Living without a sewing machine...

Look up tutorials on the internet from:
wikihow
ehow
youtube
etc.
I have found many helpful how-tos on the websites
Hope I helped

Sewing machines are pretty easy to use if all the parts are working Read the instuction book that cane with whatever machine you have avalible. If you cant find it, you can usually find it online at the makers website.

Then you should find a small easy project to try it out with. Something that has good instructions too. That way if you do mess up you wont be wasteing fabric. Like a tea wallet or a pouch w/o a zipper. Zippers can be tricky, lol. So start with something way easy

I wouldn't suggest starting with a knit either, if the needle isnt sharp enough that will jam the machine easily

Well, handsewing is indeed an option. Before I owned a sewing machine, I hand-sewed my prom skirt from metres and metres and METRES of organza:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6828_529364753861_223001922_1676091_1744368_s.jpg

However, it took a very, very long time, and I don't know how many garments I'm enough in love with these days to take as long as all that over them! But if you're only sewing little things, the handsewing can be viable.

If you want to learn to use the machine (and yes, it really sucks when parents won't take the time to show you stuff, doesn't it? Mine was the same about practically every appliance in the house!), good tips are:

- Start with thin cotton/polycotton or similar. If you don't know what the fabric you're using is, basically just yank it to see if it stretches, and feel the fabric to see if it's extra-slippy. If it's stretchy or slippy, leave it alone 'til later, cos it's probably something difficult to sew (e.g jersey or silk, which can require special needles).

- Practice on things you're not terribly attached to at first, and work your way up the difficulty levels of stitches: straight lines, zigzags, backstitching straight lines in reverse, changing the length of stitches (on my Singer machine, '1' is for very tight work, '4' is the setting for a gather stitch for nice ruffles, but 2 and 3 are the everyday settings used most frequently.), and finally the really wacky embroidery stitches etc.

- Remember the sewing machine IS a ba$tard. Really. It's out to get you. It's a dumb piece of technology, oddly designed and working in strange ways, and it WILL screw up. Even the nicest ones do. When (not if) it spits out a giant ball of thread at you, it's totally not your fault. Please do remember this, and don't feel disheartened by it It makes a lot of people feel down that they can't do it (including me, who failed middle-school textiles classes for years because of this), but it's just what sewing machines do.

I have a sewing machine, but at the moment i hand stitch everything even though halfway through i think to myself "this has to be easier on the machine"
im scared of making a mistake and ruining what im trying to create, or hurting myself
i "learnt" how to use a sewing machine at school when i was about 11.
i think its complicated to change thread with the up down up down here there of the thread just to get it down to the needle
and finding the right stitch, my machine has about 20 different ones
and the harder you push on the foot peddle the faster the needle goes up and down
im scared just thinking about it O.o

hmm... im sure you could go to a book store. you could ask a friend or relitive. look through old books at thrift stores. go to the library. internet there really easy to figure out but keep in mind thread tension because it can be easy to break the needle and they can be spendy to fix.

i hand sew everything. i quite like it. i find it relaxing. i used to do sudoko in the evenings, now i hand sew.

i still hand sew, but i think i would use a machine for staight lines or if i needed something to be study, like if i was making a blankie(out of fabric)/plushie for a child/baby. hand sewing can take aages and i find if my thread is too long i get knots in it. i dont like having to keep cutting thread for a project, i prefer to do it in one go.