Sewing Sunsets

It is obvious that we need to take Angel to the doggy park this morning because she has already torn up one of my better dish towels.

Before heading out to the dog park, I thought I would try to write a quick post about hemming the ruffle that I started sewing a couple of days ago.  After sewing the short seams of the ruffle and pressing them open, I then sewed the hem on the ruffle.  This is an easy rolled hem and although I do have the rolled hem presser foot, I prefer to do the rolled hem using a standard presser foot.

First I fold the hem up once (wrong sides together).  This is a small hem so I don’t fold up too much.  Then I fold once again in order to enclose the raw edges.  I put my sewing machine needle all the way to the left and sew on the edge of the folded over hem.

I hope the pictures help clarify what I am trying to explain because this morning I don’t feel like I’m making much sense.

We’re off to the dog park to see if we can tire the dog out enough to actually get something done around here.  Something important like sewing, that is.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I had lots of plans this morning, but  apparently my doggy had other plans for my day.  This morning I tried to write a new post here, but my doggy was not being an angel and so I decided to take her on a long walk to see if that would help settle her down.  She did answer nature’s call while outside, but it didn’t help settle her down.  In fact, she stood by the door and wanted out again so after I had gotten a good walk in on the treadmill, she and I hopped in the car and went to the pet store. Angel enjoys riding in the car and at this pet store, she can meet other doggies, plus she really enjoys watching the small critters behind the glass and she also likes to watch the birds. This keeps her occupied for a while.  While I was talking to woman in the store, Angel just plopped on the floor and was such a well behaved young lady that I asked why she couldn’t have done that this morning at home.

Since arriving home, Angel had a few treats and I ate lunch and I called my mom to check on her.  So far, Angel has been resting, but that may mean that I’m in for one heck of an afternoon.

In the meantime, I managed to get a little bit ( a very little bit) of sewing done yesterday.  The set-sleeves(www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html ) are both sewn into the dress.

Yesterday afternoon, I moved on to sewing the ruffle that will be sewn to the bottom of the dress.  I like sewing these long ruffles because it eliminates hand hemming.  Although I like hand hemming, sometimes it’s fun to do a rolled hem on the machine.  More about hemming later.

The ruffle for the bottom of this dress is very long so there were several short seams to sew. There are four long pattern pieces for this ruffle. One thing I need to remember next time is that these raw edges will need to be serge finished.  This time I trimmed the seam with pinking shears. 

I sewed the short seams on the ruffle with a standard 5/8 inch seam allowance and then pressed the seams open.  After that, it was time to hem the ruffle, and this ruffle is lllloooonnnggg! 

For now, the doggy is asleep and being good, so I’m going to see if she will continue to be a good doggy and let me finish sewing the ruffle to the dress this afternoon.  Of course, she could just be resting up for more doggy adventures.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I like the sleeves on the dress that I’m working on now because they are gathered sleeves.  These particular sleeves are gathered at the sleeve cap and at the bottom of the sleeve as well. 

When easing sleeve caps, the stitching usually runs from notch to notch, but in this case, I ran gathering stitches from small dots that were marked on the pattern.   I like to use a stitch length of about a 5 and I usually sew gathering stitches at 3/8 inch and then a little less than 3/8 inch.

Both pictures above show the sleeve cap after it has been gathered.  My next step was to sew the sleeves into the armscye.  In this case, the side seams have already been sewn, so these are set-in sleeves (www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html ).  I sew these sleeves using the free arm of my sewing machine, and I place the sleeve side down on the bed of the sewing machine. 

In the above picture, the sleeve is pinned into the armscye of the dress.   I always match the seams and then match the notches.  Then I adjust the sleeve to fit into the armscye and pin.

The above picture shows the sleeve being sewn, using the free arm of the sewing machine.  After I sew set-in sleeves, I always breathe a sigh of relief because I usually have to do a little un-sewing, and that was the case here as well.  I had a small pucker because I had accidentally sewn part of the yoke right along with the sleeve.  Thankfully, it wasn’t too much to un-stitch so the problem was corrected easily.

Thankfully, the doggy was really good one day, so I got both sleeves sewn in and moved on to sewing the ruffle that goes on the bottom of the dress.  Yesterday wasn’t a good sewing day because the doggy was definitely not on her best behavior!   We’ll see if today becomes a good sewing day or not.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

My dog was such a good dog yesterday that I got to sew!  However, she was sew good that I got worried about her!

I finished sewing set-in sleeves into the armscye of the dress.  That was trickier than I had hoped, but other than one minor boo boo, it all worked out well.  I had some minor unstitching and restitching to do, but it wasn’t too bad.

 After I had sewn the cuffs to the bottom of the sleeves, I then sewed the sleeve seam and cuff seam as one.

After sewubg the sleeve seam and cuff seam, I pressed the seam open, using a seam stick.  A seam stick is similar to a seam roll, except that many seam sticks are flat on one side, which makes it slightly smaller and easier to fit in small spaces.

The sleeve cuff facing will need to be turned to the inside, about 5/8 folded under; this facing will then be hand hemmed.

I always save my hand sewing until the very last thing, when the garment is finished, so hemming the cuffs will be waiting for a little while.

