ILX Sewing!

thanks laurel! thanks molly! this is great . . . too great!

I haven't done the patterns yet in Sew U since I am taking it slow and really need to get acquainted with everything again. It does have really good cheapo alternatives though that I would have never thought of, like using a rolled up towel instead of a ham, or stapling stuff, which I have done.

Laurel, where do you go in the city/brooklyn, for fabric, tools etc. I want someplace that is well priced, non specialty, where i won't feel intimidated by tons of design students/designers.

I cut pattern pieces for the first time this weekend for some flannel pajama pants for my aunt. haven't started sewing yet as I need a fabric marker to mark seams. i am scared of sewing. cutting seems so final, you can't unravel like in knitting.

yeah i am kond of scared about sewing again too. but i might actually get a bolt of muslin and practice patterns on that first.

I screwed up royally on the first skirt I attempted (i.e. did NOT cut on folds). Happily, it was cheapo sale fabric, so I didn't feel to awful about ruining it. Laurel is totally right: read the pattern several times so you understand exactly what's going on.

Does anyone know good reference sites about fabrics? I am trying to compile something for work, and most of my knowledge of fibers is about yarn.

(I had someone call me at home on my day off to ask what taffeta was so I think this could be useful.)

Carey, for no pressure try P&S fabrics, on the west side of Broadway, about 5-6 blocks south of Canal. It's kind of a mess, narrow aisles, not fancy at all, but they have patterns at sale prices, lots of good cotton prints, nice woolens, and corduroy & really lux upholstery fabric in the basement. They also have the best general selection of tools and notions/thread that I've found in Manhattan. Not expensive.

Further uptown it gets pricier and also snottier but there's some cool stuff. Everyone loves Mood Fabrics (www.moodfabrics.com - where contentants shopped on that sewing show, damned if I can't dredge up the name) and they have mind-boggling selection but PRICEY! Special occasion only, I think. There are a few notions places on um 39th Street? Steinloff and Stoller is a good one (and I think they sharpen shears there), also Daytona Trimmings. Generally just poke around the street. All of these places seem to attract FIT students & wholesale buyers, but it's not a big deal.

There's a totally awesome place called the City Quilter (www.cityquilter.com) in Chesea, the only fabric they carry is printed cottons for quilting (and the prices aren't great) but the selection of colors and unusual prints is unmatched anywhere else and they have really good notions and tools in the back room (for instance, they sell glass-headed straight pins that won't melt under the iron!!, and cutting mats and technical stuff).

Thanks! i think I may have gone to that place/or a place near Canal with Tokyo Rosemary once when we were buying yarn.

Also, I did emergency sewing over the weekend and I'm SO not happy with the results. Someone was making part of a costume for me, but it wasn't done in time and didn't fit AT ALL, so I took it home and VERY SLOPPILY altered it in time to wear on Saturday night. Did a shit job. I can't wait until I move apartments and get a real sewing alcove set up.

so i went to joann's this weekend & bought a rotary cutter & a mat. both are on sale, fyi.
anyway, i can't believe how much time I saved cutting out squares for my little potholders!! in the time it took me to pin the pattern to the cloth, i had cut every single piece i needed!!! AMAZING! i feel like someone just opened a window.

yeah i was thinking about getting a rotary cutter and now I will definitely. maybe I should just order everything I need online, otherwie i will never get stuff together.

That's great, Kelsey! I'm avoiding buying rotary stuff cos I almost exclusively make garments, and I'm not sure how it works to slide the board around under skirt pieces or trying to cut small contours and little seam marks. I think for any small work you still need shears (?) so maybe it's not worthwhile for me.

It's worthwhile for straight cutting or quilting, I'd say. Anything curvy, you'll still need shears.

Talked to the Moms last night and she's going to help me with a skirt this weekend while I'm back in the motherland. Hooray! She was very sad that I fucked up so badly on my skirt as soon as she left, so she's going to ensure that I can sew a skirt before I leave. Awwh, Mom!

Fantastic! I'll be sewing this weekend as well, but nothing so bold as a skirt!! Do you have your fabric picked out already?

I've been sewing the past couple of days but the elastic waistband on the pajama pants are vexing me!

I thought ab out it much during the night and shall rip out stitches and attack from a different angle here shortly. coffee first.

