Hello! Now that the new year has passed, I’ve heard a lot of people with new years resolutions that revolve somewhat around spending less time on their phone or more time on hobbies. However ‘starting a hobby’ is something that can seem very high-entry, which is why I’m writing this article! I’ve done a lot of fiber-and-thread related hobbies over the years, and I thought I’d give some detail on all of them so that you can maybe see which one you would find fun/is a good fit for you. I’m only doing fibercraft since that’s what I’m comfortable commenting on, but feel free to comment with your hobby and why it’s the best one.
I’m going to divide ‘fiber craft’ into a few main categories, and for each one I’m going to give some pros, cons and general notes. I’ll also give some tips for getting started. For every one of these there’s about a million you tube tutorials, so that should also help.
Knitting
Pros: Low entry, methodical/repetitive, portable
Cons: Slow, difficult to improvise
Knitting is my main hobby. The reason I like it is that I think it’s very soothing (unless I mess something up and I spend two hours cussing) and I enjoy seeing yarn come together into fabric. What I imagine people can dislike about it is that it’s very slow to produce results. If your goal is to make your own clothes and you don’t just enjoy the motions your hands are making, I would recommend machine sewing.
The reason I prefer knitting over crochet is mainly that I learned it first. For both knitting and crochet, there is a curse that once you start with one, the other will seem like witchcraft. Objectively, the advantage of knitting is that it’s slightly more mindless and faster, but it’s more restricted in the shapes you can make, and also harder to improvise with. If you go with knitting over crochet, you’re more likely to always need a pattern or to plan out your project in advance.
Getting started:
There are two (technically more but fuck double ended needles) types of knitting needles, round and straight ones. By now, I only use round ones, but usually people start with straight ones. I would recommend doing a small project on size 5-6 mm to start with. Smaller and it’s very slow, but if you go very large the needles get clunky and more difficult to work with. You might be tempted to do a scarf, but it takes forever and it’s very daunting as a first project. If you want super basic, you can make a headband by just making one strip of fabric and sewing it together. If you want slightly more fun, you can make a hat on round needles (get 80 cm ones and use Magic Loop instead of getting small ones), this will teach you basic knit-purl as well as decreases. You might need to use Magic Loop Method, which seems scary at first, but it is super useful to know later on. A good website for both knitting and crochet patterns is Ravelry.
Crochet
Pros: More freedom than knitting
Cons: Even slower than knitting
I personally haven’t crochet that much because (as previously stated) I think it’s witchcraft, but I’ve heard good things. I’ve already stated the difference with knitting in the previous section. I think crochet suits people who are slightly more creative and less… autistic, since it’s less methodical and more intuitive.
Getting started:
I started out (like most people) making granny squares. This is great because you can make as many as you want and turn them into a number of different things like bags and vests and stuff (please don’t make a blanket as your first project you will get disheartened). I assume the 5-6 mm advice still holds for crochet, but I’m not sure.
Machine sewing
Pros: Fast as shit, lot of creative freedom
Cons: High barrier to entry, It’s An Ordeal
I’ve done quite a bit of machine sewing when I was a teen, but I’ve mostly left it behind except for specific mending/projects I want to do. The reason for this is that while I enjoy the actual sewing part, the pattern making and cutting and everything around it always feels like a lot of hassle. You need quite a bit of space and it’s more difficult to lay down and pick back up than knitting or embroidery because you have a big ass machine and all your pattern pieces are huge.
The nice thing about it is that if you’ve done some hand sewing and then machine sew, you feel like a God. It’s the fastest way of producing wearable items by far.
Getting started:
A lot of people have sewing machines laying around that they don’t use that much. It’s probably best to borrow one and see how you like it before committing to buying your own. For beginners, try to find a fabric that is non-stretchy and not very silky or very rough. Cotton is good, and has the added benefit that it’s probably the cheapest thing you will find in a fabric store. My first project was a pair of pants with an elastic waistband, but that’s not necessarily the easiest thing to do. I also feel like machine sewing is something where you benefit a lot from having someone teach you, so this is a great moment to reconnect with your mom/grandma. You can get patterns from magazines, online (if you have a printer) or by copying over from your own clothing (there are youtube tutorials for that).
Hand sewing/mending
Pros: Essential life skill
Cons: Slow, You will run out of clothing with holes
Mending your own clothes is such a great skill to have. It’s also easy as shit (depending on the damage) and has a very low barrier to entry. You pretty much just need a needle and thread. Hand sewing is also very fun. I mainly use it to supplement other types of projects. For example I always handmade the buttonholes on clothes that I made with machine sewing or you can add patches or other decorations to clothes to customize them.
While you can make entire pieces of clothing by hand-sewing, it gets very tedious and the stitches usually turn out less even than machine sewing them. This means that neither of these are great hobbies on their own, since at some point all your clothing will be mended. However it is a great skill to have and a great way to add touches to projects you are doing. Hand sewing also has a lot of overlap with free hand embroidery if you want to use it to customize things.
Getting started:
For mending, just take something that has a hole in it and look up youtube tutorials until you see someone fixing that specific type of hole. The easiest things to fix are tears, especially in seams. For hand sewing, it very much depends on what you are using it for, but the same principle applies.
Cross-stitch
Pros: Making pretty things, methodical, portable
Cons: not a lot of uses
I like cross stitch for the same reason I like knitting, as in that it’s methodical and produces pretty things. However, usually, you will be making more of a thread-painting than a wearable item. I know there’s ways to cross stitch on clothing, but I’ve never tried them.
The main thing is that you cross stitch on a specific type of fabric that is very rough and not really sewable afterwards. I think it probably combines better with drawing as a hobby than with sewing. I do think that cross stitch is very beautiful, and it has the same portability advantage that knitting and crochet have.
Getting started:
You’re going to need cross stitch fabric and embroidery thread, both of which you can get at Pipoos. Embroidery thread is a kind of thick glossy thread that is weirdly expensive. The reason you want to use that instead of yarn is that it’s easier to pull through fabric, and also it’s very pretty and available in a lot of colours. However, if you’re on a budget, yarn also works. There’s a lot of patterns you can find online (pinterest), and in the beginning I would recommend one that is not super large and only uses 3-5 colors.
Free hand embroidery
Pros: Great way to customize clothes you already have
Cons: Seems easier than it is
Free hand embroidery is a type of embroidery where you don’t do cross stitch but instead just hand-sew onto a fabric of your choosing. It’s a very fun way to add to clothing you already have. I honestly can’t think of too many downsides to this, besides the fact that it’s sometimes difficult to think of something to make that’s embroidery-friendly and nice, and that it’s way easier to fuck up than you would think.
Getting started:
Either use a piece of clothing you already own and are not too attached to, or get something secondhand. You want something that does not have stretchy fabric (again, shoutout cotton) and is an even colour. Usually the easiest things to make are anything floral or abstract. If you want to make a filled-color you will probably have to use something called Satin Stitch that is the bane of my existence, so probably start with small flowers or lines. You can go along seams to make the placement not-awkward, or just go wild wherever. One thing to keep in mind is that if you make your stitches too tight, the fabric will pucker, so keep checking that your tension is good.