Category Archives: Techniques

Gathers

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Naomi

IMG_9317

Gathers might be my favorite sort of shaping. They’re easy to get right – much more forgiving than darts – and they add an interesting little detail. Someone recently asked for more detail on how I make the gathers in my picnic dress, so here it is: a step by step tutorial on gathering.

IMG_6143 (1)

1. Decide where your gathers go. Mark each end of the gather. For bust gathers, start by subtracting your front underbust/ribcage measurement from your front bust measurement – this is how much you will gather up. Then measure how much ungathered space you want in front, and how much. For example, my front bust measurement is 19″ and underbust/ribcage is 14″, so I need to gather in 2.5″ on each side. If I wanted the final gathers to be 3″ I would need to start with 5.5″, so I might mark my fabric to be gathered between 2.5″ and 8″. This leaves 3″ of ungathered fabric in the middle, which works well for me. You might want to hold a measuring tape up to yourself and make sure you’re happy with where the gathers are going to side and how long they will be.

2. Stitch between the marks, using a slightly longer stitch than usual. The longer the stitch you use, the bigger the gathers will be and the more fabric you can gather in. If you’re using a heavier weight fabric or trying to gather very tightly, you’ll need a very long stich length. If your fabric is lighter weight or you’d like the gathers to be less obvious, use a shorter stitch length. I typically use a stitch that is one step longer than the one I sew seams with.

3. Make the gathers. Pull both threads to the back on each side of the seam. Tie the ends of the thread together in a double knot on one side. On the other side, pull gently on one thread (it’s easier with the back thread, but either will work), pushing the fabric along. When your gathers are the length you want, tie the two threads together.

4. Sew the gathers into a seam. When you sew a gathered piece of fabric to a smooth piece, put the gathers on top. Make sure the tiny ruffled edge is all pulled out so no fabric gets caught poking through. Sew right over your gathering line.

I’m you’re still confused about step three, I made a little video!

Posted in Sewing, Techniques, Tutorials | 1 Comment

Printing with wooden stamps

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Naomi

After the huge project that was my bedroom curtains, I didn’t want to pleat anything else for a long time. So for my living room curtains I bought cheap plain white curtains and stamped them using carved wooden blocks and fabric paint.

The first curtain didn’t come out all that well, but as I went along I came up with a system that works well. Here are some tips:

  • put a rag directly under the fabric you’re printing – the paint leaks through a bit
  • put a folded towel under the rag – wooden blocks are hard, and they don’t print well if they’re pushing against an equally hard table (this is probably less important if you’re using rubber or linoleum stamps)
  • run the roller through the paint after every swipe across the stamp – running it back and forth over the block takes off the paint you’ve just put on
  • if you don’t have a roller you can dip the block into the paint, but be sure to keep the layer of paint very thin- you don’t want to fill in the holes of your stamp
  • push down firmly and wiggle the block around slightly to get the paint off onto the fabric
  • it’s fine to mix different brands of fabric paint – I made the pink I used out of three colors made by three brands and had no problems

Posted in Home, Techniques | Leave a comment

How to put in an invisible zipper

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Naomi

I’ve had a lot of trouble with zippers. They buckle, the two sides don’t come out even so seams and stripes don’t line up the way they should, and I can never figure out what to do with that little extra bit at the top. But I’ve been getting better at them. It’s been a few years since I had any really lumpy zippers (if your zippers are lumpy, you’re pulling on the fabric too much), and I’m getting better at lining up the two sides. And recently I learned how to put in an invisible zipper correctly.

The trick to getting your invisible zipper to actually be invisible is to press it out first. The invisible zipper folds over when it’s zipped, pulling the teeth behind the fabric. If you sew it in folded up, you can’t sew very close to the edge, because the teeth get in the way. But if you unzip the zipper, you can turn the teeth toward the center. This lets you sew right up at the edge of the fabric part of the zipper, so when you close the zipper and the teeth spring back, the fabric comes all the way to the edge and looks like a seam.

This means you really can’t sew in the zipper when it’s closed, so you’re not going to be able to sew to the very bottom of the zipper (because the bit you pull on to close it will get in the way). Just get one that’s a little longer than you need and add a stitch where you want the bottom of the zipper to be.

If that doesn’t make sense, here are step by step directions.

1) Unzip the zipper and press the teeth toward the center

2) Sew your fabric to the zipper, as close to the teeth as you can get (if you have a zipper foot, this is easy. If you lost your zipper foot and never think to buy another when you’re in the store, be careful not to sew over the teeth). Sew as far down as you can before you hit the bit that closes the zipper, then stop.

3) Sew the other side the same way.

4) Close the zipper and sew up the rest of the seam.

5) Sew around the zipper where the bottom of the zipper meets the seam.

