Sewing Sunsets

I am very happy to report that I finished the pumpkin print jumper this weekend.  I just pressed it, and will be moving on to some other sewing projects for the holiday season. 

Some sewing enthusiasts like to hem by machine and many sewing machines today have the blind hem stitch, but I prefer to hem by hand.  I hem using the hand blind stitch (www.sewseamless.com/Page20.html ), which is quite easy and creates a nice finish on the garment.

This particular pattern has a 1-1/4 inch hem, which is very easy to measure using a seam gauge.  I like to measure the hem, press it up at the same time, and then put pins in near the finished edge.  Before I hem a garment, I like to serge finish the raw edges.

Although the blind hem stitch sometimes intimidates beginning sewing enthusiasts, it’s really quite easy, and I personally think it’s a bit easier and faster than the slip stitch.  The first step in the blind hem stitch is to turn up the hem about 1/4 inch and just underneath that, take a small stitch in the garment.  It takes a little practice, but when you take this stitch, try to pick up only one or two threads on the garment.

Pull the thread through the garment, and then take another stitch in the fold of the hem (this fold was created when you turned up the hem).

The next stitch will be taken in the garment, then the fold–you continue repeating this process until the hem is finished. 

I’m not sure you can see the threads in the above picture, but this is what the stitches will look like on a completed blind hem.  When you’re hand sewing, be careful not to pull the threads too tightly.  After the hem is complete, I turn down the hem and then press the hem from both the wrong and right sides of the garment.  If needed, I will also press the entire garment as well.

Now it’s time to move on to some different sewing projects.  Of course, I’ll use any excuse to sew.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Last night, I managed to do a little hand sewing, in spite of my doggy’s attempts to supervise.  She is a very inquisitive doggy and she must inspect everything that you are doing–including sewing.  Luckily, my youngest daughter is home and she kept the doggy entertained while I sewed.

I finished the pumpkin print jumper completely and got the blue print jumper hemmed, so I made some nice progress.  I had already sewn the buttonholes so I needed to open the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.  There is tip to opening buttonholes.  This is not my original idea/tip, but I don’t remember where I learned this particular technique. 

 Before I share the technique for opening a buttonhole with you, I need to tell you about sewing the buttonholes. When I was sewing the buttonholes on this jumper, I knew that at least one of them would misbehave so I started with the most difficult one to sew first, thinking that I would outsmart these buttonholes.  Of course, one of them simply had to misbehave and this time it turned out to be the first buttonhole I sewed.  There are only three buttonholes on this jumper, and the one nearest the waistline seam is the most difficult one to sew because you have to keep the skirt out of the way while sewing.  I thought I had done a good job of that, but of course, I would up doing a bit of un-sewing of the buttonhole.  After I had done my obligatory un-sewing, all of the buttonholes behaved–even the one I had to re-sew.

When opening buttonholes, put a straight pin at each end and then insert a seam ripper into the buttonhole and gently open it.  The pins will help to prevent you from slicing all the way through the end of the buttonhole, but I’ve been known to do that even when using this technique! I learned to go very slowly and gently when opening buttonholes. (Sometimes, I will use my small embroidery scissors to help cut open the buttonhole.)

When the buttonholes are all opened, it’s time to sew on the buttons.  Many sewing machines have the ability to sew on buttons, but I prefer to sew buttons on by hand.  Because the buttons that I chose for this project did not have a shank, I needed to make a thread shank.  This is true of all buttons that have holes in them instead of a shank.  Some seamstresses will put a straight pin or toothpick on top of the button as they are sewing, but I like to put a straight pin underneath the button instead. 

These buttons had four holes and there are several ways to sew these types of buttons.  Personally, I like to sew them by creating a cross stitch effect on the button itself. 

When the button has been securely sewn on, then you pull the needle up from underneath and wind the thread around (underneath the button) a few times.  Some seamstresses prefer to tie off the threads just underneath the button, but I prefer to push my needle back underneath the fabric and pull the needle and thread through the threads a few times, then pull the needle and thread through a loop of thread.  This secures the button very well.

After I had sewn on the buttons, I hemmed the dress using the blind hem stitch (www.sewseamless.com/Page20.html )   More about that journey later.

