Today it's real easy if you have a sewing machine as you would rather use your sewing machine that do stitches by hand.
But not everybody can afford or have a sewing machine so that's why I'm going to explain some basic sewing stitches.
Once you get the hang if these basic stitches and where they can be used you can decide what works best for you.
Check that you are using the right needle and thread for your fabric or garment.
It's best to work with the correct equipment.
The Running/Straight stitch: This stitch is the basic one and is used most of the time.
This stitch is used if you want so sew two pieces together when sewing or can be used for basic mending as well.
You would use a single thread and start sewing in a straight line pushing the needle from the front to the back of the material.
You would keep sewing in a straight line till you are at the end where you need to finish off.
If you are scared that you can not sew in a straight line take a fabric marker or pins and mark the line for yourself.
The length of your stitches will depend on your type of fabric, short length stitches will work better for heavier fabrics.
The Basting stitch: This stitch is the same as the running/straight stitch it's just that the stitch length is much longer.
This could be just t temporarily keep to pieces of fabric together or for gauging.
Gauging is large stitches where you can pull the fabric together to create frills.
You must just knot the threads together at one end the pull the fabric to create your frills or ruffles.
The Zig Zag stitch: This stitch is in a Z format when you look at it, it help with stretch fabrics.
This stitch allow will allow enough stretch when the fabric is stretched.
The more stretch there is in the fabric the bigger your stitch will be.
You will start the stitch the same way as your straight stitch but instead of keep the line straight you will make one stitch and then draw the thread back into a Z direction.
The Hemming stitch: This stitch is not visible on the front and there are different hemming stitches that can be used.
The hemming stitch is the basic one but there are the catch, slip, overcast and invisible stitches that are all used for hemming.
You'll need to decide when hemming a garment how visible you want your stitches to be and whats best for your garment and fabric type.
The Back tack stitch: This stitch you will use when you finished your sewing and want to end, you would use the back tack stitch.
You will still start your stitch by using a straight stitch but once you created 1 stitch you will go back to the starting point of the back tack stitch and create another stitch.
This will prevent you fabric or thread from unraveling.
These are just a few of the basic stitches that you get, these are also the ones that i use most.
Make use of these stitches when sewing your garments or just want to put in a hem, I do have a sewing machine but some fabric still looks better to me if you sew by hand than machine.