Sewing Sunsets

Believe it or not, I have had a little–and I do mean a little– time to sew lately, so I’ll have some pictures to share here soon.  I’m sewing a boy’s camp shirt and is quite fun and easy. 

In the meantime, here’s a review for a quick and easy sewing project: pillows.   Pillows can be any shape you choose and it’s easy to sew pillows without a commercial sewing pattern.  You can make your own square or round pillow pattern, or any shape you choose to make.  It’s fun to use different fabric prints for pillows.  Pillows can be very fancy or they can be more casual, depending on the fabric you choose.

When you make your own pillow pattern, you can also choose what seam allowance you want to use.  Personally, I like to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance for these types of projects.  

There are a couple of things to remember when sewing pillows.  If you are sewing a round pillow, you will need to notch and clip the seams because the entire pillow will be an outer curved seam.  If you’re sewing a square pillow, remember to clip the corners diagonally so that you can get a nice sharp corner when the pillow is turned right side out.

Sometimes it is wise to baste some batting or fleece to the fabric pillow pattern pieces before sewing the pillow together.  This helps the pillow to look a bit smoother when it is stuffed with fiberfill.

Make sure to place the fabric right sides together and leave a space for turning the pillow right side out.  The opening can then be hand sewn closed.

I like sewing pillows because they are quick, easy sewing projects and easy enough for most beginning sewing enthusiasts.

Detailed information and pictures for sewing pillows:

Round pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page22.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page23.html

Square pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page24.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m going to continue the sewing review here for a little while because although I am managing to sneak in some sewing time lately, I still don’t have much to share.  My sewing time is much too limited right now.  However, I have managed to get the collar basted on to the boy’s camp shirt and yesterday, I pinned the front facings on, but at that point, the doggy needed attention and that was the end of my sewing time.  One of these days the sewing room, sewing machine, and I will be able to spend lots of quality time together.

After I get the facings and collar sewn on to the boy’s camp shirt, the next step will be sewing the sleeves on so this is a good time to review how to sew sleeves.

There are basically two ways to sew sleeves.  One method is a conventional set-in sleeve where the side seam of the bodice is sewn and the sleeve seam is sewn before sewing the sleeve into the armscye(armhole).  This method is not really hard, but it’s a little trickier than sewing sleeves in flat.

Sewing set-in sleeves information and pictures can be found at : www.sewseamless.com/Page8.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page17.html

Another way to sew sleeves is to sew them in flat.  The boy’s camp shirt that I’m working on is designed for the sleeves to be sewn in this way.  Some patterns are designed for sleeves to be sewn in flat and the sleeve pattern piece is slightly different because the sleeve cap is a little wider or flatter than a conventional set-in sleeve pattern piece.  (I’ve sewn set-in sleeves in flat on casual garments and have had no problems.) 

When sewing sleeves in flat, the shoulder seams are sewn and pressed open, but the side seams and sleeve seams are left open.  The sleeve is then sewn onto the garment and then the side seam and sleeve seam are sewn as one long seam.  Personally, I enjoy sewing sleeves in flat because I think it’s easier and I have fewer puckers when I sew sleeves this way.

Detailed information and pictures for sewing sleeves in flat can be found at : www.sewseamless.com/Page28.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page29.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page30.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I finally got to do some sewing yesterday.  Maybe that sewing trend will continue around here soon.   During my sewing time yesterday, I made a few mistakes, mostly on the serger.  I learned that it pays to check the settings on the serger before serge finishing seams.  Currently, I’m working on a boy’s camp shirt and hopefully,  I’ll be able to share that here soon.  Well…..I can hope, can’t I?!

I’ve been doing sewing reviews this week and today I want to review how to sew pajama pants.  They are sewn the same way as shorts are sewn, but pajama pants are just longer. 

When I sew pajama pants, I usually use flannel fabric because I like this particular sewing project in the winter.  However, pajama pants can also be sewn out of 100% cotton fabric for the warmer seasons.

Pajama pants and shorts are not hard to sew and use the same sewing techniques; as I said before, the difference is that pajama pants are longer than shorts.

When I sew pajama pants, I like to sew the inner leg seams first and then sew the outer leg seams so that I have two separate pants legs.  These are then sewn together at the crotch, which is not hard at all.

As you can see in the picture above, there are two pajama pant legs; one is turned right side out and the other inside out (wrong side of fabric showing).  This is so that one pants leg can be inserted into the other leg, right sides of fabric together and then the crotch seam can be sewn.

When the pants legs are together at the crotch, it forms a ”U” shaped seam and this is very easy to sew together.

