Sewing, the craft, fabrics, patterns, problems

Went to a very old pub today for a couple hours, saw this old sewing machine and thought you would be interested.

nottoold, I made the avid seamstress gathered dress, it is one of the most comfy and flattering dresses. It has a lightly gathered back. Love it and have made it twice. The pattern is in my go-to box as is the blouse that she designed. She has a sheath dress too and I have the day dress pattern ready to work on

thefoldline.com/search-patterns/?main=Women&designer_only#stq=product&stp=1&product-designer-type=indie&product-designer-name=The+Avid+Seamstress

Avid seamstress has the most wonderful patterns with the very best of instructions.

Spot on Monica, sensible words from your dd

Thinking ahead to a hot summer: I made the following caftan twice, linen/viscose and I wore them over and over. Heavenly to wear and easy to make with youtube help for the rectangular waist insert. Closet core

thefoldline.com/product/charlie-caftan/

I do rate the foldline for patterns. I tend to buy pdfs there or direct from the designer eg meghan nielsen and I buy them with a print if for anything big like a dress. MN has some free patterns as do many of the designers, MN has some very nice knickers. They are free for subscribing to her newsletter. MN is very size inclusive with beautiful instructions and masses of help on her site

megannielsen.com/collections/free/free

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Made another bag to add to the rest.

My kitchen resembles a sweatshop hahaha.

Productive day.

I come from a family of formidably good needlewomen from my grandmother, to my DD and probably my DGD, who is shaping up well. Unfortunately I was the one born with 10 left thumbs. Bursting with ideas and creativity, but the results were never up to scratch. I have over the years made clothes and curtains, but I struggle.

Then about 10 years ago DD turned the saying 'if a things worth doing it is worth doing well' completely on its head and said 'if a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly' meaning if it is worth doing, it is worth doing even if you cannot achieve perfection.

Since then I have made almost entirely soft furnishings , about half a dozen quilts, a number of cushions, I have recovered a large Knole settee, with a bit of help from DD and I have ven helped DGD learn to sew. I work mainly with recycled and vintage fabrics and I am currently making 2 lampshades.

So if anyone here wants to sew but feels they can't, relax and get sewing. It may not be perfct, but if you enjoyed the process and are happy that what you make isn't too obviously nont perfecr - then go for it.

karmalady - you are very knowledgeable. Some good tips there.

During the first lockdown I made a cotton dress from a cotton duvet cover. It had a small flowery pattern so turned out alright and did not look too much like a duvet.

My grandmother and my great-aunt were both court dressmakers and were very good seamstresses, as you would expect. Unfortunately I did not inherit their talents to any great extent. (I'm still looking for that elusive shift dress pattern!)

just to add to the above. Bust point is very important. Wear a good bra and mark the point on your pattern by holding the pattern against yourself. Going south, with age, means that bust point may need to be placed lower ie a whole dart would need to be moved down, so that the dart tip points to the right place.

Moving a dart is easy

I just want to mention cup sizes, which are oh so important for tops and dresses. Bra cup sizing is NOT pattern cup sizing. The old big 4 patterns were always a standard cup size B and many still are. It is very important to find the cup size on any pattern, otherwise fit will be poor if you are not B. Many sewists have had to do an FBA full bust adjustment, in order to get a pattern to fit well and no wonder there are people who want to sew for themselves but don`t because an FBA can be daunting

I am a C and there are now several pattern designers that do a range of cup sizes and are size inclusive. `Itch to stitch` is a super good designer, she does several sets of cup sizes for any garment she designs for a bust

This is the measurement chart you need for cup sizing

curvysewingcollective.com/a-guide-to-pattern-cup-sizes-and-a-handy-reference/

Another thing I always do with a new pattern: I make a toile, I use cheap fabric from my stash. I often just make the bodice toile but sometimes the whole garment, which then becomes a wearable toile if it fits well and I will wear it around the house

One last thing, for anyone who is thinking about dipping a toe into the water, carefully study the finished measurements. You may find eg that the bust/waist sizing is most crucial or if your hip size is bigger than the pattern hip size, you would just need to grade out over the hip, which is easy. Also have a good read first to find the pattern ease, you can do that by subtracting actual pattern measurement from the finished pattern measurement. Positive ease is looser, negative ease is clingy

I hope this helps, best to always prep before cutting fabric. It is worth it

One last thing, patterns are now expensive so I always trace my pattern. I use swedish paper from patterntrace and I use ziplock bags to store them in.

