2. All day long every day without thinking about it you are looking at things that have been sewn. Clothing is one of the most basic needs of human beings and clothing needs to be sewn. There are countless other things that you use or see each day that were sewn. Shoes, bags, curtains, umbrellas, stuffed toys, and upholstered furniture are all made by sewing.
People have been sewing, joining things together using thread guided by needles, for around 20,000 years. All kinds of materials have been sewn together in the past. Leather, bark, and furs used to be sewn together using bone needles and animal sinews.
Mending, altering, and designing new articles are all sewing skills. Plain mending involves simple tasks like sewing on buttons and taking up a hem. Many people are able to that. Altering clothes to make them fit better and creating clothes from scratch takes more skill and training. Some tailors and seamstresses specialize in certain techniques like smocking, embroidery, quilting or shirring. They make money while providing a valuable service to others.
A wide variety of sewing machines are available today. There are mechanical models, electronic models and even computerized models. Even with all these machines available, many people still prefer hand-sewn products.
It is easy to find books and classes on a wide variety of sewing methods, both the basic kind and those that teach more advanced skills. For many people sewing seems like an enormous challenge but with just a little tutoring and practice they realize that they too can sew things from scratch.
There are many different reasons people start to sew. It could be to save money; it could be just for the fun of trying something new. A lot of people start sewing as a way of saving money and end up finding that it is fun and it makes them feel good about themselves.
The tools