New Hobby: Sewing

uppermost: Linen; the others: cotton

 Recently, I started learning how to sew. Mainly just simple projects such as pouches and bags. I haven't learn how to sew actual clothes yet, maybe sometime in the future. If you are interested in sewing but still a beginner just like me, I recommend to try to sew simple pouches. They're relatively easy and fun to make. Moreover they only need few materials.

The first actual usable thing I successfully made was a zippered pouch from cotton fabric. I got the tutorial from youtube. There are actually huuuuuuge amount of sewing tutorials on youtube. Just type "pouch sewing tutorial" and you should be able to get many interesting results. And they are free! Most of them are very easy to understand, even the ones that are not in English. Usually, they'd put measurements on the video so we'll be able to get it just fine even when we don't understand what they're speaking. You can google the same keywords as well. In my experience, the tutorials I got from the websites were as informative as the ones on youtube. I got a very nice and easy tutorial on making tote bag from a website.

the first pouch I made (it was a mess on the inside)

My favorite material for making pouches is canvas fabric. The material is thick and stiff enough to be able to maintain the shape of the pouch. They are relatively cheap, only Rp 35.000,- a meter (about 1m x 1,5m). They also come with cute patterns. In Jogja, you can get canvas fabric at Toko Liman located on Malioboro street.

canvas fabrics

For the lining, I used cotton fabric. The pattern choice is not a lot though in Jogja. There are mostly flowers, and it's also relatively more expensive, about 40.000 to 60.000 rupiahs a meter. Maybe because people usually look for cotton fabric to make dresses and scarves, so they need high quality fabric. We do not necessarily use high quality cotton fabric for the lining. As for the lining pattern, i prefer polka dots and non flower.

I found a nice cotton fabric store at Solo BTC (Beteng Trade Center). They have cute non flower patterns and they're cheaper (my heart melts). Most of them are only Rp 35.000 a meter. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the store, sorry :(

We can also use cotton fabric to make the outer of the pouch. However, we need to reinforce it first by using fleece (dalam bahasa Indonesia namanya kain viselin). By doing this, the fabric will be thicker and stiffer.

To make a simple pouch, you'll also need threads and zippers. They're cheap and quite easy to find. Just make sure that you buy the correct length for your pouch. Longer zipper can be cut, but when it's shorter we can't do anything except to reduce the size of the pouch. Zippers are available assembled of separated. Assembled zippers are easier to deal with for beginner like me, but the zipper head choices are limited. Recently I started buying the zipper head and zipper tape separately. It's actually very fun because there are many shapes and colors we can choose. Oh yea, almost forgot, we need zipper foot (usually comes with the machine) to sew zippers. It is necessary to keep the stitches straight along the zipper line.

For the sewing, we only need straight stitch so no problemo amigo! Some part of the pouch may need hand stitching though, but I'm sure with practice and caution, everyone can make it. Also if you do not have a sewing machine, that's okay too. With a little bit more effort and patience everything is possible. Maybe using less fringing and softer fabric will help with the hand stitching. I made a pouch by hand stitching when I was in high school using flannel, managed to add zipper too. So maybe flannels are good choice if you are hand stitching.

Another tip, plan ahead before buying materials. When first learning, do not be tempted to buy more material than you actually need. I know craft store can be sooooo tempting. I think I bought more than I need T,T (to be fair I was too happy because I just got my first sallary).

 

So far, I have managed to make some pouches and bags. I plan to make more, hopefully I'll be able to sell them soon hihi. Me and my sisters already ordered a brand label to motivate us to make more hahaha. (don't tell anybody)

still a mess on the inside

make up bag for my sister, an experiment

So that's it! I am not an expert but I hope it could help. Happy sewing!

Latest projects

I love the unicorn lining! I keep this bag for myself :3