Howcast
The best source for fun, free, and useful how-to videos and guides.
Aspiring animator? Learn a few fun animation techniques with these videos.
All you need are a few apples and some basic arts and crafts tools to tackle the fun and easy projects in this apple crafts video series from Howcast.
Learn circular knitting — also known as knitting in the round — from expert Jessica Kaufman in these Howcast videos.
Kids driving you crazy? Settle them down with the fun and easy art projects in this craft ideas for kids video series from Howcast.
Already know how to knit? Learn how to crochet with the crocheting lessons in this Howcast video series.
Learn how to use a digital camera and pick up some digital photography tips and techniques with these Howcast videos.
Take a crash course in digital photography from commercial photographer Dan Bracaglia with these Howcast videos.
Got a roll of duct tape? Then you’ve got hours of arts and crafts fun ahead of you with the duct tape crafts in this Howcast video series.
Get ready to celebrate Easter with this Howcast video series on how to decorate Easter eggs, make bunny ears, and pull together other Easter crafts.
All you need is a needle, thread, some fabric, and these step by step instructions to start sewing.
Increase your flower power with the easy flower crafts in this Howcast video series.
Learn about glassblowing from pros Todd Hansen and Ed Donovan in these Howcast videos.
Into arts and crafts? Check out the great craft ideas in this Howcast video series.
Makeup artist Kenneth Llambelis helps you create classic Halloween characters with the step-by-step instructions in these Howcast makeup tutorials.
Make sure Dad has a very happy Father’s Day with the ideas in this Howcast video series.
Make floral arrangements that rival those of a professional florist with help from this Howcast video series on flower arranging.
Pick up tips about how to become a professional artist in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to crochet with these Howcast tutorials featuring Andrea Lemire of Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
Learn how to paint a picture or design on someone’s face with the step-by-step instructions in these Howcast videos.
Pick up some great graffiti tips, tricks, and techniques from master tagger Paes 164 in these Howcast videos.
Check out the no-sew ways to make a blanket, scarf, tutu and more from crafty Jennifer Wiese in these Howcast videos.
Master the ancient art of Japanese paper folding with the step-by-step instructions in these tutorials.
Learn how to make fake cuts, blood, and other gore from special effects makeup artist Ciara Rose Griffin in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to do stop motion animation courtesy of Joe Vena of NYC’s Children’s Museum of the Arts in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to draw dogs, cats, leaves, flowers, fruit, grass, people, water, and much more from artist Rebecca Schweiger in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to sketch and illustrate with these video tutorials, which will have you drawing celebrities like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber in no time.
From figures and croquis to specs and clothing, learn to draw fashion sketches from fashion designer Garo Sparo in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to draw with the drawing lessons in this Howcast video series.
Budding graffiti artists and experienced taggers alike can learn something about how to tag from master tagger Paes 164 in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to draw manga with the step-by-step instructions from artist Chris Hart in these Howcast art tutorials.
Learn how to do all kinds of knitting stitches with the step-by-step instructions in these knitting tutorials from Howcast.
Learn how to make balloon animals from magician Jonas Cain in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to make friendship bracelets from The Lanyard Ladies in these Howcast videos.
Put together a great Halloween costume with the ideas in this Howcast video series.
Whether you want to scare trick-or-treaters or entertain them, there’s an idea for you in this frightfully good video series.
Learn how to make jewelry from custom jeweler and sculptor Courtney Gray in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to make children’s musical instruments out of stuff you have around the house from the founders of Music Moves Me in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to make origami with these tutorials, which show you how to make an easy origami rose, star, heart, bird, frog, butterfly, and much more.
Learn how to make homemade pop-up cards and crafts with the step-by-step instructions in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to make Rainbow Loom bracelets from The Lanyard Ladies in these Howcast videos.
Making your own soap is inexpensive, easy-to-do, and can be the perfect DIY gift for friends and family.
Let acrylic painting teacher Linda Rhea show you how to paint foliage, landscapes, seascapes, and much more in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to scrapbook with the ideas and techniques demonstrated by expert Carla Sylvester in these scrapbooking tutorials from Howcast.
