Sewing Resources

Basic Tools

• Hand needles: the type you'll generally want are called 'sharps', they have a small eye and are relatively thin and long. Quality is important here, you want something with a sharp point and a smooth, well machined eye (using bad needles is a miserable experience, so those packs of 50 or supermarket packs are no good). It's generally better to get fewer but of better quality, when in doubt good options are (but not limited to): Merchant & Mills, Clover, Bohin, John Jones.
• Darning needle: This is technically a kind of hand needle, but it's huge and for repairing socks and other knitted things.
• Thread: For hand sewing you want a thread that's thicker than you would typically use with a sewing machine (all-purpose is too thin). Generally, linen (my personal favourite), silk or heavy-duty polyester thread is used according to preference and fabric used (I prefer to match the fibre of the thread to that of the fabric). Cotton can be used but be wary that it tends to be pretty weak and prone to shredding compared to the other options. Linen and cotton threads need to be waxed prior to use (for smoothness and strength)
• Thimble: Awkward to get used to but well worth it, these are sized and it's important to get the right size or it'll fall of or be too tight (especially the metal ones). There's a few different kinds, including solid metal, tailor's (like the metal ones but without the top), soft plastic, leather and open sided (it just covers the pad of your finger), so if one style doesn't work for you there's probably another that does. One note on quality: if you're looking for a metal (including tailor's or open sided) thimble, check how deep the dimples in the surface are, as if they're too shallow it'll make using it a pain as the needle will slip (trust me, I've tried it)
• Pins: Generally the ones you want are dressmaker's pins, which are long with a small metal head at one end. If you have trouble seeing or grabbing them, glass-headed pins are also a good option, as these will allow you to still iron with pins in.
• Wax: Generally a small block of beeswax, though parafin wax is also an option, this is used to smooth and strenghten linen or cotton threads. To wax a thread, thread a needle then place the bottom (eye end) of the needle flat on the wax block and press down on the thread with your thumb, then pull the thread through, keeping your thumb pressed down. Following this, either roll the waxed thread through your fingers or iron under an ironing cloth to ensure the wax has gotten into the thread.
• Scissor/Snips: I prefer embroidery scissors (the ones that look like a little stork) for this, though some prefer dedicated thread snips, it doesn't matter much as long as they cut the thread cleanly.
• Iron: This one might come as a surprise to some but pressing is an important part of sewing as pressing your fabric and seams with make it behave better, take tension out of thread on sewn seams and make your seams lie flat. Steam is key here so if you've got a dry iron then a spray bottle on hand is needed.

Patterns/tutorials

Freesewing is a cool open-source website that produces patterns based on your measurements and allows for a bunch of tweaks on the base designs according to your preference in fit and style.