Start With a Rectangle

A first sewing course for someone who has never sewn.

Sewing is joining fabric with a line of thread, and this book starts there. It assumes you know nothing: not how to thread a machine, what a seam allowance is, which fabric to buy or why your stitches have turned into a tangle underneath. It teaches those things on paper and scraps first, and then you make six useful things, each one adding a single new skill.

Why rectangles

Every piece in the book is a rectangle or a square that you measure and draw straight onto the fabric. There are no pattern pieces to print, trace, enlarge or tape together. Every project has its cutting layout drawn to scale on a cutting-mat grid, and a page that shows where each size comes from, so you can change the sizes yourself.

The six projects

1. Pincushion: your first real seam, turning a corner, clipping, and closing a gap by hand
2. Four cloth napkins: pressing and the double-fold hem (one fat quarter each)
3. Envelope cushion cover: a visible hem and sewing through layers, with a size table for 12 to 20 in and 30 to 50 cm cushion pads
4. Drawstring bag: zigzag seam finishes, a channel, and two cords that pull from both sides
5. Lined tote bag: strong straps, boxed corners and a full lining with every seam hidden
6. Zip pouch: a zipper foot and a nylon zip, including the step everybody forgets the first time

Each project says how long it takes and whether it can be sewn by hand.

Inches and centimetres, both complete

Every project is given twice: an inch version with a 1/2 in seam and a centimetre version with a 1 cm seam, each in its own round numbers rather than a converted copy. Every cut size, seam allowance, hem and fabric amount was checked by working it through piece by piece in both systems, and each fabric amount allows 5% for shrinkage in the first wash.

Also inside

• Part 1, before the first project: tools to buy and to skip, fabric grain and which fabrics to start with, cutting accurately, a labelled machine, winding and inserting the bobbin, threading in six moves, how a stitch locks and the tension check, stitch length shown at real size, paper practice, the seam allowance, your first seam with four scrap drills, corners, pressing, hand stitches and unpicking
• Part 3, when it goes wrong: sixteen common problems, what usually causes each and what to do, starting with the three-step reset that fixes most machine trouble
• A glossary with US and UK words, an inches-and-centimetres page, and what to make next

What you download

• Start With a Rectangle (58 pages, PDF, US Letter): the book, in color, with bookmarks and a contents page.
• The Sewing Kit (13 pages, PDF, in US Letter and in A4): a seam gauge card, four practice sheets to sew on with an unthreaded machine, a cutting card for each project and a progress page. Each kit file has test squares so you can check it printed at real size.

Good to know

• You need a basic sewing machine with a straight stitch and a zigzag, or a hand needle for the projects that can be sewn by hand. The book does not cover overlockers (sergers), knit fabrics or clothing.
• Machines differ: the book shows the parts and threading route found on most home machines and tells you where your own manual will differ.
• US words come first, with UK words beside them where they differ (selvage and selvedge, fiberfill and toy stuffing, zipper and zip).
• The book pages are US Letter. On A4 paper print the book with "fit to page", and print the A4 kit at 100%.
• This is a PDF download. No physical book or materials are shipped.