Monday, September 23, 2013

My Brother is Learning How to Sew

My brother sent me a text message this morning with a simple request: 

"Do you know anyone with an extra sewing machine?  I want to learn to sew to save money."

YES. 

Well, NO, I don't know anyone with an extra sewing machine.  But YES, you should buy one and YES, I'll help!

I called him up and logged into Amazon, and noticed that I had nearly $80 in unused Amazon Points (I have the Amazon Visa card and buy EVERYTHING on that card- I usually get about $50 back a month.)  My brother and I shopped the Warehouse Deals and found a nearly brand new machine that retails for $250 on sale for $93.69.  I used my points, and my brother ended up with a nice machine for $20 and change after taxes.

Here's said machine as seen on Amazon


So, yeah, Warehouse Deals.  Shop them.  They can be a bit tricky to find on Amazon's site.  When you're searching for an item, go to the right of the screen and click on the link that usually says "X New & Used From X Price" on the bottom of "More Buying Choices." 


Scroll down and see if you can find that same item that you're looking at through the warehouse- sometimes, it's as simple as the item is missing a box, or perhaps it was returned and can't be sold as new.   You can save a lot of money that way.

And here I was just going to buy a David Tennant cutout for my Doctor Who party I'm having in November with those points.  This one, in fact.

But now my brother will have a chance to learn a new skill and hopefully save some money.   I'm feeling pretty great about that.   And I'm looking forward to showing him the ropes.

In the meantime, I'm having fun browsing the internet for all sorts of tutorials that he might find useful.  For example:

1. Denim Fabric Basket Tutorial, from Threading My Way.


He could reuse those shredded jeans and make baskets out of them! These would be awesome for gathering notebooks, tools, tape measures, etc in the shop.  They're cute enough that he could really use them anywhere in the home.   Hello, extra storage bins for the nursery!  Especially if he lined them with this Dr. Seuss fabric.

2. Potato Grow Bags, from


Bags, used to grow potatoes.  No more digging in the soil to harvest your pommes de terre! This would be a great project for him, as he's an avid gardener (he keeps talking about growing potatoes- maybe next year he'll give it a shot), and he would probably enjoy a fast, confidence building project.  

And 3.  Baby Blocks!


I've got a bunch of foam left over from my own woodworking and sewing project (from that aforementioned loveseat project) that would be perfect reincarnated as play blocks for my brother's son.  Also, it'll teach him some stitching skills.  WIN.

So, there you have it.  My brother is learning to sew, and I think it's awesome.  He's also an avid builder, welder, DIYer extraordinaire (and yes, also an amateur boatbuilder- he started building his very own boat this summer!), so I'm very excited to see what great things he creates with this new tool.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. That's so kind of you! What a nice sister. Before you get him on the sewing projects, may I suggest first with just making him practice sewing in a straight line? ^__^;;

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