Posted in Sewing, Techniques, Tutorials | 1 Comment

Swimsuits Part 1: the fabric

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Naomi

 

I spent all day Sunday making swimsuits, with help from Rosalie and Prima (and will probably be spending most of my time making swimsuits for the next couple of weeks). Making swimsuits is not as hard as it sounds, and very rewarding – you get the swimsuit you want. One that fits well and covers what you want to cover and shows what you want to show. It’s no more work than a dress and a fun thing to add to your repertoire.

There are several steps that might be confusing to a new sewer, and I’d like to go over them in more detail than I sometimes do, so I’m going to break this into a few posts. To begin with, lets talk about the fabric. You really want spandex. It holds its shape when wet, is easy to move in when you’re swimming, and holds up pretty well in chlorine. If you’re just going to be lounging on the beach you can use whatever fabric you want, but if you want to swim in your suit, it’s worth getting material designed for that purpose.

One lucky day I found a bolt of swimsuit fabric at one of my local fabric stores, and I hope that you will also be so lucky. When I’m not I order it online. There are a few Etsy sellers who carry it, although the only one I’ve ever purchased from has closed. Mostly I buy from Spandex World, which has a $20 minimum order, but a huge selection of swimsuit fabric. I like the milliskin matte fabric, which is somewhat less shiny than ordinary spandex. If you’re trying to fill up a $20 order, it’s nice to have mesh lining fabric, but if you’re buying from your local fabric store and they don’t have any don’t worry about it – you can always line with your main fabric.

When your fabric arrives be sure to wash and dry it the way your usually launder your swimsuits.

You will also need matching thread, 3 yards of 1/8 inch elastic (more for larger sizes), and may want some of those molded bust pads that many swimsuits have.

Next: A pattern for bikini bottoms.

Posted in Sewing, Swimsuits, Techniques | 4 Comments

Botticelli Regency/mid-1400s Dress

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Prima

Hello! I am Prima, frequent unwitting contributor to this blog, photographically speaking; but this is my first post about my fabulous sewing career. Enjoy.

Voila my new Easter dress, completed the day before. I am seriously in love. The main fabric, a gauzy luminous cotton, is the same color as the background in one of my favorite paintings, The Birth of Venus. Here the story of its own birth, so to speak, as I tend to consider all my creations my children… (Odd this attachment we develop with our fabricky things, isn’t it?)

This is the somewhat unglamorous start to the dress. I learned this uber-professional draping  technique at school at Smith College during an independent study in tutu making. Here is what  you do:

1. Obtain a dress form (Naomi and I made ours out of paper tape wrapped around our bodies. It was odd but fun. You can search the internet to find out all about this method). It’s important that it be your size.

2. Pin twill tape in the outline of the shape you want your bodice to be. Include all proposed seams.

3. Use muslin to drape the bodice within the lines. Start with a nice big piece, and start at one seam, making sure the grain is the direction you want it to be going. Ease it over the dress form, tucking in darts where they need to be.

4. Use a pencil to draw the twill lines underneath onto the muslin above and on either side of the darts.

5. Cut along the lines and clip out the darts.

6. Continue until all the pieces of the bodice are filled in with matching muslin. Unless you are extremely asymmetrical, you only need to do one side.

7. Remove the pieces from the dress form and use them as patterns to cut out two of each piece with seam allowance (I always use 1/4″) in muslin.

8. Sew together the pieces and try it on. Make corrections as needed, and then pull it apart and use this as the pattern to cut it out your dress fabric. At which point I got this:

The most complicated part is now done! I then added sleeves to the bodice, lined it by making another bodice and sewing them right sides together along the top edge, turning, and then sewing the skirt in between them. This dress is a wraparound, so I used a button and hidden hooks and eyes to attach the center inset panel to the opposite side of the dress.  The finishing touch was this gorgeous French trim I found.

And here she is! See this dress in my Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/72891359/botticelli-frock

Posted in Sewing, Techniques | 3 Comments

How to add in-seam pockets

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Naomi

I try to put pockets in my dresses whenever possible. It’s nice to be able to leave the house without a purse sometimes and to have somewhere to put my hands when I’m feeling awkward (which is most of the time), and pockets are very easy to put in.

Before you sew up the side seams of your skirt, cut out four pocket shaped pieces (see the picture bellow if you’re not sure what this shape should be). Make sure the opening is large enough to fit your hand. Measure down 6 inches from the top of your skirt (or however far down you want the pockets to be) and place the opening of the pocket along the edge of the skirt piece with the right sides of the fabric facing each other. Make sure the pocket is angled down. Sew the pocket to the skirt along the edge that will become the opening of the pocket. Repeat with the other side of the pocket.

Turn the pocket pieces so they’re sticking out the sides of the skirt and press flat. Put the front and back of the skirt together so the two parts of the pocket line up. Sew down the side seam to the pocket, then around the edge of the pocket, and down the rest of the side seam below the pocket.

Posted in Sewing, Techniques | 2 Comments