Learn how to sew from expert seamstress Cynthia Mann in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to take better pictures with these Howcast photography tutorials featuring professional photographer Luke Ballard.
Learn how to take great portraits from professional photographer Joe Sinnott in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to tie dye with the tips, tricks, and techniques demonstrated in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to tie knots with the classic knot tying techniques demonstrated in these Howcast videos.
Do you like velvet Elvis paintings and don’t get abstract art? Then you need this Howcast video series on art appreciation.
Learn how to sew using a sewing machine from designer Jennifer Wiese in these Howcast videos.
Learn how to gift wrap a present like a pro with the tutorials in this Howcast video series.
Grab your needles and yarn and get ready to knit baby gifts, blankets, hats, scarves, and more.
Bring out your inner artist with these painting tips and techniques.
Learn how to make your own jewelry with the jewelry-making techniques demonstrated in these Howcast videos.
For film aficionados and cinema enthusiasts alike.
Transform boring sheets of paper into simple and fun craft projects.
Capture your subject in the best light with these photography tips that cover everything from nature and still-life photography to fashion photography.
Once you get the hang of quilting with these videos, you’ll never buy another blanket again.
Scrapbooking is a fun hobby anyone can get into, even if you don’t consider yourself particularly crafty. So grab some photos and card stock and prepare to scrap!
Learn how to thread a needle more easily and other neat tricks with these Howcast videos.
Learn studio photography tips and tricks from professional photographer Chris Ryan in these Howcast videos.
Transcript Hi, I’m Heidi from The Lanyard Ladies, and today I’m going to be teaching you how to make a snake bracelet. First you’ll need 20 inches of rattail cord, this you can get at any craft store. It’s a little thicker than french or bracelet embroidery string that you’d be typically to make your …
Transcript Hi. I’m Colleen from the Lanyard Ladies, and now we’re going to learn how to make a V friendship bracelet. I have five colors, and I have 30 inches here, and you need to find the center of the 30 inches. At the center, we make a knot. But after we have a knot …
Transcript Hi, I’m Colleen from the Ladies and now we’re going to learn how to make a Candy Stripe Friendship Bracelet. I’m making a Candy Stripe Bracelet with five strings. You probably want to cut your strings about 20 inches in length. That should accommodate any size wrist. You take your strings and you put …
Transcript Hi. I’m Heidi from the Lanyard Ladies, and today I’ll be showing you how to make a fancy Chinese staircase friendship bracelet. This is what it’s going to look like when it’s done. You’re going to pick five colors, five of your favorite colors. It’s going to be about 15 inches long. And you …
Transcript Hi, I’m Colleen from The Lanyard Ladies and now I’m going to show you how to make a Chinese staircase bracelet. I’m using five strings. The more strings you use, the thicker the bracelet will be when it’s finished. So I have five strings about 20 inches long. I’m going to put a knot …
Transcript Hi, I’m Colleen from The Lanyard Ladies and now I’m going to teach you how to make a braid with the friendship embroidery floss. I use three different colors and I use three strings of each color, and I’m going to knot them at the top. Then I will take my cardboard. I put …
Transcript Hi. I’m Colleen from The Lanyard Ladies, and I’m going to show you today how to make a backward knot. You’re going to need two pieces of string. We’ll first put a basic knot in the top of the two strings. Pull it tight. Then we’re going to take our scissors, and we’ll cut …
Transcript Hi. I’m Heidi from The Lanyard Ladies, and today I’m going to show you how to make a fishtail rainbow loom bracelet. This is what it’s going to look like when we’re done. You’re going to need to pick two colors we’re going to start with. I’m going to use red and black. You …
Transcript So, now that we have our zipper all pressed, we need to go our fabric. And for this demonstration, I’m just going to mark the wrong side of the fabric so it’s a little clearer to see what we’re doing. So, X is wrong side of our fabric. So, what you want to do …
Transcript You want to go to your sewing machine and install a zipper foot. Now, the zipper foot allows for zipper teeth to go underneath the presser foot. So, in this case, I’m sewing with my zipper teeth to the right. I’m going to be sewing on the fabric. So, I want to place my …
