The first Beginning Sewing Class of the year is tonight! It’s going to be a full class with 8 students. We will learn to use our machines, make a pillowcase, pajama bottoms and a tote. All in 6 weeks! I love to teach Beginning Sewing. It’s always a lively group of people who want to learn how to sew for so many different reasons. Some are coming back to sewing after years of being away, some have never sewn and can’t wait to get started and then we have self taught sewers that would like a little extra instruction. There’s homework every week with show and tell at the beginning of each class. I’m always excited to see fabric choices. Everyone has such different personalities and it always shows by what they bring. Our 2 books are Sew with Confidence by Nancy Zieman www.nancysnotions.com and Sew Easy Pajama Pants by Cindy Taylor Oates http://taylormadedesigns.typepad.com/ . We make the pillowcase a little differently by using flat construction. It’s much easier to line all the pieces up for sewing when it’s flat and cut off the extra fabric with salvages. This always works better than trying to line up the 3 finished pieces after they’ve each been sewn into a circle. You need to be extremely accurate for that to work each time. My all time favorite way to finish a pillowcase though, is shown on you tube by Missouri Star Quilt Company for the Million Pillowcase Challenge. It gives a very finished hem and goes much faster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM
Category: Sewing
Flip ‘n Stitch Stockings
We had a great time making stockings for Christmas. Using precut strips and quilting as we stitched the strips on the base. In just a day the stockings were finished! (With a short break for lunch!)
Save Your Back!!
How many times have you been cutting and then tried to stand upright? The feeling can be overwhelming. You realize that your back feels like a pretzel and have to stretch it out. And worse than that, you DON’T want to lean over again and keep cutting. We all know it’s important to stretch and move at least every 15 minutes but even that isn’t always enough. The best thing that I have found are bed risers! They’re light enough to push under your table legs as you hold up each side and sturdy enough to support the table and any weight you may put on them. My last batch stated that they would hold up to 500 lbs. Since I have classes at the house, it’s important to be able to lift up the tables if everyone is cutting. I just picked up a set at Big Lots for $5. Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond also sell them. So far, I’ve seen them in only black and white. They’ve also been under my dining room table and been very stable. This time of year is wonderful to pick them up, since so many college students have them on their list.
Selvage and Fold
Beginning Sewers sometimes seem to have a hard time with selvage and folding fabrics to cut a lay out. The best way to know that you have your fabric laid out correctly is to make sure you have a fold on one side and the selvages meet on the other. If you have a fold and 2 selvage edges than you need to refold BEFORE cutting your fabric. This will ensure that you have enough fabric to complete your project.
The first photo has the fold at the bottom and both selvages at the top with the cut edges at the left and right. This is the correct way to have the fabric laid out.
The second photo also has the fold at the bottom but has selvages at both the right and left side with the cut edges together at the top. This is incorrect and will cause you all sorts of problems. Both photos contain the same piece of fabric, but how you fold them will change the width of the fabric and your pattern pieces will not always fit.
Quick Pillowcases
The first project we make in Basic Sewing is a pillowcase. I change up the pattern a little and we use flat construction instead of matching individual tube of fabric. I’ve come across a wonderful, quick and easy pillowcase video for those that would like an even quicker method. I always think it looks like a big hotdog filled with the body and trim. It’s done by Missouri Star Quilt Company on YouTube. Take a couple minutes to watch it. You’ll be amazed how quickly it comes together!
Tired of Pinning?
One of the best ways to hold down a pattern without pins is with pattern weights. Why buy them when you can make your own? I picked up my filler in the Sporting Goods section of Wal-Mart. Believe it or not, my filler is BB’s! My weights look like bean bags just like children use in their games. They are made the same way but are quite heavy. I use leftover fabric from my projects and can finish them with whatever machine I’m using.
With the serger, I use a long rectangle, fold it in half, serge 2 sides, turn the corner, fill with the BB’s and then finish serging. With the sewing machine I use 2 squares wrong sides together, sew around 3 sides, backstitching at the start and end. Turn right side out, fill with BB’s and fold the edges in and sew closed. You can make the squares any size you want, mine are approx 3″ square finished.
The Rest of the Entries!
What a wonderful assortment of ideas for our challenge fabric. There were bags, an apron, hat, purse, wallhanging and pillow. The pillow was reversible so there are two pictures of that. It was a very fun morning of show and tell.
These 2 pictures are from the 5th Saturday Challenge. The Bear won 2nd place and the flowers 3rd! The bear has the challenging fabric tucked in his ears and the flowers are just ingenious and oh so pretty.
Beginning Sewing
The first Beginning Sewing class of the year went well today. Most of my students are new to sewing and I always love being able to introduce them to sewing and their machine. The biggest learning curves are usually the machine and sewing terms. Our projects will be a pillowcase, pajama bottoms and tote bag from the book titled, Sew Easy Pajama Pants by Cindy Taylor Oates. The other book we’re using is Nancy Zieman’s Sew with Confidence. It’s such a wonderful resource for sewing terms and tips. It will be a great companion for the new sewe
Pillow Topper Class
It’s that time of year again. The Beginning Sewing Classes are starting up and I’m always asked, “What comes next?” So Creative Sewing has started offering an Advanced Sewing Class to have buttonholes, applique, piping, zippers and a little sewing with clear thread. It’s a fun class and some of my students have gone on to make quite a few pillow toppers. Once you have the pillow made you can button on the topper for the season/holiday/celebration that you want. So far we have 4 designs for the class. Two for Spring and 2 for Fall.