Today I am pleased to introduce you to our guest - Natalia Kuleshova! Natalya is the mother of two wonderful children, but, in addition, she is also the author of an interesting online project for teaching sewing. Natalya independently mastered sewing, overcoming many difficulties and incomprehensibility. Now Natalya shares her experience and best practices, helping everyone to overcome this path easier and faster.

I’ll give the floor to Natalya:

Hello, Natalia!

Please tell us a little about yourself. Who are you, where are you from, what is your profession, education?

Thank you, Olesya, for the invitation.

My name is Natalya Kuleshova and this moment, I’m just a mother of two kids and I’m working on my sewing-club.ru project - for beginners and beginners in sewing.

My daughter is 4.5 years old and my son is 1.8 years old. My profession is not at all related to sewing - I am a musician. I have been doing handicrafts since childhood.

She started with knitting and then, much later, after getting married, she began to master sewing.

Natalya, you have an interesting project on the Internet for teaching sewing. Tell us, how did you learn the wisdom of sewing? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you manage to overcome them?

I started sewing from magazines, then gained knowledge via the Internet. It took me a long time to figure out the terms, the description, and many things. It was especially difficult to find elementary things that “everyone seems to know,” but to find a simple presentation of them, where you could simply figure out the seams, the patterns, the sequence - it was very difficult. I literally had to piece together everything from different forums, books and information available at that time.

There were practically no video lessons at that time :). I also couldn’t find any books where everything was simply shown. After trying to understand the huge number of terms in such books, I decided that this was definitely not for me and I needed something accessible and simple. And I just started sewing, learning from practice and simply improving my skills in specific products and things. That’s why I’m now trying to collect as much as possible for my subscribers. useful information, which will be very simply presented and accessible to absolutely anyone who wants to learn how to sew. At one time I spent a lot of time searching for information, simply many times more than on the sewing process itself. The understanding that you can learn to sew quickly enough, having basic available knowledge, came with experience, when the process of searching and my own initial training had already passed. Of course, I’m still learning, it’s always interesting to find something new both for myself and for my subscribers, conveying it in a simpler form.
You also have children :). Do you often sew with it? Maybe you can show off some suits :)?

Yes, there are children. As for often, I can’t say. Although, in my understanding, it often means constantly making something for children. 🙂 I really like to sew for children, because they are participants in the creative process and the process of creation itself is exciting for children.

(the photos will enlarge if you click on them 2 times in turn :))
Natalya, how do you choose clothing styles for your children? Are you coming up with anything yourself?

Usually, based on needs or desires, my daughter and I come up with what she wants. Then I simply take a model as a basis, mainly from magazines, and change it as necessary, add or remove details, and make decorations. We constantly come up with something ourselves, I hope when my son grows up, he will also participate in choosing his wardrobe.

Where do you get the patterns? Build them yourself?

I take all the ready-made patterns. To be honest, I don’t see any point in making patterns, especially for children. Because, having selected a few basic items and patterns that fit well, you can remake them endlessly, modeling almost your entire wardrobe based on them. For example, from a T-shirt pattern that fits a child well, I also make various blouses, turtlenecks - with different lengths sleeves, different fasteners, with pockets and without... This can be done with any clothing - with a pattern of trousers, windbreakers, you can make sets for both autumn and winter and much more you can come up with.

How do your children feel about things sewn by their mother?

People wear such things with great pleasure, and if they themselves took part in the creation, then you don’t have to worry that they won’t be worn later. For example, it was always difficult to put my daughter to bed in the evening. After she herself chose the fabric for her night outfit, came up with a decoration (appliqué) - one could forget about the difficulties of getting her into bed in the evening. Because after that our roles changed and now they drag me away to quickly get dressed for bed in the evening.

And once, our grandmother was even offended, after going with her granddaughter to the store to buy an outfit - when her daughter told her that she didn’t need to buy anything for her, because her mother would sew it better herself. I had to settle my grandmother after such shopping.

Natalya, how do you manage to combine sewing, developing your project on the Internet, and raising children and household chores? How do you manage to find time for all this?

