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.

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!

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!!!

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

It has to be taken in at the bust area, which means I need to address the piping:

I could take off all of the piping, make the alteration and restitch the piping down.

However, that would involve taking off the hook or eye near the zipper and fiddling with the piping at the zipper area.

Many of you would go that route.

But for some reason, I would rather eat mud than hand stitch a hook or eye back on.

And I really don’t like trying to match the ends so that the top of both sides meet again after you zip it up.

Silly right?

I know.

But we all have those jobs that we really loathe and that is one of them for me.

It may be that your dress would be easiest to alter that way.

Or, it could be that altering the piping at the armhole is your only or best option.

So, let’s look at altering the piping one step at a time.

We will end up making a seam in the piping, but it will be barely noticeable.

You’ll see what I mean.

First, take out the understitching on the wrong side of the top of the dress with your seam ripper:

Pull the lining away from the piping:

Then, take out the stitching that holds the piping to the dress:

Next, take a pair of scissors and cut through the piping, making sure you are cutting at the point where the side seam of the dress lines up to it:

Alter the bust area accordingly.

To see more detailed instruction on how to take in a bust area, see this post.

Once you’ve made the alteration to the bust area, you’ll now address the piping:

Take out about two inches of stitches on both sides of the cut:

Next, open that out and you’ll see the white string type material (the cording):

You’re going to trim that off 1/2 the total amount of the alteration.

If you’re taking in a total of one inch on the side seams, take 1/2 inch off of the cording:

Next, mark with a pin, the amount you want to take in.

You can tell the amount, because it will match up to the new side seam you just altered:

Next, pin the edges right sides together:

Stitch across the strip, parallel to the cut edge like this:

Be sure all parts are laying flat or you’ll have to rip it out and restitch.

This is how it should look on both sides:

Trim your seam and finger press it open:

Fold the strip WRONG sides together, like this:

The point of my seam ripper shows where I have tacked that down:

You don’t need to tack it down, but I like to so I don’t have to keep wrestling with the thing while I pin it to the dress.

If you took out a ribbon hanger from the dress in the beginning, this is the time to put it back in:

Next, line up the cut edge of the dress and lining with the piping sandwiched inside.

Make sure all these line up and lay flat.

If not, alter the areas that need it and then come back to this step.

Once they all line up, place a pin through all the layers:

If you’re doing an underarm alteration like this (as opposed to altering piping in a straight seam), you’ll notice that the old seam lines don’t match up.

You’re going to have a situation similar to this diagram:

So, you’ll need to line up the piping along a new imaginary seamline and then sew your new seam next to the piping:

I can do this quite easily because I’ve done it for so many years, but you can pin it or even mark it with a fabric marker if you’re not sure.

Do you see my new stitching line that I sewed with burgundy thread in the photo below?

Once you’ve checked the outside of the dress to make sure it looks good, run a second row of stitching either right on top of the first, or right next to it for added reenforcement.

On the outside of the dress, you’ll see a tiny little seam in the piping, but it’s hardly noticeable:

Here’s another example of one I did this past week:

If you need to understitch the inside of the dress, be sure and do that.

If you’re not sure how to understitch, look at the instructions at the end of this post.

I think you’ll find that you can use this technique on many applications from clothing to upholstery.

Last week, I received a tip on how to remove a stain from a wedding or bridesmaid dress.

In all my years as a wedding coordinator, I don’t remember a bride or bridesmaid spilling anything.

Maybe that was partly because we made sure they didn’t drink or eat anything that could cause stains.

It’s really important for a bridal party to have food and drink around, especially if the photo session before the ceremony lasts for hours.

And often times, they do.

I asked the bride to bring things such as water to drink and cheese, crackers and green grapes to eat.

Someone is always in danger of fainting under the warm lights or the hot sun outside, so it’s always a good idea to have something in their stomachs.

But, there’s always the chance of spilling something other than food or water on your gown.

You might drop your makeup or lipstick or who knows what and have a catastrophe on your hands.