I would love to be able to make clothes properly. My mam and gran could both make beautiful garments and my mam did show me but i am rubbish at it. The interfacing bit has me stumped. I have looked about this area for some classes but there are none available.

effalump, I used knitting machines in the past too, brother. I made many things on them and had to turn down requests, no time as I had three children. I eventually gave them away to a hospice respite care home, hoped that they would be useful to their patients and helpers

Ooh, I just remembered that I made my wedding dress and four bridesmaids dresses in 1970, on a basic machine with slippery wedding dress fabric. I was only 22, crikey, I don`t know how I did it. I also did my own buffet, held in my widowed mothers house. Cloths on pasting tables. It was very beautiful

I love sewing but also, love knitting, I need the mojo and once I get that, I can stay in my sewing room for hours. It is really nice in there, beautiful old fashioned view of higgeldy old cottage gardens. I make myself do other things, so I move from time to time

I treat myself sometimes, not spending much on other things. I have accumulated lovely machines, last was a bernina record that does about 30 different stitches. I saw one on youtube, saw the mechanical workings and that was that. I just love old mechanical workings. It is a very heavy fully reconditioned vintage machine. I keep that one downstairs, so I can watch a film at the same time. Naturally it is too heavy to lift often, so I bought a horn cub plus cabinet on wheels. It has an airlift and a top cover that makes a very big work top

I succumbed the other day and bought a sewing kit, an easy way to get me back into sewing. Gaberdine, pattern and all the bits to make forest green culottes. I could see them being very useful in spring, with my hm blouses and hm knitted cardigans or short jwoollen umpers layered over longer cotton or stretch jersey viscose tops

Youtube is fantastic for beginners and experienced. I particularly like `lifting pins and needles` she is wonderful and a very good teacher

I have a few favourite fabric suppliers, I stopped getting cheap fabrics long ago. Minerva has a good discount scheme and an endless choice. Guthrie and Ghanie are beyond reproach for reliable fabrics. They also do pattern printing from pdf sellers, using the A0 files

Ask in local charity shops for patterns, as you might get a nice surprise at a decent price.
Some older patterns can be made to look quite modern, and you could find curtains etc in them that can be used to make new things with!

Fernbergien I'm useless on zips too - I seem to get really cackhanded just looking at them. I watched the Sewing Bee and picked up a few tips but haven't applied them yet ?

I’ve done many bits of craft and sewing over the years. In 2019 I was ill and lost weight and had to alter dresses. Always had to shorten long sleeved on jackets etc. Always done ok.
BUT not good on zips so in the end I used to sew round where zip was to be then invisibly sewed in zip on top of stitching. Probably didn’t have right sewing equipment. It worked well.

I've always sewed, too. My mum and grandma were both sewers and my mum taught me to use her Singer treadle machine when I was very young. Since then I have made clothes for myself, my children, grandchildren and various dolls. During lockdown I made summer dresses, buying the fabric cheaply from the many textile websites.

I am always on the lookout for a very simple shift dress (not fitted) pattern with extended shoulders for sleeves and no zip. I would want to make it in cotton or linen, not stretchy fabric. Some come close, eg StyleArc, but none are perfect (for me, at any rate). If anyone knows of one, please send me the number!

I do have a fancy machine but also enjoy the slowness of hand sewing and using fabric snippets in (mainly paper) collage work. Does anyone else here watch Sky Arts Landscape Artist? There have been some very talented fabric and paper collage artsts in recent series.

I must admit I am not terribly good at putting colour schemes together so draw inspiration from painters’ palettes. Does anyone else do this? I use the Bridgeman Images archive to find paintings where the palette appeals to me. I then drag the image into the Adobe Color app which extracts colour themes in moods: colouful, bright, muted and deep. It will also extract gradients for blending and ombre schemes. Then I can visit my local fabric stores with a colour theme in mind although it doesn’t stop me wanting to browse for hours.

The interest in paper crafting developed during the early weeks and months of lockdown with a friend who lives 300 miles distant (and a bit of inspiration from Grayson’s Art Club). We challenged one another to create art from whatever we had to hand. I took to junk journalling. All those fabric scraps that all sewers have came in very useful for making journal covers which are more durable than paper.