You have to do everything very quickly. 🙂 Including finding ways - how to sew something faster, simpler and easier. There is no time left for complexity. Of course, I would like to add at least 5 more hours per day. But... You can only sew at night or when the children sleep during the day, otherwise the number of people who want to sew on their mother’s machine in one unit of time immediately goes beyond the acceptable limits. 🙂 Speed ​​helps, and of course, organization of all matters, planning and clear time management. It doesn’t happen that everything is smooth and smooth, but if possible I try to stick to it all.

If you wish, you can find time for your family, business, and children.
When I sew in front of the children, they often ask to give them a needle in their hands too :), they fiddle with rags and buttons. When I gave my eldest son a needle in his hands for the first time, he was 1.5 - 2 years old. And he took great pleasure in collecting buttons and beads for a doll using a needle and thread. Natalya, do you have any ways to keep your child occupied while you sew?

Yes, of course, if you still have to sew with children, then when we were younger, we played with buttons, rags and pieces of fabric - we dressed up, sorted buttons and spools of thread by color and size, now we can sort the pins and stick them back into the container . We string the beads onto threads. It’s good that we don’t put anything in our mouth. Somehow it worked right away. When my daughter was 3 years old, she tried to sew a piece of fabric with a needle. And of course, we draw “patterns” together with me - everyone has their own pattern and then everyone works with scissors - everyone has their own job.
You have a wonderful useful idea project - to help learn to sew! Do you think it’s still possible to learn to sew online without attending live cutting and sewing courses? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such training, in your opinion?

Yes, my project helps those who have just started learning to sew to learn to sew from scratch. Of course you can - I learned how! And you can! Girls send me reviews - even after my free mini-course they write that they sewed their first thing using my lessons.

I believe that for mothers this is generally the most ideal training option. At home, at a convenient time - watch and then complete the tasks. You don’t have to go anywhere, fill up notebooks with a bunch of theory, and then go back to the Internet to see how it’s done or sign up for expensive individual off-line training. This is a very inexpensive, fast, easy way to start sewing. And then, only by practicing what you have learned can you move forward and gain mastery. Therefore, wherever you study - online, individually, in groups, from books - do not forget that the main thing is practice! Every little thing that you have learned how to do correctly - immediately put it into practice, this is the only way to quickly get to professional sewing.
Please tell us more about your project. Who is it for, and what prompted you to start it?

My project is mainly, as I already said, for beginners and beginners in sewing. Those who don’t know where to start and how to sew something with a minimum set of skills and knowledge - then this project is just for you. You can try sewing your first item in my free course “How to start sewing”

Although, people come to me for training who have been quietly sewing for themselves and their families for a long time, and who want to “pull up” the basics of sewing - some simple things that were once missed during training. Because without this it is difficult to move towards professional sewing - with the basics missed, most likely this is hardly achievable.

What prompted me to start such a project was my own experience, when I was looking for the necessary information, and it was very difficult to find it at the initial stage and in a very accessible and simple form. Therefore, there is a great desire to help similar beginners pass the first stage in learning to sew, without a huge investment of time. Many people stop doing this at the initial stage, because there are too many technical subtleties that are not explained in simple language - and then the idea arises that learning to sew is difficult, you need to study for a long time, you need special education, etc. Although, in fact, this is not so. Therefore, I try to make sure that the desire to master this very creative hobby does not disappear from anyone who is planning to move in this direction.

What would you answer if you were asked: “Why learn to sew, isn’t it easier to buy?” How do you think clothes that you sew yourself are better than purchased ones (and is it better), even if they were sewn by a beginner in sewing?

Yes, someone asks me this question all the time. 🙂 And I answer – yes, it’s easier. But no better. Even simply because you sew and put a piece of your Have a good mood, love for the one you sew for. Not to mention just the quality of the materials selected for yourself and the ability to do what you want - which is why you will experience different feelings when you wear such things. Therefore, the pleasure that you will receive from the sewing process, and then from wearing this item, cannot be compared with purchased items. Of course, you can’t do without purchased items. But, still, the attitude towards things made with your own hands is completely different. It's like comparing, for example, lunch in a canteen and lunch cooked at home. It seems that professional chefs cook in the dining room, but your home-cooked lunch still tastes better. 🙂

What are your plans for the future? And are you planning new seminars and sewing trainings in the near future? What will they be dedicated to?

