What Sewists Hate About Sewing: Common Complaints and Practical Fixes

We LOVE sewing. We have unreasonable, borderline-concerning amounts of love for sewing. There’s nothing like standing in a fabric store, running your fingers over a bolt of fabric and thinking, “Yes. YOU. You’re coming home with me.” Even though you already have a big fabric stash, and half of it is “for a project” that currently exists only in your imagination.

And watching a stack of random cut-up pieces slowly turn into something useful, wearable, or beautiful? It’s basically wizardry. You start with chaos, some pins, and a prayer, and you end up with a dress. A dress! 

BUT. (There’s always a but, isn’t there?)

It’s not all rainbows and perfectly matched plaids. Sewing also comes with some… special little moments.

So I asked a simple question on my Facebook page: “What do you hate about sewing?”

Well… people had answers. Lots of answers.

But here’s the thing—as I read through this hilarious pile of shared sewing pain, I realized something: I’ve solved a bunch of these problems before! I’ve got tips! Tutorials! Fixes! I’m basically sitting on a goldmine of “here’s how to make that annoying thing less annoying” content.

So instead of simply nodding along and typing “SAME” in the comments 250 times, I decided to be useful. In this roundup, I’m taking the most common (and most relatable) complaints from that Facebook thread and pairing them with real solutions—because loving sewing and being mildly enraged by certain parts of it are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, I’d argue that’s basically the whole hobby.

Note: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means I will receive a commission if you order a product through one of my links. I only recommend products I believe in and use myself. 

1. Threading, Rethreading, and the Tiny Eye of the Needle

Threading came up again and again in the Facebook comments. Threading the sewing machine. Threading the needle. Threading the serger. Rethreading everything after a thread breaks. And then there is the special joy of discovering that the bobbin ran out several inches ago and you have been enthusiastically sewing absolutely nothing.

Yes, we all love to sew. We would just prefer not to spend quite so much time convincing thread to go where it is supposed to go.

“I hate threading the needle.”

This one I can help with.

If you are trying to thread a sewing machine needle manually, one ridiculously simple trick is to put a small piece of white paper behind the needle. Suddenly that tiny eye is much easier to see.

Good lighting helps too, and always cut the thread with sharp scissors so the end is clean instead of fuzzy and separating into little fibers. Raise the needle to its highest position before you start.

And don’t forget the needle threader that may already be built into your sewing machine. It can save a surprising amount of frustration, although it works best when the needle is positioned correctly and isn’t too small for the threader. Built-in threaders may not work with very fine needles, thick threads, or some specialty needles.

My detailed guides:

How to Thread a Needle on a Sewing Machine — this shows the regular method, built-in threaders, separate threading tools, lighting tricks, and other ways to make the job easier.

How to Use a Needle Threader for Machine and Hand Sewing — useful if you own one of those little gadgets but aren’t quite sure how it is supposed to work.

“Hand-threading a needle gets harder every year.”

For hand sewing, start by making a very clean cut on the thread. Don’t break the thread with your fingers or teeth; the ragged fibers make it much harder to get through the eye. 

If the thread keeps splitting, beeswax can hold the fibers together. For especially stubborn thread, I have even used a glue stick to stiffen the end temporarily. A magnifying lamp can also make an enormous difference.

There is another trick I like: instead of trying to push a floppy thread toward the needle, hold the short thread end firmly between your fingers and move the needle eye onto the thread. Sometimes changing which object you move makes the whole thing surprisingly easier.

“Threading my serger.”

Now we have moved from mildly annoying to advanced-level threading gymnastics.

Traditional sergers have multiple threads, loopers, guides, and a particular threading order that often matters. If threading the serger is the part that keeps you from using it, there is another option: air-threading sergers.

You certainly don’t need to replace a perfectly good serger just because threading annoys you. But if you are already shopping for one and threading is a major concern, this is a feature worth understanding.

“My thread keeps breaking.”

And then there is the problem where you finally get everything threaded correctly… and the thread breaks.

Before assuming something terrible has happened to your sewing machine, rethread the top thread completely. Missing a guide or failing to seat the thread correctly in the tension system is surprisingly common, even for experienced sewists, and incorrect threading can cause snagging and breakage.

If that doesn’t solve it, check the obvious suspects: upper tension that is too tight, a bent or damaged needle, thread catching on the spool or spool pin, old or poor-quality thread, and a needle/thread combination that isn’t suitable for the fabric. Even a tiny burr on a needle or needle plate can damage the thread.

“I don’t realize my bobbin has run out.”

This complaint came up quite a few times. You’re sewing along, everything seems perfectly normal, and then you look back and discover that the bobbin thread disappeared several inches ago. The machine kept moving. The fabric kept moving. You just weren’t technically sewing anymore.

Modern sewing machines have quite a few features designed to prevent these little annoyances, and a bobbin thread sensor is one of my favorites. On machines that have this feature, the sensor warns you when the bobbin thread is getting low, before it runs out completely.

So instead of sewing an imaginary seam for half a minute, you get a warning and can replace the bobbin before continuing.

Of course, not every machine has a bobbin sensor. But if you are ever shopping for a new sewing machine, this is one of those features that may not sound very important until you’ve used it. Modern machines can now help with everything from needle threading and automatic thread cutting to lighting, speed control, needle positioning, and bobbin monitoring.

I wrote about 19 advanced sewing machine features here, including the bobbin thread sensor.

“Why does my bobbin always run out TWO INCHES before the seam ends?”

Yes, it is a bobbin thing. Because apparently bobbins have impeccable timing.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a special machine feature that can guarantee the bobbin will contain exactly enough thread to finish your seam. But you can make this much less annoying.

