May 3, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

Fabric Stores – Finding the right one

Fabric Stores

There are so many fabric stores out there. Even Wallmart sells fabrics. But did you know that different fabric stores sell different things? For example, you won’t find Viscose or Voil at Wallmart. You might be lucky enough to find Polyester Cotton or Flannel but that’s about as far as it goes.

When it comes to looking for fabric stores where you can find what you need, you first need to determine what type of item you are going to make. For this item, what kind of fabric are you going to need? What kind of accessories are you going to need? Do you need iron on’s to go on it? Do you want to make curtains? Do you need curtaining tape or rings?

All these things and many more is exactly what you need to determine before you start your search for fabric stores in your area. There are many to choose from. Online fabric stores allow you to order your fabrics from the comfort of your home and other walk in fabric stores will have assistants where you can ask them to help you and show you the fabrics you want to purchase.

My downfall is that when I’m in a fabric store I always walk out with more than I budgeted for. I can get lost between the isles with fabrics and sewing add ons, patterns, buttons and other items they have for sale. It is important to know what you want before you walk into a fabric store, especially if you are on a tight budget.

My idea of a perfect fabric store is one that has isles and isles of many fabrics to choose from. After all, I do not want to get to the store only to discover there is a very limited choice of fabrics to choose from. It needs to have a great variety of fabrics – different kinds!

A good fabric store will also have fabrics at lower prices than your general stores or smaller fabric stores. They may even have off cuts which you can get at discounted prices – and if you’re lucky enough, big enough for you to make what you need to make.

The perfect fabric store will not only sell fabrics but also have other things in the store such as sewing accessories, sewing patterns, wool, knitting needles and sometimes even sewing machines. At the very least they sould have a place where you can buy sewing machine accessories and get advice on how to service your sewing machine and buy sewing machine oil.

I hope this helps. When you do a Google search for fabric stores, many will come up. Take your time to find one that is relatively large so that you know you will be able to get what you’re looking for in a fabric store.

May 3, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

How to sew straight

I thought in this post I would help with tips on how to sew straight. There is nothing worse than a garment that has been made and the stitching is all over the show, right? It’s sometimes blatantly obvious that things haven’t gone that well if the person that sewed it did’nt sew in a straight line.

Well our first tip on how to sew straight is to relax. Sewing straight is really not that complicated. The machine does most of the work for you and even if you have really shaky hands, you can still manage to sew straight.

The thing to remember about sewing straight is that your hand is used as a guide. Your hand guides the machine’s path and fabric just to go in a straight line. So here is how to sew straight

Firstly, fold the hem or seam you need to fold and pin it, measuring in a straight line with a measuring tape to make certain that your seam or hem is straight when you fold and pin the hem.

The next thing is to find the place on the sewing machine where you want the seam to be sewn. The sewing machine is equipped with a hem guide plate right by the needle. The hem guide plate has a series of little measurements and lines. Each line represents a place where the hem can be sewn or the edge of the fabric can be placed. Choose which line you want to follow and place the edge of the fabric on that line.

It’s quite easy how to sew straight. The next thing you do is to gently guide the fabric as you sew. Keep the edge of the fabric on the hem line that you chose on the guide plate of the sewing machine. Don’t deviate from that guide line to the next guide line. This will help. Your hands need to gently guide the fabric as the sewing machine does the rest.

So as you can see, there is nothing to it! I hope this little bit on how to sew straight has put your fears at rest and that you see that it’s not so difficult to sew a hem or seam straight as you thought before.

Practice how to sew straight:

The best way to teach yourself how to sew straight is to start practicing it. Take the tips you have learned here and apply them and practice them on your sewing machine. The more you practice how to sew straight, the straighter you will sew and the better you will become. Like they always say….practice makes perfect!

April 26, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

Types of sewing thread

What types of sewing thread is there and which one should I buy for my sewing project? I mean there are so many types of sewing thread out there that it can get quite confusing. I’ve been sewing for years and even if still get confused about what types of thread there is.

The thing is that different types of sewing threads are used for different things. So for example you want to do embroidery, you can’t just go ahead and use cotton thread. It won’t work. It’s not decorative nor is it strong enough or thick enough. The success of your creation will depend on the type of sewing thread that you use.

