Posted on 06/24/2014 12:05:52 PM PDT by Roos_Girl
Good afternoon everyone. I'm glad we had a bit of interest in a sewing thread. I'm looking forward to learning from you all! I got busy this past week and made the Little One a pair of shorts. Here is a picture:
I'm very please with how they turned out considering it was my first attempt at making clothing. So I'm going to make a few more pairs for him in the next size up. A friend who saw them asked if I would make a couple of pairs for her niece's son and I agreed to do that. I also got to work on modifying two different patterns for blouses for me; for my exact measurements, taste, etc. I decided to take my chances and ordered fabric online for a number of reasons, so I'm hoping that won't turn out to be a mistake.
Here's my question for the experienced seamstresses; it seemed like cutting the fabric around the pattern was not as easy as it should have been. I folded the fabric in half, pinned down the pattern to both layers and used (what I thought was a nice pair of gingher) fabric shears to cut. The pieces mostly matched up like they were supposed to. In your experience, what's the best way to lay out a pattern and cut fabric and have things turn out like you want them to?
Ping to the weekly Thread Thread
Question-— every now and again I want to sew a hem but I’m not an experienced sewer nor have a fancy machine. Can I just use one of those small hand held units and which would you recommend?
My first wife was a seamstress so I'll follow along and watch.
Boys should be in blue and red and dark
They look good! Looks like you did a good job!
As far as laying out patterns, just follow the directions that come with it, that should work. Might help if you press the fabric first to make sure there are no wrinkles.
Adorable shorts. Love the rocket motif and the “pork chop pockets.”
The shorts look very well done, including the elastic in the waistband. I always promote putting in pockets. Some kids like to collect things too, rose blooms, half a breakfast sausage, junk mail fliers about Pizza Discounts or Disneyland discounts.
You probably used a 100% cotton or predominantly cotton based fabric. Cotton washes well and won’t shrink very much in the wash. Synthethic blends can be useful and are of much better quality today vs decades back in the days of Leisure Suits.
Love them!
PS I found this website yesterday www.allfreesewing.com Looks like they have a lot of free patterns for just about any project you can think of.
Hope some of you have progress pictures of your current projects you will share with all of us.
...I also press the pattern...get all the folds and wrinkles out of it as well. Great job for first time clothes!!
I bought a folding cardboard thing with a grid and measuring marks on it that is perfect for laying on a table and cutting out patterns without hurting the table - but it was more of a cat-mischief solution. I used to just do it on the floor but then the cats would come over and lay on the pattern/fabric! If I got mad at them, then it they would get playful and rip the tissue paper of the pattern (crinkly paper is fun!). So I had to ignore them until they got bored and walked away. The cardboard thing has teeth marks in it - I think they got mad at it since it took their fun away!
I use a rotary cutter and a tailoring curve. Just make sure you have a rotary cutting mat under it. As long as the fabric is coming up off the cutting surface at all, it will be uneven, so scissors don’t work for me.
BTW, my cousin in Sweden is a new grandmother to a grandson. I made my cousin a hooded jacket of blue fleece and now I’m going to make a baby bunting of what is left of the fabric.
Nice work!
This is going to sound crazy, but trust me (said the person hiding behind the computer, right?) Don’t try cutting around those little notches on the patterns that are there to help you match the pieces. Instead, use a water soluble pencil and mark the fabric with one, two, or three dots in the locations of the notches. I use different colors of pencils for different types of marks on the patterns. One color for the notches, another for the little dots (if there are any), another for darts, etc. I’ve found water color pencils work great for this. You can buy cheap water color pencil sets in craft stores. Be careful using water color pencils like red, navy, etc. on light colored fabric. And try to stay inside the seam allowance when possible with your marks.
As for scissors, make yourself a rule that you never break. Sewing scissors are ONLY used on fabric, period. Not crafts, not paper (except the patterns as you’re cutting fabric), not elastic, nothing but fabric. And keep them sharp. Something else, how sharp are your pins? If yours are pretty old, they may be dull, which will bunch up the fabric just enough to throw the measurements off and will be noticeable. You may want to consider ball-point pins, if you’re using nylon, polyester, jersey, or fabric that will run or snag.
Hope this helps. The shorts look really cute!
No matter what you use to cut fabric make sure it is sharp, sharp, sharp! If you use scissors, don’t use them to cut anything but thread and fabric, and don’t allow anyone else to use them for cutting paper, cardboard or plastic.
Also, if you use scissors, you can keep them sharp by keeping a glass jar handy. Use the scissors in a cutting motion on either side of the glass opening, as if you were going to “cut” it. You will feel the scissors tightening up as you work them.
Your project looks very good!
Great minds! LOL!
LOL. Yup!!
I’ve never used a hand held machine. Just for a hem, however....hem tape.
” A friend who saw them asked if I would make a couple of pairs for her niece’s son and I agreed to do that.”
As a long-time seamstress my advice is to NEVER agree to do someone else’s work for free because the word spreads rapidly and you’ll find yourself being expected to sew for MANY other people. I’ve been asked to do the most outrageous sewing for people who can well afford to BUY beautiful clothes for themselves and pay the store for the hem shortening.
Just one example of many: A neighbor who saw a woolen dress I had just completed except for the hem wanted me to loan her my brand new dress to wear to a party the next night. She was 4 inches shorten than I am, and I explained that I would never be able to remove the crease mark in the woolen material if I shortened it for her. (Not to mention that she was a sloppy eater). She said I was selfish!
Find some polite excuse to refuse.
I limited myself to sewing hems for my mother’s new clothes. I hate sewing hems but I did it with love for my Mother.
I have only seen hand held “machines” that you must move along to the next stitch. That makes it very hard to control the length of the stitch and it will show. They are useful for costumes and even tacking up draperies when hanging however.
I don’t even have one any more so no recommendation from me. Maybe someone has a new model that they like.
I have two sons and when they were of the small shorts age I must have made 50 pairs over the years. I found that if I used the pattern a lot it got a little ragged. So I used light iron on interfacing and ironed it to the pattern pieces. When they outgrew one pattern I was able to split the pieces and iron them on more interfacing in their enlarged size.
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