How To Make a Sewing Pattern

A question came in yesterday asking how to line the inside of a nightgown.

Without having the original pattern, one might think it impossible.

But, I have found an answer to that diemma and I’d like to share it with you.

Call it my early Christmas gift to you!

All you need is some wide paper of any kind.

I use the end rolls of newsprint.

Our local newspaper office gives these ends out free, so I grab one or two a year.

They are great for all kinds of purposes.

If you can’t find wide paper, just tape what you do have together to make pieces wide enough for your project.

This is what my newsprint looks like:

Begin by rolling out a length of paper for your project.

Do this on the carpet, not on your floor.

You’ll see why in a minute.

I chose a simple T-shirt as my example.

Lay your garment on the paper:

You are going to do what I call “pin tracing”.

So get out your stash of straight pins for this.

You are going to trace each piece of your garment.

You will need to trace the front, the back, the sleeves, the collar pieces, the plackets, the cuffs, the leg, the waistbands, etc.

Get the idea?

Ok, to pin trace, you are going to start at one point (any point) on the first piece and poke a pin (through the paper) along the edge of that piece every inch or so like this:

This is why you need to work on carpet, because the pins can scratch your floor and it makes it difficult to poke them through.

On this shirt, I am pin tracing the front of the shirt first.

Pin trace all the way around.

If you’re not sure what a pattern piece should look like, take out  a similar one in any of your Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick, etc. pattern envelopes and study it.

Just keep poking your pin all around the piece.

Along the side seams, it will look like this:

See the pin holes? Look closely.

Now, just connect the dots with a pen or a marker:

I’ve done only a partial section of this shirt, but you get the idea, right?

Can you see the shoulder seam, armhole and side seam in the photo below?

When you are finished tracing, be sure to  add on your seam allowances.

Next, move the shirt to a fresh spot on the paper and trace the next piece, making sure you’ve left enough room for it.

There’s nothing more frustrating than tracing one piece over another.

But I wouldn’t know anything about that!

Be sure to think ahead. If you are tracing a sleeve, you’ll need to either: fold the paper and line up the edge of the sleeve on it, or trace half the sleeve, move the sleeve and trace the remaining half.

Does that make sense?

Just be sure to think through each piece well before you cut it out of fabric to make the new garment.

This technique works well with garments and linings.

The idea came about because I had an favorite pair of shorts and I wanted to reproduce them, but I couldn’t find a pattern that was even close to it in style.

It’s not beautiful, but it’s cheap and fast and it works!

Give it a try.

 

A Finely Tailored Jacket

It’s not often that I am in the presence of a finely tailored garment.

It’s a rare commodity these days.

But recently, a customer brought this gem to me to have it altered:

Those of you who live in the U.K. will appreciate this label:

It reads: Catherine Walker…The Chelsea Design Company

Catherine Walker designed clothing worn by Princes Diana and others.

Her designs were beautiful.

So, to have one of these pieces in my hands was a rare treat.

My customer is from the U.K. and purchased this jacket there many years ago.

It is timeless in style. A real classic.

What you see on the outside is great, but the inside is what took my breath away!

Just look at the attention to detail.

These aren’t your store bought shoulder pads:

See the grey wool piece? That’s a sleeve head. You don’t see those very often.

Look…hand stitching!

When I pulled back the lining, I saw the hand stitching through the shoulder pads:

Why do I get so excited about these details?

Because I know the amount of time it takes to make a hand tailored garment like this.

I know how much better a garment like this fits.

Time equals quality.

In college, I took a tailoring class and the prof was all about these kinds of details.

I just pulled out my class book:

Aren’t you impressed I still have this puppy?

I kept it because I knew I’d reference the material now and then.

Having the book around has been invaluable.

I can look back through it when I need an overview on construction details like bound buttonholes.

Do they still make hair canvas interfacing?!

If you are in to construction of garments, you really should take a tailoring class.

You’d really enhance your sewing skills.

Check out the local college and see if they offer such a class.

Meanwhile, my next post will be on a shoulder/sleeve alteration.

Do you have a jacket where the sleeve sits off the shoulder?

This alteration will take care of that problem.

Stay posted and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun At The Family Dinner

As I mentioned in the previous post,

we held two receptions for our daughter’s wedding.

One was held at the church.

The second was a family dinner at a public golf club in the next town.

Here are the newlyweds leaving the church:

The wedding party planned to stop off at a local reservoir for some more pictures on their way to the golf club.

We swapped cars with the newlyweds which meant we had their rental car, a small little domestic jobbie.

About a mile from the church, my husband noticed that the “low tire” indicator light had turned on.

He figured it was a computer glitch and thought we should keep driving.

(Does this sound like your husband?!)

But I really thought we should get it checked out.

(Does this sound like a woman’s response?!)