I’m going to attempt to explain the different types of sewing threads and what they are used for. It’s not just a case of buy any type of thread and go ahead to sew. So here goes.

Cotton sewing thread: this type of thread is soft to the touch and reasonably thin. It works well on sewing hems, pillow cases, duvet covers and anything else that it not going to be stretching anytime soon. If it stretches, it breaks so using this type of sewing thread for a t-shirt or swimming suit is probably not the right idea.

Polyester sewing thread: this type of sewing thread is ideal for most sewing creations. Fabrics such as synthetics, knits and wool are thicker and needs a thicker type of sewing thread that is more sturdy. This kind where polyesterday threads come in. It can even handle a little more stretch than cotton thread.

Cotton colored polyester thread: this is an ideal all purpose thread. It is heat resistant which means if you have to make something that has to handle a lot of heat and go through the iron and ironing board a lot, this is a good type of sewing thread to use. It’s also got some stretch in it meaning you can use it comforably on stretch type fabrics for making things like t-shirts.

Silk threads: this type of sewing thread is made from silk and does not leave holes in your fabric. It is great for making wedding dresses and lingerie. Also, great for doing applique with as it leaves a nice smooth finish on the applique. This type of thread also comes in different thicknesses which really helps when deciding what thread to use for your project.

Speciality sewing threads: then there are these types of sewing threads. Used for different things, like the common types of sewing thread, each of the speciality threads have their own purpose:

Heavy duty threads suited for upholstery or things like jeans
Invisible threads – yes. Invisible!
Button and craft thread – strong and thick!
Nylon thread – lightweight and durable!
Wool thread – heavy fabrics and embroidery
Metal thread – crafts and decorative stitching.

So as you can see there are many types of sewing threads you can choose from. As I’ve said before, choosing the right type of sewing thread depends on you, but your project success depends on the type of thread you choose.

April 26, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

Which sewing machine?

Which sewing machine should I buy?

Starting out with your basic sewing supplies and wondering about which sewing machine to buy can be daunting. There are so many items to choose from. From the very basic sewing basket items to the basic sewing machine. It can all be confusing, especially if you’re just starting out with your sewing hobby.

So when you’re wondering which sewing machine you should buy, there are several things to remember. Different types of machines do different things, and not all of them are sewing machines to be frank. You get different types of machines which I will describe briefly here.

Industrial Sewing machine: An industrial sewing machine is made for heavy duty sewing and has a few basic stitches. Not enough to get by if you don’t also have a serger.

A home sewing machine: A home sewing machine has a whole range of stitches that you need to do your sewing. Straight, zigzag, button holes, blind seam stitch etc. The home sewing machine can do various tasks such as applique as well.

The serger: a serger is not actually a sewing machine but works hand in hand with a sewing machine. It works off the ends of the fabric so that the fabric doesn’t fray and leaves it neat and tidy. If you’re an absolute beginner, I do not recommend using a serger. It’s far too easy to make a mistake and make a hole in your fabric as the serger also cuts the fabric.

The embroidery machine: This is a fancy machine that can do embroidery images onto a piece of cloth such as a towel or shirt. It usually works with a computerized image that is fed into it or pre set on the embroidery machine.

Well now that you know the different types of machines, I think you can figure out which sewing machine you should use. The home sewing machine is the one to get as it can have many functions you will need in your sewing endeavours. Without the stitches on the home sewing machine, it’s basically impossible to sew properly and thoroughly.

There are so many brands to choose from for home sewing machines. In another article, I have written about the different types of sewing machine brands and which ones are recommended.

Below, I have added an image of the types of stitches you will find on a basic sewing machine and which ones to look for when you buy your basic sewing machine. It will tell you which sewing machine to look for when you buy the machine.

How to sew a button hole - machine setting

April 24, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

How to apply bias binding

Bias binding is really reall great. Especially if you’re applying it on a garment you are sewing that does not have an inside panel or interfacing. The last thing you want to be doing is to battle with a seam where it looks untidy, unkempt and like you have sewn your first garment ever.