So, Janet sent this tip and I wanted to pass it along to you.

Now, mind you, I haven’t tried this tip myself, but it sounds like Janet has used it several times and I’m willing to try anything when it comes to removing a stain on formal wear, aren’t you?

Especially when someone else has already been courageous enough to try it and had success!

She even included detailed instructions.

Thank you, Janet!

She wrote:

“I saw your tips for brides and bridesmaids and I wondered if I might add to your suggestions? I always try to bring what I call a ” bride’s emergency kit “. It is actually only one thing, but it has saved the day many times. It is a product most people have probably heard of called Dryel. It was created to allow you to freshen up your dry cleanable clothes in your own dryer, but it also contains an excellent stain remover.

It seems that inevitably just before the wedding, either the bride to be or one of her bridesmaids, spills something on their dress. When it happens, I take the bottle of stain remover and the absorbent pad and am able to remove most, if not nearly all, of the stain. You just slip the enclosed absorbent pad under the stained material and apply the stain remover sparingly to the spot, being careful to keep the liquid and pad away from their skin and yours. The pad absorbs any excess liquid and also provides a safe area to, using the top of the closed bottle, gently work the stain around until it disappears. The product really is amazing!

Dryel is found at Walmart, Target, most grocery stores, etc. My daughter uses it when she doesn’t have enough time to take something to the cleaners.

So, I just went into our laundry room and found her container of Dryel in the cupboard.

This is what it looks like, if you’re not familiar with it:

And, sure enough, it has a stain pen right inside:

She’s a “Tide To Go” fan, so I bet she didn’t know about this little gem.

Janet wrote about a stain bottle. I don’t know if it’s the same solution.

I e-mailed her last week and haven’t heard back from her yet.

Have you tried this product and stain treatment yourself?

I’d love to hear your comments on this or other stain removing secrets.

I had never done this before as I hadn’t personally had any customers ask for it.

Until now.

My own daughter asked me to hem hers that way.

So, who better to try a new technique on than my own offspring?

Based on her recommendations, which corresponded to some of your instructions, I hemmed her jeans in no time.

I’ve always written posts based on alterations I have done before.

Some of them I’ve done hundreds of times.

But, this is the first post where I am a rookie.

So, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail with your technique for getting this done.

(Update January 12th: Here is a photo of my daughter’s jeans using two different techniques:

The technique for the leg on the right (Technique #1) is described below.

Ignore the thread bits I forgot to pull off the hem before I shot the photo!

I did the left leg based on instructions that Blankenmom gave us in the comment section and the link which shows us step by step how she does it.

Technique #1

The basic idea is that I am going to cut off the old hem and restitch it farther up the pant leg.

The new seam I make will next to the stitching on the original rolled hem.

Let’s take a look at this technique step by step.

First, I had my daughter try on the jeans.

I folded up the jeans and pinned the denim where she wanted the bottom edge of the hem to be:

Next, I pressed that bottom edge with an iron:

(Yes, you could turn the hem to the inside and press it the other way, but this edge isn’t going to show later, so I eliminated a step by just pressing it as is.)

This pressed edge will be our guide to show us where to stitch the new seamline for the hem.

The next step is to trim off the original hem edge.

I don’t want to cut right next to the rolled hem edge because that wouldn’t give me any seam allowance and I’d have to sew over the big hump of fabric at the hem.

I decided that one inch allowance gave me enough “insurance” and gave the hem enough extra fabric so that the hem doesn’t roll to the outside while wearing the jeans.

So, I cut the jeans like this:

Do you see the extra fabric I have to the right of the scissors?

I cut it far enough away that I can make a seam allowance.

That’s the amount that is crucial to the success of this hem. Make sure you give yourself enough denim.

As I mentioned, I gave it an inch.

This is what it should look like, completely cut away from the jeans:

Next, you’re going to match this “circle of denim” right sides together to the pant leg.

Match up the side seams.

then, pull ithe “circle” down the leg (up the leg?) like this and pin below that pressed fold:

Now, we’re going to make sure it is in the right spot.