I’m lucky to have two sewing machines. The older non-digital one also has a good range of decorative stitches and has been pressed into service in my journalling. Like rockgran, never bored and always inspired by my favourite sewers, fabric and collage artists who very generously share their ideas through social media.

Hand embroidery is my first love, then I went through machine sewing clothes, patchwork quilting and the like. I find it a bit sad that my sister's DIL can't sew at all and takes anything which requires a button to her to do. Everyone should at least be able to sew a button or mend a seam, man or woman.

I love knitting too and picked my needles up again during the second lockdown.

I was taught to sew at age 9 on an old hand-cranked machine, with mother watching me. When I started work at 15, I made a lot of my own clothes and some knitted items as I had a knitting machine. Made most of my dresses, skirts, tops, trousers and the occasional jacket until my late 40's. I have a ton of fabrics but, sadly, no patience and lousy eyesight even though I have my eyes tested every year, I'm never 100% happy with the specs. Yes, they seem fine in the Opticians when you're looking at things in a room that measures roughly 6x9ft but when you're home and looking at everything, near and far, it's a different matter and I've tried vari-focals but can't get used to them.

I can definitely recommend sewing. Soft craft (and paper crafting) is my happy place. I follow lots of online crafters - sewing, knitting, etc. for ideas and add my own. Youtube is brilliant. I make a lot for a charity otherwise I would be inundated but I love to make a new bag or cushion using a new idea. It has kept me busy and happy over lockdown and I'm rarely bored. My latest is a peg rug using up scraps. I'm lucky to have a dedicated craft room as it would take over the house if not controlled!

This is a lovely thread (see what I did there .)

I've never sewn a stich in my life apart from putting buttons back on shirts, but these posts have got me seriously interested!

The creativity is fantastic! Probably relaxing and 'good for the soul' too...

What an absolute patience testing thing they were to sew and stuff .... BUT i got there, sent them off to my GC and received a video of them opening them and the look on faces....

Oh Serendipity I love those chips (fries).

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I didn't think to post photos of my sewing crafts.
The bags are done on my machine but all the felt cràfts are sewn by hand...

This is a lovely thread, I do love reading about all the sewing and knitting projects everyone does. So many beautiful things made so skillfully.

For a long time my sewing has been just making blinds and curtains (and of course masks!) but I'm hoping once I've finished this set of blinds to get back to clothes. I haven't made many clothes, but would like to make more.

I made a loose cover for a sofa once complete with piped edges on arms and cushion pads. It took me six weeks and I thought never again! I haven't made any dresses for years, mainly because fabric is now so expensive. Was able to get Laura Ashley and Liberty remnants back in the day !

FannyCornforth

Lovely thread ?

Lovely 'thread'!

Will follow this thread with interest... I have sewn all my life. I started when I was very little, making tiny bedding which I left out at night for the fairies who I believed lived in our house! My dad saved the items and I think they are still around somewhere in a toffee tin with similar treasures!

I've done lots of dressmaking and soft furnishings - clothes for myself, bridesmaids dresses for my daughters, curtains, duvet covers etc. My granny taught me how to embroider when I was about 10 and about 40 years later I took this up again and designed cross stitch and crewel projects for magazines and for several years I produced my own range of cross stitch card kits.

After fruitless searches for well-made summer clothes in decent fabrics last summer I have decided to return to dressmaking and make some tops this year. I like simple styles in good quality material so just a matter of tracking down some attractive linen/silk/viscose.

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Fascinating two posts at the beginning of the thread, karmalady. I once hoped to make all my own clothes, even bras, but.... well... let's just leave that there. Made a lot of own clothes though including ball-gowns because I went to a lot of Scottish Country Dancing Balls spread over twenty-five years. I'd still be doing it if it weren't so painful (arthritis and fibromyalgia).

About fifteen years ago I made several pairs of baggy trousers with big patch pockets for myself out of old curtains and wore them to death. They didn't owe me anything by the end, having been curtains for fourteen years beforehand! Have added a screenshot of me walking back from taking Minibaggs to school (a lot of years ago caught on ggl maps). Minibaggs found it and went "OMG! That's my mum!" Her friends thought it was a hoot.
Made lots of clothes for my kids too, plus toys, patchwork quilts, cushion covers.

Current sewing efforts are temari, Japanese thread balls. It has been such a soggy winter here and I've been unable consequently to get much done in the garden, that I'm on my fifth. Normally I'd only make a couple. How it started and how it's going pics of the latest one below.