The bias binding is a great way to make a garment look really pretty with a colorful edge around the sleeve or seam or used in another creative way. The trick is how to apply the bias binding.

The only thing is that if you don’t know what you are doing, how to apply the bias binding can be quite complex, confusing and downright difficult to figure out. I’m hoping that on this page, you can get some help with how to apply bias binding.

Make certain you have your sewing box out, because you are going to need a lot of pins for this. Yes! This is pinning down work. Regardless of how good you think you are, or really are, you are going to need to pin the bias binding on the edge of fabric you want to sew. In my case, in this tutorial, it is a sleeve.

Pin the bias binding around the fabric you want to have the bias binding on. Do this with the bias binding being equally thick on the inside and the outside stopping and aligning the two sides with each other. Then pin.

The bias binding now needs to be sewn. Go slow and carefully, stretching or straightening curves where it needs to be straightened for a better fit. As you sew, make sure the bias binding is still in the same position and the needle gets the bottom and the top part of the bias binding. That’s all there is to it!

At the top end of the bias binding where it ends, fold the end in underneath where you are going to stitch the bias binding to make a nice rounding off so that there are no rough edges. And bang, you’re done!

I bet you never thought that bias binding is this easy to apply! With a little bit of practice, adding bias binding to your projects will really enhance your work. Sometimes, it’s necessary to make your own bias binding. I have put together an easy bias binding tutorial that you can click on to see how it works and how you can make your own!

April 24, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

Easy Bias Binding Tutorial

I recently had to urgently make some bias binding for a project I was working on. The pillow case dress tutorial I was drawing up has a link to this page, so I can link right back to the dress in case you want to see what the bias binding looked like on my pillow case dress I made. Just click on the “pillow case dress tutorial” link to see how the bias binding turned out.

Anyway, don’t get stuck not being able to continue with your sewing project when you don’t have bias binding. With a little creativity you can come up with stunning bias binding in a very easy way that will leave people’s mouths hanging open. It really will blow them away.

I have tried to put together a little easy bias binding tutorial for those days where you absolutely have no other option but to make your own. It really is easy and will take about half an hour to make using this bias binding tutorial.

Step one is to decide how thick you need your bias binding to be. The tutorial does not show the measuring of the thickness, but it’s pretty easy. If you want the bias binding to be an inch thick to the eyes, you need to cut it two inches thick. If you want it to be half an inch thick, you need to cut it at least one inch thick. It needs to be two times the final thickness when you’ve cut the strip you want to make bias binding of. Also remember bias binding goes around something, so your final thickness is half the actual thickness of the bias binding.

How long must the strip be? Well, as long as you need it to be. I made short little strips in this bias binding tutorial because it’s all I needed. But you may find that you need at least two meters. Then you need to cut two meters of bias binding strip.

The next thing is to serge both sides of the bias binding (all along the strip) or if you don’t have a serger, to use a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine. For a zigzag stitch, the closer you go to the edge of the fabric, the neater the zig zag will be as the sewing machine will automatically turn the last little big of edge over into a tiny but neat fold.

Once you’re done serging, fold each side of the bias binding in towards the middle so that the right sides face up on the inside. Then iron it flat. There is the bias binding.

To apply the bias binding, you can see my tutorial on “how to apply bias binding” to help you get a better idea of how to use the bias binding.

April 24, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

Pillow Case Dress Tutorial

Pillow Case Dress Tutorial – For Free

So a friend put me up to sewing a pillow case dress recently. I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I set out about figuring out and finding tutorials for pillow case dresses. It’s hard to find a free pillow case dress tutorial, but I managed to find two. And then it kind of rolled on from there.

I didn’t have the right color thread for the pillow case dress. So I had to make a pillow case dress (and document it for this tutorial) using a completely wrong color thread. I managed, and the thread is hidden. Nobody can see that I used white thread on a completely blue dress. I’m quite proud of myself.

The other thing with this pillow case dress is that I didn’t have bias binding. And I simply don’t have the money to go buy all those things right now. So my pillow case dress is made with my own bias binding that I made and with the wrong color thread.

