ILX Sewing!

I have already been looking for a sewing machine. Any tips?

My daughters talked me into it ... they will have one each plus give one to each of their three Best Friends, and then everyone will buy a small gift for everyone else to go in each of the stockings, rather than buying one bigger gift each for every friend. I thought that sounded a really cool idea of theirs (except I'm the one lumbered with having to make the stockings now!)

http://familyfun.go.com/Resources/craftimages/1103_stocking_fancy_boot.jpg

I went to the site for Threads magazine and downloaded a 'teach yourself to sew' pdf that I might give a whirl this weekend.

expereinced ladies, how did you learn? did you just dive into a project or did you just practice sewing lines and curves and corners on scraps?

It looks awful!

I'm going to wait to embark on something new until after my first sewing class on Saturday.

I need these little old ladies to help me.

Maybe I should try a less ambitious project first, like a pouch or something. Frustrating!

All I've made so far were dog toys. they're appreciation is only so-so.

a top only takes a week or so, whereas a sweater takes ages.

This is why I love making purses!

Plus, knitting's more portable. hard to sew on the bus.

Sewing is really just lots of direction-following + a working ability to think in 3-D. Ie, remember which armhole is the left one even when yr shirt is inside-out, see in your head how things are going together before you sew them. That is sometimes hard, I have definitely sewn the wrong things together based on inside-out-ness or similar confusion. And my mother once made a set of lace curtains with one somehow six inches shorter than the other, and she's been sewing all her life! Concentration is key.

I have a purse pattern! I may be asking for y'alls' help. Interfacing is involved. I am frightened.

Thanks, Laurel! I think I just need more practice. Reading patterns confusing, esp. when you have no clue what they're talking about. I did have to run to the computer several times last night to figure out certain mystifying phrases such "basting." Do you usually do that by hand or just use a big stitch? I used a long stitch on my machine which is the same one I used to gather fabric. Perhaps that's why my shirt looks like crap.

Haha, XP!

Exception: I use a long machine stitch if basting is to stabilize a curved edge, ie the edge of a neckline or the top of a skirt. That kind of basting is used wherever fabric has to hang on the bias, to keep the fibers from getting pulled out of square while you work on the pieces (too much handling can be hard on the grain).

Molly, do you have the pattern number for yr shirt? Am curious.

http://www.1sewingpatterns.com/images0/4700bsim.jpg

They're about 3/4 length sleeves instead.

http://static.flickr.com/95/258172320_4f47355504.jpg?v=0

i will never wear it. it fits poorly and is a bit too hippy dippy. oh, and i did a really bad job too.

my sewing class was great! i even bought a new foot for my machine, so now i can do piping, sewing over pearls, and gathering very easily!

http://static.flickr.com/117/258172322_f0016e6a7d.jpg?v=0

can i have the handbag please? ;-)

I love that foot! I decided to make a fancy pillow Saturday afternoon with gathering AND piping, abut quickly realized this cannot be done when you've already sewn piping on to the piece. Oh well.

http://www.simplicity.com/assets/4236/4236.jpg

and some plain, solid fabric. I'm thinking skirt should be easy for first try? It calls for twill tape on the back. What is that?

Piping is fun, though! I'll have a pretty boring pillow when I'm finished!

My sewing class is pretty awesome. It's full of a bunch of old Southern ladies, who are all really sweet. It's out in Madison, TN, which is a suburb outside of Nashville. I sat across from a lady wearing a red "Camp Fallujah Iraq" baseball hat. She kept getting confused, poor thing.

Twill tape is a flat, ribbon-like tape in a kind of herringbone weave. I think it's mostly used for strengthening pressure points? I've never used it. What does the pattern say to do with it?

http://www.ribbonsgalore.com.au/shop/images/RIB.15.TWI.BLU.jpg

Oh god, last time I tried anything with silk it was QUEL DISASTER! Right now I need three yards of wine-red baby-wale corduroy but I'm too lazy/disorganized to get over to the fashion district and buy it.