Fold up that original rolled hem and peek under the cut edge to make sure the rolled hem edge lines up with the fold that you pressed earlier like this:

Looking at the above photo, the pressed folded edge is lined up with the rolled hem edge. You just can’t see it because the rolled hem is covering it up.

But, it’s there, under my thumbnail.

Everything from the top of my thumb down, will be what the jeans will look like when we’re finished.

Is this making sense?

Ok, holding that rolled hem edge very carefully, so that nothing slips, unfold that rolled hem edge and put a pin in that spot like this:

You’re now going to sew right next to the rolled hem edge like this:

Just make sure you don’t sew over any pins.

Take them out before that happens!

Now. fold the raw edges under to the inside of the jeans.

From the right side of the jeans, the new hem should look like this:

This is what it looks like if you peek inside the jeans:

My raw edges are not finished yet.

I want my daughter to try them on first, before I trim anything or finish the edges.

This is what they look like after I pressed them on the outside:

Ok, now you’ve seen this first technique.

Now jump over to Blankenmom’s website and see how she does it.

My daughter liked her technique better.

I do too.

It seems like the hem will stay down better and not flip up.

It also encases the raw edges, which is another plus.

Thanks again, Blankenmom!

We all learned something new.

I counted up my UFO’s (unfinished objects) today and there are over 30!

Isn’t that pathetic?

I can’t believe how far behind I get.

It was only four years ago that I had most of my projects sewn up.

Now look at me..I’m right back where I started!

How did that happen?

Here are a few things I have just sitting around patiently waiting for me to finish.

There’s the 1930′s reproduction fabric quilt:

I think I pieced this hummer together about ten years ago.

I finally began to machine quilt it a few months ago, but it’s not ready to put on the guest bed yet.

There are these half finished pin cushions:

They still need to be stuffed, have an oversized button sewn on, and some cute pins stuck into them.

Then, there’s this bag full of fabric that won’t fit in my cupboards where the rest of my stash lives:

Someday, I’m hoping to make them into aprons.

What about you?

Do you have UFO’s like this?

What projects do you have going right now?

Are you making Christmas presents?

I’d love to hear all about them and if you have photos, even better!

Just send me an e-mail at thesewinggarden@gmail.com and I’ll post them if you want.

Happy Sewing!

Is that what they are called?

Hem stays?

I couldn’t think of a better term for them.

They are the cords that keep the hem of dress pants and its lining from straying too far from each other.

They look like this:

Once I realized that the embroidery floss wasn’t holding up well to everyday wear, I began to use Perle Cotton.

I buy it at quilting shops and it comes on a spool that looks like this:

As you can tell, it is a little thinner than the original cord that is put in by the manufacturer.

But, about a year ago, it dawned on me that I could use a strip of satin ribbon just as easily and it would hold up well.

I like that I don’t have to thread a needle with any cording.

That, in itself, was an encouragement to me.

I cut two pieces of ribbon (one for each pant leg) into about three inch pieces:

I don’t measure; I just eyeball it.

Then, I fold under one edge of the ribbon and machine stitch it to the seam allowance just above the hemline on the pant:

Then, I take the other end of that same strip and fold under the edge and attach it to the lining seam allowance:

It takes a little bit of manipulating to get it sewn on the seam allowance without catching other parts of the lining.

But, I patiently work on it until I get it just right.

And, it occurred to me today, that I don’t have to work so hard to get the ribbon sewn onto only the seam allowance!

I can stitch right through the lining.

Revelation!

Yes, the stitches show through the lining, but they won’t be seen as they are up the hem of the lining a few inches:

I can hear some of you out there saying, “Duh!”

I love it when I get a new idea that saves me time and makes things a little easier.

How about you?

Have you been doing this trick for years?

What do you make your hem stays out of?

It’s an inverted triangular piece of fabric used to enlarge a garment so it will fit.

Usually, you have two gussets….one in each side seam.