We realized that there was a tire shop within about 6 blocks of our predicament.

As we got within 2 blocks of the tire shop, we felt and heard the wheel go “thu-think, thu-thunk”.

We pulled in to the shop just as the men were closing up for the day.

And they graciously agreed to fix it for us.

We had the best time with it all.

Here we were in our formal wear and they in their grease and grime.

I said to one of the men, “People go to great lengths just to get their tires fixed, don’t they?”

We found all sorts of things to laugh about.

I figured no one would believe our story without proof, so I snapped a shot of “Jose” and my husband enjoying the moment for all it’s fun:

We kept thanking the Lord for His provision:

1. The flat tire came at a great time in the day (good thing it wasn’t fifteen minutes later) and at the perfect location

2. It didn’t happen to Jake or Michelle

3. It didn’t happen to us out in the country between our two towns

4. It didn’t happen to them the next day on their way to the airport

We were on the road in fifteen minutes and the last ones to arrive at the reception.

And the reception was so much fun too!

The bride and groom at their sweetheart table:

First Dance:

Jake and his ten,or so, buddies danced and got the whole crowd cheering with each of their unique dances:

Jake even walked on his hands across the floor. I didn’t know he had such talent!

Everyone joined in the fun and celebration.

It was my favorite reception of all time.

(Does that sound like a mom?!)

At some point in the evening, the photographer took the wedding party outside for pictures.

At the end of that session, Michelle came back inside to let me know that when Jake carried her across the expansive lawn, one of her bustles “broke”.

(Didn’t I tell you I would relate it to sewing at some point in the story?!)

Upon further investigation, we found that one of the plastic rings had actually broken in half!

If you notice in the side bar of this blog, I have a suggestion for brides to pin about 5 safety pins along the inside lower edge of your dress in case of emergencies.

I never thought I’d use my own advice!

I took one of those safety pins and used it as a “ring” and then re-tied the ribbon onto the safety pin.

She was “good to go” in mere moments!

We sent them off under a canopy of sparklers.

It was such a beautiful scene.

I wish I had a photo of that to show you.

Everyone left and I realized I had forgotten to ask for help in dismantling the banquet room!

I also forgot to take into account that we had the rental car with about 2 square feet of storage space.

So, we detained our younger daughter for awhile while we packed her car to the brim and sent her off.

While we were packing our car, she returned to tell us that Michelle had lost her wallet somewhere.

She needed it for the airplane ride the next day.

So, we prayed on the way home that God would help us find it.

When we arrived home, one of her bridesmaids was there ready to help us find it.

We scoured the house… everywhere we thought she’d been that morning and couldn’t find it anywhere.

As we were looking in her bedroom one more time, and thinking about heading over to the church to look there,

Michelle called and explained that she remembered it falling out of her purse at some point during the day.

With that, I dropped to my knees and lifted her bedskirt and there it was right in front of me!

It had rolled under the bed apparently after it fell out of her purse.

Praise-a-lu-jah!

We were so happy to be able to tell her that God had answered yet another prayer that day!

We took it over to the hotel they were staying at and stayed up all night chatting with them.

Just kidding. We dropped it off and left.

And they had a wonderful honeymoon in Hawaii.

Now they are enjoying married life and we are enjoying being in-laws (or maybe we are outlaws!)

Now share with us your funny or unusual stories from your wedding day.

Don’t be shy.

Everyone has a story.

I can’t wait to hear yours!!!

Wedded Bliss!

Thank you for your sweet emails and congrats on our daughter’s wedding!

It was a wonderful day!

The weather was perfect and the ceremony divine

While we’re still waiting for the photographer to give us the photos (how long do they usually take? It’s been about 6 weeks),

I couldn’t resist sharing a couple of them with you.

These were taken by our niece who was sitting in the second row.

As you can see, the wedding colors were a jewel toned blue, black and white:

Yes, there were 8 attendants on each side.

Crazy, right?

The ceremony was so special.

Amazing music from Jake’s cousins, very gifted musicians:

An amazing message filled with scripture and God’s desire for marriage:

Prayers by the fathers:

The vows:

Introducing Mr. and Mrs.!

They look so happy, don’t they?!

We ended up having 2 receptions!

One at the church and one at a golf club.

The golf club could only fit our families and the kid’s friends.

So, we decided to have one at the church as well, so that we could invite our friends to join in the celebratioin.

Here is a shot from the church reception:

We had a wonderful time at that reception.

Tomorrow I’ll write about what happened when we left the church.

We’ll get back to sewing soon, I promise!

How To Sew On Satin Covered Buttons

I admit I don’t get a request to sew on satin covered buttons very often.

It’s happened twice in eight years.

You’ve seen these before, right?

They are usually seen on wedding dresses or other bridal items.