A much more detailed tutorial (complete with pictures) for sewing buttonholes can be found at www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with good food, fun with family and friends, and of course–sewing! I didn’t get to do much sewing yesterday, but in a couple of days, sewing just might be on the horizon. Today I want to finish telling you about sewing the bodice to the skirt of the jumper that I made recently, and also I will preview some future sewing techniques and ideas for the gift giving season.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have had a lot of fun sewing this girl’s jumper.  It is really quite easy and different fabrics create different looks.  Because this is a jumper, it can be worn with turtelneck sweaters in the fall and winter and tee shirts in the spring and summer months.  One of the fabrics that I chose is more of a fall print, but the other fabric was more neutral and could be worn year round. 

Sew far, we have sewn the lined bodice and gathered skirt.  Sewing the skirt to the bodice is really quite easy.  Although not completely necessary, I like to use the free arm on my sewing machine because it makes it a little bit easier to control the fabric as I’m sewing.  This isn’t hard to do, but you do have to be careful that you don’t catch the fabric underneath in the seam.  Ask me how I know that one!

This pattern has a lined bodice and most of the time, you turn the lining under and hand sew it over the waist seam, but this pattern is a little different–at least with the view that I enjoy sewing.  With this pattern, you baste the bottom of the bodice (lining and main part of the bodice) together at the bottom and the sew it to the skirt.  This is great for beginners, but it does leave a raw edge that needs to be finished.  I prefer to serge finish this seam, but if you don’t have a serger, you could zig zag over it, or get  a product like Seams Great, which would create a nice finish.

After the jumper bodice and skirt have been sewn together, the hem, buttonholes, and buttons need to be sewn and it is complete.  I finished sewing the hem and buttonholes, but I haven’t had time to sew on the buttons yet. 

Now here is a preview of things to come:  I think it might be time for another pajama pants sew storm (how to sew pajama pants) because pj pants make such great gifts and they are sew easy to sew.  

Pillows also make nice gifts and are also easy to sew.  (tutorials and pictures for round pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page22.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page23.html ; square pillows: www.sewseamless.com/Page24.html

Neck pillows are often popular with the older population and these also make nice gifts: www.sewseamless.com/Page52.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page53.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page54.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page55.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page56.html

Flannel blankets are fun and quick to sew and also make nice gifts.  I like to sew reversible flannel blankets.  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 , and www.sewseamless.com/Page51.html

Some folks like to sew shorts for gifts; these can be boxer shorts, regular shorts, or shorts that are used for pajama bottoms; the sewing techniques are basically the same for all of them. 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 ,  and www.sewseamless.com/Page39.html

Another quick easy gift to sew is a pillowcase.  I have sew much fun when I sew pillowcases!   www.sewseamless.com/Page41.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page42.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page43.html  and www.sewseamless.com/Page44.html

Recently, I sewed some gift bags and tissue holders, which are easy and quick to sew.  I’ll share those projects with you, too, and maybe a few new ones as well.

(All of the links that I have provided above will take you to tutorials (along with pictures) for those sewing projects.)

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Not long ago, I mentioned that one of my online friends was facing a very serious situation in her life.  Her 15 year old daughter needs a kidney transplant.  There had been many frustrations in dealing with the hospital, so they made the choice to transfer to a different hospital.  This turned out to be a great blessing in so many ways.  Marielle was taken to the hospital by ambulance a few days ago and doctors worked to stabilize her condition, which they did.  As a result of this, many in the blogging community began to spread the word of this need once again.

Sometimes I mention that I get frustrated with being connected via cell phone, text messaging, and e-mail and I often remark that we are so connected that we’re actually disconnected.  This is true in many ways, but in this case, technology has proven to be a wonderful asset for Lisa and Marielle.  A couple of days ago,  I noticed a comment on Lisa’s blog from a television reporter in her town.  This reporter did a news story on Lisa’s blog and Marielle’s situation.  I don’t know if the news story jump started what had already been going on in the blogging world or not, but as of yesterday, Lisa received word that a match for a kidney had been found! Many people from every state in the United States and other countries had offered to be tested to see if they could be a match to donate a kidney.  As of yesterday, they don’t need any more donor forms!

Although Lisa couldn’t mention the potential donor’s name just yet, it turns out to be someone she knows through Ebay.  How wonderfully ironic.  Marielle is home, but must regain some strength and get better physically in order to undergo the kidney transplant in a few weeks.  If all continues to go well with the testing of the potential donor, Marielle will get her new kidney just after Christmas.  What a wonderful Christmas gift!