You know you need a gusset, when you are zipping up a dress or skirt and it won’t zip up all the way.

(There are other instances where they are needed, but we’ll focus on this problem for now.)

I’ve written a post that tells you how to put in a corset back in your dress, but not everyone wants a corset back.

Especially, if you’re enlarging a bridesmaid dress and you want all the dresses to look the same from the back.

Or, you need to enlarge a bridal gown or formal dress and there’s no other option.

I have had a few e-mails asking how to enlarge a garment that’s too small.

And I get several customers each year that need this alteration as well.

I have been meaning to write this post for over a month.

In August,  my daughter came back home to be a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding and the bodice of her dress was too tight to be comfortable.

She ordered it in the same size as the one she tried on in the store, but the one that came in didn’t fit the same.

Sound familiar?

I know it does. So many gals have the same trouble.

So, with about two hours to spare, I knew what it needed.

You guessed it: gussets.

This is what one of them looked like:

Just so you know, the gathered fabric to the right of the gusset is a tie that was sewn into the dress and it tied around the waist.

Here’s what it looks like with the ties pulled away from the bodice:

Chances are, your garment won’t have ties like this, but if it does, you don’t have to take them out.

Just ignore them and forget they are there.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the gusset-making process when I added these to her dress, so today I’ll show you how to make these gussets using mostly diagrams.

Here is the back of a dress and what this dilemma looks like:

The area above the zipper is where the problem lies and where we’ll concentrate.

You’ll need to take two measurements.

They are marked in the diagram below by the dash lines:

Let’s say that the measurement across the top is 4″ and the measurement down the side of the zipper to the zipper pull is 5″.

Jot your measurements down.

Grab a piece of computer paper (or something of similar size.)

Make a big dot at the top middle of the paper.

This mark will symbolize the center back.

Take the top measurement (in this case, it was 4″) and divide that number in half.

You’ll be making two gussets: one for each side seam, so that is why you divide the number in half.

In this case that means 2″.

You are basically going to add 2 total inches to the left side of your dress and 2 total inches to the right side.

Measure out to the left of that main dot one inch and make a second dot. Now, measure out one inch to the right of that first dot and draw another dot, just like in the photo below.

Then, measure down 5″ from the first dot (or whatever your second measurement is) and make another dot.

Connect the dots with a ruler like this:

As you can see, the measurement that is horozontal, represents half the opening you have in your dress along the top.

The vertical line represents the opening you have from the top of the dress down to the zipper.

Make sense so far?

Ok, now draw a line from the bottom dots up to the outer dots like this:

This represents your gusset without seam allowances.

Now, we’ll add the seam allowances.

I add a half inch to the sides and bottom of this triangle, like this:

Whether you have lining in your garment, or not, you’ll need to place the top edge of this triangle on the fold of the fabric scrap you have chosen to make your gusset out of.

Otherwise, if you didn’t set it on the fold, you’d have a raw edge at the top.

(Sometimes, when the garment has a seam in the armhole, then I’ll add a seam allowance to the top edge and cut two pieces out and seam them at the top edge before inserting the gusset into the garment.)

But I try to avoid that step if at all possible.

If I don’t have to add the seam allowance at the top edge, I’ll cut this triangle out like this:

To me it’s much easier to have a fold at the top edge of the gusset I make.

This means you need to pay attention to how much fabric you need to make the gusset out of.

I try to match the gusset fabric to the main fabric of the garment as best I can, from the scraps I have around the house.

Many times my customers think that if I take a few inches off the hem of the dress, I’ll have enough to work with, but many times I don’t.

Many times that hem scrap is curved and I don’t get a full triangle piece when I place that pattern on the fold of the scrap.

You may have to go and buy a small piece of fabric (a quarter yard is usually plenty) that matches.

Once you do that, place the top edge of the pattern you just cut out on the folded edge of the fabric and cut it out along the lines.

Press the top edge of the gusset piece with an iron to set that fold.