The button is covered in satin on one side and has a softly padded shank on the other.

As you know, my daughter is getting married soon and she wanted me to add satin covered buttons to the back of her dress.

I thought I could run down to the local fabric store and buy a pile of them.

Wrong.

They don’t carry them.

Thankfully, they were available in the big city 75 miles away.

Some of you buy them on the internet.

I thought of that, but I wanted to make sure they’d match the dress closely as her dress is not a bright white, but a cross between white and candlelight.

I took a swatch of the fabric to match and wouldn’t you know, they had a bag of bright white ones and a bag of candlelight!

So I chose the candlelight color because the bright white made the dress look dirty.

Have I lost you in the details yet?

The owner of the store (they’ve been in business 50 years this year!) told me to figure two buttons per inch, and a few extra for the bustle, (that’s if she chooses an over bustle.)

So, I put a pin in the zipper area every 1/2″, starting at the 1/4″ mark.

Use one long continuous double thread to sew them on.

Be sure and put a good knot on the end and come up from the back of the dress with your needle.

Make sure your knot doesn’t get in the way of the zipper.

Using one long continuous double thread saves me major time sewing on the buttons one by one.

 

Do you see how I sew these on?

As I’m sewing one button on, I put the needle in just past the next pin.

Then, I push the needle into the button shank making sure it is horozontally inserted:

Here’s a side view of the buttons after stitching them on:

They look like little mushrooms all lined up!

Then, repeat the process, following the photo:

Push your needle to the back of the dress and knot it securely.

Halfway through the sewing, I poked my finger with the needle by accident.

I drew a little blood.

If you’ve noticed on my sidebar on this blog, I mention a way to get rid of blood on your wedding dress.

Saliva.

Yeah.

In the photo below, on the middle button, you can see where I have already dabbed a bit of my saliva on the blood stain.

It was bright red, but now it’s pink:

A little bit more saliva and the stain is gone! (I’m not kidding! See the second button from the left):

In the above photo, look at the third button over from the left.

That one is not the one that had the blood stain.

This button has a flaw.

Unfortunately, I only bought just enough buttons, so I had to use this one somewhere in the lineup.

Can you relate?

I’m hoping it won’t show.

At least it’s not on the front of the dress.

See how easy it is to sew on a set of covered buttons?

 

How To Make Pillows Fast!

Because we have a wedding in 2 months,

because my outdoor pillows and cushions are completely sunfaded,

and because I had about twenty minutes on my hands,

I decided it was time to recover them.

Heads up: There won’t be any zippers, velcro, snaps, buttons, or anything!

Are you game?

Ok, let’s talk fabric.

I know there are fabrics on the market that claim to be sun resistant, but they are $20 per yard.

So, each year, I choose fabrics that I like that are dirt cheap and on sale.

And each year I have to recover them because the indirect sun bleaches the tar out of them.

So, my advice is: pick what you like, taking into consideration your budget, the location of the pillows, the durability factor and the colors you like.

Here’s a photo of one of the old faded pillow covers..

I’ve folded the front back a little so you can see the difference between the front and back:

Basically, I make what they call envelope pillows.

There are probably a bunch of other names for these as well.

I buy pillow forms (or you can make them) in the sizes I want from Joann Fabrics.

Then, I just create  a pattern that will fit the pillow.

The idea is to make the finished cover a little smaller in dimensions, than the pillow form, all the way around so they fit nicely and not too loosely.

You’ll see later, that because I have been tracing my pillows for about four years, mine have gotten a little too big, but you won’t make the same mistake I did.

I want to start with making the first pillow using a very basic patchwork look.

All you serious quilters out there better not look at this.

It will make you cringe.

But, hey, this will work and time is of the essence, right?

Here’s the beginning of the first cover:

As you can see, I cut out a square of the flowery fabric. Then I sewed borders to the sides and then borders to the top and bottom edges.

(The finished cut dimensions are supposed to be about a half inch less all around than the pillow form.

Then, we will use a half inch seam allowance making the cover about an inch smaller than the form.)

Here’s how the back looks:

I know. I used the selvedge.

Sorry, that is lame, but it was  because I was too lazy (and rushed) to cut it off.

But, if you think anyone you know is going to look inside your pillow to see how you made it, you better cut off the selvedges.

Next, I lay out the fabric I will use for a backing:

See how I cut it even with the front on 3 sides?

That fourth side needs to extend about half of what the length of the pillow is.

SO, if this pillow is 12″, extend it up about 6 more inches.

I just eyeball it. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be close enough.

Pull the front of the pillow away.

Now, cut the backing into two separate pieces, only they should not be equal in size. One should be longer than the other.

Offset it a bit.

The picture below shows that I turned the piece of fabric before I cut it.

