Sewing Sunsets

We’re going to continue reviewing sewing tools and then, in a future post, I’m going to share some of my recent sewing projects with you, too.  Recently, I have made two boys’ flannel bathrobes, and a girl’s long sleeved flannel dress.  When I finish my current project, I think I will either make another girl’s dress or a boy’s camp shirt; I haven’t quite decided which one I want to sew yet.  Decisions, decisions!  All of the above mentioned sewing projects use the sewing tools I have already mentioned, plus they involve a lot of basic sewing techniques as well.  These sewing projects all have corners–either in a collar or in a facing–that need turning and using a point turner really helps to push out the corners so that they are nice and sharp.

When you sew corners, you clip the seam at an angle (at the corner) and when the collar or facing is turned right side out, the point turner is used to push out the corner of the garment.  It may be a simple tool, but it is an essential one to have in the sewing room.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Lately, I’ve been having fun sewing a girl’s dress, so I haven’t had much time to post.  It’s good that I’m having fun sewing again!  I guess I got my sewing mojo back.  Once again, while involved in a sewing project, I am happy that I have so many useful sewing tools that make the job easier.

The latest sewing tool that I thought I would show you is a sleeve board.  The model that I have has two sleeve boards, one slightly larger than the other.  This is useful when pressing the hems of sleeves or pants.  It’s very similar to using the free arm on a sewing machine, except that the sleeve board is used in pressing during sewing construction.

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I’m almost finished sewing the little girl’s dress and then I have to decide whether to sew another dress with a different pattern, or whether I want to sew a boy’s camp shirt.  The boy’s camp shirt is easy, quick, and fun.  I also have plans to sew a girl’s shorts set in the near future.  When I show you some of these projects, we can also review sewing techniques.  Sewing is just sew much fun!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I have been doing some sewing lately, and finally finished the sewing project that frustrated me so much.  In future posts, I will be sharing tutorials on sewing bathrobes, and also a tutorial on sewing a child’s dress.  The particular pattern that I’m using to sew the child’s dress involves many sewing techniques.  This is the pattern that I used when I taught beginning sewing a few years ago. Unfortunately, that particular pattern is no longer in print.

During my sewing time, I am also rediscovering the importance of many of the great sewing tools in my own sewing room.  So far, we have discussed the seam gauge, the combination tailor’s clapper/point turner, and the tailor’s ham.  Today, we’ll talk about pinking shears.  They are useful for so many things in the sewing room.

As you can see, pinking shears look like scissors, but they have little “teeth” (pointed edges) on them.  Pinking shears can be used to finish the raw edges on craft projects or a child’s garment.  If you don’t own a serger, and don’t want to take the time to do a machine zig zag or overcast, pinking shears are  a great alternative.  If you like to make fleece blankets, buy some fleece, cut around all the edges with pinking shears, and you have a quick blanket. ( Cutting the edges of fabric with pinking shears is referred to as “pinking”. )

Another great use for pinking shears is when you have sewn a seam with an outward curve.  This type of curved seam needs to be notched and one easy way to do that is to trim the seam with pinking shears, which automatically provides the notches you need, and the clip the seam to the stitching.  As I have already stated, pinking shears are great tools to have in the sewing room.  In fact, I would consider them a necessary tool to have in the sewing room.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I don’t usually get frustrated when I’m sewing, but lately things have been very different.  First, I have almost had to make myself sew because I think I need to sew.  That probably doesn’t make much sense, but my life is extremely stressful right now, and usually, sewing is my stress reliever.  However, I am currently working on a sewing  project that I should be enjoying, but I am finding myself getting annoyed and frustrated–wishing the project were finished so I could move on to something else.

If sewing isn’t relieving my stress, going to the fabric store should accomplish that, right?!  Nope!  I went to JoAnn’s yesterday and had some really great coupons.  I found myself frustrated and bored with the fabric choices there–and just downright frustrated.  This really isn’t like me.  Going to the fabric store and sewing are two things that I love, so being frustrated with those things is frustrating me further.  Hmmmm…sounds like a vicious cycle to me.