My mom was going to pick out the fabric, but when I mentioned how a corduroy skirt might be nice, she said she'd just wait until I got there to go buy some, which gives me a deep sense of relief. Love the moms, but would rather pick out my own fabric.

Wish me luck. I have an entire apron to sew today when I get home from work (taking a half day for crafting purposes).

I wish you better luck than me Molly. I've taken all of this week off (okay three days) and still don't have a pair of pajama pants!

Oh no, Sam! We can do it! (mind you, I've left enough time to run to the bookstore for a present in case the whole sewing project goes awry)

I'm beginning to think I should have made blankets/pillows. :( (or at least taken a class like with knitting)

Oh ye of little faith! What's the story with the elastic, Sam? Are you sewing it on, or running it through a channel?

If it makes you feel any better, I took two sewing classes. They weren't really helpful and just tried to sell us various feet that I'd never use.

Totally going the Community Ed route this spring. They won't try to sell me shit.

running it through a channel. . .I'm supposed to make an 1" foldover and sew it in 1/4" on the rough edge. It's all jacked up. I think I'm going to do a 1/4" seam, steam-press the inch fold down again and then sew that down.

Whatever makes it work! The ultimate goal is to WEAR the pajamas, after all. Never lose sight of that (even after you've been ripping and basting and ripping and basting for three hours and the goddamn motherfucking invisible zipper still won't turn INVISIBLE).

I hear what you're saying about the classes Molly and shall be prudent. But I think I need to seek something out. I feel all thumbs at sewing and it all seems so complicated! I get frustrated easily when I don't pick things up quickly. I think it might be b/c I have no one to show me.

Yeah, my classes at the store where I bought my machine was a thinly-veiled scheme to buy more crap from them. Good for you, though, for doing pajama bottoms! An extremely simple apron is all I can handle right now.

Laurel, I went to P&S finally yesterday and they had tons of remnants 1/2 yard-3 yards that were half off outside on like 5 racks. I guess they are moving at the end of December? and will be getting rid of lots of stuff. i got some muslin, flannel, canvas (for screenprinting), some cotton pique, seerscuker, and lots of 100% wool with pinstripes (the type they use in men's suits).

Awesome! What's the plan for all that fabric? Must find out what is up with their move...??

update: finally found the thread again. anyone learn it DIY? i don't think i'll take a sewing class but i'm still tempted to get a secondhand sewing machine. i saw some for 100 euros. is that too much? or maybe too little? :-)

I don't know how much 100 Euros is here. Mine was a gift but I'm pretty sure it cost less than $100. It is about as simple as you can get but is fine for my purposes now.

I've totally been DIY and managed to make good looking xmas gifts (not without some initial struggle.) maybe get a good book and there's always the net.

this week i've been making my own little pattern, fun!

any good sites for beginners?

100 euros is about 120 dollars, but then VAT is very high here so i think it's sort of the same thing in the us (ie 100 dollars). maybe not the cheapest but for starters i'd like something *simple* but not too rickety. :-)

I haven't found as consistent a sewing site as some of the knitting ones I use. When I search I often end up on about.com. However, G got me this book for xmas and it is awesome!

It's old (70s) but is perfect for me as there's no "let's make a Joey Ramone doll out of old bath towels"-type creativity to distract me. It's straight forward and answers any basic question I have. It's always opened up in my sewing room now and is like having my own old lady around to give me advice.

(pls note I don't hate fun but like to build up my skills solidly before I attempt to make Kathleen Hanna dolls out of Snoopy sheets.)

Does anyone have tips for working with satin/slippery fabrics? I'm trying to make things out of some of my vintage dresses and am using the satin-y (don't think it really is) lining of one. beautiful but what a pain. it frays when I cut b/c of the stretch I can't get it sized right. I'm just trying to make an eyeglass case but have wasted a lot of the fabric so far. :(

Ok, should I save more money and go for a (secondhand) overlock machine? Are they easier to use?

I asked a friend if it's easy to sew if you have the patterns and she was somewhat vague. She claimed, yes, unless you want to adapt the pattern. So is it easy if you have a pattern or still a big hurdle to climb over?

"I feel the need... the need to craft" Nath Cruise ;-)

In my limited experience with patterns, I haven't enjoyed it too much. A lot of sewing seems like all of my least favorite parts of knitting - the pressing, measuring, etc. Yet it is essential. I've been making a little pattern of my own lately and have been enjoying that immensly.