Serge or zig zag the edges of each fabric piece, if you like, to keep them from unravelling.

Now, fold back one cut edge of the backing fabric and lay it down over the front of the pillow, right sides facing each other. Be sure to line up the 3 edges:

Next, lay the other backing piece over the top of all of this right sides facing each other:

Pin the edges together and sew all the way around the pillow with a one half inch seam allowance:

Turn the pillow right side out and stick in your pillow form.

That one is finished.

Solid One Piece Pillow:

Let’s make a simpler pillow next.

This one is made with one long continuous piece of fabric going across the width of the fabric.

I lay the original old pillow cover on my new fabric. You can also just use the pillow form if you like.

I fold the new fabric in thirds. Do you see how the selvedges don’t line up? That’s what you want.

Again, you can cut off the selvedges if you want.

You may need to cut them off if you are making a smaller pillow than I am here.

Because it’s one long piece of fabric, all you have to do is fold that fabric in thirds, just like in the photo above and pin it on the sides:

On this pillow cover, you only have to stitch down the two sides (because the other two sides are folded edges).

Use a half inch seam allowance again.

Turn the cover right side out.

Do you see how the one edge covers the other one that is underneath?

Insert the pillow form.

How long did this last one take you?

Six minutes?

Isn’t that awesome?

Make a few more and you’ll be set for the summer!

A Question For You

Each morning my inbox is full of great questions.

I love to help you figure out your sewing dilemmas.

Today, however, I thought it would be fun for you  to answer a question from one of our readers!

It isn’t about an alteration.

It’s about technique and experience.

And I figure there are probably many good answers to this one.

Her question is:

“Do you have any clever suggestions for ripping out seams effectively? I think if I could rip out seams more efficiently, I could save time and make more money. For instance, I know there is a trick to knowing which thread to pull out when taking out a chain stitch or serger seam.”

Ok, readers, take the helm.

Leave us your answers in the comment section below!

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

A very Happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there who are mothers.

As you already know, I am blessed to have two amazing daughters.

I woke up this morning  just praising God for the gift of being a mom 25 and 23 years ago.

And for all the time with them leading up to today.

Isn’t it fun to think back over years and years of memories?

Remember their first smile? Giggle? Roll over? Step? Word?

First day of Kindergarten? First play date? Friend? Favorite dress?

I could go on and on….

If you’ve got some in your home this morning, grab ‘em and give them a big hug and smooch.

If they live in another location, make sure you give them an air hug over the phone today.

Then thank the Lord for His gift to you that you get to enjoy every day, not just on Mother’s Day!

Then go outside and enjoy this beautiful day that the Lord has made!

Just a few things….

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d stop by and say hi today. I hope you and your families had a wonderful and blessed Easter. It’s an amazing gift….the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To think that we can spend eternity in heaven, not by trying to be a good person, but by trusting in Him and what He did for us on the cross…. Awesome!

Thank you for all the emails and comments. It is fun corresponding with you!

My daughter and I are having alot of fun planning her wedding. We power shopped for her dress a few weeks ago and found it in one day! We both got tears in our eyes when she put it on. I guess that’s how you know it’s the one!

Some of you may be shocked that I didn’t make her dress like some of you brave souls do. Well, I made my own many years ago and checked that off the bucket list then. I much prefer alterations. Besides, with her living several states away, and not able to come home too many times for fittings, this worked out great.

However, I will make her veil. When I get to that point, I will post the steps involved. As many of you know, they are so easy to make, it’s not even funny! The one she wants retailed for between $169-$230! I bet we can make it for $25 tops.

Now, I know alot of you aren’t into the wedding scene right now, so thank you for hanging in there with us for a little while.

I wanted to mention one other thing before I hop off here. Many of you are emailing with great questions. I just wanted to let you know that alot of those questions can be found on posts I have already written. Just put the key word or words in the “Search Box” on the upper right hand of each page. You’ll get a complete listing of all the posts Ive written with those words in them. Look carefully, because there may be several pages of posts. I think only 5 or so fit on each page. That should help you, especially if it takes me a day or so to get back with you and you need the info yesterday!!!

Happy Sewing!

Exciting News!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that my daughter, Michelle, got engaged last weekend!

We’re so excited for them!

They met on a mission’s trip to Nicaragua two years ago and the rest is history.

We are so thankful to the Lord for him. He is who we have been praying for for our daughter for 25 years!

Because Jake’s  job is going to start in August, we are going to have a wedding in July!

Which means, we have lots of planning to do.

So, I thought it would be fun to ask you some questions in the next few months and hear your answers.

Here’s the first one:

What are some of your  favorite tricks and time savers for planning a wedding?

These can be sewing or non-sewing related.

What worked and what didn’t?

I can’t wait to hear what you learned.

This will be fun!