Losing my “sewing mojo” hasn’t been much fun, but I think I know what the problems are (yes, there is more than one !).  My mom is in the late stages of dementia and on Hospice.  She has behavior issues and I can only go visit her if she is in a good mood, and I have to call before I go to see what kind of mood she is in.  If she is in a good mood, I go visit and hope I don’t set her off because I am often the trigger for her anger and/or sadness.  Needless to say, if she is in a bad mood, I don’t go visit.  I now try to go visit my mom once per week, but that isn’t always possible, so I’m lucky to see my mom about ten minutes per week, and that is hard to cope with emotionally.

The other major stress in my life is that we still own a house in another state, and the current renters have been horrible since day one.  They don’t pay their rent on time, and always have some “excuse” as to why they can’t or haven’t paid their rent on time. Now it seems that they may not be paying their utilities either, so  we now have to figure out how to handle this situation and get some responsible tenants until we can sell that property.

Also, my left eye has some issues that I hope are harmless, but it is best to have it checked out, so I am headed to the eye doctor tomorrow.

Have I mentioned that my youngest daughter is getting married this summer? While that’s a more positive stress, it’s still stress.  So…..is it any wonder that I have currently lost my “sewing mojo”.  What do you do when this happens to you?  Any suggestions are appreciated.  :)

I promise that my next post will be more positive   Thanks for letting me vent a little today.

Happy Sewing (to those of you who currently have your “sewing mojo”!

www.sewseamless.com 

Lately, I haven’t been in the mood to sew, which is very unusual for me.  However, I have been sick with the “creeping  crud” and although I feel much, much better, I still have a few symptoms.  Now my poor doggy is sick.  My sewing machine is having some problems, too, and really needs to be taken into the shop, but I’m not quite ready to give it up yet, but I will have to take it in soon.  Winding bobbins is a pretty important job and my machine isn’t working properly in that area.  I’ll get my sewing mojo back soon, though.    ;)

In the meantime, let’s talk about another important sewing tool.  The seam gauge is a great tool to have in the sewing room.  I use it most to measure hems on sleeves and the bottoms of garments.

Since I wrote the first paragraph above, I have recovered, although some symptoms still linger, and my doggy has recovered as well.  Also, I took my sewing machine to the sewing machine “doctor” and got it back very quickly.  However, just as I was about to recover my sewing mojo, my iron died.  Now I am on a quest to replace or repair the iron.

The good news is that I still have my seam gauge and it still works!

Happy Sewing!

So far, we have talked about the tailor’s ham (shown below):

And we have talked about the seam roll (shown below):

Today I want to show you the tailor’s clapper and point presser.

It is a rather funny looking tool, but it comes in oh, so handy when pressing sewing projects.  The bottom, which is rounded, is the clapper.  This is used to help flatten seams or areas of a garment that you want to lay flat, such as the edges of a collar.  When pressing, right after you lift the iron, you kind of hit the garment with the clapper and leave it there for few seconds or so.  This action holds the steam and heat in and helps flatten the area you are pressing.

The top pointed part is great for pressing points of collars.  Since this is a small seam, it’s hard to press without the use of the point presser.  Place the collar over the point presser (wrong sides up) and press the seam open.  I like to turn it over to the right side and press there as well.

As you know, the secret to sewing well is good pressing, and these sewing tools are essential to help with that process.

Happy Sewing!

This blog is mostly dedicated to sewing, but from time to time, I will be talking about dementia because I am on that journey with my mom right now.  Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have had to watch my mother decline due to dementia.  When we first started this journey, I thought that dementia simply meant memory loss, but I soon learned that is not the case at all.  It is so much more complicated than that.

My mom has dementia.  I’m not really sure what type; one doctor said that she has Alzheimer’s, but there are over 70 different causes of dementia.  Personally, I think my mom has vascular dementia, or perhaps a mixed bag of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, although her symptoms lead me to believe it’s the latter.

In my mom’s particular case, she has behavioral issues that surfaced one year ago this past December.  She woke up in her wonderful assisted living facility and didn’t recognize her own room, her own belongings or any of the staff members.  Ironically, she did recognize me when I arrived to visit.  She had been residing there for fourteen months at that point so this was highly unusual.  At first we thought it was a medical issue, and that was partially true.  However, it soon became clear that my mom had progressed to another stage of dementia.  At that point, it became clear that we had to move her to a locked facility, which we did, and shortly after she adjusted, she fell and fractured her pelvis.  Thankfully, re-entry into the locked facility went well after hospitalization and rehab, and we had a period of relative stability.  Until this past December….