Transcript So, now that we have our zipper pinned in place, it’s time to sew. To sew this zipper, I’m going to use a zipper foot, and I’m just going swap out the foot that I have on my machine for a zipper foot. And this zipper foot, it can be used on the left …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer Wiese from Workroom Social. I’m a pattern maker and designer. I’ve been sewing for 15 years, and I’m really excited to do this basic sewing machine video series for Howcast.com. For the series, we’re actually using this sewing machine, which is the first-ever sewing machine I’ve owned. I learned how to …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and today I’m going to show you how to apply bias tape. So, we have our bias tape made. You can either make this at home or you can buy pre-made bias tape at any Notions or sewing store. The first thing you’re going to want to do …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workerm Social.Today, I’m going to show you how to make bias tape. Before I show you how to make bias tape, let’s just talk really quickly about what bias tape is. Bias tape is a tape that you can make or buy pre-made in the store. It is cut on …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today we are going to talk about fabric puckering. So, sometimes you’re sewing and you think everything is going really well, and then you pull your fabric out from behind your machine and you look at it, and the fabric is all puckered. So, let’s talk about …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and today we are going to talk about why does my top thread keep breaking? I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this, I know I have. You’ll be sewing and all of a sudden your top thread will just break right in the middle of a seam. …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I am going to talk to you about thread jams. So, as a new sewer, when I was first learning to sew many years ago, I would always experience thread jams, meaning I would just have these big balls of thread that would get stuck in …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to help you troubleshoot your bobbin problems. So let’s go ahead and look into our bobbin area. I’m just going to remove this case and get into our bobbin area. I open this up and I see here is my bobbin casing. Sometimes when …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to talk to you about sewing machines. There are several types of sewing machines that you’re probably going to look to if you are looking to buy a sewing machine. For home sewing users, there are mechanical machines, electronic, or often called computerized machines. …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and today I’m going to show you how to stitch in the ditch. So stitch in the ditch is a great technique to know and to use. A lot of times you’ll use it when attaching waistbands to skirts, so I’m going to show you today. Today we …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to use a double needle on your sewing machine. Here is the double needle that I’m using, and a double needle is exactly what it sounds like. It’s two needles connected to one shaft and it makes two lines of …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and today I’m going to show you how to gather fabric. We have our fabric piece right here that we want to gather and the first thing we’re going to do is go to our sewing machine and make sure that we’re on a straight stitch. Then we’re …
Transcript I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to make a bound seam. We have prepared our seam with our seam allowance, and the first thing you want to do when you’re making a bound seam is just kind of finger press your seam allowance open a little. You …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and today I’m going to show you how to sew a flat felled seam. A flat felled seam encases the raw edge of the seam allowance and this is a very common way to finish seams that you see on jeans and on sportswear. To demonstrate that today, …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to make a French seam. We have our two pieces of fabric here that we want to sew together, and we want to sew this with a French seam. To get a good idea of what that would look like, …
Transcript Hi. This is Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show us how to make a double folded hem. The the first thing you want to do is to take your fabric out and grab a seam guide or ruler. Now, in this example, we have a 2-inch hem allowance. That means …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to make a narrow hem on fabric. We have our fabric here and we have our raw edge. The first thing you want to do when you make a narrow hem is to sew a narrow seam allowance just on …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to install an invisible zipper. So, here we have our invisible zipper and the fabric that we’re going to use to sew our zipper into. The first part of sewing an invisible zipper is to press the zipper. So, we’re …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today I’m going to show you how to install a left zipper. So, the first thing you want to do is take your fabric and take your zipper and mark the bottom of your zipper. So, to do that, I’m just going to lay my zipper where …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and I’m going to show you how to install a centered zipper. The first thing that we want to do when we install a centered zipper is we want to measure and mark the placement of the zipper in our seam. I’m just