The sleeves are now sewn in and I moved on to sewing the ruffle at the bottom of the dress.  At that point, my doggy was getting restless, so I put everything up and took her for a walk. Tomorrow is my day to go out and visit my mom so sewing may not happen, but I can still hope that the doggy is really, really good the next day so I can sew more.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Yesterday would have been a great sewing day because we took the dog to the dog park, and she was one tired pup when we got home! She was a very good dog all day long, too.  Even though I didn’t get to sew, I did get to make a quick trip to JoAnn’s to take advantage of their holiday sale.   I got some really cute fabric, too!  After I sew a couple of girl’s dresses, I’m going to sew anothe boy’s camp shirt and I bought a cute baseball themed fabric for that.  I had only planned to get some extra fabric for the ruffle for the other dress I’ll be making soon, but when I passed this baseball fabric, it “spoke” to me and I just had to take it home.

Back to sewing these gathered sleeves with a cuff.  These sleeves are gathered both on the sleeve cap and at the bottom of the sleeve.  As I told you in the earlier post, I decided not to follow pattern directions and sew everything in flat, which is much easier, especially for beginning sewers.

I gathered the sleeve cap and the bottom of the sleeve.  I had already sewn the cuffs together on the long un-notched edge.  Then I pinned the cuff to the bottom of the sleeve.

The picture above shows the bottom of the sleeve already gathered.

In the above picture, the cuff is pinned to the bottom of the gathered sleeve. ( The sleeve cap is at the bottom of the picture, so you are looking at the sleeve upside down.)  I sewed the cuff to the sleeve using a standard 5/8 inch seam allowance. 

The cuff has been sewn to the gathered bottom of the sleeve, but not pressed yet (in the photo above).  I pressed the seam toward the cuff.  The sleeve seam and cuff seam will be sewn as one, which is much easier than the pattern instructions indicated.  Hopefully, I’ll get to sew today and then I can share that with you here soon. After sewing the sleeve seam, I will sew the gathered set-in sleeves (www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html ).  Although thise are set-in sleeves, because they are gathered and not eased, they will be somewhat easier to sew.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Once again, I’m grateful that I got something accomplished in the sewing room the other day because I haven’t had time to sew for the last couple of days.  One of these days, I’ll have lots and lots of sewing time…….. maybe…..well, I will have lots of sewing time one day, won’t I?!

I was so relieved to get the facings sewn on this dress that moving on to sew the sleeves sounded like fun.  These are set in sleeves (www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html ), but these are a bit easier because they are gathered sleeves; we used to call them “puffed sleeves”.  This means that the sleeve cap is actually gathered, rather than eased to fit in the armscye (armhole)  of the garment.  These are short sleeves with cuffs, so the bottom of the sleeve is also gathered.  Here is one short sleeve:

As I was sewing, I started to follow the pattern instructions and then realized that there was an easier way to sew the sleeves and the cuffs.  That is the great thing about sewing–once you’ve got some sewing experience, you have alternative ways of sewing a garment to achieve the same end result. The pattern instructions said to sew the the cuff seams and then sew the cuff facing to the interfaced cuff piece.  I was also supposed to sew the sleeve seam and sew the cuff to this, which would have been easy enough to do when using the free arm on my sewing machine, but I thought there was an easier way to accomplish this and I was right!

When I cut out the pattern, I cut out four cuffs; one is the main cuff that has fusible interfacing applied to it (www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html ) and the other piece is the cuff facing. Instead of sewing the short seam, I sewed the cuff and cuff facing together on the unnotched side.

After I sewed the cuff together on the long, unnotched side, I pressed the seam open, both from the wrong side and then from the right side.

Sewing the cuffs this way was sew much easier.  Instead of sewing the short seams of the sleeve and cuffs, I will be sewing the cuff to the sleeve while it is still flat, and then the sleeve seam and cuff seam will be sewn as one seam. 

I am continuing to hope for more sewing time for myself and my wish for all of you is lots of sewing time.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m happy to tell you that my doggy actually allowed me some sewing time yesterday!   It wasn’t much time, but a little bit of sewing time is better than none.

I finished sewing the back facing, which is actually a bias piece that is sewn along the neckline of the dress.  I prefer the more traditional front and back facings (www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html ), but I guess this bias piece is supposed to look slightly better.  In my opinion, this type of bias piece is harder to sew than a traditional back facing.  At any rate, I got it done, and even moved on to the sleeves.

The bias piece was folded in half and pressed, wrong sides together, and then I pinned the bias piece to the neckline and sewed, using a standard 5/8 inch seam allowance.  The pattern instructions said to baste this first, but I chose not to do that this time.  In the future, I think that basting would help when sewing the bias piece on to the neckline permanently. Also, I might experiment with using a smaller seam allowance because this seam allowance must be trimmed before it is clipped to the stitching line.  The neckline seam must be clipped because it is a curved seam.

After sewing and clipping the neckline seam, I had to turn the bias piece toward the inside of the dress, and turn the front facing at the same time.  This is really hard to explain in words, so I’ll let the pictures explain it for me.

