Sewing 101 - Part 2 - Making Up

Welcome back after drinking your coffee and your break.  Now let the real fun begin, we are going to start sewing in earnest, but of course, you know that we are not going straight to the machine, switch on your iron, get the instructions to hand and collect a couple of scraps of the fabric which you have cut out.

Switch on your sewing machine, make sure you are working in good light and try some simple running stitches on your fabric to make sure that the tension of your stitches is correct, adjust it as necessary.  You will often see that a pattern asks you to stay stitch the neck edges, this is just a line of running stitches on a single piece of fabric which stabilises the fabric and ensures that you do not stretch or distort it when you are working with it.

The dress I am making has four pleats on the front, we have marked their place with tailor's tacking, pin together the marking - I place a pin through one piece of tacking and then check the other side to ensure it lines up.  Now depending on how confident a sewer you are, you can tack the pleats together or pin them.  When you do pleats, start from the centre and work towards the outside, working equally in each direction, so one right side, then one left side and so on.

Next it's over to ironing board, press the pleats to the centre, always to the centre... same goes with darts and whether it is the front or the back of your piece, they always go to the middle.  Sew them down  about 1/4" from the raw edge.

Now I am to sew up the back to the point where I will insert the zip, you will see a little notch, make sure you match up the notches on both sides, this will ensure that your work is even and accurate.  Press the seam open, you will notice that I tell you to press all your seams open, this ensures that your work is even and you do not end up chunky lumps that tell everyone that your garment is homemade rather than a one off couture piece.

Next come the shoulders, zap across with your running stitch, and repeat this down the sides, remembering to match up those notches accurately.  Cripes it looks like a proper little dress now, you are on your way to working at an atelier in Paris... but there is more to come.

I don't have an overlocker, but I like my seams to look neat and tidy, so I am going to fold the sewn seam allowance in and sew down them too.

Right, now for the bit that you have been dreading... the Zip!  I am going to let you into a secret, they are really easy and if you make a mistake you can always undo it and nobody dies, really you can do no damage inserting a zip.

Remember how you pressed the back seam open, pin the left hand side, flush with the teeth of the zip, keeping the edges of the fabric together, pin up the right side so that it covers the zip teeth.  Tack the zip in place, and then fit your machine with the zipper foot and slowly sew it into place... now wasn't that easy?

We are almost there, let's get going with the bias binding which is going to ensure we get a great finish on the neck.  Open out one side of the tape and start pinning, with right sides facing to the neckline along the folded line of the tape.. hmmm it's a bit tricky because it is curved so we are going to ease it - remember we did this with the glasses case - we need to cut small triangles into the neckline which means that it will sit more easily and the fabric will curve with the bias binding. Sew the bias binding onto the neckline.

Out with your iron again to get a sharp edge around the neck, and pin the other side of the bias binding to the reverse side of your fabric,  Now it is back to the hand stitching, to slip stitch this into place, remember to pick up only one or two threads so that your stitches do not show.  Carefully press the binding into place. Next repeat the bias binding process around the sleeves just as we have done with the neck.

Finally we have the hem, there are a variety of ways of doing this, from simply rolling over 1/4" and pressing, followed by 1/2" and just top stitching it (yes, I know it's running stitch, you know it's running stitch but calling it top stitching makes it sound couture!)  Or we could slip stitch it into place... or we could have real fun by using a stitch on your sewing machine called blind hemming stitch which places a tiny vertical stitch which is seen externally and is almost invisible, hence the name.

One last press with the iron and find a small child to model it for you.

So, what next to cover on sewing 101, sleeves or buttonholes?

Right over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone has been up to this week.

And finally congratulations to Handbags by Helen, who is the winner of the log cabin cushion giveway... I will be in touch by mail to get her address and be off to the PO.

Making a Spectacle - Glasses Case Tutorial

I found some fabulous bias binding in my local shop and just had to have it... floral bias binding is the future!  Then what could I make from it... well, the answer was in my handbag, my reading glasses case was looking a little the worse for wear, also it was black and I could never find it in the bottom of my handbag to say nothing of the suitcase which held my sunglasses which was almost as big as my handbag... so I was off an running.  What I need is a simple quilted speccy case!

You will need
2 pieces of cotton fabric
1 piece of wadding
Sewing cotton
Pins
Cutting mat, Rotary wheel and Ruler or Dress making scissors
Sewing machine
Iron and Ironing board
Small drinking glass
Scraps of contrasting fabric if you decide to applique

Iron your fabric and cut out two pieces of fabric 8"x 8"  If you have larger sunglasses or are making the case for Dame Edna then you will need to increase the size a little.  Cut out your piece of wadding about 1/2" wider all round

Now make a sandwich of your fabric, wadding and fabric and pin it together.  Take your top fabric and mark it lightly every inch along the side, as we are going to become expert straight line sewers on this project as we quilt it together with our machines.

To make our diamond pattern sew all the lines in one direction, then turn it and sew across in the opposite direction to create the pattern above.


Trim off all the excess fabric... the square will shrink with quilting and I trimmed it to a 7" x 7" square.

Pin your bias binding across one edge of the square and sew it into place, if you are feeling a little nervous tack it into place using a a contrasting cotton so that it is easy to remove when you have finished.

Fold the square of fabric in half with the bound edge at the top, take your glass, place it in the bottom open corner and trace around it with a water soluble pen and cut around this to give you a gently curving edge.

At this point I thought it looked bland, so out came my pastry cutters and I found a suitable cutter to create a little bit of applique.

Sew the patch into place.

Fold the fabric together, match up the edges and sew a fine seam of about1/4" from the base up to the bias binding at the top.  Now, you may find that your machine baulks at the amount of fabric you are trying to push through it, so just increase your stitch length as this will make it easier for the machine.

Take your bias binding and fold about 1/2" under to create a neat end, you may find it easier to iron the bias binding in half before you tack it into place.  When you  come the rounded corner, because this is bias binding it will ease around the curve leaving a really smooth finish.  As you get to the end cut half an inch more than you need and tuck it under just as you did at the beginning.  You really do need to tack this bias binding into place, I do this because I know no matter how well I pin it together, it will slip, it's the law!

Sew in your loose ends, I usually over-sew the ends to make it look really neat... however you guessed it, I still thought it needed more, so I found a heart shaped button to sew onto the case (next time I will do this before I sew it up!).  The great thing is that I can find this in the stygian gloom that is the bottom of my hand bag and better still, because it is cotton it is easy to wash.

Now everyone over to Wendy's Handmade Monday as I reckon there will be great ideas for things to make and buy for UK Mother's Day.

And in a couple of weeks I will show you how to make your own bias binding.