Sewing Tips: Basics #1

We had such a great response to our post last month about How to Fall in Love With Your Sewing Machine, so we thought we would share some more of our sewing tips with you today. We are starting with a few basic things and we are planning more of these so if there is anything specifically that you would like tips on, maybe bias binding or zips? Let us know. Also why not check out my fabric buying tips and pattern advice from last year. Lets get going..,..

Threads:

• If you're not sure which colour to use on a jazzy fabric try and stick to the most dominant colour or the colour of the background. If there isn't an obvious choice go for the darkest colour, it will always show less that a lighter thread. 
• The same theory applies when trying to match a thread colour in general, if you can't find a perfect match go a shade darker as it will show less.
• Threads will always look darker on the reel than off it as a single strand. Guttermann threads have a little magic trick to help, their bottoms are loose so you can twist them to free the thread loose to check it against your fabric. 

Machine needles:

• Most brands of machine needles will fit any domestic sewing machine. When you are looking at needles their sizes (ie. 90/14 or 80/12) refers to the thickness of the needle and therefore which fabric they should be used on. The lower the number the finer the needle and the finer the fabric you will sew with that needle. 
• There are different needles for different types of fabrics too. Jeans needles are especially for working with Denim and densely woven fabrics, Ballpoint needles can be used for jersey fabrics, but also for silk. Stretch needles are for use with Lycra or swimwear fabrics and quilting needles are designed to go through lots of layers at once. Try and stick to using the right needle for the right job. 
• We advise that you mark up your needles so you know which are which when they are out of their packets. I use nail polish, but you can use coloured sharpies. The sizes are written on the needles but it is so tiny it can be hard to read. 
• If you have put a specialist needle in,  remove it when you have finished the job and put it back in the packet so you don't forget which needle is in your machine. 

Tricky fabrics:

• If you are sewing with waxed fabric or pvc, leatherette or anything sticky you will need a Teflon foot to get a smooth stitch. Not go one of those? Dive into a drawer and use some trusty Scotch magic tape (the one that is slightly misty) to cover the bottom of your normal foot. It is a great alternative until you can get a hold of the real thing. 
• Sewing jersey or anything stretchy or slippery? Sandwich your fabric with tissue paper to get an even stitch. Or use scraps of interfacing which you can then remove by tearing away when you have finished.
• Tack, tack, tack. It may seem laborious but it will be worth it in the end.

Patterns:

• Taken your measurements but still unsure which size to cut out from your pattern sheet? Take a garment similar to the one you want to make that you like the fit of and lay it over the pattern pieces. This will give you a good idea of whether you are on the right track with sizing.
• If you are working with tricky chiffon or jersey fabrics try cutting out your pattern with a rotary cutter and mat. It stops the fabric from moving around as much as when you use scissors. 

Scissors:

• Always keep your best scissors for cutting only fabric, cutting paper (even pattern tissue) will blunt them faster. Also avoid using them on beaded or sequin fabrics unless you remove the embellishments from your seam edges first. Avoid wired edge ribbon too.
• Don't waste your money on cheap scissors, especially pinking shears. Generally speaking you get what you pay for with scissors. A good pair, well looked after should last you a lifetime. 

What are your top tips for sewing, Is there anything else you need or want to know more about? I have had a lot of questions about bias binding lately, is that something you would be interested in as a post here?? Let me know if there are any specific areas that you want tips about and I will see if we can do a post on them.

Sammy xxx

P.S. The gorgeous sewing poster in the first photograph is by Rebecca Stoner, you can now buy them at Sew Crafty Online, Yay!


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Makers Month: Learn to Sew with Lauren

If you remember back to the first season of The Sewing Bee you will have fond memories of runner-up and our favourite finalist Lauren. As well as running her gorgeous shop Guthri & Ghani in Birmingham she has gone and joined the world of crafting gurus and written a book. So you can imagine when we were asked to review 'Learn to Sew with Lauren' we jumped at the chance.

Sammy: The images are lovely, I thought it was a shame we didn't see more of Lauren as the book goes on but the photographs are beautifully styled. I also loved the illustrations in the tutorials as it takes you through the steps of each project. 

H: I love the full sized patterns, nothing more frustrating than having to go and get patterns scaled up at the copy shop before you start a project. The basic tutorials at the front of the book help you to learn how to use them and has some great tips for using regular dress patterns too.

Sammy: The amount of books that don't give detailed instructions of what you will need to create their projects always surprises me, so I was happy to see that Lauren's gave great details of how much fabric to buy as well as all the notions needed for each project and tips for which techniques would be best to practice before hand. Genius!

H: There is a nice mix of household and clothes projects, so gives a good variety of things to make for yourself or to give as gifts.

Sammy: I enjoyed the 'Other Variation Ideas' at the end of each project giving you inspiration to make the projects over and over.