Yeah, we bring our own sewing machines to class. Everybody had really fancy ones with computers and such. I felt like I had a Kia, and everyone else had Mercedes, but then when they were all getting confused on the programming, my inferiority complex was lifted.

Ooh! Laurel! What are you making with that corduroy? I am a total sucker for that color in cordoroy.

I"m still trying to knit up xmas stuff, why aren't there more hours in the day??

Sam, I still have to finish the plastic bag knit purse for my sister's birthday... which was last month. Way to go, pokey! I made one i-cord already, but I've been sewing too much to actually want to sit down and knit.

I have too many hobbies. Oh well.

The zipper is in the center back.

Here's the pattern:

http://store.sewingtoday.com/cgi-bin/butterick/shop.cgi?s.item.B4710=x&TI='B4710'&page=1

I don't intend on putting ribbon on it. I just want to make a sensible, easy skirt.

Oh! There's a seemingly simple vintage apron pattern in BUST, which involves using an old sheet.

I would just to make something that I don't fuck up, so I can feel accomplished.

I have a gift certificate to this nice fabric store near my house. Any suggestions as to what I should buy that's essential for sewing? I did get a cardboard cutting board, and I already have pins, magnetic pin holder, measuring tape, and a pair of okay cutting scissors.

Other sewing tools that I use all the time:

* seam ripper
* small thread snips (like scissors but without the finger holes so they're a little bit easier to pick up in a hurry; I use them for all my hand mending and for cutting free after sewing machine seams)
* small tailor's ham for pressing seams and anything curved
* a packet of good handsewing needles (called "sharps")
* tailor's chalk for removeable marking on the right sides of things (good for marking those pesky dart points and etc that have to be transferred from the patterns; maybe get one light colored chalk and one dark one; rub marks out with a damp rag when you're done)
* a basic thimble, nothing fancy (you'll want it when you're handsewing through lots of layers or anything denim or whatev)
* a good metal yardstick for marking and cutting bias strips or any straight lines.
* sewing gauge (like a a 6-inch ruler but with a little sliding marker, VERY useful for maintaining equidistant seam allowances, hems, buttonholes)

That might seem like a lot but each item should only be a dollar or two (tho the ham could be more). I have a bunch of other stuff, a bamboo point turner and little gadgets for folding bias tapes and chalk tracing paper, plus I think some of my stuff would turn out better if I learned to use a dressmaker's/French curve, but I think you could get by for a long time (forever?) with just what you have plus my list.

Here's where I have the gift certificate:

http://www.textilefabricstore.com/

Sadly, the "This I Believe" bit on NPR this morning was all about how failure is a good thing. I thought of my sewing endeavors.

I really do have to make sure to study the pattern before I do anything. I am like an excitable little kid who wants to bust right into it.

i started this today https://www.instagram.com/p/B7SCagbnj3T/
have to make 8 squares of strips and i already made 7. i did screw up a couple by putting them in upside down--you are supposed to go toward the printed selvage so you when you trim the squares down they disappear, but i had the colors in the wrong order to do that because i wasn't paying attention (i sewed them in pairs first). i just measured; think there will be enough room to trim it off still and if there is any left it may be within a seam allowance on the next step so it should be fine.

Harbl that is gorgeous!

Anyone still looking for mask nose piece ideas - the recloser strips from bags of coffee work great. Vinyl coated and wide enough plus hold up to bending.

God, I can't wait to get out of my parents house and back to the sewing machine.

That is such a cool quilt, harbl.

Gorgeous quilt! I love Moda fabric.

i finished the top, sort of. i have to rip out the seam between rows 2 and 3 and do it again. i was marathoning and i get lazy when i'm tired. the fabric migrated between the two sides as they were getting heavy. i will do it with walking foot next time.
https://i.imgur.com/LRZ0N7W.jpg

oh and i really underestimated how hard it is to get those angles to line up at the points. i'm glad you can't see it as well in the photo, most of them are a little off.

beautiful!

yeah points are hard to line up. I made a chevron face mask and it was crazy with the center seam and completely still off.