Yes, very soon, on September 24th, the training “Basics of Sewing - 2.0” begins. , I invite everyone. And the plans also include training on adjusting finished patterns, and several courses on the basics of sewing, which will be useful in everything you sew. Check out my blog so you don't miss any announcements. Before the New Year, I’ll tell you a secret, several such courses should appear.

Natalya, thank you very much for taking the time to visit me :)! And finally, what would you wish for our readers? Perhaps someone would like to start sewing, to please themselves and their children, but are afraid of possible difficulties and failures. What advice would you give in this case?

Thank you for inviting me. I want to wish you not to stop there and move on. The most important thing is practice! Sew, practice, and be sure to study; if it doesn’t work out, see how it should be and try again. Set yourself goals that you can achieve and get to them. The main thing is that it brings you pleasure and brings joy to your children and loved ones.

Research the various tools you may need. Sewing clothes requires a ton of different tools for sewing, for making patterns, and for measuring samples to make sure they will fit you. You will need to learn each type of tool and know how to use it. In the beginning you will feel uncomfortable with all these tools, but the more you practice, the easier you will feel.

• Iron and ironing board. It's fine to use one you already own as an iron, but you'll probably want to invest in a higher quality iron. You will use it as a press when you sew as this will ensure that the seams settle properly.
• Seam ripper. You'll use it when you get stitches wrong and need to rip them out.
• Chalk for marking fabric so you know where to sew and cut.
• You'll need really good ones sharp scissors, which are intended only for cutting fabric, otherwise the scissors will quickly become dull and this can lead to damage or fraying of the fabric.
• Tracing paper for developing patterns and changing models.
• Rulers for measuring as you create your design (both during the design stage and while sewing).
• Measuring tape, especially a flexible tape measure. You will use it to take measurements and make appropriate adjustments if necessary.
• Pins to hold the fabric in place before you begin sewing. Pins should be used sparingly as they can damage the fabric you are working with.

Learn to sew on sewing machine- this is a necessary thing, especially this activity becomes relevant when there are small children in the family. They constantly grow out of clothes, tear things while playing, etc. Having learned to cut, you can use a machine to create the most different styles and thus always be in trend. However, to engage in this activity, you need to be patient and set aside time for this activity.

How to learn to sew on a sewing machine: getting to know the terminology

Before you start sewing, buy an inexpensive machine - maybe even a used one like the Seagull. Do not immediately strive to purchase an expensive electronically controlled device, as it is better to learn from simple models. Try to immediately understand the names of terms associated with the machine:

• foot - a part that presses the fabric so that it does not slip off while sewing;
• bobbin - a special spool designed for thread to be wound on it;
• shuttle - a moving hook that takes part in the process of weaving bobbins;
• thread guides are the small “eyes” through which the thread passes when it is threaded.

How to learn to sew on a sewing machine at home?

For a beginning seamstress, it is enough to learn the classic stitch, and then it is worth mastering the zigzag and overcast stitch. If over time the desire to work with fabric does not disappear, purchase an overlocker - a machine for processing product cuts and overcasting.

How to quickly learn to sew on a sewing machine?

Sewing is quite a labor-intensive activity. It will take time to hone your skills here. To make the process go faster, desire alone is not enough. The following recommendations must be followed.

1. Buy yourself special sewing literature, various fashion magazines, preferably Burda with patterns. Study and watch.
2. Learn to sew using simple, cheap fabrics. You don’t mind spoiling them if errors occur due to lack of experience.
3. Set up lighting near the machine. Make sure that unnecessary things do not clutter the table on which you will sew.
4. Place it next to you necessary tools: scissors, needles and threads, tracing paper and 2-3 crayons, as well as a seam ripper.
5. Sign up for courses

For the hardworking - a bright light burns through life, for the lazy - a dim candle

Constructing a base pattern - THE MOST CLEAR METHOD (for beginners)

Good afternoon I would even say a beautiful day. Because we are finally starting a series of articles on tailoring for adults. We have already sewn a lot of things for little girls - both dresses and bodysuits are different - now we will sew for big girls. That is, for myself. And since you and I have already practiced sewing, the fear of the pioneer has passed.