Actually the above pictures are out of order because the bottom one is showing the sewing of the back facing, and the top picture is showing how the front facing is being turned after everything has been sewn.

I used the tailor’s ham to help me turn the facings to the inside of the dress.  I then pressed the facing, pinned it in place, and used the edge stitch presser foot to sew the facings in place.  This was a bit tricky and I did have one small pucker in the back of the dress, but it pressed out fairly well and the collar covers it, so I didn’t worry about unstitching anything this time.

 This dress is now ready for sleeves!  I was so relieved to get past sewing the facings on this dress without too many problems that I’m actually looking forward to sewing the set in sleeves (www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html )!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I didn’t get to sew yesterday either, but I made so much progress on the little girl’s dress the other day that I have a little bit to share with you today. 

The neckline on this dress is different because there isn’t a traditional back facing (www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html  ).  Instead there is a bias piece that is used as the back facing.  Preparing this bias piece is very similar to the way I sew spaghetti straps because this bias neckline is also folded to the middle, wrong sides together. 

The top picture above is the bias neckline “facing” piece with the pattern piece still pinned on to it.  I placed this piece on the bias, rather than the straight of grain when cutting out the pattern. 

After the pattern piece is cut out and pressed, it is folded to the middle, wrong sides and raw edges together.

After this bias neckline piece was folded and pressed, I pinned it to the back neckline of the dress.   Because it is bias, it will stretch a little bit, which helps it to fit the neckline.  This is all the progress I have made so far. Today would be a great day to sew, but I have to run an errand and that means leaving the doggy alone for a little while.  When I return home from an outing, she often doesn’t behave very well for a while so we’ll see if I actually get to sew today.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Children have growth spurts sometimes, and I think I’m having sewing spurts.   My doggy allows me to sew on some days, but on other days, she keeps me very busy.   Right now she is being very good, but you never can tell how long that will last.

As you know, I’ve been working on a little girl’s dress with a collar, and at first, the instructions for the facings confused me, but when I pinned the collar (www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html ) to the neckline and looked at the instructions again, I understood it.  There are two fold lines and I folded the facing to the inside, wrong sides together,  and pressed.  Then I pinned the collar to the neckline of the dress.

The front facing is turned back over the collar; this time with right sides of fabric together.  This is a little hard to explain in words, which is probably why I had so much trouble understanding the pattern instructions until I actually got to that point in the sewing process.  I hope the pictures will clarify what I’m trying to say.

Instead of basting the collar and then basting the front facing, I pinned the collar and facing and then basted both to the neckline of the dress.  When I baste, I use a long stitch length of about a 5, and I like to baste using a 3/8 inch seam allowance, although beginners might prefer to baste using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

This dress doesn’t have a traditional back facing; it has a narrow bias piece that is sewn on  the neckline.  I don’t like these types of back facings very much because they are a little harder to sew and it is also a bit more difficult to get a nice finish.  To me, this will be the hardest part of this sewing project, so I will breathe a sigh of relief when I finish sewing this part of the dress.

Now, let’s see if my doggy’s good behavior lasts long enough to allow me some sewing time today.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Due to very cold and rainy weather, there has been an interruption in regularly scheduled sewing.  It should  be spring, but it feels more like winter to me!  The highs temps have been what lows should be for this time of year, and it has been wet–rain almost every day.  Rain is great for a good sewing day, but doggy isn’t too happy when she doesn’t get her regular walk.  When the doggy doesn’t get her regular walk in the mornings, she tends to be destructive in the house.   Yesterday morning, I took her in the car with me while I ran an errand, thinking it might help her , but I just think it was a mistake.  Will somebody please send me some summer weather–high temps in the 80′s and lots of sunshine please!

Even though I didn’t get to sew yesterday, I made sew much progress the day before that I have some pictures to show you here.  The front facing has two fold lines and the pattern directions are to fold the facing to the inside and sew along the raw edge.  I see no reason to do that because this part of the front facing will be enclosed when it is folded again on the other fold line.

The next thing I sewed was the collar (www.sewseamless.com/Page6.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page16.html ).  The instructions for this part of the dress were much clearer and easier to understand. Fusible interfacing (www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html ) is applied to only one collar piece before the collar is sewn together.  The directions for sewing the collar to the neckline of the dress are clear that the interfaced side should be facing you when pinning the collar to the dress neckline.

As you can see, this collar is mostly outward curved seams and those are seams that should be notched.  I like to do this by trimming the seam with pinking shears first and then clipping the seam to but not through the stitching line.  After I trimmed and clipped the seams, I turned the collar right side out and used the round end of a point turner to help get smooth curve.  Then I pressed very well, of course.

When I get the collar completely sewn to the neckline, I will then start working on the sleeves.  These are gathered sleeves with cuffs, and they seem to be providing me with another learning curve.   Actually, when I read the directions, I’ve made dresses like this before, but it’s been quite a long time and I suppose that this dress is a sewing technique refresher course for me.

After sewing the sleeves and cuffs, there is also a ruffle on the bottom of this dress.  I don’t mind the ruffle because it eliminates the need for hand hemming.

Now, let’s see if the doggy allows me to resume regularly scheduled sewing soon.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com