Sewing Lessons & FAQ

[Lady Day]

List:

1) A good pair of sewing shears. These shears (different from regular scissors as one blade is larger than the other) will be for *sewing only*. Beat up anyone who tries to use them for anything else, and let some one at the store teach you how to cut properly. Makes a world of difference.

2) Pins. Most gals I know opt for glass headed pins as they will not damage fabric if ironed over as opposed to plastic head pins which can melt.

3) Nice set of needles for hand sewing. You can get a pack of various needles for cheap.

4) Seam ripper. $3, replace every few months.

5) Chalk pencil or chalk wedge for marking.

6) Fiberglass tape measure. These dont stretch, old ones may and you can get the wrong measurements from them.

7) Clear 2" wide ruler. Quilters generally use these, but they are great for sewing.

8) Seam guide. Fantastic little tool for marking tons of things.

9) Extra needles for your *machine*. Make sure to replace your needle every coupe of projects. A pack of five (if your machine accepts universal needles) is no more than $5.

10) Thread & bobbins for the machine

THis is pretty much the list that was given out in all the sewing classes I taught. ITs a bare bones list and will totally get you started. Including the shears, all of this should cost you no more than $45. If you can find an old pair of shears, sharpen them up and knock that price in half.

Good luck!

LD

 

[kamikat]

My question to you ladies is this:
Could you provide some kind of list with equipment and supplies I will need in my sewing room? Of course, I have the machine and I will purchase fabric and patterns soon, but what else will I need to begin? I recently bought some vintage sewing scissors at an estate sale, but that is literally all I have.

What else? Thanks ladies.

Unless your vintage scissors are sharp, I'd recommend some new ones. You'll also need pins, iron and ironing board and measuring tape. Do you have info on your class? Some beginner classes start off with teacher helping each student get what he/she needs for the pattern. If not, take your pattern to the store and ask the ladies to help you. It's best to do this during quiet store hours, so they'll have time to help you. Your pattern will tell you what notions you'll need. Notions include things like matching thread, zippers, elastic, shoulder pads, hook and eyes, ect. That's really all you need to start. Many of us longtime sewists have lots of gadgets, but those come later as needed. I have many gadgets I've used only once or not at all.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I would get some basic items to start obviously, but I would personally not go too crazy right at first. I initially acquired most of what I have as I did individual projects. Sometimes we buy stuff in the beginning that we are "sure we need." Then it clutters things up when we don't.

My basic list of start items:

Scissors (really good ones!) Sharp!
Paper Scissors (never use your sharp fabric scissors to cut patterns!)
Seam Ripper
Pins (long ones with big colored heads) Quilting!
Hand Needles (small selection - need for finishing.)
Chalk (non-coated works best.) Or those expensive pens or pencils...

Then make sure you are set with the items you need to run your machine:

Needles (proper weights.)
Bobbins (always need more than one!)

I would purchase some things specific for each project:

Thread
Notions
Special Tools
Etc

Eventually you will have pieces that never got used, extra threads, fabric scraps, specialty tools, everything a plenty filling your sewing area. But start slow that way you won't feel overwhelmed and if you decide you don't like sewing you won't waste a lot of money.

Also, being a professional organizer, I recommend starting a sytem for your hobby right away. Many of the ladies I work with have trouble with their sewing areas being overwhelming and cluttered. They find it hard to get stuff done. So, for example, get a bin or case for your tools (i.e. scissors, seam ripper, etc.) Somewhere you will always be able to find the tool you need - I have a tool box. Then decide how you will store threads, fabric, and the like. You don't have to buy anything expensive (in fact a lot of my items are in old shoe boxes right now.) But make it functional and easy to see/use. Scraps get forgotten and pile up. Thread gets left and tangles into one big mess. The waste is really sad.

Anyway, that is my two cents! Hope it helps.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

I guess we had the same idea at the same time. Three very similar lists!

 

[SayCici]

My first time sewing sleeves and I'm stuck: the instructions want me to match up two small dots and the notches then sew through the small dots, but they are nowhere near each other! I've quadruple checked the pattern, the markings, the cutting layout.. everything is right but they don't match, except for the notch.

Picture:

The picture shows one set of small dots matched to the other, showing the difference. On one side the dots are 5/8" from the edge, on the other they are about 1 1/8".

Is this normal? What do I do? Go with the one that is a better fit for my arm?

 

[Lauren]

Oh, that's bizarre. It sounds like a design flaw. What you can do is check on your pattern- check the front of the sleeve (the part you'll attach to the front bodice) with the front armhole (of the bodice) from the underarm edge to the notch and see if they're the same length. They should be. Then do the same with the back. If the sleeve is longer, make it match but cutting it to the right length. It just sounds like the holes got punched wrong and you can probably seam up the underarm seam without it being a big deal, but if the armhole length is longer then it will make it drape funny.

 

[Lauren]

Cricket, I pretty much ditto what everyone else says.
You might be better off actually getting your estate sale scissors sharpened than buying new ones, especially if they're a good brand like Wiss (or Weiss?) or Ginger- new shears can be awfully expensive but are a good investment, and it is always nice to have more on hand in case one set gets misplaced.
I think extra bobbins for your machine are a good investment. I try to keep a few extra wound in basic colors like white, off white, and black, plus some I can fill up with other colors.- helps so you don't waste thread by rolling it off if you need to change colors.
I did a blog post about sewing on a budget a while back. Maybe there's something in there that would be useful
I totally admit to liking sewing gadgets, but I'll resist from posting those cause they're not necessary when you're starting!
Something that I really love to have on hand, though, is a sleeve board for pressing. It really helps when you've got a hard to press area.
And not sure if anyone mentioned pinking shears yet? They're a great investment as they keep your fabric from raveling in your seams.
Oh, and a good sewing how-to book. I think I've heard the Singer one and the Vogue ones are good, but I don't have either of them.

