Sewing for Cherubs

The Assembly Line

I have mentioned here before that I like to maximize my productivity in my one-woman shop by sewing "assembly line" style. I thought you might like to see what this looks like, so I snapped this pic while I was working yesterday:

 

While I am working, I separate fabric pieces from multiple projects into piles on my ironing board. Left to right in this pic, I have a pile for the coverstitch machine, a pile for the serger, a pile to be ironed and a pile for the sewing machine. I work with one machine until that pile is empty. As I am done with each piece, I put it back into the pile that corresponds to the next step for that garment.

I group together items that will require the same color of serger thread into one "production batch". Then I order them within that batch according to coverstitch and sewing machine thread color. This minimizes thread changes, which can be tedious and slow.

The nice thing about sewing this way is I end up with 5 or 6 finished items all at the same time!

Just Label It

It's about that time of year... time for the organization bug to hit. If you make New Year's resolutions, I think you know what I'm talking about.

To get a head start on January 1st, I've begun a major clean-up of my sewing room. You see, I have a tendency to get busy with projects and then fail to put things back when I'm done with them. And pretty soon the room looks like a Jo-Ann's delivery truck overturned somewhere between the sewing machine and the ironing board.

Well, here's something that might encourage me to put things back where they belong.

 

Aren't these labels cute? They were a little "freebie" that hitchhiked along in the last couple of packages I received from Sewzanne. (I don't know why she keeps sending me fabric, I'm certain it's not my fault.) I don't know if she's still including them with packages, but if you think this is something that might help you with your own organization, it might be worth a try.

So. I've given you a great excuse to go fabric shopping. No need to thank me.

I Have a Thread Problem

There, I admit it.

It started innocently enough, with a a few spools of C&C (Coats and Clark), which is still my very favorite thread for the sewing machine. It's durable, inexpensive, and comes in a rainbow of colors. Over time I needed more and more colors of that rainbow, as my sewing increased. So I ended up with a large box (make that two) of the C&C.

But then I got a coverstitch machine. And it requires three spools of thread at a time, which of course multiplied my thread needs. And I began to dabble in Gutterman... pricey, but oh, what beautiful colors to choose from. So then I had the boxes of C&C and an organizer (make that two) of the Gutterman.

Ah yes, but then I got a serger. And it needs four cones (not spools) of thread at a time. The cones were something new to me. At first I resisted because they took up so much space! But then I discovered the wonders of Maxi-Lock. Did you know there are 3000 yards of thread on each cone, compared to about 250 yards on a large spool? And did you know you can get them for about two bucks here? Talk about economical... not to mention durable and long-lasting. So I've been collecting the Maxi-Lock, four cones of each color, and keeping my local Jo-Ann's in business buying all their thread cone storage boxes.

Unfortunately, I recently discovered how nicely the Maxi-Lock works in my coverstitcher. Which means I'm going to start needing seven cones of each color... because who wants to take the thread out of the serger in the middle of a project in order to do the coverstitching, right? And you know what that means... more storage boxes!

Make a Quick Baby Gift!

Today I'm going to show you how to make an embellished burp cloth, like this one:

This project is quick and easy, and is appropriate for a beginning serger. A bundle of two or three of these burpies, tied with a lovely ribbon, would make a beautiful, personal, and practical baby shower gift.

Note: My instructions assume you are using a serger, but this project could also be completed using a sewing machine, with some modifications.

1.) Select your fabrics. I recommend a soft cotton knit for the front, and a plush fabric for the back (minky and chenille are good choices). I chose girly fabrics for this project, but boyish fabrics will work great too!  Cut a 9" wide X 18" long rectangle from each fabric.

2.) Select your rick rack in a coordinating color. I recommend "Medium" or larger size rick rack as it is easier to sew. Lay out the rick rack across the front fabric piece, about 2/3 of the way down, and trim the rick rack, leaving a small bit of excess at each side.

 

3.) Carefully pin the rick rack into place.

4.) Stitch the rick rack down with a regular straight stitch, using matching thread and being careful to sew straight down the middle of the rick rack.

5.) This is a closeup of the stitching down the center of the rick rack.

6.) Now pin the front and back pieces, wrong sides together, pinning around the edges.

7.) Serge around the edges of the burp cloth. Use a coordinating color of thread, because it will be visible on the finished product.

8.) At each corner, stop exactly at the edge, with the needles up. Lift the presser foot to release the tension, and gently rotate the fabric 90 degrees. Lower the presser foot and continue serging, making sure not to cut the previous stitches.

9.) This picture shows me rotating the burp cloth to turn the corner.