THAT MEANS IT'S TIME TO TAKE A NEW FRONTIER. And master the wisdom of sewing using real adult patterns yourself, with your own hands and your own brains. We will draw the base pattern ourselves - new the easy way(I spent more than one week creating this lightweight method for creating a base pattern). And then we will sew a bunch of all kinds of dresses, tops and tunics.

No- I won’t give you a single finished pattern!

I'm not Madame Burda. I am Madame Klishevskaya.))) And the main harmfulness of my character is... That I will make your head work and give birth to bright and clear discoveries in the field of sewing. The easiest and most understandable of all types of art. Believe me, this is true.

Yes- sewing yourself is very easy and simple!

Right from scratch you will get more and more beautiful and well-tailored things.

Moreover, you will do everything yourself, without a state of hypnosis, but in a sober mind and clear memory. YOU will DO it - moreover, you will UNDERSTAND what exactly you are doing.

I will tell you the secrets that I know. Moreover, I will teach you to discover more and more secrets of the world of sewing and clothing design.

I will not lead you (blind and stupid) by the hand in the chaos of letters and numbers denoting the intricacy of numerous lines of the design drawing. NO, I WILL NOT TAKE YOU HERE:

Well, you must admit, one such picture can instill fear and make a girl who doubts her own abilities really, really wants to sew a dress- But wasn't very friendly school years with geometry and drawing. Even I, who adores both of these school subjects, beat around the bush for several years, not daring to start delving into the construction of such a drawing: “How long will it take to draw something like this, and after all, everything must be calculated correctly and not get confused in the letters...”.

And, nevertheless, today we will draw a pattern.

We will draw a base pattern (you see a piece of it from above.))))

But - don’t be afraid - we will create our pattern a little differently. Away from the engineering design method - and closer to human understanding.

We will draw one for you - just one- pattern.

And then from it we will create more and more new dress models. And it will be very easy and simple.

• No confusing formulas
• No confusing calculations.
• And without the letter-number cobweb.

So how? Have I already alleviated some of your concerns?

I'll relax now - we won't start drawing right now. First, we'll take a nice stroll through the pattern. The purpose of the walk is to get to know and become friends with the pattern and remove the last doubt that you can sew any dress.

So... what is a pattern - the basis?

To put it figuratively, this is a cast of your body. This is your individual imprint. Any item sewn according to YOUR base pattern will fit YOUR figure perfectly.

Yes, you heard right - ANY THING can be sewn on the basis one single pattern. All dress models are born, modeled, and sewn from one source - this is the base pattern.

I will now prove it to you with an example. Even with three examples - in the form of photos and pictures.

Here is the first photo (below). Our pattern base is essentially your sheath dress (the one that fits your body perfectly). Dress made by yours pattern base, will follow all the curves your his bodies. This simple sheath dress is sewn using a regular base pattern. You see, it’s like a plaster cast of a girl’s figure.

And today, having drawn the base pattern, you can safely cut it on the fabric - and you will get a dress like this. The only thing you can change is the neckline - giving it the shape that suits your face shape.

All other (any kind) dress models are just a modification of a sheath dress - fantasies on a free theme.

That's how it works in the fashion world.

One day a fashion designer thought...“What if the bodice of the dress at the top is held on the shoulders by a round yoke (yellow outlines - figure below), and the bodice itself is made in the form of overlapping intersecting triangles (red outlines - figure below). The result is what we see in the photo below.

Beautiful? Beautiful! What did the fashion designer base his fantasies on? Based on a pattern. And you can come up with something of your own. We women have just a lot of imagination.

By the way - since we're talking about round yoke— on this site there is already one of my articles on creating and

And another fashion designer thought: “What if you give the sheath dress a looser cut - make it wider. And make the shoulder line longer so that it hangs over the arm.” And in the end it is born new model(photo below) – also very beautiful. And it's very simple.

You can do this too. If you will UNDERSTAND what the base pattern consists of. And by what laws does it exist?

That is why I don’t want to stupidly give you instructions on creating a base pattern (like “draw a line from point P6 to point P5 and mark the place where it intersects with line X with the next point...” - ugh!).