Before starting a long seam, topstitching, quilting line, buttonhole, or any place where stopping halfway would be inconvenient, take a quick look at the bobbin. If there isn’t much thread left, this is a good time to replace it rather than gambling on those last few inches. I also like having several wound bobbins ready, especially when I’m working on a larger project.

And if the bobbin does run out two inches before the finish line, you usually don’t have to redo the whole seam. Put in a full bobbin, start stitching a little before the point where the previous stitching stopped so the stitches overlap slightly, secure the stitching as appropriate for the project, and continue to the end.

For an ordinary construction seam, that tiny overlap won’t matter at all.

For visible topstitching or decorative stitching, however, I would be more careful because the restart can show. In that case, I may stop at a less noticeable point, pull the thread tails to the wrong side and secure them, then continue as neatly as possible.

2. Cutting Fabric: The Part Many Sewists Would Happily Skip

Cutting came up over and over in the comments.

“Cutting.”

“Cutting out.”

“Cutting out the pattern!”

“Cutting out Ugh!”

I think the message is clear. Many of us would be perfectly happy if the fabric could somehow go directly from the bolt to the sewing machine.

Unfortunately, cutting matters. A lot. If the pieces aren’t cut accurately, you can end up with seams that don’t match, uneven hems, twisted seams, and all kinds of problems that suddenly appear later when you are trying to sew everything together.

So while we can’t eliminate cutting completely, we can make it less frustrating.

“I hate cutting out fabric.”

First, make sure the tool isn’t making the job harder than it needs to be.

I have accumulated quite a collection of cutting tools over the years: regular fabric scissors, rotary cutters, pinking shears, electric scissors, specialty scissors, and more. They don’t all do the same job, and sometimes simply switching tools makes a tedious cutting job much easier.

My guide to cutting tools for sewing explains what the different tools are good for.

A rotary cutter is especially useful when you have lots of straight lines or repeated pieces to cut. But a rotary cutter with a dull blade can make you feel like you’re exercising instead of sewing.  A sharp blade, a good ruler, and a proper self-healing cutting mat make a big difference.

And if using regular scissors for a long time bothers your hands, there are electric fabric scissors too. Cutting fabric is already enough work. There is no requirement that your hand has to hurt when you’re finished.

“I can never cut fabric straight.”

This is one of those things that looks as though it should be ridiculously simple.

It’s a straight line. How difficult could it be?

Apparently, difficult enough that I wrote an entire article with eight different ways to do it.

One useful thing to remember is that the cut edge you brought home from the fabric store isn’t necessarily straight. So lining everything up with that edge and assuming it is correct can cause trouble before you’ve even started.

Depending on the fabric, you can use the grain, pull a crosswise thread to create a visible cutting line, use rulers and a cutting mat, or use several other methods. I show them in How To Cut Fabric Straight: 8 Easy Ways Explained.

“I hate cutting knit fabric.”

Knits deserve their own complaint.

They stretch. The edges may curl. The fabric can move while you are trying to position the pattern. And if part of it hangs off the table, its own weight can distort it.

The important thing is to let the knit rest naturally while you cut it instead of stretching it into submission. The right cutting surface, pattern weights, sharp tools, and sometimes cutting in a single layer can make the job much more manageable.

“I hate cutting all those quilting pieces.”

Now we get to the quilters.

Cutting one skirt front is one thing. Cutting dozens—or hundreds—of squares, strips, triangles, and other little pieces that all need to be the same size is quite another.

But if repetitive cutting is the part of quilting you REALLY dislike, there is another solution: let a machine do some of it.

I can’t promise you’ll suddenly LOVE cutting 150 quilt pieces. But I CAN promise you will hate it much less.

And then there is bias cutting…

When a project calls for fabric cut on the bias, the pieces are cut diagonally across the grain. This gives the fabric different stretch and drape, which is very useful for things such as bias binding and certain garments—but it also means the fabric can distort more easily while you’re handling it.

If bias cutting is one of the reasons you would rather skip straight to the sewing machine, I have a step-by-step tutorial on how to cut fabric on the bias.

And for pretty much everything else involving scissors, rotary cutters, slippery fabrics, straight cuts, knits, quilting, and fabric-cutting machines, I collected my cutting tutorials in one place in my Ultimate Fabric Cutting Guide. It brings together 12 different cutting topics, because apparently “just cut the fabric” is not nearly as simple as those three words suggest.

We can’t make cutting disappear from sewing completely. But I can make a strong case for sharp tools, a good cutting surface, the right technique for the fabric, and letting a machine do the repetitive work when it makes sense.

And if cutting is still your least favorite part after all that, at least there is something nice waiting on the other side of it: Finally, you get to sew.

This article is getting pretty long, and apparently we have a LOT to say about the parts of sewing we don’t love.

And if you want the full dose of shared sewing frustration, you can read the original post and all the comments on my Facebook page. There are plenty of “Oh yes, THAT too!” moments in there.

So I’m turning this into a series.

In the next parts, I’ll tackle more of the complaints that came up again and again in the Facebook comments: unpicking and fixing mistakes, never having enough time to sew, sewing machine and sewing-room problems, and those finishing tasks and techniques that some sewists would happily avoid forever—hemming, binding, buttonholes, gathering, hand sewing, zippers, and more.

Because if we’re going to complain about sewing, we might as well find a few solutions while we’re at it.

Do you have your own sewing frustrations? I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below, or send me a message through my Contact form. And if you think this article may come in handy the next time sewing gets a little frustrating, save the pin below to one of your sewing boards so you can find it again later. You can also follow me on Pinterest for more sewing tips, tutorials, and ideas.