 

[Miss 1929]

A dress form will save you loads of time if you don't have a person willing to fit you! And it is tedious to be taking off and putting on your clothes and the project, over and over...

You can make a simple canvas cover for it in your identical body measurements and stuff it so you have a clone.

Husbands get pretty tired of helping fit stuff after a while...

 

[Miss 1929]

Wild Ginger?

Hi SickofitCindy - do you know, is the Wild Ginger program only for the PC platform, or can it work on the Mac? They don't mention either way on their site as far as I can tell.

 

[Snookie]

I was wondering about it exactly for the reason you said - I usually buy patterns with 32" busts because 34" ones come with a waist 4" too big (if it is a dress or includes a skirt pattern), but if I can just increase the seam allowance a bit to get it a little smaller without throwing anything else off, that'd be good to know!

You can pretty safely adjust the seam allowance by 1/8" or 1/4" in most cases, but if you change it more than that your garment will start to feel the effect. If you need to change it more than that all over, you should be getting a different size. You can't just use 1" SA all over if it's supposed to be 1/2". What does work well is if you leave one area alone, and take in another area unequally (leave the hips but take in the waist a couple inches, etc.)

I buy patterns that are smaller than my listed measurements, too, most of us do. If it's a modern pattern I go down 3 or 4 sizes, and if it's a vintage pattern I go down roughly 1 size.

 

[Snookie]

And it is tedious to be taking off and putting on your clothes and the project, over and over...

Sometimes I sew in my skivvies, cause I'm a fanatic about checking the fit!

 

[Sickofitcindy]

Hi SickofitCindy - do you know, is the Wild Ginger program only for the PC platform, or can it work on the Mac? They don't mention either way on their site as far as I can tell.

Hi Miss 1929. I can't say for sure as I have a PC, but I have a feeling that it is for PC only. Wait, I just did some digging and found this "Macintosh computers running Virtual PC, Parallels, and BootCamp. " I'm not sure exactly where you get these or how they run but it seems like you would be able to use it. There is a demo program so if you have any of the above mentioned programs, you could test it out and see if there are any glitches.

 

[Lady Day]

Does anyone know where would be a good place to find satin with a heavy cotton content?

LD

 

[Snookie]

Satin is woven from filament fibers, but cotton is a staple fiber. So there's no satin made with cotton, all satin is either silk (the only natural filament fiber) or man-made fibers. If you want the same weave with cotton, that's called sateen. Maybe this will help your search?

 

[Lady Day]

No, not sateen.
I found a satin with cotton in it at a speciality fabric store a while ago, but I didnt ask how much cotton was used in the fabric. They did say it was a 'special fabric'. But thanks for the info Snookie, that helps me a lot.

I guess I should get my hiney back over there and ask questions

LD

 

[Miss 1929]

Hi Miss 1929. I can't say for sure as I have a PC, but I have a feeling that it is for PC only. Wait, I just did some digging and found this "Macintosh computers running Virtual PC, Parallels, and BootCamp. " I'm not sure exactly where you get these or how they run but it seems like you would be able to use it. There is a demo program so if you have any of the above mentioned programs, you could test it out and see if there are any glitches.

Aha! I have Virtual PC! This is doable! Now I just need the $200 to buy it...

 

[Miss 1929]

Mysterious...

My first time sewing sleeves and I'm stuck: the instructions want me to match up two small dots and the notches then sew through the small dots, but they are nowhere near each other! I've quadruple checked the pattern, the markings, the cutting layout.. everything is right but they don't match, except for the notch.

Picture:

The picture shows one set of small dots matched to the other, showing the difference. On one side the dots are 5/8" from the edge, on the other they are about 1 1/8".

Is this normal? What do I do? Go with the one that is a better fit for my arm?

Are these sleeves two parts each?
Maybe you have the wrong parts matched to the wrong parts? Like, A to A when it should be A to B?
Or maybe the left on and the right one together? Like AR to BL?
It would help to see a scan of the little diagram showing the layout of the pattern pieces, it's kind of hard to tell from this pic, but it sure doesn't look right as it is! Sleeves should not be that hard!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

No, not sateen.
I found a satin with cotton in it at a speciality fabric store a while ago, but I didnt ask how much cotton was used in the fabric. They did say it was a 'special fabric'. But thanks for the info Snookie, that helps me a lot.

I guess I should get my hiney back over there and ask questions

LD

Not sure if this is of any help at all....and I will look up the breakdown of % of each when I get home, but the fabric for my PJ's, which looks very satin-like...is a cotton silk combo.

 

[Emer]

I love that fabric Cici! It's so cute! Can't wait to see what it looks like when you finish.

fftopic: Cricket--the baby in your avatar is adorable! If I ever had kids I'd definitely dress them like that!

 

[SayCici]

Are these sleeves two parts each?
Maybe you have the wrong parts matched to the wrong parts? Like, A to A when it should be A to B?
Or maybe the left on and the right one together? Like AR to BL?
It would help to see a scan of the little diagram showing the layout of the pattern pieces, it's kind of hard to tell from this pic, but it sure doesn't look right as it is! Sleeves should not be that hard!

Nope, each sleeve is just one piece! Even the diagram showed the dots at unequal distances from the edges, so I don't know what was up with that! It all worked out though, I sewed through the dots that fit my arm better, as anything else would have been too loose. I should be finishing up the dress today or tomorrow, so I'll have pictures soon!