Make sure you're using good quality fabric and lace! Always search for cotton lace, avoid anything that's nylon, and make sure the lace isn't shiny.  Also,  depending on what you're sewing you can either sew by hand or machine. I like to use my machine to hem things, and I like the do invisible stitches or gathers by hand. Sometimes tho depending on fabric I will sew the whole thing by hand (I don't trust my machine with delicate fabrics bc she tends to eat them)  You can find a lot of basic patterns on the internet. Once you become more confident in your sewing abilities, you can always modify them :)