As you know, I encourage creative people to share their talents by donating handmade items to those who are less fortunate.  From what I gather, Marielle’s potential donor must be someone who sews because Lisa mentioned that she had a fabric stash.  This potential donor is willing to donate much more than a handmade quilt or pillowcase for someone in need.  She must be someone very special indeed. 

If you haven’t been following this story, you can read about it on Lisa’s blog: www.thedomesticdiva.wordpress.com   Lisa and I met via my blog a few months ago, and this past summer I got the chance to speak with her on the phone for a few minutes.  We don’t know each other well, but I can tell you that Lisa is one of the most courageous people that I know. She is truly an inspiration to me. 

Although times have been tough for all of us this year, we can still be grateful for the small, simple things in life.  Today, treasure the memories of being with your family and enjoying a good holiday meal.  Ladies, if you don’t enjoy sports, perhaps you’ll get to do some sewing while your hubbies watch football on tv. Or perhaps you’ll enjoy spending time with your young adult children who are home from college.  Just for today, try not to rush so much and really take time to live in the moment and enjoy the day. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

www.sewseamless.com

Today is going to be a very busy day for many people.  Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow and many of us will be traveling while others will be staying home and doing some extra cooking and baking.  During this time, I often wonder if the real meaning of all of our holidays gets lost in all the hustle and bustle and extra work involved.  Thanksgiving usually signals the beginning of the holiday season and immediately following this day, we all begin the rush into the gift giving season.  At the end of the season, how many of us will have truly enjoyed time with our families and friends?  Or will we arrive at the end of the season physically exhausted because we have lost the true meaning of the season.

In life, we all have choices to make, and I think that the holiday season is a great time to reflect on our past choices and think about making new, perhaps better choices.  Thanksgiving is a time of thanks, but how many of us really take the time to give thanks for what we have?  Don’t we usually complain about what we don’t have instead of being grateful for what we do have?  I have a tendency to complain about things myself, but when I stop and really look at life, I should be grateful for lots of things.  I have two wonderful young adult daughters.  And even though I don’t really like the house that I live in now, I should be grateful that I have a roof over my head. This past year or so has been difficult for many of us, but I don’t think that we can place all the blame on our leaders or the financial institutions.  Didn’t we make some choices along the way ourselves?  Some of us may have purchased homes that we knew  we could not afford, but because of the trend at the time, we made the choice to purchase these homes and now we are paying the price–literally and figuratively–for those choices.  Unfortunately, instead of admitting our part in this process, we are playing the blame game. 

Because gas prices were so high over the summer, many of us made the choice to travel less, which really isn’t such a bad thing, in my opinion.  This may have forced us to slow down and take a look at what is truly important in life, and maybe we realized that having fun doesn’t have to mean traveling many miles from home and spending lots of money.  Staying home with your family and watching a movie on tv can be a very enjoyable evening, and it doesn’t cost anything.  Watching a beautiful sunset or sunrise with someone you love doesn’t cost anything.  These are memories that will be treasured forever.

This Thanksgiving, I think it would be great if we all took a little time to relax and really enjoy spending time with our families.  I think it would be a wonderful thing if we could all be grateful for the little things in life–the truly important things.  Memories will be made this holiday season.   Make them good memories and treasure them because they will warm your heart when life gets tough.

www.sewseamless.com

In my last post, I showed you how to sew the patch pockets (www.sewseamless.com/Page26.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page27.html ) to the front of the skirt.  The next step involved sewing the sides seams of the skirt.  After these seams were sewn, then they were pressed open over a seam roll.  Then it was time to gather the waist of the skirt.  Beginners might be more comfortable sewing at 5/8 and 1/2 inch, but I prefer to sew the gathering stitches at 3/8 inches and slightly under that because most of the time, those gathering stitches don’t show when the bodice has been sewn to the skirt.  When I gather, I set my stitch length to a 5 and I do not sew over the pressed open seams.  This makes it easier to gather the skirt.

When the skirt has been gathered, the bodice and skirt need to be sewn together.  This can be a bit tricky because it involves thinking through the process.  I usually place the bodice upside down inside the skirt and sew with the skirt side up.  This also makes it fairly easy to control the gathers of the skirt.