going to line my zipper …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and I’m going to show you how to use a blind hem foot on your sewing machine. Before we start, we need to prepare the fabric that we’re going to use when using this foot. I have this piece of fabric and I just want to make a …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social and I’m going to show you how to use a buttonhole foot. This is a buttonhole attachment and it’s used to make buttonholes in fabric. My buttonhole attachment is an automatic one-step process, and what I’m going to do is the first thing I’m going to do is …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and I’m going to show you how to use a walking foot on your sewing machine. This is a walking foot, and a walking foot has feed dogs, these little teeth, that move up and down with the feed dogs that are on your sewing machine. You’ll see …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now, I’m going to show you how to use an edge stitch foot to make an edge stitch on fabric. So, we have an edge stitch foot right here, and the first thing I’m going to do is just attach it to my machine. Okay. Now, you notice …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Let’s talk about sewing zigzag stitches. The first thing that you want to do when you’re sewing a zigzag is to change your machine from straight stitch to zigzag. On my sewing machine, I have a section here called pattern, which is the different stitch types, and I’m …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now, let’s talk about stitching. So, once your machine is already set up and you want to start sewing, this is what you do. We’re going to do a straight stitch right now. We’re going to start with a basic stitch length. We’re going to go 2.5 on …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now, let’s talk a little bit about basting with your sewing machine. So, basting is a temporary way to hold two things together, or more, while you’re sewing. It could be two pieces of fabric. It can be a zipper to fabric. It just depends on what you’re …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now let’s talk about how to use a seam guide on your sewing machine. Whenever you’re sewing, the goal is always to sew a straight line, right? You don’t want to be kind of wavy and zigzaggy all over the place. On your sewing machine, on your throat …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now let’s talk about thread tension. Thread tension is really important on your sewing machine because you want your stitches to be really nice and even, meaning that the stitches on top and on bottom are the same. This is your tension adjustment right here, and every sewing …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and we’re going to talk right now about stitch length. So, every sewing machine has a dial to control the length of your stitches. On most modern machines, the stitch length is measured in millimeters and so we go from 1 to 4 millimeters. For most garment sewing, …
Transcript Hi, I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social. Now let’s talk about presser feet. I have several different presser feet on the table here with me, and the first thing you should do when choosing presser feet is to go to your sewing machine’s manual and just see what kind of feet your sewing machine uses. …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and I’m going to show you how to load a bobbin into your sewing machine. So, the first thing you want to do is thread your sewing machine. After your sewing machine is threaded, you want to take your wound bobbin and you kind of want to just …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and right now I’m going to show you how to thread your sewing machine. So, you should always look at your sewing machine’s user’s manual for exact instructions on how to thread a machine. But there is kind of an intuitive way that you can think about it, …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and we’re going to talk a little bit about sewing machine needles. So, there are lots of different kinds of sewing machine needles. The three that you’ll probably primarily work with are ball-point, universal, and sharps. Today we’re going to use with sharps, and sharps are used for …
Transcript Hi. I’m Jennifer from Workroom Social, and today we’re going to talk about how to wind a bobbin. So, what is a bobbin? These are a couple of bobbins. Every sewing machine has a different bobbin that is specifically made for their machine, so you should refer to your manual to see what kind …
Transcript Hi, I’m [Paisel] with 164, and today I’m demonstrating a little bit of tagging. Tagging is really just coming up with your own style to put your own signature down. Many styles are out there. Do something very simple and long. Maybe something just a little more graffiti-ish by rocking your letters side to …
Transcript Hi, I’m Paes 164. Now I am going to show you how to do a character. Once again, getting your base wall color down, I feel that black is a great color to start a character with, that way you kind of build up off your shadows. So I’m just going to do a …
