Tip Tuesday: Week #3

When you aren't sure about a new-to-you sewing technique or maneuver, baste it first.  For example, when setting sleeves, baste it with a long stitch to the right of your seam allowance, check your work, and then stitch it on the seam allowance with the right stitch length.  It seems like duplicate work, but if you end up seam ripping, you'll be happy you have those larger stitches.  If you have a computerized machine, your basting stitch might look something like this:

Speaking of putting sleeves on, I also recommend reinforcing the sleeves with a stretch stitch.  On some machines, this stitch looks like this:

This stitch setting is for stretch materials, but I think it makes a nice reinforcing stitch.  Try this stitch out on your machine.  The needle will sew forward, then backward, then forward twice, then backward once.  (Excuse the poor picture):

 

Did you notice the blue globs on my machine?  Here's a bonus tip for you...  Velcro your seam rippers to your sewing machine!  I still lose them from time to time, but this sure helps! 

That's the tip of the week!

Tip Tuesday!

Over the years that I have been sewing, I've come up with a few tips that save me time and/or frustration.  How many of us have sewn a seam only to rip it out moments later?  How much time do we waste searching for that seam ripper?  What did we do with that pattern piece that has the placement marks that we forgot to make when cutting out the fabric?  If you haven't encountered some of these sewing woes, I envy you.  For the rest of us, I have a list of ten tips to make things go a little smoother.  Over the next ten Tuesdays, I will post a new tip, so keep checking back for more!

Week #1 Managing Patterns:

Keep your pattern and instructions in a sheet protector. Pattern pieces are like tents: we know they came in that package, but they never seem to fit back in. A sheet protector will provide plenty of room for those delicate tissue pieces, as well as any notes that you may have made for the project. When the project is complete, this sheet protector can be inserted into a binder for the next time.

Check in next week for more tips!