Many times, I’ll iron on interfacing on the underside of the back piece of that triangle (which, if you unfolded it, would look like a big diamond shape.)

The interfacing will add some stiffness and body to the gusset piece.

Now, mark the seam allowances on the gusset pieces.

Mark those dots on the gusset piece too (except you don’t need to mark that center back dot.)

Now, set aside the gusset pieces and pick up your garment.

Looking at the garment where the side seam meets the underarm, you may have understitching there.

See the horozontal stitches in the photo below?

I’ll take out twice as many as I think I need to work in that area.

Take apart the side seam.

You may have boning in there.

Remove it.

Then, take out the side seam stitches, only and exactly to the 5 inch mark (or whatever your measurement was…no more!)

Lay the gusset (right sides together) to the right side of the dress, matching the seam allowance line of the gusset to the stitching line of the dress.

Match the top dots to the top edge of the dress.

Match the bottom dot to the 5 inch mark, right at the point where you stopped when you took out the side seam.

You’re only doing the front edge of the gusset right now. 

Using the original seamline as your guide, stitch along one side of the gusset, starting at the fold area and sewing down to the 5″ spot.

Backstitch and cut your threads.

Now, stitch along the other edge of the gusset from the top fold down to the 5″ spot again.

Check to make sure you dont’ have any bumps or haven’t caught any stray fabric in that seam.

If you have, rip it out and restitch it.

If you don’t it won’t look good on the outside of the dress.

Next, pin the other end of the gusset to the lining, matching it in the same way you did the original end.

 Stitch. Then, double check your stitching again.

If you need to put boning back into the dress, add it to the side of the gusset that is closest to the back of your dress.

You can stitch through the boning (if it’s not the heavy plastic kind.)

If it is the heavy plastic kind, you can make a casing in the side seams by stitching the outer edge of the gusset and that back side seam.

Then, slide that boning right down into that casing.

Then, I push the seam allowance to the back and tack that casing to the lining, if necessary, so it doesn’t move.

The gusset should look lay flat.

You shouldn’t need to iron it at all.

I like that, because many bridal or formalwear garments are made of un-iron-able (is that a word?!) fabrics.

Now, sew the other gusset into your garment.

If you measured correctly, this dress will be perfect!

So, here is the photo of it again:

If the top edge of your gusset looks a little wavy, don’t be alarmed.

When you, or your customer, or family member puts it on, that waviness will disppear.

Most likely it’s wavy because it is a fitted garment and it’s not on the person yet.

Now, try it on, or have them try it on and you’ll be the new hero because they can zip it up, it looks great, and they can breathe!

The topic of thread has been on my mind lately.

I just got the annual tune up on my sewing machine and the technician scolded me.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting that!

She asked what brand of thread I use.

When I told her “Sometimes Coats and Clark and sometimes Gutterman”, I got a sharp reprimand.

She told me that the only kind to use is Mettler.

Mettler? I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve only been in about 2 stores in my life that carry that brand.

I didn’t think it mattered that much.

I already knew not to buy the stuff that is ten spools for a dollar.

I learned that when I worked at Hancock Fabrics in high school, before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

The cheap stuff is fuzzy, gums up the tension discs, and breaks real easily.

She’s saying that that’s what my brands are doing too.

It’s weird. I used to only take my machine in every four or five years because I kept it clean and well oiled right here at home.

But over the last two years, my machine has been hesitating when I step on the foot pedal.

She said that’s directly related to my cheap thread.

But Gutterman is pretty high quality, isn’t it?

Coats and Clark is what America uses, doesn’t it?

And, I only use my really old stuff to hand baste with.

Is it because my Bernina is 27 years old?

No.

She said thread has changed in the last few years.

Hmm.

Have you heard this from your technician too?

What brand do you use?

For those of you who don’t know how, or feel a little intimidated in trying, here’s my technique.

Find a button for the garment and push the button through the hole to make sure it fits.

Place the button over the original holes.