I want to awaken you bitch. I want you to feel the pattern, to know its soul. Haven't learned to see what a simple drawing hides behind a photograph of any dress, even an intricately tailored one.

Therefore, for the next 30 minutes we will not draw anything - we will walk through the pattern itself. Let's get acquainted with all its elements - find out what each line serves, and why it is located here and drawn this way.

After such an “educational walk” you will feel a joyful clarity of understanding of everything, everything, everything. It's as if you've already drawn basic patterns many times. And you will take up the drawing with the feeling that this is a couple of trifles. Ha! Business!

As the sage said: “We are afraid only of what we cannot understand and explain logically. But as soon as the thing that frightens us becomes clear to us, it ceases to cause us fear.”

So let’s go and tame this “terrible beast” - the base pattern. Let's tame and draw in 20 minutes. Yes, yes, in 20 minutes - because after a walk - the pattern drawing will seem to you an old and familiar simple drawing - like a grid for playing tic-tac-toe.

Where does the base pattern come from?

So where does the base pattern come from - usually it is obtained from the following drawing:

The drawing contains half of the back part + half of the front part.

We will also draw a similar drawing with you - only more simple and understandable.

And what these halves are needed for, and where to use them - now I will clearly show everything.

Here (!) I dug up a wonderful sample - below - in the photo black and white dress Our halves are very clearly visible - both the back half and the front half. So to speak - clearly and understandably.

Yes, in the Potnovian language the halves are called “shelves”. Today we will draw these same front and back shelves. But first, let’s take a closer look at what elements each shelf consists of. And most importantly, I will tell you why each element is needed and what it serves.

To make everything as clear as possible, I will illustrate each of the elements both in pictures and in photographs of real dress models.

First, let's get acquainted with two incomprehensible words: DOT And ARMHOLE.

Of course you may know them. Or maybe not. My job is to introduce you.

So, meet - PROYMA

When drawing a base pattern, you will create exactly that bend and size armhole that suits you – when the armhole does not pull or dig into your arm.

That is, the pattern base contains acceptable minimum size armholes. You can model the armhole to your taste, in any configuration. But your fantasy armhole should not be smaller than on the base pattern. That is, the armhole is based on a pattern - These are the boundaries beyond which your imagination should not cross.

Your model armhole can be as large as you like - but it cannot be smaller than on the base pattern. More - yes, less - no - otherwise it will dig into the armpit. This is the rule in modeling designer armholes.

Now let's get acquainted with the darts.

BACK DARTS – shoulder dart + waist dart

In the picture above, I wrote everything about the back darts - and in the photo of the dress you can find 2 waist darts - one to the right of the zipper, the other to the left of the zipper.

But you don’t see the shoulder dart on this dress. And many dresses don’t have it either. Because for convenience and beauty, this dart is moved from the middle of the shoulder to the zipper (or along the edge of the armhole, where the sleeve will be, a corner is simply cut off). That is, the excess fabric is not pinched at the middle of the shoulder and is not sewn inside the dart. And the extra fabric cut in the form of a corner at the edge of the shelf, where the zipper is sewn in, or at the edge of the armhole - where the sleeve will be sewn in.

Also, darts are not necessary if you sew from stretch fabric - it itself follows the curves of your body and shrinks both in the shoulder and waist areas.

Let's get to know each other next... DARTS ON HALF FRONT

Oh, I could write a whole poem about her.

I spent a long time wondering how to explain more clearly - why it is needed and by what laws it lives. I thought and thought... and came up with an idea.

The fact is that a woman has breasts.))) That is, from the front, an adult girl is no longer flat. This means that the dress should be convex in the chest area. The dart on the front shoulder gives the dress that same bulge in the bust area. Now I’ll show you everything in pictures. How does this happen.

For example, we have a flat piece of fabric, but we need to make a convex piece out of it. To do this, you need to make a tuck on it. For example, this flat circle of cardboard will now become convex with the help of a dart.

And here's how a bust dart creates a bulge on the front detail

You will notice that the top of the convexity (that is, the peak of our round pyramid) is at the tip of the dart. Pay attention to this. Because when we draw the bust dart, the point of our dart will be at the top of the chest(where the nipple or bra cup is usually located).

