Sewing Lessons & FAQ

[Hamilton_Honey]

[huh] Just my humble questioning as I'm not meaning to be rude however, when using the attachment thingy (buttonholer) are you dropping the feeddogs? also if you "can sew through denim like butter" that sounds like the feeddogs again need more pressure so in order to make your pressure foot sew better there is a button with a finger tightening "ring" around it directly above the needle at the very top of the machine where your thread would rung through the arm that goes up and down rapidly to feet the thread to the needle it has notcies with numbers on it, if you press that button to 3 then your fabric should feed with your feed dogs properly.if you press on the ring to release the pressure foot to say 1 that would make sense that your feed dogs are feeding the denim through well enough with proper tension/pressure on the pressure foot/feed dog mecinism.
[huh] Hope this helps[huh]

Rita

Thanks Cool Kitten - it's never rude to try to be helpful

Well, the denim is no problem at all, but I will try your suggestion about adjusting the tension for the buttonholer and see if that helps any.

Thanks again!

 

[Lady Day]

Im sure you know this HH, but dont forget to adjust your tension, change the needle to the fabric type and play around with stitch width.

You are still in that Honeymoon phase of your machine, learning all its quirks and hangups. Soon you will know them, and then you can hopefully work around them

I HATE button hole attachment feet. *Ick* Never use them. I hope you get that figured out.

LD

 

[dakotanorth]

Help: The elusive Patch Pocket with NO top stitch

I've researched this but there's definitely lost info about this.
Websites and most books say to use a hand whip stitch if you want to attach a patch pocket without a top stitch.
If you've ever relined a "Ricky" jacket, you can clearly see a machine was used to attach this pocket.
Anyone have information about this? One pocket I saw looked like they used an edge stitch, then went inside and "traced" that perimeter inside the pocket. I'm not sure though.
How do you place a patch pocket without a topstitch? [huh]

 

[Lauren]

You do have to attach if from the inside by hand- at least that's the only way I could see doing it unless you had special machinery designed for that purpose. Usually it's done on things with a lining so you can't see the stitching on the inside. If you can get a hold of the Classic Tailoring Techniques book (I know we have one in our local library here) they should have detailed instructions on doing it. I have the womens version and they talk about how to do it.

 

[dakotanorth]

Thanks for the reply Lauren.
I own that book too, but it only talks about slip stitch or whip stitching the pocket. I've open several jackets and seen that the pocket was done with a machine, but I cannot figure out how. It's yet another lost art....
Maybe a free arm machine?

You do have to attach if from the inside by hand- at least that's the only way I could see doing it unless you had special machinery designed for that purpose. Usually it's done on things with a lining so you can't see the stitching on the inside. If you can get a hold of the Classic Tailoring Techniques book (I know we have one in our local library here) they should have detailed instructions on doing it. I have the womens version and they talk about how to do it.

 

[Lauren]

Yeah, could be! It's a mystery! I know they have this wierd machine at a place I used to work that could get into tiny nooks and crannies. Kind of looked like a sewing machine I'd imagine a cobbler would use but I never saw anyone use it.
It kind of looked like this, but huge and old and heavy duty.
If you find out, let us know! That's a really interesting question, and now you've got me curious, too!

 

[dakotanorth]

mystery machine, not Scooby Doo's van.

I was thinking the same thing- maybe a machine with a long thin arm. I'll keep looking and hopefully find some answers. I'm DYING to find out!

Yeah, could be! It's a mystery! I know they have this wierd machine at a place I used to work that could get into tiny nooks and crannies. Kind of looked like a sewing machine I'd imagine a cobbler would use but I never saw anyone use it.
It kind of looked like this, but huge and old and heavy duty.
If you find out, let us know! That's a really interesting question, and now you've got me curious, too!

 

[jetgirl]

Resizing patterns

I am in love with a blouse pattern that is a 32" bust, but I usually buy the 36" bust size. I've sized up or down a bit before, but never 2 sizes. Is this fairly straightforward with a fitted blouse (darts, collar, short placket)? I've seen the sensibility link...

 

[Lauren]

If it's just a standard blouse it's not that hard. The hardest part is the sleeve. If you do a raglan blouse it's harder.
I like this link best for grading- from Threads Magazine.

 

[jetgirl]

If it's just a standard blouse it's not that hard. The hardest part is the sleeve. If you do a raglan blouse it's harder.
I like this link best for grading- from Threads Magazine.

