Things I wish I knew when I started sewing - 5 years down the line

I feel this needs to be posted before the polls open - When I started sewing, the results from the 2010 election were slowly rolling in over the airwaves.

Right now I'm going through a whole period of Autodidact's Lament (reflecting on all of the stuff I wish I knew when I started sewing that no one told me), most of which would have apparently made my life easier or immeasurably richer.

For the benefit of any budding makers out there, here are my Top 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Sewing:

1. Seam Rippers Have Blades
The crook of the seam ripper? Yeah, that's sharp. That'll cut thread. You don't need use the hook to yank stitches out of the cloth.

2. There is an Easier Way to Thread Your Sewing Machine
My first machine only had an arm and a hole here. I had been sewing on my Janome 7025 for 2+ years before B showed me you don't need to actually thread through the hole, just bring the thread around the back of the arm. Duh.

3. Pinterest is Lying to You
Top tips and glorious gaments on Pinterest are normally doomed or cursed. Gadgets and absurd fixes are exactly that.

4. The Shop of Cursed Fabric
Behold, there is a shop on Goldhawk Road filled with cursed fabric. My yardage from this shop has always been a blowout: dud projects, unused and donated, catastrophic sewing errors and long-term dye bleeding. Yet it is arranged so prettily. Forevermore: The Shop of Cursed Fabric.

NB: This is Cloth House, NOT TSOCF

5. Some Things Never Change - And That's Okay
You will always be stabbed with pins. No matter how many you think you've picked up.

So there you go.

K