Remember that sometimes you tried on a dress in your size in a store, which somehow strangely skewed on the chest - this is because the dart in the dress with its point was directed by the tops of your chest. So the breasts did not fit perfectly into the bulge of the dress. This product was not cut at the factory to suit your breast shape.

But that is not all, what I want to say about the chest dart.

The fact is that in almost all dresses this chest dart is located not on the shoulder- A on the side just below the armpit. This is done for beauty. The dart on the shoulder catches the eye more, but on the side, and even covered by the hand, it is not noticeable.

When creating a base pattern, we draw a chest dart on the shoulder only because it is more convenient to draw there from the point of view of constructing a drawing.

And after the drawing of the base pattern is ready, we very easily and simply transfer the dart from the shoulder area to the armpit area. Don’t think that you need to make new drawings for this. Nope, everything is simple here - like opening a carton of milk - one minute and that’s it.

Here, in the picture below I schematically depicted transferring the bust dart from the shoulder to the side seam under the arm.

Well, do you already feel how wiser you have become in these 15 minutes?))) Or there will be more... Let's continue our walk through the pattern and now let's get acquainted with the lines. Horizontal lines

CHEST LINE

The first acquaintance is the chest line. (It’s a beautiful dress, isn’t it? We’ll make it for you. Don’t even hesitate)

The bust line is the most remarkable line on the pattern. It is so convenient to focus on it when drawing a base pattern because:

• We know that we finish drawing the back waist dart at the bust line.
• We know that we finish drawing the front waist dart not reaching 4 cm from the chest line.
• We know that the shoulder dart is in the front - we finish drawing it at the chest line.
• We know that the lower edges of the armholes also follow the bust line.

Well, no, of course, you don’t know that yet. I am all these simple rules I'll give it to you when we start drawing. And now I just want you to know that when drawing many elements of a pattern, you can simply focus on the chest line (and there is no need to painstakingly put down these letter-number dots).

As you can see, there’s a lot of everything!! Therefore, go ahead - study, sew and enjoy life)))

WHAT TO DO NEXT - WITH THE PATTERN BASE? - you ask

And we will start sewing according to the base pattern of the TOP. Namely tops, T-shirts, tunics and then dresses.

You might ask, “Hey, why not just dresses?” I give the answer to this question in the first article of the series. So to be continued)))

Happy sewing!

Hand-sewn clothes are original and unique. Home-grown fashion designers and seamstresses invent amazingly beautiful things that are the envy of others. In addition, if you learn how to sew clothes at home, you can save a lot. And experienced craftswomen can also earn money by creating outfits for friends and acquaintances. You can gain sewing skills and master the basics in special educational institutions, and at home.

How to learn to sew at home?

Ways to learn to sew clothes at home

Of course, in order to learn how to create clothes yourself, you need talent, diligence and attentiveness. Many craftswomen have mastered this business on their own. But you can learn to sew using various methods.

1. Cutting and sewing courses.

These are special master classes that teach the basics and tricks using your own equipment. If you take such a course, you will be taught how to properly take measurements, make patterns and sew clothes.

2. Special literature.

IN Soviet time housewives learned to sew from popular magazines. Now you can also find such literature. It describes the process itself in detail, and can also offer ready-made patterns that are easy to sew on, even if you are not a master.

3. Online services.

Another convenient way how to learn to sew at home. On the Internet you can find a variety of resources that teach sewing. At the same time, you don’t have to go anywhere, and you can learn useful skills in the comfort of your own home. They will help you detailed descriptions and video tutorials.

What you need to learn to sew at home

First of all, in order to learn how to sew, you will need patience and attentiveness. If you take measurements and make calculations incorrectly, complex alterations may be necessary or the product may be completely damaged. Those who are still thinking about how to learn to sew at home will need the following supplies:

• needles of different sizes;
• cutting scissors;
• ruler and measuring tape;
• tracing paper and carbon paper;
• pincushion;
• safety pins;
• thimble.

You definitely need to buy a sewing machine. For starters, a simple one with a minimum of operations will do. But get ready for the fact that some elements will have to be sewn by hand. Making clothes with my own hands – exciting process. People who sew at home always have the opportunity to dress beautifully and uniquely.