H: There are some good techniques at the front of the book, then onto some lovely projects.  It is nice that it gives you a great starting point with simpler projects and then moving onto ones that get more challenging as the book goes on.

H: I also loved the 'tips for practising' that Sammy mentioned, I thought it was a great way to encourage people to try out the techniques you need to perfect before diving straight into the main project. I often think that that is where people who are new to sewing fall down and get frustrated because they try to attempt projects before practising the techniques needed.

Sammy: I loved that the projects, even the simple ones, used techniques that are practical and could be used to further your sewing education. The shapes and styles are classic so will stand the test of time.

Over all we really enjoyed Lauren's take on learning to sew, her projects are classic but with the lovely 'Lauren' twist that we got a glimpse of on the Sewing Bee. We both found the book quite wordy. It is a sit down and plan book, rather than a flick though and pick a project book. That is what we both liked about it though. A lot of sewing books skip past the technique and never refer back to them, Lauren encourages you to practice the basic steps you will need before diving right in.  The styling and layout of the book is attractive, the patterns are great quality and stored neatly in plastic folders in the front and back of the book.

Over all if you are looking to pick up something for a Sewing Bee fan or are a sewing newbie yourself, Lauren's book is a perfect choice.

You can get a real incite into what it was like for Lauren writing the book on her blog over at the Guthrie and Ghani site. And if you are in the area on Saturday and fancy picking up a signed copy head over to Lauren's site to find out more about her launch party at her shop Guthrie and Ghani.

Have you bought Lauren's book? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below.

H and Sammy xxx

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Love it: Sew Crafty Window Display Special

Last week I was invited by the Manager of the Nicholson's Shopping Centre in Maidenhead, to discuss a proposal she had for me. Intrigued, I went along to the meeting where she offered me the chance to use one of the empty shop units for a Great British Sewing Bee inspired display, to help advertise my shop. You may remember when we first took over Sew Crafty (Orxiom fabrics as it was then) we were residents of the centre. Lots of people to this day still ask if we are the shop that used to be there. Anyway, of course I jumped at the chance, Mostly because I love window dressing, I'm sure I get this from my Dad, as he used to fit window displays in Harrod's when he was a teenager. Also because as much as I love our window at work, it has its limitations, it was so fun to be let loose in a new, empty space.

I spent the week collecting together props and making examples to use in the display to best show off our products and on Friday my Dad and I spent the whole afternoon in Unit 27 setting up our display.

Here is what the unit looked like before, displaying some of Teresa Mills lovely mosaics. You can see that the window is spilt into four sections separated by a door.

We used the two smaller sections to display costume ideas as we sell a lot of fabrics and accessories for making costumes. When the schools have Book week our shop is a busy place, we love helping parents out with costumes for their kids to play dress up! We have put a poster in a fabric covered frame to tell people where to come to get all their sewing goodies.

 The other two windows we dedicated to more traditional sewing fayre. We used the top window as a dream sewing table of sorts, with a mood board, a sewing machine and supplies, books, trimmings and yarns. The bottom window we used as more of a display space showing off some pieces we made from the show and some customising ideas.

We tried to use a mix of our products with some from mine and my mums collections, like you would have at home.

A glass dish with new and vintage buttons in front of a collection of Cloth magazines. The Sewing Bee book is on display surrounded by ribbons, fabrics and My Tilda bunny.

I set up a little design station too with a sketch book and samples in front of our mood board, which is brimming with cuttings and ideas from Company and  Cloth magazine.

I was really pleased with the end result, it looks like a work space any respectful sewer would be proud of. Hopefully it will inspire a few people to take the short walk down to our end of the High Street and pay us a visit.

This is the pretty little sheared dress my Mum made, the same as the one they made on episode 3 of the Sewing Bee. The Sewing machine is on loan from the lovely Anna (aka Thumbelina design) and the mug is mine that I use at work that was a gift from my friend Claire for my birthday, I'm missing it already!

Hope you enjoyed that little peek at our display, if you want to come down and take a look for yourself it's in Unit 27, opposite Iceland in the Nicholson's Shopping Centre, Maidenhead until the 29th of June. Whilst you here, you can pop down and see us at Sew Crafty (3 High Street, Maidenhead) at the same time!

Sammy xxx

Link for the week: The Sewing directory

This week I thought that due to all the buzz that has surrounded sewing in the past few weeks it might be useful to give a sewing link- some TV show called The Sewing Bee might have something to do with it.

Anyway, this weeks link should help all you sewing addicts out there as you can find projects, workshops and fabric suppliers in your area.  http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk

Also, they put all the links up for all the projects and fabric/haberdashery suppliers for The Sewing Bee show. So if you really want that spotty fabric for the blouse from the last episode or the car print cotton from episode one then this is the place to find all the information you need.

And yes that is me in the picture working hard on my sewing machine!  I even had my glasses on so you can tell it was serious!

Love it

H

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