About "No Sew" patterns

Mine frustration as a beginner stemmed from instructions on a beginner pattern that said ā€œ sew blah blah blah.
I had no idea on how to do that. I’m looking for instructions and none to to be easily found. I learned through trial and error that sewing the parts in are best done with a mattress stitch and sew just behind where I want the piece to go.
I loved those patterns that told you to sew arm on round 11 spanning 4 stitches- at least thst gave me a place to start.
Eyeballing it was difficult because since COVID there are blank areas in my left eye.

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exactly right. it comes down to the persons preference, and how fast they need to complete this etc. no sew IS NOT just for beginners. thats kinda judgy and implying people who dont sew are beginners/bad at sewing ngl. in my opinion, people like @binka who go out of their way to create and distribute no sew patterns in ways nobody else would think of is much smarter than sewing more difficult pieces, don’t you think, @anoswaldoddity? I’m basically saying a piece like a snout that is usually sewn, is now being able to be a no sew piece with that extra amount of thought, and trial.
people who dont like to sew could be market prepping. market prep is quite stressful sometimes. so having no sew patterns is a safe plan to turn to when you need to make things in a rush. once again, no sew isn’t just for beginners!!! it is for everyone.

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Yeah I totally agree, these were the worst. There were patterns thqt advertised that they had pictures, but they didn’t help at all!:rofl:

I learned that there can be different results depending on which loop(s) you’re sewing. But overall the best thing is to stay consistent and not wing it hoping that it will look ok, that didn’t work for me :rofl:

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No sew is not just for beginners, that’s for sure, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that there’s a different in smarts when it comes to writing a pattern with or without sewing either. :thinking: Writing any pattern requires smarts I believe. There’s so much to think about, no sew or not. :slightly_smiling_face:

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yes i most definitely agree, sorry my comment came off that way. but you can obviously easily incorporate sewing to tack something on. it takes that step further to design and think of a way you can make that thing you were originally going to create by just sewing. don’t you think it takes more brains/one step further to make something no sew? etc small wings, arms or other complex parts. yes some may be easily achievable, but making something like a snout would take much more work to make no sew. i wasnt saying if people create patterns that include sewing don’t thank about how they design it, not at all for one second!! I admire all pattern creators and their wonderful work :heart_hands:

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Thank you for clarifying, that’s very kind :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: but I still don’t agree about one being more difficult or time consuming than the other :thinking: I think it really depends on the designer in the end :grin: we’re all different and have our own challenges and abilities :blush:

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If there’s clear instructions (like which row, how many stitches between pieces, or even using stitches as placemarkers) I’m all for sewing patterns. The problem I have is that my spacial awareness can be pretty wonky at times, so trying to figure out where I’m meant to attach pieces with little to no instructions drives me crazy.

Also depends on the size of the pattern too. If it’s any smaller than a bottle of coke, then I’d like it to be low to no sew.

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I totally agree :blush: I can only imagine how difficult it must be when reading the project is an additional challenge :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

And yes, sewing on smaller pieces is really a hassle for me :rofl:

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For me, it’s like a puzzle sometimes to take an idea that would normally involve sewing and figure out how to make it no-sew. I’ve designed a fairy and it took a long time to work out how to make the wings no-sew but with the upper and lower halves still having an angle so they looked like wings. It would’ve been much easier to just sew them on, but it was fun when I made it work in the end.

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Yes, challenging yourself is never a bad idea when you’re an artist :smile_cat: it can only lead to more experience and discovering new things :grin:

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I prefer no sews so if you have any lmk

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Thank you, that’s good to know :blush: I don’t think I’ll start designing no sew just yet, but if I do I’ll definitely send you a message :grin:

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I prefer no sew because the yarn I use tends to fall apart when I sew. (Parfait chunky) and I tried using acrylic yarn but I can see it sometimes. So for me its just a preference.

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I understand :grin:I use cotton yarn and worked really hard to find ways so that my sewing won’t show but sometimes it doesn’t work as much as I’d like it to :laughing:

Was also curious about this :grin: thanks everyone for the answers :smiley_cat:

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Im horrible at sewing so if there is a no sew pattern and something similar with sewing its a no brainer to choose the no sew. Its quite disappointing how many crochet patterns require lots of unnecessary sewing when a little crochet forethought in the pattern would make it not necessary.

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There are lots of reason people like no-sew or low-sew patterns. Typically they are easier for beginners to be able to complete their plushy without as much fuss. Other times you might like the look of a specific no-sew pattern. Or your might just be really bad at sewing, or hate the step of having to sew your plushy together.

I know there was a time when I hated sewing my projects together. And it was so bad that I worked out a deal with my Mum. She was more than willing to sew my projects together because we sell our crochet creations. And we needed to ā€œramp up productionā€. Once she took over my sewing I became exponentially more productive. Instead of getting 2 small to mid-sized projects done a week, I was now able to get 6-8 small to mid-sized projects done a week. We continued with this arrangement for about 10 months. Then I went back to doing all parts of my projects myself. Now, for me, the reason I hated the sewing my projects together was because at that time I had recently suffered from a massive stroke. So my fine motor control wasn’t very good, and with also having osteoarthritis and tendinitis my hands were generally weak and painful. I loved the crocheting part, but couldn’t handle the sewing part. And at that time didn’t know that no-sew patterns were a thing. At this point I am 7 1/2 years post stroke, and have regained alot of my fine motor control back (I still really suck at embroidery, but I sucked at embroidery before the stroke), but my hands still go through bouts of weakness, and cramping up. To help with the cramping I started wearing compression gloves, which have helped far more than I ever expected. I used to experience hand cramping several times a day. Which caused me to have to stop crocheting for at least a couple of hours before being able to crochet again. Now I get hand cramps very rarely, but my hands still like to have a mind of their own. Which means I suddenly release things, or my hands glitch (like the stop moving completely and then spasm a few time before going back to normal). It can be really frustrating. The one issue I sometimes have is that the majority of no-sew patterns use either the bobble stitch or the popcorn stitch. I find that if my hands are having a bad day, this stitch type causes my hands to get sore and crampy really fast. So it’s a situation where your are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Which is also super frustrating. And adjusting hasn’t always been easy. I had my stroke when I was 25. And I had suffered from other health problems before that.

So there are lots of reasons people like no-sew patterns. These days I do about 85-90% patterns that require sewing, and about 10-15% no-sew patterns. It all depends on what kind of things I want to make.

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