole course and by the end I think you'll feel a lot more comfortable me moving into some of the advanced patterns even that are out there Yeah, so just take your time at the book, and I think you'll you'll be really successful Yeah, so finally we just wanted to say if for whatever reason you don't like any of these Please don't let that deter you from sewing some things that you can look for in patterns that we would determine them as Beginner Just a couple of things really I think you just need to be really careful of sleeves Sewing set in sleeves is really tricky because if you ever when you see your first sleep pattern I remember seeing yeah for the first time, and I was like what pattern is yeah, so that's the sleeve That's so weird. You think it would just be a tube, but it's not a tube It's very shaped and has convex and concave curves and can be really complicated. So I would suggest looking for something that has like a Extended almost cap sleeve where there's no vertical seam here It's just the shoulder seam and kind of falls over your shoulder naturally. That would be a good one or Dolman sleeves yeah, so Dolman are the ones that are like fat wing where it comes from here And then just curves around like that. So it's like a bigger curve That's easy to call a Dolman sleeve when the seams on the top too because I've got ones that are just the same But then what happens under here It's just not as baggy. I mean it's more like a regular sleeve, but it's just a Dolman sleeve all the way down I thought Dolman meant that what happened under here. I Have to research that yeah There's also Gosh, what's it called whenever they come down like this The word fell out of my head. Raglan sleeves are really easy because they're just basically like still straight seams are not circles Yeah, so those are really easy to sew and then sleep with sleeveless. Yeah, it's an obvious option So so yeah when you're looking for a beginner pattern really look take a look at what the sleeves look like And I think that that that'll steer you in a direction of being more successful And then we've already touched on the other one a little bit, but it's really just kind of avoiding fitted garments It's just there's so many measurements and you know getting that to fit right can be really frustrating And I think in the beginning of sewing you want to focus on your sewing technique Yeah, and worry about fitting technique maybe later as you get more advanced Yeah, if the pattern has a zipper like a dress, then it's probably more of a fitted dress There's lots of dress patterns out there that don't have zippers. They're just or you know classic. Yeah, you really like the The staple dress table dress. Yes, April Road staple dress That's like a first-time pattern for lots of people really easy dress and it can really be made cute if you style it the right way Yeah, that's true And then if you're not into like a line dresses or shift dresses sheet dresses find one that has an elastic waist You can put an elastic waist in anything. Yeah, I have elastic waist skirt Shorts are really cute the elastic waist and even dresses you'll just add it into where your natural waist is And it'll cinch it in so they give you more of that hourglass shape And that is a very simple easy technique to do Think about all the dresses you see out in the stores that just have like a drawstring. Yeah, I mean that look is Not homemade at all So that is it for our beginning sewing pattern ideas Hopefully you are inspired with one of these that we have here or Tilly's book Or you'll go out and find a pattern based on our kind of suggestions that we have there Again, just like we said last week if any of the experience sewers have watched this video and they have ideas of their own Maybe share with us what your very first pattern was that might be a lot of fun in the comments Yeah, or a suggestion for someone who is very very brand new to Sewing garments and we can have a fun conversation. Yeah next week We're gonna talk about fabrics for beginners So maybe you'll want to watch that before you dive in too much into the patterns But we'll have a lot of really good ideas for you guys there. Yeah, so next week. Thanks. Bye. Bye