You’re all set to finally start work on that project you saw in the craft magazine a few months back. You pull out the issue and peruse the starting instructions only to realize they require a sewing machine that you don’t have. So you wonder, can you sew by hand instead?

“Can you sew by hand?” is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. Since I utilize my sewing machine on many of my craft and costume tutorials, many people want to know if they can make the same projects sewing by hand without a machine. The simple answer is yes.

If if can be made with a machine, it can be made by hand

Anything you can make with a sewing machine, you can also make by hand. Granted it takes longer by hand (which is why I love my sewing machine), but it can be done. I sewed everything by hand for many years, as I didn’t have a sewing machine until I was fifteen. (I know that may not sound like very long, but I taught myself to sew when I was four. So I had a good ten years of sewing by hand before I had a machine). Until I got my sewing machine, all of the Halloween costumes I made for my family were totally stitched by hand. Time-consuming, but not impossible.

Hand sewing even has a few advantages over machine sewing. It lets you get into awkward angles on material that would just be too hard to try and fit under the presser foot of a sewing machine. Even now having a sewing machine, I still do a fair bit of hand sewing on my costume projects because of those odd angles, or delicate materials that I’d worry about the sewing machine shredding.

Sewing by hand even has a few advantages

Sewing by hand can also be useful when you want to make sure a line of stitches is extra strong. With a sewing machine, you get a 1-thread line, but with hand sewing, you can double up your thread for an extra strong 2-thread line of stitches. (If you want to brush up on your hand-sewing technique, check out my earlier tutorial for how to sew by hand here). And later, if you get into things like quilting or embroidery, there’s no competition. A hand sewn project is just so much more charming and beautiful than what a machine produces.

So the next time you find yourself wondering can you sew by hand, remember, the answer is definitely!

Written by Amber Reifsteck, The Woodland Elf

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