Ooh, lovely!

yes i did start quilting that but i really need to clean off my table so i didn't get very far

i hadn't been sewing much but now i remembered it's fun to finish things. i just finished a little storage box that will hopefully help me get the small things off my table. i started it a month ago but it would have only taken one day. except i try not to finish things in one day because i make mistakes if i work for too long. i am off today so i'm going to jo-ann to buy some interfacing to make some zipper pouches. i bought too much fabric over xmas lol.

nice! I too had a table clutter issue ... which I finally resolved by moving the clutter onto another surface. I have this cutting machine that I got with a groupon several years back, and I need to configure it with the laptop I bought last year ... the plan is to use it to cut out shapes which will become embroidery patterns for sweatshirts -- like a fire extinguisher and a traffic cone. That is the plan ... lol

yeah table clutter is the worst thing in this room. Table I do everything on is the main surface in this cluttered room so gathers more and more stuff accumulates unless I watch it.
So it takes me ages at times to get down to a point where i can get a garment started.
I woiuld probably hve doe a lot more last year if it wasn't for taht.
I did get some good stuff done but could have done more.

So far this year i have done one shirt minus the buttons and am about 1/3 of the way through another. & I'm trying to get one I all but did finished last year but it needs a new collar done and I can't find the pattern at the moment. Not feeling great so hope I'm not about to go down with something.

I want to start quilting again this spring. I moved my sewing machine out of my room when I started teaching remotely, because I needed the space to make a home office. So now it's on the third floor, which is an okay workspace but very cold. Once it warms up, I've got a bunch of quilts I'm somewhere in the middle of - one that just needs its border quilted and a binding, one that's just a quilt top with no border, and one that's halfway through the patchwork stage. My goal for this spring is to finish at least one of them, so I'm posting this here in hopes that I can hold myself to that.

maybe crosspost to knitting thread but i just got a year craftsy premium subscription for $2.49. just need to set a reminder to cancel it before they autobill me a year from now. ime the classes are pretty good. i did a knitting one several years ago and i became a way better knitter.

I got obsessed w knitting in college when I didn't actually know how to knit but thought I would learn, so I have a few books with socks and sweater patterns in them. I could send them to an interested party!

i would but i'm on an embargo from obtaining books and things in general so you will just have to learn to knit :)

not good
https://craftindustryalliance.org/parent-company-of-the-big-4-sewing-pattern-brands-sold-to-a-liquidator/

I grew up with these and the tissue patterns… I still have some that are in ok shape, but the tissue isn’t the most resilient material. Folkwear (mentioned in the article) had their patterns printed on regular paper which is more durable. Folkwear is awesome. Seriously. Honestly, now that I think about it… newspaper stock would actually be good for sewing patterns … between tissue and regular paper. The key need is the large format printing.

Ideally these would go to some entity that would make them open source (the real gems are the patterns from the 1st half of the 20th century) and would adapt them to be size inclusive. It is really difficult to find vintage patterns for plus sizes.

Eeep. I'm sure this is bad but I haven't bought "big four" patterns in a really long time. I did get fixated on some indie pattern companies last year (nb I have not actually MADE the clothes yet). The mainstream pattern companies don't offer clothes I like. They look super dowdy and out of touch and not influenced by anything I've seen happening in irl fashion in a long time.

I have never been able to use patterns with any success; my brain just can't take flat shapes and make sense of how they go together, and I can never really trust that it's going to look decent after I make it. But a couple of years ago I took an old skirt that I'd had for so long the fabric was worn out and cut it apart and used it as a pattern to make a new one. That worked for me because I already knew what it looked like; I just had to deconstruct it. I have a couple of skirts made from it now, and I get tons of compliments on them.

Free sewing books!

https://www.survivorlibrary.com/index.php/Sewing