Well, the dress turned out so well that I thought I would set out to write a pillow case dress tutorial for those who want to try and make a dress. With the added benefit that if you don’t have a serger or the right color thread, it’s no problem. You can follow the pillow case dress tutorial below:

Step one. My friend gave me a pillow case and said “See what you can do with this”. The most important thing to remember is When you work with anything, you have to lay it out on a straight, flat surface. So I cleared my dining room table as I have no work room and I laid out the pillow case on the table, ready to cut the dress.

I measured on the open part (top) a two inch seam for the ribbon at the top of the dress and cut it accordingly.

The next thing I did was measure four inches down (length wise on the pillow case) and two inches across (width wise). I then drew a nice arm hole and cut the arms for the dress. I don’t have a serger so I used my sewing machine to sew a zigzag stitch on the pillow case and all around.

The next thing I did was take two pieces of fabric that I measured wide enough for bias binding and cut it according to the length of the arm holes. I then zig zag sewed and ironed my bias binding that I made myself. For more on how to make bias binding you can click on the easy bias binding tutorial link to take you to my page about easy bias binding.

I did the same type of thing for the bottom seam and the seam at the top where the ribbon was going to go through. Only over here I sewed two strips with seams on them that I could use at the top by the neck and the bottom around the dress. I used white thread on a blue and white background to do that.

Carefully, I sewed the bias binding around the arm. I then cut open the bottom of the pillow case, zig zagged it and sewed a seam on the outside (wrong way) of the pillow case, instead of inside , and sewed on the strip of fabric I cut for that over the seam. This way, the seam is hidden by the strip of fabric and any sewing done is hidden too from the inside. This is especially helpful when you don’t have a serger to make it look neat.

I did the same again with the top. I sewed a seam on the outside of the dress and put the strip on for the top of the dress. I made sure that any bias binding that was left was tucked in under the strip I’m sewing and that the bias binding was worked off by a zigzag stitch as well. Remember when you do this part to make sure that you don’t sew the ends of the strip to the pillow case. You need the strip to be open to thread through the ribbon.

The last thing I did was thread through the ribbon and there we go! One pillow case made. Two tutorials read and not followed. I got this down. To enhance the pillow case dress I’m going to add some applique to the dress. You can follow how to applique by clicking on the link “how to applique”.

I hope you enjoyed this pillow case tutorial and that you will be able to use it in your sewing. I officially made a dress from a pillow case! Wow! Absolutely SO impressed with myself right now.

April 23, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

How to sew a seam

How to sew a seam without a serger

Sewing done the right way can produce good quality and lasting results on garments, unlike some things you see in the shops that fray. But the problem is that if you don’t now how to sew a seam, it could be a problem in that fraying can start occurring. Sewing seams is an every day thing every seamstress needs to know.

I’m going to show you how to sew a seam in the next couple of paragraphs. It’s really that simple. Whether you have a serger or not, it’s not difficult to learn how to sew a seam on any type of garment or sewing project, whether it is upholstery or clothes that you are busy with.

The first thing is that the seam needs to be cut. A straight seam is 90% of the work done already. Once you have a straight seam, the how to on sewing the seam is a lot easier than trying to navigate jagged edges.

The next thing that needs to be done is that your seam needs to go through a serger to work a finish for the seam that won’t unravel. But don’t say “I don’t have a serger so now I don’t know how to sew a seam”. If you don’t have a serger it’s not that hard. You simply set your sewing machine setting to zigzag. If you sew on the zigzag on the edge of the fabric your machine may turn the very edge around into the zig zag seam. I have included a photo below to see.

When you are done sewing the zigzag around the edge of your garment, you need to pin the seam. Pin all around at the same width right around the fabric. This will make you sew the seam straight instead of going skew. Just remember to take the pins out as you sew the seam, before your sewing machine needle hits a pin! If you have a pin cushion, take the pin out right before the sewing machine needle is about to go over it and and put it in the pin cushion.

Make sure that when you sew a seam on anything, it’s straight. You can’t just pin the seam straight. You also need to sew the seam straight. This is very important otherwise your garment or project may just turn out skew.