Transcript Hey, this is [Pays164] ,and here’s some techniques on how to create a wild style graffiti piece. When creating wild style you still can’t completely lose your letter. So a little simpler here, as you can see, is an A. The building up with turns and kinks, that in turn build to other turns …
Transcript Are you back with [Pays164]. I’m going to bring you back to a couple techniques of shadowing. First with wild style, now dealing with a wild style not to much 3D going on, its kind of flat, its more of a merging of the letter over lapping each other. So a good placement of …
Transcript Hi I’m [Pays164] and I’m going to talk to you about Graffiti in a cartoon style. Really elaborating and exaggerating whatever you’re doing. Taking your letters and stretching them out, mixing bubble styles with block styles, and really getting elaborate with the colors. That’s probably about the best way to describe a cartoon style. …
Transcript Hi, my name is [Pays164], and today I’m going to demonstrate block style. So, much like a blockbuster and exactly how it sounds, it’s just a real blocky, strong way to put your letters out there so everybody can read it real legibly, still not neglecting any style. I’m just going to rock a …
Transcript Hi, I’m [Pays164], and now I’m going to talk to you about billboard style. So obviously, a billboard is way up high and really big. Most of the styles that you do, really aren’t going to be something that you’re going to see good, unless it’s kind of in your face. So, probably the …
Transcript Hey, this is Paes 164 and here’s some tips and advice on sketching your graffiti mural. Picking a black or a darker wall, obviously a lighter color to sketch with. Try not to use too many colors and get yourself super confused, whether it’s a wild style 3D or any type of lettering style …
Transcript Hey, you’re with [Pays164], and here’s some tips on creating a large mural. First and foremost, your canvas; make sure the wall you’re going to pick is at least going to be somewhat smooth. Try not to deal with too many cuts and crevices in a wall. If you’re going to take the time …
Transcript All right, I’m [Pays164]. We’re going to talk about graffiti symbols. Some of the more simpler symbols. If you were going to be tagging your name like so, maybe a crown to show you’re the king of your block, followed by some stars. As you can see, I’m just kinda rolling my hand around, …
Transcript Hey, I’m Pays164. Now we’re going to discuss in our graffiti series, abstract lettering. Man, it doesn’t get much crazier than that. This is really all up to you. Very simply, I’m going to start off with the A. I’m just going to rock some abstract shapes, and through these shapes, build up the …
Transcript Hey! You’re with Pays164, and now we’re going to talk about applying drips. I know that’s a scary subject, right? But purposely doing paint build up to apply drips can be great for color fill-ins for your graffiti piece. Across the whole top of my piece, I’m doing this purple pealing down. It’s as …
Transcript Hey Pay164 back again. This time we are going to talk about shadowing in 3-D. The same piece I’ve been working on my E, is very much 3-D; popping directly up and bring the perspectives straight down. Now dealing with the shadows, you also have to follow that same direction. Coming in and just …
Transcript Hey, this is Pays164 and here’s some tips on how to do 3-D graffiti. In my piece today, I only chose to use the E in Pay to make 3-D. First and foremost is finding your perspective in what direction you want that letter or letters to pop up. Me, I chose my E …
Transcript I’m Pays164, and I’m going show you some techniques on sharpening up your design when it comes to your graffiti piece. After getting the outline in place. After getting all the fill in place. Sometimes the complicated fill-ins, how they cross colors over each other, makes it almost impossible to come back and use …
Transcript Hi, I’m Pay164. Here’s some quick techniques while doing graffiti. First and foremost, get the right tips so you apply the right type of fades and flares to your graffiti piece. For example, fat caps work great when your writing and tagging your name, just by bending your wrist back and forward, almost as …
Transcript Hey, this is Pays164. We’re back at it again and I’m going to show you some techniques on how to flare your colors while doing your graffiti piece. Now, flaring is pretty much a technique of just applying a shadow or shade from color to color inside the mural and it’s all about just …
Transcript Hi, I’m Pays164, and here are some graffiti coloring tips. When you’re breaking down a basic graffiti piece, you’re going to have your outline color, an inner outline color, an outer outline color and at least three fill-in colors. So, a good six colors total. Choose three colors that will compliment each other on …
Transcript Hi, I’m Pays164; we’ll talk about how to increase depth with contrast color. In examples of my piece I used a really bright red or just a really bright color behind all that black outline, to create the depth of 3D and make the letters pop off. You know, any good combination of bright …