Obviously, once the skirt and bodice have been pinned together, it’s time to sew.  I don’t have the time to show you that in this post, plus I seem to be having some computer issues this morning.  In my next post about sewing, I’ll show you just how easy it is to sew a gathered skirt to a bodice. (www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html )

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I really enjoy sewing with the pattern that I’m using to make a girl’s jumper.  It is a pattern that is suitable for beginning seamstresses, but unfortunately, I suspect it is out of print now.  I’m always amazed at how quickly the pattern companies seem to discontinue some of their patterns.  Of course, this was a pattern that I picked up in the 1980′s, so I guess they didn’t discontinue this one too quickly.

At this point, we have finished sewing the patch pockets (www.sewseamless.com/Page26.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page27.html ) and all that is left is to sew them to the skirt.  These pockets are sewn to the front of the skirt before the side seams are sewn.  There will markings for proper placement of the patch pockets on the front skirt pattern piece, and I usually mark these with a water soluble marker.  Then I pin the pockets to the skirt and sew, using an edge stitch foot.

After both pockets have been sewn to the skirt front, I press well and then sew the skirt front and back together and press the seams open over a seam stick or seam roll.  When that is finished, it’s time to gather the top of the skirt and sew it to the bodice.  Gathering the waist area of the skirt isn’t hard, but sewing the skirt to the bodice can be a little confusing to beginners at first.  However, it really is very easy.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Sewing patch pockets can be lots of fun, and when I decided to sew patch pockets on the pumpkin print dress, I also decided that I wanted to do something a little different and embellish them with some decorative stitching.  More about that part later.  Now it’s time to talk about mitering the corners of the pocket.

After sewing the hem, I pressed up the the two sides and the bottom of the patch pockets.  I used the hem gauge to press up the sides at 5/8 inches.  Then I began to miter the corners, which is really quite easy.  All you have to do is to open open up the corners and fold in the corner, then fold up the bottom and the sides to create the miter.

After turning up the mitered corners, I always press well before sewing the patch pocket to the garment.

As I said earlier, I decided to embellish these patch pockets and I sewed some decorative stitching along the hem of the pocket.  This didn’t go as well as I had hoped and will probably take a little more practice. However, I do think the decorative stitching added a nice touch to the pockets.

Complete tutorial and pictures for sewing patch pockets: www.sewseamless.com/Page26.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page27.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

The title of this post may be a little misleading because I’m not going to talk about patching anything, but I am going to talk about sewing patch pockets today.

After sewing the lining and the bodice together, the pattern instructions directed me to baste the bottom raw edges together.  This is different than many lined bodices because most of them are designed to fold the lining over the raw seam (when the bodice and skirt have been sewn together) and then hand sew the lining to the skirt. This particular pattern, however, instructs the seamstress to baste the raw edges together, baste the front, and then edge stitch around the front, neckline, and around the arms as well.  At this point, the bodice is put aside until later and it’s time to sew the skirt.

This pattern has the option of having patch pockets and I chose to sew patch pockets on the pumpkin print dress. (Patch pockets are sewn first and then they are sewn to the front of the skirt before the skirt is sewn together.)

After cutting the patch pocket pieces and pressing them, I then used the seam gauge to measure the hem and sewed the short edges of the pocket, cut the corners diagonally, and then turned the hem down and pressed well. (One thing that I like to do is serge finish the raw edges of the pocket before I sew because even though these edges will be enclosed, this prevents fraying.)

One other thing that was a little different with this sewing pattern is that it did not instruct the seamstress to sew the hem down on the pocket, but as usual, I decided to go ahead and sew the hem.  I turned the hem to the right side and pressed it well.  Then I took the pocket piece to the sewing machine, put the needle all the way to the left,  placed the presser foot on the finished edge of the hem and sewed across the pocket.  This just creates a nicer finish in my opinion.

Once the pocket hem was sewn, then it was time to press up the sides and the bottom at 5/8 inches and of course, miter those corners.  We’ll talk about mitering the pocket corners in the next post.

Sewing patch pockets (tutorial and pictures): www.sewseamless.com/Page26.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page27.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Here are pictures of sewing the side seams on the lined bodice.  One is the pumpkin print with the same fabric as the lining and the other is the blue print with the pink solid as the lining.

Here is the pattern that I’m using:

Sewing the side seams of the lined bodice:

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com