kit – SewingMachinesPlus.com Blog

As a writer, I was well aware there’s a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) that happens in November. As a person who sews though, I had no idea there was a month dedicated to sewing, until this week. Imagine my surprise to find that not only does National Sewing Month exist, but it’s this month — September! Essentially, I found this detail out with less than a month left to officially celebrate, but I suppose learning late in the month is better than having to wait until next year to utilize the concept.

I was surprised as well that this status isn’t something that a random sewing fan made up. Rather, this is something that Ronald Reagan declared back in the 1980s. That’s right. This is a former president’s declaration, and it pretty much boggles my mind that something like a sewing month would be noted by a President of the United States. It seems solid evidence that the world of sewing is more far-reaching and popular than what I might have thought when I first dove into it.

Now that I’m aware — and maybe you are too because of this post — that this month is dedicated to sewing, the question arises about how to celebrate it. There are plenty of options to do so, but seeing as how over half of the month is already gone, whatever celebrating you do would have to be fairly quick-paced! Regardless, there are still ways to fit your celebration into your end-of-the-month schedule, like with these possibilities!

Make a quick project

While some sewing projects can take a long time to make, other projects can be done in a day or less — and these are great prospects at this point for celebrating National Sewing Month before it ends. This concept can vary depending on how fast you are with sewing. For instance, something like a quilt might be a project that one person can finish in a week while another person requires longer. A guiding factor for this possibility then is your own ability and time frame. If you can manage a bigger project, go for it! But if you feel more comfortable with something smaller, like a fabric coaster or throw pillow, choose one of those options. As long as you have enough time to wrap up the loose ends before October 1^st, you’re in good shape!

A great idea for this project would be to work on a homemade gift that you can give someone later in the year for a Christmas present. This can give you space to craft that gift and an excuse to revel in a month dedicated to sewing. Win/win, right? If you’re looking for sewing projects, Sewing Machines Plus has free project ideas available here that you can browse through to find a National Sewing Month project.

Take a sewing class

Sure, a number of programs that you can take have specific start and end times, and you can’t just decide for those options that you’re going to start a class right now. For other possibilities though, there’s room to maneuver, particularly if you take a class you can finish in a virtual setting with timed videos. Craftsy, for instance, has classes with videos of certain lengths, and if you schedule your time effectively, you can finish one of them by the end of the month.

One other option would be to start a program this month even though you know it’ll extend farther than the beginning of October. Penn Foster programs, as an example, can allow you that kind of freedom to simply decide to register for a class today and work your way through at a personal pace. It’ll extend beyond September, but September can still be the month that led to you making the choice to enroll.

Buy a new piece of equipment

If you want to treat this month as something worth celebrating, why not go all out and buy yourself a gift for the prospect? You could even extend the prospect outward by buying small sewing supplies for friends and family who enjoy sewing as much as you do, like new thread or fun pattern kits. This way, you can spread the enjoyment of National Sewing Month beyond your own personal collection.

That doesn’t mean you should feel bad about adding to your own sewing stash though, and there are plenty of ways to build your supplies in honor of the month. If you need a new sewing machine and can splurge just a bit, celebrate Sewing Month by bringing your dream sewing machine home. Check out Sewing Machine Plus’s site for possibilities on the matter!

Smaller details, like a new sewing kit or interesting fabric, can also be ways to celebrate the month if your budget won’t allow for a new sewing machine, and a few extra dollars can lead to a tiny contribution to your sewing supplies in honor of the month. If you can work even a new pack of straight pins into your budget, it’s a method of celebration!

In any event…

I feel a bit of camaraderie with my fellow sewing fans this month, given our shared interest that was valid enough for a president to declare a month for it.

So to these fellow craftsmen, happy National Sewing Month!

Like many things in life, sewing has a series of ways it can be done that could be different for each individual person. Once upon a time, I covered one of those details in my post about how to press your seams, and there are plenty of other ways that preference can sway the way a person sews.

Weighing the pros & cons of sewing project kits.

This week, I found myself considering one of those preference details, and that involves pre-assembled kits for sewing projects. Some people might love these kits for their sewing craftiness, and others might feel that the kits come with more negative details than positive. So, as you might’ve guessed, this is the subject for today’s post: Weighing the pros and cons of sewing project kits.

Pros:

If you choose the right kit, you can have the fabric & pattern that you need to create an impressive project at your fingertips just by making this one purchase.

If you choose the right kit, you can have the fabric and pattern that you need to create an impressive project at your fingertips just by making this one purchase. That’s most of the project-specific details in one package, minus things like thread and general sewing requirements. All in all, these are really convenient in that regard!

You can see an example of your finished project goal before you start. In fact, you can browse project kits until you find one you feel is perfect for your taste and purpose, and you’ll have the fabric to replicate the picture without having to piece together the appearance for yourself. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen a project online that I wanted to be able to create, but something as simple as not knowing or being able to find the right fabric can lead to a very different final product. The idea that a pre-assembled kit can cut out that possibility is worth thinking over.

Some of these project kits can be fairly cheap. I’ve found some online for around or under $20—which isn’t that pricey if they come with fabric. Other options can be pricier, but if you stick within your budget, you could find a project kit that doesn’t break your bank account. Even if they are pricier, it’s worth considering how much buying the individual pieces for the projects would be without the kits since the prices might still be reasonable under that kind of inspection.

Cons:

These kits can lessen your input in projects.

These kits can lessen your input in projects. While providing the fabric can be a pro, as I said before, it’s also a potential con if you want a project that’s more yours than the sewing kit allows. Maybe you want a gym bag like the kit shows, but you’d rather have star-print fabric than what was provided. If that’s the case, then you’d probably do better searching for a free or cheap pattern and buying your own fabric. In that scenario, even $20 could be a bit much to pay.

The process could be so specific that it doesn’t really challenge an advanced sewing enthusiast. I find the same notion to be true in regard to pre-cut blocks of fabric. If too much work is done for you, you might not be pushing yourself to grow in your craft. Like with a number of other details in life, you have to give yourself space to grow if you want to improve. If everything is given to you pre-ready for assembling, you’re cheating yourself out of bettering your own preparation skills.

Costly regrets

If you have the wrong fabric, after all, you can’t necessarily create the project you intended.

I’ve seen at least one review of a project kit where someone complained that the sent fabric didn’t match up perfectly to what was on the project kit image. I can’t say for sure if this is the case, and even it is, all kits wouldn’t automatically come with the same flaw. Still, it’s worth noting that at times, this could be an issue that makes the kit less impressive than expected. If you have the wrong fabric, after all, you can’t necessarily create the project you intended. Additionally, if the fabric you do receive is so against your taste that you have to replace it, then we’re back to point #1 on the cons list because removing the fabric from the kit lowers its value to where the price could be too much. Who wants to pay for a kit that’s supposed to include fabric, then have to buy extra fabric? Not me!

Given though that con #3 is based on a review that I can’t prove or disprove, I still feel like trying one of these project kits could be worth the money for a person who’s new to sewing, or at least new to sewing a specific product. I’d love to try to sew a purse, for instance, but it’s something I’ve never done. Using a kit could ease me through my first purse and help me get some familiarity with the process before I step into the world of purse-sewing more on my own.

So, I guess my thoughts now are that these sewing kits can be great for beginners, but those with more sewing experience might find them too simple and dictated to fully embrace.

Tag / kit

It’s National Sewing Month!