Simply sew around the “U” curved seam and the pajama pants crotch seam is finished.  Once the seam is sewn, the pajama pants can be turned right side out and they look like pants.  After sewing the crotch seam, the casing can be sewn; the elastic inserted into the waistband casing and the pants legs can be hemmed. 

Information for sewing pants or shorts can be found at:

www.sewseamless.com/Page33.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page34.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page35.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

The information at the above links shows how to sew a pair of shorts, but the same techniques are used to sew pajama pants; the only difference is the length of the pants.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m still reviewing sewing techniques, but hoping that I’ll actually get to spend some quality time in my sewing room one of these days.

 Another quick and easy sewing project that is easy enough for sewing enthusiasts to sew is a neck pillow.  These are very quick and easy to sew and make nice gifts as well.  The neck pillow pattern looks kind of like the letter “C” and the pattern can either be placed on the fold of the fabric or the full pattern can be placed on the fabric.  The latter way is probably a bit easier and less time consuming because both fabric pattern pieces are cut at the same time.

Although neck pillows can be sewn out of any fabric, I prefer using 100% cotton fabric.  There are some really cute cotton prints so these neck pillows can be sewn out of patriotic fabric, seasonal fabrics, holiday fabrics, baby fabrics–there are lots of possibilities. 

One thing to remember when sewing neck pillows is that these are curved seams and curved seams must be clipped.  The inner curves should be clipped to the stitching line.  Outer curved seams should be notched and then clipped to the stitching line.  I like to trim these outer curved seams with the pinking shears which is an easy way to notch these seams; and then I clip them.  Also, make sure to leave a space for turning the neck pillows right side out.

Detailed instructions (and more pictures) for sewing a neck pillow can be found at:

www.sewseamless.com/Page52.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page53.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page54.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page55.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page56.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I’m still posting sewing reviews because now that the weather is beginning to settle down and the doggy is being good, real life is interrupting and I don’t have much time to sew right now.  One of these days, I’ll finish the little boy’s camp shirt that I’ve started. 

Many seamstresses like to sew easy and quick projects and another one of my favorite things to sew is a reversible blanket.  I like to make these out of flannel.  I usually use about a yard of two different flannel prints, place wrong sides together and serge around them, which makes this a very quick and easy project.  

There is a second method for sewing these blankets which doesn’t require the use of a serger.  It is still easy, but takes a little more time than the first method.

Complete instructions (and more pictures) for both methods of  sewing reversible blankets can be found at:

www.sewseamless.com/Page46.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page47.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page48.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page49.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page50.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

One of these days, I’ll actully be able to make some progress on my current sewing project.  The doggy is being quite good now, but the weather is simply misbehaving.  In the meantime, here is another review

One of my favorite things to sew is a pillowcase.  I like to use 100% cotton or cotton flannel for pillowcases.  The fabric prints can be fun to work with as well.  This is a fun and easy project and doesn’t require a pattern at all.  I usually make plain pillowcases out of print fabric, but pillowcases could be embellished in a variety of ways as well.

Complete instructions for sewing a pillowcase (and more pictures) can be found at:

www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

It is hot and humid in my area right now and that makes it difficult to spend quality time in the sewing room.  Pressing is very important when sewing and because of the humidity, I’m not fond of spending time in the sewing room where the steam iron remains on and heats up the room.  That’s great in the winter, but not so great in the summer time.  My doggy is finally cooperating and now the weather is misbehaving!

Because it is so hot in many areas right now, I suspect that many folks are thinking about sewing shorts so here is where you can find the step by step tutorial for sewing shorts:

www.sewseamless.com/Page33.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page34.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page35.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html

www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I am happy to report that I think I am finally getting some time to sew.  I have cut out the boy’s camp shirt and serge finished all the raw edges.  And I applied the fusible interfacing to the collar and the front facings.

My favorite type of interfacing to use is a tricot or knit type of interfacing.  One brand of this type of interfacing is Fusi-Knit.  Even though this interfacing was designed to be used with knit fabrics, it works very well with the cotton fabric that I use for sewing children’s garments.

Interfacing should always be pre-shrunk and there are a couple of ways to do this.  One way is to immerse the interfacing in warm water and then hang it to dry.  Another method is to cut out the interfacing pieces and pre-shrink them with the steam iron.  This is a method that I learned from Sandra Betzina and I use it all the time because I am usually just using fairly small pieces of interfacing.

First I cut out the interfacing using the pattern piece.  They I lay the interfacing on the ironing board glue side up, lightly spray it with water, and then hold the iron above it a few inches, making sure not to touch the iron to the interfacing.