So to answer your question I don't know that it's hard neccesairly (not anymore than learning any other skill set for the first time) but maybe not as fun for some. I think I'm going to try and build a cutting table this weekend so perhaps working with patterns will become more fun for me. So far I've been doing it all on the floor!

Nathalie, there's two big components to home sewing: the sewing skills themselves, and the fit & tailoring of the garment (if you're making a garment and not, say, a tea cozy). You might enjoy the learning process a lot more if you start with some curtains or pillowcases or things that you don't have to WEAR before you tackle clothing patterns, which have their own sort of code. Or make jumpers for the baby, those are easy!

Because when make clothing for grown-ups you ALWAYS have to alter the pattern. Think about it: patterns only come in a range of sizes and "ideal" proportions, everything else about them you'll have to tailor on your own -- but that's the fun part! And there's no other way to get a dress (or skirt or whatever item you have the most trouble shopping for) that fits you perfectly.

Miz, there's something called "Fray Check" and other similar products to stop the edges of your satin from coming apart. You can also buy a set of special scissors called "pinking shears" that cut a zig-zag line discourages fraying and they'll probably come in handy if you continue sewing, but for just one or two projects, go to yr fabric or craft store and ask for Fray-check or similar.

One way to make the satin easier to handle in the sewing process would be to interface it with a sturdier material on the backside -- something that doesn't stretch so much on the bias. If you want to go that route, holler, because I've only used interfacing a couple of times and I find it annoying but would be happy to discuss.

will do the fray check.

I've used regular sew-in interfacing but bought some fusible for this project. However I couldn't get it to fuse. I tried a lot of scrap fabric, marking the fuse side etc, but still couldn't get it to work. Don't know if I'm just doing it wrong or if it won't stick.

Last night I sewed interfacing to the lining (fleece) and then tried to sew that to the satin outer. big mess. Am going to cut a new piece and try again.

I got my fusible to stick once but then the fabric had to be pleated and folded and the folds caused a lot of air bubbles and cracking of the interfaced layer. The finished handbag is useable but I'm not particularly proud of it. I'm not sure how that's all supposed to work, quite frankly. Anyway, don't sew the interfacing to the fleece, sew it to the satin! Use big running stitches in an even grid pattern, you can pull them out later (or even use a basting stitch if your machine has one). Then sew up the case, then take out the basting stitches. Some might get a little caught under your seams but trim them close or slip the threads out just before the foot passes over them. Or something. Experiment in that direction, instead of interfacing the fleece?

NB pinking shears are also very useful at Christmas and for paper crafty things!

I'm sure that's true, but cutting paper with sewing shears is really bad for the edges!! There wasn't much that was safe from us in my mother's house but her good shears were definite up there.

good shears . . .right now mine suck but this weekend JoAnn's has a 50% off sale on all cutting shears! hurrah!

Basting/grid is a good idea, didn't think of that.

So should I go for an overlock machine? Hmm, yes, yes, should do.

Heck, I could ask my friend and/or grandmother to teach me some tricks. :-) (God, that sounds lewd.)

I don't think I'll enroll in a sewing course (yet) as I'm very tempted to take that lacemaking class and who knows next year (and the year after that) might have some changes in the household?

I'm not sure what an overlock machine is. Is it like a serger?

Here's how green I was: Until I got my machine and started figuring out how to thread it, I had no idea that thread came from above and below. duh!

Yep, Serger.

Do I need an industrial machine to sew vinyl or can I do it on my basic Kenmore with the right needle? I want to make a purse/wallet.

Depends on how heavy it is, I imagine? But yeah, you'll need a specific needle. Also keep an eye on thread weight, I don't know if machines handle it differently or snag more once it gets over a certain thickness or etc but you'll probably want something pretty sturdy for that wallet.

I was thinking pretty lightweight (with cardboard inserts or something for stability). I def. want a better sewing machine in the future but wanted to give this a try in the meantime. I've hemmed jeans on it and the doubled-over denim is pretty heavy duty!

Oo, don't use cardboard! Use a cut-out piece of the flat side of a plastic milk jug or something. Something that won't crease and can get wet. Good luck, report back!