Thank you for that link, it's great. It is a set-in puff sleeve. I would guess I need to increase the circumference of the sleeve because I am spreading the pattern under the arm?

FYI Lauren your signature here has the link incorrect to your blog. It has an extra "http" in it. Love the little crochet hat!

 

[jetgirl]

Thank you for that link, it's great. It is a set-in puff sleeve. I would guess I need to increase the circumference of the sleeve because I am spreading the pattern under the arm?

Oh poo, I went to buy it and it has disappeared. Poof! Shoot, it was there a few hours ago. *le sigh*

I'll go post the picture in the got away thread. Maybe someone will have a copy they want to sell.

 

[Lauren]

Oh dear! Thank you! I'll fix that right away. I'm so glad you like that hat! I need to get better at crochet so I can make one, too. I'm pretty crochet dumb. lol

 

[deadpandiva]

I have a question. I want to make a very high waisted circle skirt. I want the waist to curve up in front. Should I use a fitted bodice pattern fror the top. to accomidate for the difference between natural waist and underbust measurement?

This is the closest picture I could find of what I want.

 

[SayCici]

DPD, I don't think you'd need to use a bodice pattern to create that look. I see patterns for skirts from the 40s like you're talking about, though maybe not as high as you want:

A 50s pattern with the very high-waisted look:

(I've seen patterns like this where the full skirt didn't have princess seams, but this just happens to be one I finally found and bought).

Mine doesn't have the waistband though, it just keeps going. I think if you had a base piece to work with, you could just take the measurement of the area where you wanted it to end at (like around the top of your ribcage), and make a couple muslins to get the right fit.

 

[Lady Day]

I think a modified bodice would be ideal if its gong to be that high and that tight. You also might want to line it with light boning to keep it from rolling.

LD

 

[Lauren]

I think you'll probably have to fit it no matter what you do, so it's up to you! You might want to consider interfacing it or even lightly boning it if it's to go as high as in the picture. Take into consideration that unless the dress pattern you would modify it for would be strapless (like a bustier), there's going to be underarm ease so you won't get it fitted as tightly from the get-go from the envelope.

 

[Idledame]

Somewhere LD wrote something about how great cotton thread was. All my thread is cotton polyester so I was curious and found this online showing magnified differences in cheap and expensive threads...who knew there was such a big difference:

Coats and Clarks cotton

Lucky Strike cotton

And all those frayed ends wear out your machine parts and get tangled more and are weaker than the more expensive thread.

Elsewhere I found " Use cotton thread with natural fibers such as cotton and silk. (Try sewing a piece of silk with polyester thread and then with cotton thread and you should see a big difference in performance. Cotton being a natural fiber is more compatible with silk which is also a natural fiber.)"
I almost never buy polyester material...why am I buying polyester thread!

Also anyone who sews needs one of these:

Wrights Cardboard Pattern Cutting Board
It's cardboard, unfolds to 36"x60" and features metric & standard measurements. And its really cheap-$6.99. For grading you can pin your patterns to it and use the lines to figure out where you're going to cut pattern to add inches, or fold to make smaller. You can pin your material to it before cutting out pieces. I never had one till I inherited my mom's. Now I can't live without it.

 

[SayCici]

Ladies:

See the two halter blouses with the drawstrings? Please tell me there is a way to recreate this without needing a pattern I probably couldn't afford if one ever did show up.

You can see it here too, on the left:

I am crazy about this look and need to recreate it!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I've got a simple newbie question for you advanced gals:

I'm a 1930s/40s size 18. I've upsized both 14s and 16s to meet my sizing needs. I just want to know how many inches I would need to add to upsize a 12? Thanks.

 

[jetgirl]

Love the halters

Ladies:

See the two halter blouses with the drawstrings? Please tell me there is a way to recreate this without needing a pattern I probably couldn't afford if one ever did show up.

You can see it here too, on the left:

I am crazy about this look and need to recreate it!

Eva Dress has several good halter patterns, but not with the gathering:
http://www.evadress.com/2997.html
http://www.evadress.com/6318.html

Patterns with the Gathering:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48231610@N00/188999687
http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/catalog/item/2871951/6195766.htm

I bet you can find an inexpensive 1970's pattern!
http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4144160

I found these because I somewhere recently ran into a 30's pattern online, maybe a lounge pattern for this top, but I can't find it now! I thought it was cute; but it looked like so easy like a triangle with the top tip cut off and folded over to make a casing. You could get fancy and add a band at the bottom.