10.) Once you have returned to where you started, overlap the first few stitches, taking care not to cut the previous stitching. Now raise the presser foot, grasp the needle threads and pull down slightly to create some "slack", as pictured below. Then pull the fabric to the left slightly, carefully flip it over, repositioning the fabric, and lower the presser foot. Serge about an inch on the reverse side, again taking care not to cut previous stitches.

 

11.) Your burp cloth is done! Gently steam/press the edges to finish, and admire your work!

One shoe off, One shoe on

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.

I have something to tell you. I am completely and totally unable to sew with my shoes on. I am not sure why; I don't know if it's because I learned that way and it's a habit, or because I need to be able to flex my toes to manipulate the pedal, or what.

So sometimes, when I've been running errands or driving carpool or any other activity that generally requires shoes, after I get home and get back to work, to save time I will just take off my right shoe. That way when I'm off and running again, I only have to put one of them back on.

I feel like I should tell you this so that if you ever come over for a visit and find me limping about the house with one shoe off and one shoe on, we will understand each other.

Make a Superhero/Wizard Cape!

I have a really fun project to share with you today. This would be a perfect project for a novice sewist, as it is very simple and quick, but it will also reinforce several important techniques, including joining panels, topstitching seams and making an elastic casing.

A couple weeks ago, my kids were running around the house pretending to be superheros. They had gone up to the linen closet and gotten out their baby hooded towels to use as capes. I thought to myself, I can do better with that, and I whipped up a cape (pictured below) for each of them. The only costume fabric I had in my stash was more "wizard"-ish than superhero-ish, but they were thrilled with the capes anyway.

I took pictures as I made the capes, so I could share the project with you. I hope it inspires you to make something fun for your own kids. Enjoy!

1. First, cut your fabric. You will need a large square of one costume fabric, and a small rectangle of a contrasting fabric (of the same width as the square). It is best to hold the fabric up to your child to determine the size you need. For reference, my square for the above was 28" square and my rectangle was 10" long and 28" wide.

 

2. Next, line up the square and rectangle, right sides together, at the edge where you want them to join. Pin at intervals of a few inches (or whatever you are comfortable with).

3. Now stitch the two panels together using a regular straight stitch and a 1/2" seam allowance. Be sure to remove pins as you sew! When you get to the end of the seam, go back to the beginning and sew a zig-zag stitch right along the edge to prevent fraying. (I also zig-zagged all the way around the edges of the whole cape at this time.)

4. Now open up your seam and fold the seam allowance up. Turn the cape over and topstitch the seam, which means you just sew a straight stitch along the length of the seam, slightly above the seamline. Make sure the seam allowance is folded under where you are stitching.

5. Now we are going to make a casing for the elastic for the neckline. Fold over the top edge of the cape about 1/2 inch. Sew a straight stitch all the way down your folded edge. DO NOT sew the ends closed!

6. Now cut a length of 1/4" wide elastic about 2/3-3/4 the width of the cape (it depends on how much you want the neckline to gather). Put a small safety pin in one end of the elastic.

7. Carefully thread the elastic through the casing by pushing the safety pin through little by little (see pic). Be sure to keep the trailing end out of the casing (you can put a safety pin at that end also, to keep it from slipping into the casing out of reach).

8. Allow a small amount of elastic to poke out of the end and remove the safety pin. Secure the elastic by zig-zagging back and forth over the end of the casing and through the elastic. Trim the end. Repeat for the other end of the casing and elastic.

9. This picture shows a secured end of the elastic (see the black zigzag stitches under my index finger).

10. Now you need a closure for the cape neckline. I like to use Velcro because it is easy for kids to do themselves and it is safe (will tug free easily if the cape is caught around the neck).

11. For a boy, overlap the left over the right. For a girl, overlap the right over the left. Attach your Velcro in the desired position.

And faster than a speeding bullet, you are done!

Bias Binding Without Swearing

A great option for edge finishes is to bind them with bias tape. It can be a little tricky, though, especially if there are curved edges involved. This tutorial will show you my technique and hopefully save you a little frustration.

First, get out your industrial-sized roll of bias tape.

Okay, just kidding, you don't have to buy it in bulk. Bias tape can be found anywhere you buy sewing notions. It comes in small packages of about three yards of tape. In this tutorial, I am using extra-wide double-fold bias tape. When you open up double-fold bias tape, it looks like this:

 

Now fold it back up and look carefully. You will see that one of the folds is slightly wider than the other. You want to work with the narrower side UP.

 

At your starting point, leave a small tail of bias tape. As you go around the item, tuck the edge of your fabric into the crease of the bias tape, making sure the edge is all the way into the fold. In this picture, I'm actually about halfway around the bib, but you can see how I hold the tape open with my fingers and tuck the edge in with a free finger while I am using my other hand to hold the iron.

Next take your steam iron and press the bias tape so that it conforms to the shape of what you are binding. Tip: When you are going around curves, blast the bias tape with some steam before pressing.