My mom had started refusing to get out of bed, refusing her meds, and often refusing food as well.  Because we knew she had an ongoing UTI (urinary tract infection), and three antibiotics had not cured it, the decision was made to put her on Hospice in early December, 2011.   Since that time, she has had many behavioral issues–biting, hitting, scratching, refusing to get out of bed, refusing to allow the hospice aide to shower her, refusing food, and usually refusing her medicines.  This behavior isn’t every day or all the time, but each new day is truly a new day regarding her behavior.  Some days, she is pleasant and smiling, giving out hugs and kisses; other days, she exhibits the undesirable behaviors.  Thankfully, hospice has provided a topical gel that helps calm her down. Due to her symptoms, I now have to call the facility before I visit to see what kind of mood she is in, and if it is a bad day, I can’t go visit.  These days, I am lucky to actually see my mom twenty minutes a week.  I try to go visit twice a week, and about ten minutes is all she can handle.  If you have ever walked in these shoes, then you know how painful and heart wrenching it is to watch a loved one go through this horrible disease.  Sometimes I think the disease is harder on the family members than it is on the one who actually has  dementia.

Because this journey through dementia is so difficult on family members, I would like to encourage those of you who are fortunate enough to be spared to find a way to encourage someone you know who may be traveling on this same journey.  The caregivers are the ones who will need the most encouragement.  If you think about someone who is a caregiver for a dementia patient, give them a call, or offer to do something for them.  Sometimes, all we caregivers need is a hug, or someone to listen to our sorrow and pain; we don’t really need anyone to do anything necessarily, but just being there is a great gift.

If you know a caregiver for a dementia patient, whether or not the dementia sufferer, is placed, please take the time to give the gift of just being there for the caregiver.

As you know, when sewing, pressing is a very important process.   Pressing during sewing construction makes your project look better, and it looks more professional as well.  There are several important tools that help with pressing.  One is the seam roll, which I showed you in the last post.  Today, I am going to talk about the tailor’s ham, shown below.

The tailor’s ham is useful for building in shape into the garment you are sewing. These seams tend to be a bit larger than the seams that are pressed over a seam roll. Pressing over a seam roll implies pressing seams open, or to one side if you have serge finished the seams prior to sewing construction. A tailor’s ham involves seams such as princess seams, collars, and sleeve cap seams .

It is so important to press your projects as you are sewing them, and having these sewing tools in the sewing room helps with that process.   I have one or two other tools to show you in the next few posts.  The list of sewing tools that help with the pressing process is not complete here, but these tools are probably the most common for the home sewing enthusiast.

Happy Sewing!

Since it’s been so long since I have blogged regularly, I thought that we would start with a review of some sewing tools.  The picture below is a picture of a seam roll.  When you are sewing a garment, it’s always important to press as you go since this makes your sewing projects look more professional.

If a seam will be exposed, you should always finish the raw edges of the seams first.  This prevents raveling, and also just looks nicer on the inside of a garment.  One way to do this is to zig zag around the raw edges prior to sewing the garment.  If you are a more experienced seamstress, you can also serge around the raw edges.  When you finish the raw edges in this manner, you then press the seams flat, just as they were stitched, first.  This helps to set the stitches in the fabric.  Then, you press the seams open, which is where you can use the seam roll.  When pressing the seams over the seam roll, this helps eliminate the edges of the seam showing through to the right side of the garment, and also helps provide some shaping.  The shoulders of the body are round, so it makes sense that the shoulder seams should have some shape to them.  ( I hope this makes sense to you.)

Happy Sewing!

Although last year was extremely stressful, I managed to do a lot of sewing, and in the process, I learned something new with each project.  I sewed children’s flannel pajamas and bathrobes, and also made some quilts for my grandchildren.  I’m really not very good at quilting, but my family seems to like my creations.

Lately, I realized that I have missed sewing little girls’ dresses and after I finish my current projects, I hope to sew some dresses.  In the past, when I have planned to sew, real life seemed to intervene, so now I’ll just say that I hope to sew.

As  I continue to blog, I also hope to review some basic sewing tools, and techniques with you, as well as sharing my sewing projects.   Sharing my sewing projects will be tutorials of sorts.

Stay tuned for more sewing news.

Happy Sewing!