I use a long strip of Scotch tape to hold it in place:

I used to just hold it in place with my fingers, but I found that I inevitably had to answer the phone at this point (or something else) and it took time to reposition it when I got back to it.

This just saves me from fumbling around.

Next, I carefully drop the needle so that it enters one of the holes in the button.

Once that needle is down, I slide in a toothpick between the holes on the button and then drop the presser foot:

Ok , you’re probably wondering why in the world I am using a toothpick!

I am going to put in a thread shank.

What is a thread shank?

It helps the button sit up higher on the garment.

This is important so that when you button the garment, it has plenty of room to be buttoned. Without a thread shank, a garment may be really difficult to button.

(Note: if you have a thin garment, you probably don’t need a thread shank. But, if you have a thick garment like these shorts, you’ll need one.)

I decided I’d show you one in case you needed to make one on your garment.

If you’re still confused, keep reading and I think you’ll understand as we go along.

Next, I set my sewing machine for the widest zig zag stitch I have.

Then, I tighten up the stitch length to zero.

I don’t want the machine to advance while stitching this button on. I want it to stay right where it is.

Next, I hand turn the fly wheel on the machine to test and make sure the needle will go into the holes without hitting the sides of the holes.

I will only sew two holes at a time….in a horozontal fashion.

I’ll sew back and forth between those two holes maybe ten times or so making sure I keep a good grip on the toothpick so it doesn’t slide out of there.

Once those are sewn, I’ll lift the presser foot to the two unsewn holes and repeat the process.

At the end, do not cut off the threads.

Leave long tails.

When you are finished, it should look like this:

Next, peel off that Scotch tape:

Take the long tail of thread and thread it onto a needle.

Wind the thread (clockwise or counter clockwise) around the underside of the button until you get a thick “shank” underneath:

It should look like this from the side:

See? That extra height will help the two layers lay flat when the garment is buttoned.

Next, take the needle and push it through to the back side:

Tie a strong knot and clip your threads.

There you go.

At first, it may seem like it takes longer to do this than to hand sew a button on, but after you’ve done it a few times, I think you’ll see how fast it goes.

You may never want to hand sew a button on again!

Now, I’d love to hear your techniques on getting the same result…..

He needed three repairs done on two items.

First, there was a tear in these shorts:

and a rip in this pocket:

and a button missing here:

And guess what they were going to charge him?

$42.00.

Yep.

Can you believe it?

How much would you charge?

How much would you pay to have someone else fix them?

I know, some people would say, “Hey, if someone is willing to pay that much, you should charge whatever you can get from them and make a huge profit.”

Well, I don’t agree.

First, wouldn’t you just feel terrible in your heart of hearts knowing that you ripped someone off?

One of the verses in the Bible in the book of Proverbs says that “Honest scales and balances are from the Lord.”

So, I want to be fair and honest in my pricing; not gouging someone just because I can.

Plus, there is the admonition to love your neighbor as yourself. I’m to treat others like I want to be treated.

And,  don’t you find that people who are “all about the money” are tough and mean and greedy?

I don’t want to be tough and mean and greedy.

The thing that’s sad about this particular shop is that they consistently don’t do a good job.

I’ve been hired to redo several items that they “altered” over the years and I feel bad for the customer.

Lots of people go there because they are located right next to the city mall.

When they walk in the shop, they don’t know what poor service they’ll get until after they pick the item up.

So, I told this boy I would fix his clothes for a fraction of what it was going to cost him there.

He called the shop, ran over and got the items, and brought them back to me.

And we were both happy about it.

It took me 20 minutes to do all the mending and reattach the button.

That means the other shop, who I’m sure would take the same amount of time to fix these items, was charging $126.00 an hour!

Wow.

Isn’t that what we pay a doctor per hour? Or a dentist?

Granted, our skill is a skill and it takes time to develop, but $126.00 per hour?

Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear what you think…..!

(If you want to know how to fix these kind of tears in your garment, check out this post.)

I’d like to address how to fix a few problems with the boning in your dress or tops.