When I finish shrinking the interfacing, I lay it aside to dry.  When I’m ready to fuse the interacing the fabric pieces, I like to press the pattern pieces first.   Lay the fabric down on the ironing board with the right side of the fabric next to the ironing board; the wrong side of the fabric will be facing you.  Place the interfacing down on the fabric with the glue side down, meaning that the glue side of the interfacing should be against the wrong side of the fabric. ( I’ve messed up on this before and it’s not pretty trying to remove interfacing glue from an iron sole plate! ) After making sure the glue side of the interfacing is against the wrong side of the fabric, place a press cloth over it and lightly spray with water.  Then hold the steam iron firmly down on one section and hold for a count of about ten.  Life the iron up, slighly overlap the area where you just fused the interfacing and hold the iron down again.  Continue this process until the entire area has been fused.  Then turn the pattern piece over so that the right side of the fabric is facing you and repeat the process.  This ensures a good fuse.  Apparently, firm pressure with the iron and steam helps the interfacing fuse to the fabric.

The pattern that I’m using now is a boy’s shirt so one collar piece required interfacing and the front facings also required interfacing, so I spent part of yesterday afternoon applying fusible interfacing (www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html ) to these areas.

The last picture above shows the front facings and one collar piece already interfaced.  One of the collar pieces will be used as a facing, which is why it doesn’t require interfacing.

When I have fused the interfacing to the fabric pattern pieces, I then wait for the pieces to cool before removing them from the ironing board.

I’m glad that I have made some progress on the this little boy’s camp shirt.  It is going to turn out to be a much easier project that the two little girl’s dresses I just completed.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Sometimes I actually get to sew, and that happened yesterday!  The unfortunate thing is that it is extremely hot and humid here and my sewing room is one of the hottest rooms in the house.  I love heat, but not humidity and where I live the humidity levels are much too high.  Humidity and I do not mix very well!  All of this cuts into my sewing time because I have to turn on the steam iron for my sewing projects and when the room is already uncomfortable, I can only stay in that room for a short period of time.  However, in spite of the weather, I did get to start on another sewing project yesterday.

First, I have completed both of the little girl’s dresses that I was working on earlier.  I have not sewn buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html ) or buttons on yet.  Sometimes I like to sew several projects, lay them aside, go button shopping, and then I will spend some time sewing buttonholes and then hand sew the buttons on while watching tv.  

I don’t have good pictures of the dresses yet; those will come when they are complete, but these pictures should give you an idea of how the dresses turned out.

I don’t really like the fabric that I chose for the ruffle because I don’t think it works very well with the original print, but when I returned to the fabric store to purchase extra fabric, that’s all they had. 

I was grateful to have finished both of the dresses shown above.  Yesterday, I was quite surprised that I actually did have some time to sew and I cut out the boy’s camp shirt.

I also cut out the interfacing for the collar and front of the shirt.  Because this is a cotton fabric, I use fusible interfacing.  My favorite type of fusible interfacing to use is a tricot or knit type interfacing because I like the fact that it provides stability to the area, and also keeps the fabric pliable. 

Interfacing should always be pre-shrunk and there are a couple of ways to do this.  Some sewing enthusiasts place the interfacing in warm water and hang it on the shower rod to dry.  The method I use is one that I learned from watching a sewing show hosted by Sandra Betzina.  Most of the time I am using small pieces of interfacing so this method works for me.  I cut out the interfacing piece ( a collar or front facing) and then place the piece on the ironing board glue side up.   I then spray a little water on the interfacing, and then hold the iron over the interfacing, making sure not to touch the iron to the interfacing.  I slowly move the iron along the length of the piece and I might give the interfacing a shot of steam (although I’ve been known to shorten it too much! ) Then I lay these pieces aside to dry. 

At this point, I was very hot so I put everything up and decided to fuse the interfacing another day.  The method I use to fuse interfacing is another tip that I learned from Sandra Betzina’s tv show.

(More information about how to apply fusible interfacing can be found at www.sewseamless.com/Page4.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page15.html )

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I keep hoping that I will eventually have lots and lots of sewing time, so I keep making plans to sew more projects.  My last two sewing projects included a couple of little girls’ dresses, which were cute, but for some reason, I’m not sure that particular sewing pattern will be one of my favorites.  The dresses are both finished except for buttons and buttonholes.  I’ll post a picture of the dresses soon.  My next sewing project is going to be much simpler, and I hope quicker–if I can get some good quality sewing time.

I want to sew a boy’s camp shirt.  The pattern is designed to have a slit at the bottom, but the shirt is full enough that I sew up the side seam completely.  This shirt is easy to sew and I think it’s fun.  Sometimes I make the shirt only and other times, I sew a shirt and shorts set.  I’ve even sewn the head gear and that was quite fun!

Here is the fabric and pattern that I’ll be using if I get to start this sewing project in the near future:

These are my sewing plans for the near future, but…..we all know how well my sewing plans work!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com