If you want to (or have to) make lots of fabric tubes, I advise that you befriend this specialty presser-foot. Like a microwave, you can do without it but it’s faster and therefore more enjoyable to use. It is the Fast Tube foot (not to be confused with the Fast Turn set of tube turners,… Read More Sewing Gadget to Befriend
Shortening ready-to-wear pants at the hem sounds easy, but one needs to know some things. It’s good to know your stuff. First, I must bring your attention to Mary A. Roehr’s book, published in 1987. Look beyond the hand drawing and the self-published look of the book and it is a treasure trove! I know,… Read More Basic Sewing Concept: Raising Hem of Tapered Pants
About McCall’s Pattern 7470…. I found that the sleeved and sleeveless versions therein have the same front and back printed sections – and can be a conundrum depending on how picky you are about fit. You see, the armhole in a sleeveless garment MUST be close to the body, but sleeved versions need that extra ease;… Read More Sleeveless Armhole Neatness
Well, maybe not that basic, but worth learning – or at least having some knowledge about. I’ve come a long way from my former eye-roll response to the esteemed tailor’s tack. I’ve learned not to knock this very traditional technique of transferring pattern markings to the fabric. It’s so old school, that here is a… Read More Tailor’s Tacks, A Basic Sewing Concept for Marking Fabric
When the woven fabric is turned on a 45 degree angle, the warp and weft (lengthwise and crosswise yarns) are diagonal. Your fabric is now on the Bias Fabric Grain, a change made entirely by the user. What happens when you hold up a piece of fabric diagonally, aka the bias? The world changes! It will… Read More Basic Sewing Concept: The Bias Grain in Fabric
Did you read last week’s post with basic information about Fabric Grain in woven fabric? A new question raised by me back when I was learning to sew was: Do knits have grain? Answer: Yes! Today, lets explore fabric grain in knit fabric in a basic kind of way. We all know that knits are… Read More Basic Sewing Concept: Grain in Knit Fabric
Revisiting basic sewing information sometimes results in renewed and changed perspectives. So, today I’m visiting the concept of Fabric Grain. First, a short description of Fabric Grain: When a textile is woven, the lengthwise yarn (warp) runs up and down the length of the yardage; the crosswise yarn (weft) is run side to side on… Read More Visiting Basic Sewing Concepts: The Amazing Fabric Grainline
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