Of course, you are not done learning how to sew a seam. The last thing that needs to be done when you’ve sewn the seam is to iron the seam. This will help to make it straight and press it neatly.

I hope this has helped in educating you on how to sew a seam. You can use this method to sew a seam onto almost anything and everything that needs a seam. If you are still wondering about how to sew a seam, feel free to browse this website under “sewing basics” as there are many tips and tricks you can follow to make sewing easier!

April 23, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

How to sew on a button for a button hole

Once you have your button holes, you need to sew on a button for each button hole. The problem comes in when you don’t know how to do this correctly. You could end up sewing the buttons all skew and they look funny as the button hole and the button isn’t aligned properly.

In this easy explanation I will show you exactly how to sew on a button for the button hole. The first thing you can do is put the garment face first down on the table or a hard surface. The button holes should now be at the top facing you. Now you are going to mark the buttons positions through the button holes already there. Take a fabric marker, tailors chalk or even a pencil to do this. Make a mark through the button hole on the fabric below the button hole. This will show you exactly where the button should be sewed on.

The next step to sew the button for the button hole is easy. Now you put the button on the bottom part of fabric where you have just made the mark. The mark should be in the centre of the button. You can either sew the button on by hand or you can use your sewing machine to sew on the button.

If you’re wondering how to sew on the button for the button hole using your sewing machine, just use the 2-4 setting of the button hole sewing setting. Carefully by hand, turn the nob of the sewing machine to make the needle go down through the button and go to the next hole. Do not use the pedal to sew the button, but use the nob and gently turn it making sure that the needle doesn’t hit the button but goes through the button hole. Do this about ten times until the button has been sewed on.

This is a very easy hack if you are wondering how to sew a button for a button hole. I hope this has helped. If you want to know how to sew a button hole, please look at my page titled how to sew a button hole.

April 23, 2019 by Sewing Ideas & Swap

How to sew a button hole

Today I had to complete a dress with a pattern I had drawn a while ago. And as a result, I had no button hole guide and no way to instruct me on how to sew the button hole. However, I have done plenty of sewing in my life and fortunately I know how to sew a button hole without a pattern.

So in the explanation below, I will walk you through a step by step instruction on how to sew a button hole without a pattern. The first thing you need is your fabric and your buttons. The buttons are very important because when you sew the button holes you need to know how big it’s going to be. You cannot sew the button holes and get the buttons later as the buttons may not match the size of the button hole. You use the buttons to measure the size for the button holes.

Step one in learning how to sew a button hole is to spread the buttons out according to the way you want to sew them on. Have a look at the picture below. I have spread the buttons out where I want to have the button holes. The next thing I do is that I mark the size of the button with a line above the button and a line under the button. You can use a sewing pin or a pencil to do this. You could also use a pattern marker. See the following two images on how to sew a button hole below.

When you have done the markings for the button holes, you move your fabric to your sewing machine. The next step is to sew the “frame” of the button hole. For this setting, your sewing machine needs to be on the button hole 1 setting like I’ve indicated in the image by the place on the sewing machine that says “type”. The size of the stitch should be on button hole if your sewing machine has that size, otherwise make the stitch small. The goal is to sew a “frame” around where you want the button to go through the fabric.

One you have sewn the left frame, change the sewing machine setting to 2-4 which will sew the bottom part of the button hole. Complete the sewing of the button hole by sewing with setting 3 back up on the right hand size with leaving a tiny bit of fabric in the middle for the button to pass through (about 2mm) and then finishing it with another 2-4 setting at the top. You should now have a rectangle, with a tiny bit of space in the middle. The image below shows how we made the rectangle for the button hole.

The next part in my page titled “how to sew a button hole” is where you take your seam unpicker and unpick the fabric in the middle of the button hole that was not touched by the thread you sewed onto the button hole.

Once you have done that, your button hole is complete! To see how to sew on the buttons for a button hole, you can click on the link or just navigate to the page “how to sew on a button for a button hole“.

It’s easy to sew on a button hole and with a little bit of practice you could easily become a professional at sewing on a button hole. It’s easy and now that you know how to sew a button hole, you can go ahead and use this piece of knowledge on a lot of your sewing projects now.