I use my phone for so many things! My phone changes the way I shop, navigate, discover information, and yes, even how I sew. So today, I thought I'd share some of the apps I use for sewing, and a few I don't! These apps are all available for iPhones, and I believe many of them are available for Androids as well. All of them are free, but some of them have In-App purchases, so just be sure to check.
Learning Apps
Craftsy
I don't have a computer in my sewing room, so when I watch my Craftsy classes, it's often on my phone, or sometimes on my iPad (Craftsy app is available for iPad as well). The app isn't identical to the website, in that it's very mobile friendly, and you can even download lessons to watch. I love that feature the most, especially if I'm travelling and know I'll have long waits somewhere, possibly without reception or wifi. You can also just stream the classes as you like.
Screenshot of Elizabeth Hartman's Craftsy class, Patchwork Piecing: Woodland Animals.
Craftsy's mobile app
Creativebug
In case you're not familiar with Creativebug, you can check it out with a free trial. One monthly fee offers unlimited access to their classes on a huge variety of subjects. Creativebug is where I learned to paper piece, watching Carolyn Friedlander's class. You can also learn to decorate cookies, make jewellery, crochet, knit, and so much more! From the mobile app, you can access the entire class library, bookmark your favourite classes, and download lessons.
Quilt Tutorials
This app is put out by Missouri Star Quilt Co. and is loaded with free quilting tutorials. From this app, you can watch videos going over many techniques and learn new blocks. There's also a search function, so if you're looking for a particular skill, just enter it in.
Tools
Quiltler
You can have a lot of fun with this app! It allows you to easily design your own quilt or quilt block, with squares or triangles and more. You can add multiple colours and create a random assortment and change it any way you like. It's quite powerful, especially considering it's free.
QuiltingCalc
This app, offered by Robert Kaufman Fabrics and Quilter's Paradise is the only calculator you'll need when making a quilt: never be too short again! Whether you're trying to find out how much fabric you need for your quilt backing, or how much for your binding, this app does the calculations for you. As an inexperienced quilter, I really appreciate that there's something I can use to reduce the chance of measuring wrong.
Camera 360
Ok, so this one isn't really a sewing app, but I use it for many of my sewing pictures. There are a lot of photo editing apps out there, and I'll admit I haven't tried too many, but I find this one quite simple to use, and it's free so I've stuck with it. Once you've sewn up a project, you want to share it in the best light and sometimes that needs a bit of editing. I almost always use the crop feature, and adding text is really easy. There are several features included in the free version and apparently more with the paid version, although I've never found the need to upgrade.
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Sheets
This one is also not technically a sewing app, but I use it for the swaps and blog tours I sign up for and can use it to keep me organized. Sheets is an app from Google and it's a spreadsheet that works with Excel; use it to create and edit spreadsheets and collaborate with others. Maybe you want to keep track of your fabric purchases, or what pattern requirements are: now you can access all your data right from your phone.
Simplicity
I downloaded this app so I could keep track of my fabric. There's a feature that's meant to keep track of your fabric, but I found it time consuming and cumbersome, so I'm going back to my old method of just shoving it randomly in my closet and then doing a mad search when I'm looking for something. The app does have basic sewing tips, which might be helpful, and lists all the patterns which you can search for by feature, but honestly, I don't really find this to be useful for me.
Fabric Stash
This one is another app to help keep track of your fabrics. The premise is that you take a picture of the fabric, then add which colour schemes, designer, or themes are in the fabric and how much of it you have and the type of fabric. Once you've added that to your "stash" then you can search the stash by those features and keep a running inventory. In theory this sounds awesome, but I'm just not good at that sort of upkeep, so it doesn't really work for me.
iBooks
iBooks is the app I use to view my PDF patterns on my phone or iPad. I love that I can create collections to sort by. I have mine set up under pattern designer, but I also have separate collections for clothing and quilting. If storage on the device is a concern, you can always delete each pattern and reload as you need them (as long as you have them stored somewhere else). I also love that when I'm out fabric shopping, I can just pull up the pattern instantly to check for fabric requirements.
Inspiration
Pinterest is really what got me into sewing. So much inspiration, and tons of ideas and tutorials.
I confess I spend more time than I should scrolling Instagram, but it's because the makers out there are just so incredible, and I'm constantly inspired to do more and more! I love discovering new fabric lines, patterns and trends on Instagram.
Do you use your phone for sewing too? What are your favourite sewing apps?
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