500 Sewing Tips, Tricks, Techniques, and Hacks: Must-Have Manual for Easy and Accurate Sewing

by Ashley Hough

500 Sewing Techniques, Tips, Tricks, and Hacks is like having all of the quick-hit tutorials and sewing hacks you saw on Instagram and TikTok in one all-encompassing reference book.  From author Ashley Hough, co-host of the Craftsy quilting show, Let's Make a Quilt, this resourceful book features 500 technique "hacks" with easy-to-follow photo step-outs, quick tips, and trick snippets – answering just about any question any sewist may have.  How can you get a clean edge on an inside angle? Can you add zippers to your lapped pockets? What's the key to a straight seam? It's all within these pages. You'll find tips and hacks for crisp pockets, zippers, bindings, edges, buttons, buttonholes, curves, corners, and more. It's the ideal way to cut through the learning curve and pick up the techniques that only experienced sewers know about - all available in one handy, "seamless" guide.

902 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2025

Reviews

[Squirrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appears to be a nice, concise overview of tools at first. The reader thinks, "oh, that's what that odd pin is!"

Yet it quickly becomes suspiciously like an AI-generated book, with inadequate editing. The images for a section often appear on a turned page after the copy, even where there would be plenty of space for both on the same page. "Hack!" blurbs are inserted in random places, with no connection to the blurb before or after. This disturbs the flow and almost belies the point. A section of "Easy Tips" would serve the audience much better. For example, a machine-cleaning tip appears after a bias tape tool blurb. That is like cooking a meal and having someone pop up and say, "hey, when you're edging the lawn..."

The copy is switched for some entries, e.g. a sentence "These type of shears ...." finished the blurb on the Rotating Cutting Mat.

There are some neat ideas - sewing a 'maze' on paper, without thread, to get used to maneuvering and working with the machine. Except, again, the dust from the paper will fall into the tiny spaces and make a nightmare of cleaning. Fabric has texture to catch on brushes, where paper dust does not.

Some of the suggestions are outright dangerous:

Use a small, sticky backed hook on your machine to hang your scissors...

This ignores the reality that you'll stab yourself reaching for something, adjusting fabric, or that the weight of the metal scissors combined with the machine vibration just might help that sharp point free itself at an inopportune moment, and stab someone in the leg or foot. A blade suspended unsecured over or at an active workplace is an invitation for injury.

Some of the explanations use terms or tools not defined. A 'hack' for "thin paper weights" comes after the blurb for "drafting paper". There is NO listing for 'thin paper weights': Are they weights for thin paper, or a paperweight that's small? More:

A seam measurement guide allows you to easily mark a desired seam allowance on the throat plate of your machine based on your needle position. To use, simply select the seam allowance measurement you want to use. Using the hand wheel of your machine, lower the needle into the hole next to that measurement. Lower the presser foot to hold the guide in place, then mark the seam allowance on the throat plate of your machine using a magnetic seam allowance guide, tape, or other marking method.

The image shows the item, but not its described use. Most other tool descriptions do NOT include details about use, so an image would be the least a reader should expect.

Bias tape makers are addressed without any explanation of bias tape or why one would need it. Ditto for fusible web. Experienced sewers will know the terms, but this book isn't designed for that level. Sewing machine feet are listed and named one-by-one; the pictures are no better than a catalog. In fact, it would be more helpful to go to a fabric store and ask for help than to use this resource to even identify the feet one might find in their machine.

One Tip! suggests a presser foot with a 4" seam marking. The feet are typically about 1" long and narrower than that - where does the 4" marking appear, again? (No picture, of course.)

These errors and omissions and questionable 'tips', placed alongside some useful information, make this a frustrating resource. What is reliable and what is just wrong or dangerous?

Maybe a future edition will utilize a professional editor or a book designer, if not both.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashley Hough, of the National Sewing Circle has produced a step-by-step guide to common sewing issues. Though I've been sewing for many years, this book provided numerous ideas and tips I hadn't known about. There were also some tools detailed of which I was unaware, though my grandmother, a professional seamstress, probably knew it all.

The well-captioned, closeup pictures and easy-to-read text make this book an invaluable guide for all, from the novice to experienced sewist. The directions were clear and concise and the hints could be adapted for many types of sewing projects. The book is organized in a logical manner, with more advanced methods following more easily mastered concepts.

Recommended for not only the beginner but the more advanced seamstress.

Note: I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect sewing reference which covers everything from pressing tools, machine feet, pockets, decorative Canadian smocking techniques, interfacing and stabilizers, etc. I loved all the tips, descriptions and how to’s.

Very impressed with how the layout smoothly flows from beginning to end and also allows you to quickly go back and look something up. I would recommend this sewing guide for both beginners and more advanced.

Thank you Ashley Hough and Fox Chapel Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley

[Suzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tremendous encyclopedia about all things sewing. I particularly liked the numerous tips and hacks highlighted throughout. A great guide, particularly for a beginner.