Best tips and advice for a sewing beginner?

Well, I did it, and it wouldn't have turned out as well as it did without all of your help! The pattern turned out to be challenging but as a result I got to try out all kinds of techniques and I learned so much. I used a great deal of your tips, including reading the pattern instructions a million times until I understood it, pre-washing the fabric (I thought it would fall apart but it didn't!), ironing the pattern paper itself, pinning the paper down really well to the fabric, long stitches for the gathers, marking the darts and bias cutting on the wrong side with pencil (it's all I had and it worked great), being careful to line up the fabric with the grain, keeping the bobbin area clean, and cleaning up all the bits of thread with a lint roller, among other things. Here's an http://imgur.com/a/QTLIE with various images so you can see how it turned out!

Rusty intermediate sewer! These are the tips my pro-seamstress level mother gave me. 1. Measure twice cut once. Including your own measurements. And make sure the pattern fits you at all the crucial spots - hips, waist, bust. How I wish I'd listened to my mother on this one when I was making my own clothes. The heartache of discovering my beautiful beautiful new silk shift wouldn't go over my hips... I still wince. 2. When cutting out, iron your pattern pieces flat, iron your fabric, pin pieces to fabric AND use weights for extra security. They don't have to be proper pattern weights, just something to stop the paper slipping. An extra 5mm when the fabric shifts matters. (Thanks Mum. I was particularly resistant to this one, insisting on using a book or something to weigh down pieces and zipping around the edges. With predictable results of, you know, pieces being out and not fitting together properly. Frustration!) 3. If in doubt, leave a little extra seam allowance. You can take in but much harder to fix something too small. 4. You have already made a toile, well done! 5. Pin, then baste, then machine sew. It is so much easier to sew over basting than over pins and the basting will hold your fabric straight much more securely than pins guarding against the dreaded shift/slip. Your seam ripper will make short work of the basting when you're done. 6. Make sure your tension is right - do a test run on some scraps of the fabric you're sewing before starting the real thing. 7. Follow these tips no matter how simple the garment. If you do it right on a pillowcase or apron, you'll be well set up for more complicated projects. If you're slipshod on the simple stuff you won't build the skills you need to pull off the more advanced stuff. (Sigh. See 'silk shift' above.) Bonus answer: you totally can do this. I ignored most of my mother's advice and still managed to get things together that I could wear although they were nowhere near her standard. By way of contrast she was an absolute perfectionist who made her own ball gowns and cocktail frocks in the 50s, 60s and 70s, then spent the 80s and 90s absorbed in extraordinarily detailed quilting, embroidery and appliqué. She would say you can do this too!

OOOh, I forgot, I use this for quilting a lot. Crayola makes washable markers for kids and I use them as my cheap-o way of marking on fabric that doesn't need to be permanent. They wash out beautifully and they are way cheaper, plus, they don't rub off like chalk

If you are nervous, trace the pattern onto the dull side of freezer paper, then iron it glossy side down onto the fabric. It will stick!It makes cutting out so so much less stressful. And then it is also oh-so-easy to peel it off when you are through. And you can save the pieces to use again.

You can totally make that apron! I think the only problem you'll encounter is that patterns are difficult to read at first. It's like they're written in another language. If you don't understand the pattern's instructions, take them into any fabric store and ask the cutter to translate. I agree that you don't need a rotary cutter unless you're planning on quilting. Sharp shears are way better! If I try to cut a garment pattern with a rotary tool, I always mess it up anyway. To mark fabric, I've always just used pencils or colored pencils. If it's complete before this thread closes, you should model it and take a picture for us! Have fun.

Buy an air duster (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0008GMHEI/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/). Use it to spray out the lint from the entire bobbin area ideally after every time you sew, otherwise at least every other time. Trust me, not letting lint and dust build up in there will save you many inexplicable machine-failure headaches in the future, esp if you ever use particularly fuzzy fabric.

Pin, pin, pin. Pin the pattern to the fabric before cutting, pin seams together before sewing, pin interfacing down before ironing it. If you pin your seams with the pins perpendicular to the edge of the fabric, you may be able to sew your seam right over them, and extract them afterwards. Also, don't forget to wash your fabric (in warmish water, if it's cotton that might need preshrinking) BEFORE sewing, and iron flat again before cutting out. Lay out all your pattern pieces on the fabric before cutting so you can be sure you've got them positioned efficiently. Especially for woven fabric, be aware of the way pieces will stretch differently if cut on the bias vs. with the weave of the fabric, and rotate accordingly. For long internal seams in woven fabrics, you can minimize fraying after the fact by carefully cutting the raw edges of the fabric with a pinking shears after sewing them together. This may be insultingly obvious, but you can start and finish your thread without knotting by just machine-stitching a couple of times backwards and forwards over the same ~1cm line.

Pay close attention to the grain lines when laying out the pattern. Keep them all carefully parallel to the selvedge, and to each other. This matters a lot. Work slowly, methodically, and carefully. If you rush something and do it in what seems like an easier way, the result will be sloppy and you'll have to do it over, or get discouraged. Clip the loose ends of threads off as soon as you finish each seam. Having lots of loose threads flapping around gets messy and confusing. Press as you go -- this keeps things easier to handle as you work, and the end result will be a lot neater.

For cotton fabrics rotary cutters are optional, though I would HIGHLY recommend one if you ever decide to sew with stretch fabric. They are way easier than scissors and you don't get any distortion or stretching or displacement of the fabric while you're cutting. My advice -- IRON EVERYTHING. ALL THE TIME. the most important skill for sewing is patience. You'll want to iron every seam immediately after sewing and also make sure that if something doesn't come out right, take it out and do it again. Mistakes tend to compound so if you're not quite happy with something early on, it'll look ten times worse when you're done. Patience, patience, patience.