The largest financial investment you'll make in your sewing is the sewing machine. There are many choices of makes and models of new sewing machines from which to choose. Another option is to start with a used machine inherited from a relative or friend or bought at a sale. Whatever machine you're going to sew with, you need to learn what the parts are and what they do.

Experiment with your machine! Dive in and be creative. Having the machine malfunction when you start to sew can be very frustrating and distracts from the task at hand. The best way to avoid this is to be totally familiar with your machine. Save scraps of fabric when you're cutting out a project and use them to test your needle selection and machine settings.

The Parts of a Sewing Machine 4 Sewing Machine Needles 6 Sewing Machine Options 10 The Manual ... read full excerpt from Teach Yourself VISUALLY Sewing ebook