Tag Archives: fabric store

September/October 2012 Summary

Hello sewists! It’s November, which means it’s time to put the shorts away and stay warm inside while you get started on some Christmas crafts! If you’ve fallen behind on Sew Me Your Stuff posts, here’s a recap of what’s been covered the last couple of months.

Need to go back further? Past recaps:

Sewing Patterns:

Sewing Machine Help:

Notions and other Tools:

A Bag’s Life:

Remember, if you ever would like to see a topic covered by Sew Me Your Stuff, just submit it here!

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
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Helpful Link: Sewing Patterns are Your Friend

I came across this blog post on Pinterest and thought it was absolutely great. I have covered how to use sewing patterns in a few past posts: Choosing a sewing pattern, A Bag’s Life parts 1 2 & 3, and this video on reading patterns.

I loved this blog post though and really wanted to share it. If you’re ever in a jam, it’s a helpful guide to reading all those numbers on the back of the sewing pattern.

Click the image to read: Tales of a Trophy Wife: Sewing 101: Patterns are your Friends

Learning how to use sewing patterns is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff

Happy sewing!

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
Pinterest & Twitter – Follow for tips, ideas, and more
Etsy – Shop Sew Me Your Stuff

Notions to Know

There are a lot of crafts and garments that can be made with just some properly cut fabric and stitches, but to expand your repertoire you’re going to need to learn about notions. Notions are basically any non-fabric part of a garment or tool used to create a certain effect.

In this post and this post about buying your beginning sewing supplies, as well as in this video, you’ll find a lot of basic tools and notions that will help you construct a basic craft or garment. Now that you’ve moved onto sewing patterns and are getting a little more advanced, you’ll encounter patterns that call for specific notions to create specific effects. Here are a few that I ran into a lot as a beginner that left me confused or intimidated.

  • Buttons
    Buttons are a basic but important sewing notion for beginners who are learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
    We all know buttons. But actually attaching them to a garment takes a bit of effort – you might want to look for a sewing machine with a buttonhole stitch to make these easier. Some machines even have a stitch to sew on buttons, but personally I usually sew notions like this by hand to gain more precision. There will definitely be a post or two in the future about sewing buttons!
  • Zippers
    Zippers are important basic sewing notions for beginners learning to sew. - Sew Me Your StuffZippers are important basic sewing notions for beginners learning to sew. - Sew Me Your Stuff
    Zippers are a bit of a challenge to learn – even my mother never bothered to sew things with zippers because she never got the hang of it. Really encouraging for me to hear when she was helping me learn to sew. But with some practice and careful reading of the instructions, you can pick it up in no time. Invisible zippers are handy to learn, but sometimes you just need a basic zipper.  Once you learn the process of attaching a zipper, you’ll be opened up to a whole new world of crafts you can make!
  • Elastic
    Elastic is an important basic sewing notion for beginners learning to sew. - Sew Me Your Stuff
    Elastic is generally used to fit a garment or create an effect and can be attached in different ways. You can sew a casing, push the elastic through, and sew it shut. Also you can sew the elastic directly to the fabric, which I find more challenging because sewing on a stretch is never easy for beginners. However, casings are pretty easy and can give beginners a lot of opportunities to get creative with projects!
  • Interfacing
    Interfacing is an important sewing notion for beginners learning to sew to learn. - Sew Me Your Stuff
    Okay, this may not count as a “notion,” technically. If your pattern calls for interfacing, it’s usually listed under the fabric requirements. It’s bought by the yard just as fabric as well. Most patterns I’ve seen will call for fusible interfacing, which is attached to fabric using an iron. Non-fusible interfacing is sewn on. Interfacing is used to stiffen fabric and keep it from warping, such as collars or buttonholes. Once you use it a couple of times it’s no sweat at all!
  • Bias tape
    Bias tape is a sewing notion with a lot of great uses for a beginner learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
    Bias tape has many wonderful and handy uses, but full disclosure I haven’t really used it for any of them. You can finish raw edges with it, add accents, bind seams, and a lot more. It’s fabric that’s been cut on the bias of fabric so it won’t unravel and has much more flexibility than fabric that follows the grainline. Basically there are a million things you can use bias tape for, and I’m going to make a million tutorials to help you learn them!

Happy sewing!

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
Pinterest & Twitter – Follow for tips, ideas, and more
Etsy – Shop Sew Me Your Stuff

Video: How to Read a Sewing Pattern

Hello sewists!

I recently shared this post on how to choose a sewing pattern for beginners and this post detailing how I applied that to purchase a sewing pattern for a market tote.

Recently someone sent me this video that does a great job of explaining in-depth how to use a sewing pattern by showing the easiest way to read and interpret a sewing pattern. It’s a pretty long video but goes into detail about the process of finding and choosing the pattern you want to try.

Next I’ll be posting a series on sewing notions. Have a great day!

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
Pinterest & Twitter – Follow for tips, ideas, and more
Etsy – Shop Sew Me Your Stuff

August 2012 Summary

Hello sewists! In case you missed any posts during the month of August, here is a little recap of what I’ve been posting to Sew Me Your Stuff over the last month. You can revisit the July 2012 recap here too.

Fabrics:

Sewing Machines:

Techniques:

Videos:

Thanks for sewing!

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
Pinterest & Twitter – Follow for tips, ideas, and more
Etsy – Shop Sew Me Your Stuff

A Bag’s Life Part 1: The Fabric Store

Earlier I shared a post helping you choose your first sewing pattern, which you can find here. Now it’s time to put it into action by demonstrating how to use a sewing pattern to create a bag!

I started by going to my local fabric store and heading to the patterns section, looking for the beginner section. The store provides books full of patterns that you choose from filing cabinets, but beginners get a special section with sewing patterns on display.

Learning how to use a sewing pattern to make a craft is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
I chose a pattern for a bag that was marked “Level 1” for beginner sewists. You can also look for Simplicity beginner patterns or patterns with a label saying “Yes it’s easy!” or something similar. Next I turned it over to check out the notions and fabric requirements.

Learning how to use a sewing pattern to make a craft is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
I’m choosing to do the Market Tote, so I ignored the requirement for the Produce Bag and the optional checkstand loop. Other than that, it seems the only notion I need is thread – perfect!

Learning how to use a sewing pattern to make a craft is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
This pattern calls for less than a yard of fabric, so it’s possible I could peruse the remnant rack for an appropriate fabric. It also calls for webbing straps, which can be found in the ribbon section of the store.

Learning how to use a sewing pattern to make a craft is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
I saw this woven cotton fabric and really wanted to use it, so I forewent the remnant rack and got a cut of this. I decided to do the Medium bag, so I cut 5/8 of a yard.

Learning how to use a sewing pattern to make a craft is important for beginners learning to sew - Sew Me Your Stuff
This is a roll of webbing strap (or something close enough to it!) that’s cut by the yard. I actually got a little extra of this because there were 15 inches left after my 2 7/8 yard cut. If you agree to buy that extra portion, the store usually gives it to you at a discount.

I already have dark blue thread, but at this point you should make sure you have a matching thread for your fabric. Nothing worse than getting home all excited about a new craft only to realize you forgot to buy thread!

And that’s all it takes to get started! I walked out of the store with everything I need to make a new bag, and I can’t wait to get started and share the process with you! Next I’ll be demonstrating how to use the sewing pattern to create a bag.

Learni.st – Learn how to sew starting from step one
Pinterest & Twitter – Follow for tips, ideas, and more
Etsy – Shop Sew Me Your Stuff