Sewing Sunsets

Yesterday, I managed to upload a few pictures before my card reader decided to misbehave again.  At least, I think it’s my card reader.  I lost a few pictures, but hubby was able to retrieve most of them, thank goodness! 

Yesterday, I showed you the sleeve and started the process of pinning it to the garment.  The side seams haven’t been sewn yet, so this is really quite easy.

I’m not sure you can see this picture much better, but the sleeve has been pinned to the garment. It’s quite easy to sew the sleeve to the garment this way.  I sew with the sleeve side up because you can also use your finger so help prevent any puckers when you’re sewing. 

When I finish sewing the sleeve, I serge finish the raw edge of the seam, after I have checked to make sure there are no puckers and that I don’t need to do any un-stitching, of course. Then, the seam is pressed toward the sleeve.  I usually press this seam over a tailor’s ham because it is easier to press this way.

The next step is to pin the side seam and the sleeve seam and sew these in one long seam.  You have to slightly pivot when you come to the underarm seam, but that’s easy.

I placed the garment at an angle so you could see the seam better.  I chose to serge finish the raw edges before sewing this time, so after this seam was sewn, I pressed the seams open.  I also clipped just under the arm so that I could press the seam open a bit easier.  Sometimes, I like to sew this seam and then serge the seam and press it to one side, but I thought it might put too much bulk under the arms. 

At this point, the only thing left to do is hem the garment and this hem was easy.  The bottom was turned up twice, enclosing the raw edge and then I sewed it on the sewing machine.  I place my needle all the way to the left to sew this type of rolled hems.  Some seamstresses like to press the hem up, then press it up again, which makes it quite easy to sew, but I tend to “eyeball” it.

This pattern is the same pattern that I will use to sew pajama tops; you just cut them a little shorter.  Otherwise, the sewing techniques are exactly the same.

Sewing sleeves in flat (tutorial and pictures):  www.sewseamless.com/Page28.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page29.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page30.html

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com