How to Create a Written Tutorial from a Video

How to turn a video tutorial into a text-based tutorial...

As my revived sewing journey stretches into year eight, it's getting more difficult to find projects that intrigue me. It's a bit of a concern, since I was truly thinking that I would sew into my eighties and beyond.

For now, occasional visits to YouTube have been fruitful at turning up projects that are at least not the "same old, same old" that are often featured on traditional blogs.

The problem — at least for me — is that the YouTube video format is not an optimal way of consuming a sewing tutorial. Invariably, there will be parts that I have no need to see and others that I have to replay many, many times. This is not even mentioning all those ads that keep interrupting the flow.

What is one to do?

Well, what I do is "convert" the video into a text and photo tutorial and save it to a Word file. Sure it takes time (a few viewings) to do, but if the project is complex enough that you're considering an alternative to watching a video repeatedly, it's worth your time. It's also a safety net if you're the sort who likes to make changes, since you can write in your own instructions at the appropriate spot.

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I use the Windows Snipping Tool and Microsoft Word to do this. If you're not a Windows user, you'll need a similar tool to capture screenshots and a word processor to organize your captured images and text. (You could also resort to the Print Screen button on your keyboard.)

The process is simple. Run the video and at significant moments, hit the pause button. Like here:

images courtesy of JSDaily YouTube channel...

I used to hit the pause button and then grab a pen to scribble down on paper the dimensions of what I needed for material. Then I thought, why not reduce the chances of making a mistake and just grab the entire screen shot instead?

Whatever screen capture tool you use should allow you to paste (i.e., [CTRL]-V on a Windows based system) the image directly into your word processing document of choice.

Here is what my Word doc looks like:

First image pasted into my Word document, along with some notes for me...

The next several minutes of the video show the joining of the two exterior fabrics, the top stitching, and the fusing of interfacing. I don't need to see any of that — or have photos of it — so I simply noted the required steps underneath the first screen.

I don't need a bunch of photos to show me how to add a zippered pocket...

And that's basically all there is to it: run and pause the video at appropriate spots, capture the image, paste to your document, write your notes and save often. If you include the time counter when you take the screenshot, you can also go back to certain spots on the video more easily.

Include the time counter in
the screen shot for reference...

Once you're done capturing images, go back and reduce their size (by clicking and dragging on a corner). Otherwise, each picture may take up an entire page of your document. Even if you never plan to print the tutorial onto actual paper, it's easier to use if the images are smaller.

Click and drag on a corner to resize...

Tip: take as many screenshots of the final finished item as you can. (You'd be surprised by how often you want to see them.)

In Word, you also have the option to save the entire thing as a PDF, but since this is for your own use, there's no real benefit to that. If you leave it as a Word doc, you can add notes more easily and resize images as needed.

Finally, when you use the instructions to make your own project, you can take photos of your own progress at various points and add them to the document. This is helpful if you plan on making the item again and can therefore track how you dealt with any tricky parts or customizations.

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You've probably noticed that this particular video tutorial is for a backpack. While I've made a couple of sling bags in the past, I really haven't made a backpack because I don't particularly like the "backpack look". (Perhaps you've heard about my aversion to them before.)

image courtesy of JSDaily...

This one is different — remember that I yearn for different — in that the two straps can be zipped up to be one single strap, to create the appearance of a sling bag. I also decided that there are actually times when I could benefit from wearing a backpack in the traditional way and have my arms/hands be totally free, and this bag seemed to be a stylish choice.

I made some (relatively minor) changes to it, one due to fabric constraints and another due to lack of equivalent hardware. I'll show you the finished project next week.

For now, if you want to check out the video tutorial, do a search for JSDaily's channel on YouTube. The video was originally uploaded June 16, 2019.

By the way, to give thanks to creators of YouTube videos that you find helpful and useful, run the videos once without skipping the ads. You're not forced to sit and watch it; just turn it on and go away. The creator is then paid ad revenue for something that you received for free... and you've thanked them without inconveniencing yourself. :-)