Learn how to use a sewing machine

“So I (22M) decided to learn how to use a sewing machine because, you know, good skill to have. With that said, I decided to taper my shirts to be less square. I started testing on some loose cloth, and lemme tell you, I wasted so much goddamn thread, broke like three needles, and was raging so hard wondering why it wasn't working. I mean I followed the numbers on the machine to a tee for threading the needle. So I rage quit for the day and the next day (today), I decided to watch some videos, and holy hell I did not know there was supposed to be both a top and a bottom stitch. So there's my daily derp moment.”

“After setting up the Jones sewing machine (Threadlite model A1) I inherited from my Granny, I was hooked on the hobby—and almost electrified (no, really, the old foot pedal had a live wire loose that my dad luckily fixed before I did some serious damage). I’m an impatient person, so after playing around with the basic stitches on the now-safe machine, I went to the local fabric store and bought some cotton poplin and stretch fabric to make pyjama bottoms. It’s a common misconception that sewing is cheaper than buying clothes, and—eek—that fabric was expensive. I also had NO idea about fabric, finishing seams, or anything sewing-related for that matter. [...] After several hours of trying to translate the pattern instructions and sewing, I had the finished pyjama bottoms and couldn’t wait to try them on. Lessons were learned that day, and I was humbled.”

“Honestly, the manual will explain everything and answer all of these questions. Set aside some time to read it front to back. A sewing machine is not something you want to just jump right into. I totally get the excitement, though! I just recently got one. I was so excited to use it and play around with different stitches, and I ended up putting it on some settings that created a huge knot and I had to take the cover plate off to fix it, so that's why I really recommend just following the manual, watching sewing videos, and starting with small, simple projects to practice!”