Friday, August 7, 2009

Giveaway Winner!


Thank you all for your comments and playing along
with the giveaway! Look who the computer picked:


Commentor #15, melonkelli, who did leave an email
address! Hurrah!

Melonkelli, please check your email inbox for a message
from me and I will get this out to you soon.


There were so many very interesting ideas and requests
for things you wanted to learn to sew and I found at least
a couple that might be worth working on for future posts.
Stuff like sleeves. How do you do a sleeve? How do you
cut it? Is there a standard template you can adapt? How
do you sew it on? And my favorite - how do you sew it on
when the sleeve and armhole sizes don't match (like if you
accidentally stretched the sleeve so much while working
with it that it is now huge)? Can you tell I did that a lot?


Badly-behaved sewing machines - I wish I knew how to
fix today's electronic ones. I used to dabble a bit in
maintaining/servicing our old treadles, because everything
was so manual. Screw, unscrew, dust, oil, tighten. But
electric ones I have no clue about. I'm happy to share what I
do to maintain my electric ones now, and how I troubleshoot,
if anyone's interested. But it's no great revelation,
so you might be disappointed.


Curtains - those fabric rectangles that you hang on
your windows - deceptively easy. But they can turn out
so weird if you forget how they stretch as they hang.
Which I've found out the hard way. Then there is light-
out (I think that's what it's called) - the white coated
backing layer that makes drapes really light-proof. And
so many ways to hang them from a window curtain rod.
Mum used to sew them with the fancy four-pronged
curtain hooks and the special curtain tape so they
could be drawn open and shut with a cord. I have never
tried that. The drapes I've made for the kids' rooms are
hung with wooden Ikea curtain rings so they are easy to
remove and wash. I usually wrap the main fabric around
the sides of the backing (like a quilt binding) and leave the
bottom hems of the layers unattached to each other, so
they hang freely. Then when I topstitch or slip-hem
the sides of the curtains, it's OK if the stitches show
up on the main fabric binding at the back
and not on the lining.


Tailored shorts - with the fly,waistband, beltloops, cuff,
and those trouser pockets (the actual name escapes me):
I made them more than 10 years ago but not recently.
They are not hard to do, but time-consuming. But it helps
if you have a pair of shorts that fit you well and copy that
pattern. And keep referring to it as you put the pieces
together. That way you can visualize the sequence for
connecting the various pieces. That's what I did for mine then.


Wide-legged pants: There are probably many on the web,
but I don't remember any in particular. My friend Jen has
made
these (without ruffles, but they are easy to add)
and has a pattern- she was giving it away some months
ago in a giveaway. You could visit her and see if she'll
share it again or if she's selling it.


Rolled hem on sergers: check out this post on blueprints.

And that's it for today. I hope your weekend is smashing!


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