Recently, a customer tried on a dress that just didn’t seem like it fit correctly in the bust.

I knew right away that it had an issue with the boning, because one side was fine and the other was dimpled.

So, after I finished marking the hem, she handed the dress over to me and I looked inside.

Can you see what I saw?

On one side, the boning was just fine and the curve was “pushing out” like it should be.

In other words, it followed the natural curve of the body.

The other side, however, was the exact opposite.

Do you see how the left side looks just fine, but the right side is incorrect?

Here’s a side view. You can see that the dress fabric (where my hand is) is sticking out like it should, but the boning (where the lining of the dress is) pokes towards the body:

That meant that the boning was in there backwards.

To fix the problem, I needed to take the dress apart, remove the boning, and put it back in correctly.

Here’s what I found when I turned the dress inside out:

The lining is attached to the dress. That is why it looks all scrunched up.

So, remove the cording that connects the two together:

I usually just cut it in the middle so that when I go to put the two layers back together later, I know exactly the spots on both sides where I need to attach a new cording.

Once that was finished, I noticed that this particular dress had the boning stitched directly onto the lining. It wasn’t enclosed in a casing.

We’ll talk about those that are in casings in a few minutes.

To get this boning out, I needed to rip out the topstitching that was holding the boning in place:

I just start by finding a stitch I can rip and then continue pulling out stitches until the boning is out.

Before I take the boning completley off, I mark it so that I know the direction it was in the dress:

I used a black pen on this one because I knew it would never show.

If you are uncertain about the mark showing, use something that won’t show, or stitch some loose stitches in the boning and take them out later.

I mark the boning so that I don’t put it in the same way it was before.

Hey, I’ve done that before! You only do something stupid once, don’t you?!

Now, turn the boning over and lay it in the same spot it was when you took it out.

If you have a bit of fabric or ribbon wrapped around the top of the boning, keep it there:

It is meant to protect the sharp ends so that the boning doesn’t poke through your dress.

If your dress doesn’t have this ribbon or fabric, you can put a piece on if you want.

If it looks like your boning is going to slip around while you are sewing it down, just anchor it to the lining with a few stitches to hold it in place:

Now, stitch the boning in place, from the right side of the lining, being very careful not to catch other parts of the dress underneath.

Make sure everything is out of the way before you begin.

I just sew along the original stitching lines:

Sew down one side (be sure and pull out your pins so you don’t run over them)

Then, sew across the boning to anchor it in.

(Don’t worry, you won’t ruin your machine by stitching over it.)

You might want to go slow, though.

Then, stitch back up to the top again:

Now, you can stitch across the boning at the top, again being careful not to catch the dress itself underneath the presser foot:

That should be all you need to do.

Make sure you replace the cording that holds the lining to the dress (or use ribbon or a strong thread).

Have the customer try the dress on again and you’ll see how it takes care of that bad dimpling problem.

Now, if your boning is enclosed in a casing, just take out the understitching in the dress that is found at the very top:

Turn the dress inside out and take out a few stitches of this top seam:

You only need to take out three or four stitches, the minimum amount needed to pull the boning out, turn it around and put it back into the casing.

Once its back in the casing, just stitch the seam back up.

I don’t generally restitch the understitching, because it really doesn’t need it.

But you could if you wanted to.

Another problem you might have with boning is that it may be cutting into your skin at the top of your dress.

That means the boning is too long.

Just open up the dress as I explained above.

If the boning has a piece of fabric over the end, remove that first.

Then, just use a regular pair of scissors and trim off the end.

I usually take off 1/4″ -1/2″ .

Put the fabric back on the tip of the boning (or if you didn’t have a piece of fabric on there in the first place, you may want to put a piece on now) and stitch it in place so it won’t slip around.

Put the boning back in and restitch the dress closed, if applicable.

That should fit alot better and keep you comfortable.

There may be other configurations with your particular dress but, hopefully, with these tips, you’ll be able to figure yours out.

If not, shoot me an e-mail found in the “Contact” section and I’ll walk you through it.