You can see here that I have gone all the way around the bib and I have left a tail at the beginning and the end. The reason for this tail is to give you a little "wiggle room" when sewing the bias tape on. You don't want to get all the way around and run out of bias tape. Not that I've ever done that before, cough cough.

Now here's a tricky part: getting your work over to the sewing machine without losing the nice shape you just created. I do not like to pin my bias tape; I just find it does not work well, leaves holes, and causes bunching. So I carefully slide both hands under the item and the bias tape and transfer the whole business to my sewing machine.

Now sew it on, using a regular straight stitch. For the best-looking results, you want to stitch as close to the inner edge of the bias tape as possible.

Periodically turn the sewn binding over and take a peek to make sure the stitching is catching the binding on the underside.

If you have a very sharp turn to make, you might want to do the binding in two separate pieces as shown here.

With a little luck and a lot of patience, you should end up with a nice result like this!

For Professional Necklines, Try a Little Ham

When mastering the fine art of sewing with knits, your two most important tools are patience and practice. But there are some other tools that can help you along, and I thought I'd talk about one of them today.

This is called a dressmaker's ham or pressing ham. It is a wonderful tool. What makes it so great is it allows you to press in three dimensions, instead being limited to your two-dimensional ironing board. And, as we know, the human body is not two-dimensional.

The dressmaker's ham is my secret weapon for achieving a professional-looking neckband on T-shirts. After you sew your neckband, drape the shirt loosely and evenly over the ham, wrong side up, being careful not to stretch it out at all. Then crank your steam iron all the way up, and carefully go around the edges of the neckline, pressing it into shape.

 

When you are done, flip the shirt over, smooth the neckline down, and admire your work!

The dressmaker's ham is also very helpful with pressing the seams of set-in T-shirt sleeves. Just place the sleeve seam, wrong side up, over the ham so that the sleeve seam is running vertically over the ham. Then you can press those sleeve caps into just the right shape. Move the shirt across the ham as many times as needed (depends on the size of the shirt), until you have ironed the whole seam.

I hope this little tutorial is helpful to you. Good luck with those shirts!

Recycling Project

Today I have a fun project for you: a recycled jeans skirt. This project is simple enough to be completed during naptime. I know this is true, because that is exactly when I made these two skirts yesterday:

This is a fun use for your little girl's jeans that still fit in the waist, but have holes in the knees or are too short. Plus, it's recycling, which is one way to celebrate Earth Day (April 22nd). Here are the instructions. I am assuming some basic sewing knowledge here, but if you need more detail I'd be happy to explain more.

1.) Take the jeans and cut them off about an inch below the zipper and back pockets. Leave the front pockets intact (do not cut through them).

2.) Decide what length you want the skirt to be. Measure the length of the cutoff jeans, subtract from total desired length, and add 1.5 inches for seam allowance and hem. This will be the length of your skirt rectangle.

3.) Measure the width of the cutoff jeans at the bottom edge. Multiply by 1.5. This will be the width of your skirt rectangle.

4.) Cut two skirt rectangles using the measurements you got in steps 2 and 3.

5.) Stitch the skirt rectangles together at the sides, right sides together.

6.) Hem the skirt.

7.) Sew two rows of gathering stitches (long stitch length, straight stitch, low tension) around the top of the skirt within the seam allowance. Do not backstitch at the end of the row; just leave a long tail of thread.

8.) Pull the bobbin threads, distributing the gathers evenly with your fingers, until the skirt is the same width as the jeans.

9.) Stitch the skirt to the jeans, right sides together.

10.) Fold the seam up and topstitch (see closeup of topstitching below). This will help the skirt to hang correctly.

11.) Marvel at your cute creation!

Ironing Things Out

It's a fact: if you sew much, you will go through a lot of irons. Sadly, this weekend our old faithful iron finally looked at me and said "I just can't do this anymore." Lucky for me, Jo-Ann's had a sale, where I was excited to get this little beauty:

My mother and my husband are definitely laughing at me as they read this, as it is HIGHLY improbable that an iron would excite me. You see, I am notorious for avoiding ironing at all costs. All through high school, when it was necessary, my Mom would do it. My casual college wardrobe didn't really require it. And after college, I was wise enough to marry a man who is very skilled with an iron.

Fast-forward a few years to my discovery of sewing. Through trial and error I quickly found out that my sewing looked infinitely better when I took the time to press every seam and neckline and steam those elastics back into shape. Hmmm, maybe that old tool is kind of handy after all. Now my iron is my constant companion as I sew. I even press the seams when I make pajamas!

And these days, on the occasional Sunday morning, you might actually find me at the ironing board... neatly pressing the clothing I'm going to wear to church (shhhh, don't tell my Mom!).