The Good Hour Issue 011: I’m Sew Into You
Happy Fall Equinox, friends. This issue is all about sewing.
Happy Fall Equinox, friends. This issue is all about sewing.
Table of Contents
- Just Bobbin Along
- We Want It
- New/Now/Next
- The Close-Up
- One Small Practice
- Final Thought
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Happy Fall Equinox, friends. Even in this age of infinite streaming, sewing has seen a massive uptick in popularity simply because she is that girl.
September also happens to be National Sewing Month, so to celebrate both the darkening days and this gorgeous craft, we’re breaking out the sewing supply butter cookie tin.
Now, let’s wind a few bobbins and get started!
– NAOMI SKWARNA, EDITOR
We Want It:
The perfect oversized shirt pattern, a needle minder that spills no tea, and the sweetest beginner quilt kit (now on sale!).
Some links in this email are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you make a purchase.
Oversized Knit Top PDF Sewing Pattern
Why we like it: Inspired by the easy, boxy tees of the ’90s, Matchy Matchy Sewing Club’s Benchwarmer Tee PDF sewing pattern is both fun to make and fun to wear.
Why it might not be the right fit: The size guide ensures this will not happen!
Verdict: The perfect sewing project for beginner apparel makers, plus you’ll love wearing it.
Tea Kettle Needle Minder
Why we like it: Can’t get your hands on a MacKenzie-Childs checkerboard tea kettle? This needle minder from Penny Linn Designs is your next best option, and certainly more useful as a sewing implement.
Why it might not be the right fit: You’ve never minded a needle in your life.
Verdict: The perfect early stocking stuffer for your friend who sews (me).
Dritz Beginner Quilt Kit
Why we like it: This quilt kit (on sale!) provides learners with the basic implements, bundling a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, marking pencil glass head pins, and a 36-page instruction book.
Why it might not be the right fit: Brat green is not your color.
Verdict: Great quality and value for someone looking to amp up their sewing & quilting game.
New/Now/Next
Low on sewjo? Your next idea might be one ▶️ away. Meet four YouTube makers (and friends of Skillshare) keeping feeds and fabric stashes in action right now:
From Carly B: A dopamine-drenched space for sewing and DIY, with a soft spot for customizing, scrap-busting, and drafting your own patterns. Come for the tutorials, stay for the sparkle.
Wizards Keep: In the market for character hats and extravagant ruffs? This wizard has you covered.
Gemima London: Three decades as a fashion designer, now building a bespoke wardrobe of her own. Expect design-led makes, pattern reviews, and fabric-sourcing trips. She once ran a Liberty Print haberdashery business, so trust her fabric eye.
grubdust: Painting, upcycling, sewing, and everything else. For when you want to follow your curiosity wherever it wanders.
Pick one, press play, and let someone else’s project nudge yours back into motion.
The Close-Up
Sewing machines have a reputation for being fussier than they are. Yes, there’s a bobbin. Yes, there’s a small labyrinth of thread guides. But once you know what each dial, lever, and pin is actually for, the whole thing starts to feel less like a puzzle and more like a slightly grumbly friend.
This excellent beginner’s guide walks you from switch-on to first seam, no prior experience required.
🧵 A simple look at how two threads lock together to make a stitch🧵 Mechanical vs. computerized machines🧵 A part-by-part machine tour, from hand wheel to feed dogs🧵 Winding a bobbin, threading, & bringing up the bottom thread🧵 Your first stitches, start to finish
One Small Practice
Sew Your Life Back Together (One Button at a Time)
There’s a quiet kind of sadness when a favorite coat or shirt loses a button. It’s such a small thing — and yet it often sends the whole garment to the back of the closet or the thrift store. Today’s One Small Practice draws from Skillshare teacher, historical dressmaker, YouTuber, and author Bernadette Banner’s YouTube tutorial showing just how simple it can be to bring a piece back into rotation by sewing on three different types of buttons: four-hole, two-hole, and shank.
Bernadette is known for her meticulous hand-sewing, her research into historical garment construction, and her belief that clothes are meant to be made (and mended) to last. In this video, she walks you through:
🪡 The essential tools. Needle, thread, a pair of scissors, and an optional thimble
🪡 Choosing and handling thread so your buttons can withstand daily wear
🪡 How to sew on three button types in a way that’s both strong and neat
🪡 Small professional touches — like creating a thread “post” under the button and hiding your knots — that make your repair look intentional, not improvised
Even if you’ve never sewn before, her calm, step-by-step approach turns button repair from an intimidating chore into a tiny act of care.
Instead of starting with a whole garment, we’re going to start smaller with a tiny, written promise. After you watch Bernadette’s button tutorial, try this mini-practice:
Choose one garment that needs a button fixed. Stand in front of your closet and pick just one thing — no more — with a loose or missing button.Write a two-sentence “repair note” to your future self. On a slip of paper or sticky note, write: “Today I’m going to bring this back into my life: [describe the garment briefly — color, fabric, and why you love it]. I will sew on [one button / this loose button] so that I can wear it when I want to feel [how you’d like to feel in it — confident, cozy, put-together].”Add one simple technical reminder from Bernadette’s lesson. Under your note, write one line of “how-to” you want to remember. For example: “Leave a little space between the button and fabric so the buttonhole can sit comfortably beneath it.”Place your note where you’ll see it. Stick it to your sewing kit, tape it inside your closet, or keep it with the garment itself. The goal is to turn this from a vague intention into a visible, doable promise.This entire practice can take five minutes of writing, even if you don’t sew the button on immediately. You’re rehearsing the repair in words first so when you do pick up the needle, your hands already know what they’re there to do.
Final Thought
Sewing doesn’t have to be about clothes. While the craft does tend to weigh heavily toward the apparel side of things, there’s embroidery, cross-stitch, lace-making, visible mending, darning, and other needlecrafts that reward slow, deliberate practice, no machine or yardage required. This is one of the things I love most about the act of sewing. A stitch becomes a seam, a seam becomes something whole.
Whether you’re threading your first needle or piecing your first quilt block, start small. Don’t worry too much about neatness. A crooked stitch still holds, and the uneven ones become a record of your learning. Skill here is built the unglamorous way, one stitch and then the next, until the motion stops feeling foreign and starts feeling like yours. Sew something. Mend something small. Then keep going.
Until next time, 👋
The Good Hour
A biweekly dispatch for creative humans and their brains.
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