Come sew a Reyna Hi-Cut with me! For those who are more visual, I made a complete sewing video tutorial.
0 Comments
I made myself a bra and realized at the very end that the bridge wasn't wide enough at the bottom. Instead of tossing it (or torturing myself by being squished) I realized I could add more room to the width of the bridge. Separator wire to the rescue!
Now that we are finished with the Delvine Bralette Sew-Along in the Bra Makers group, I am sharing the videos here for you to watch at your convenience. I hope they are helpful! Happy Sewing! I'm back with the third pattern hack for the Delvine Bralette. I wanted to create a longline bralette with a more vintage feel, and also add some features that will increase support and coverage.
Hello, my sewing friends. Things are a bit scary out there, aren't they? So many events shutting down, schools closing, and the first prospective case of COVID-19 has been reported in my county. My close sewing friends and I all fall into the high-risk categories, so I'm feeling a bit nervous.
I don't know about you, but at times like this my hobbies become even more important to me as a way of dealing with stress and keeping my mind occupied. I've been spending a lot of time out in my garden planting vegetables, and at my sewing machine with some quilting and easy sewing projects. I hope you are finding the same sort of comfort in your crafting projects too. On that note, I decided to have a pattern sale in the hopes that this weekend we can all stay in and do a bit of mindless sewing with some easy projects. Now until March 20, 2020 all patterns are 20% off when you use coupon code STAYHOMEANDSEW. This coupon works both in my pattern store on this website and my Etsy store. Stay calm and sew on. And wash your hands :) Be safe, my friends, I'll be praying for all of us. Even though my valentine is far away this year, I made myself a pretty (and comfortable!) magenta lace set for Valentine's Day!
I'm so happy to share with you my new pattern, Elodie Briefs!
While I love wearing different styles of undies, full-coverage briefs are my favorite these days. I've nearly worn out almost all the pairs of Daisy Briefs I've made, so I decided it was time to make another brief pattern. This week has been cold and dreary, so can I pretend that spring is coming soon with sunny skies and flowers?
Last week I sewed up this shirt out of llama printed flannel using a self-drafted pattern. When I showed it to my husband and mentioned I had fabric leftover, he said, "I'd totally wear a shirt out of that fabric!" But there wasn't enough leftover to make a shirt, and I was trying to think up an alternate project.
I wore the shirt a few days later to my quilting bee and told the story to my friends, and they said, "Make him boxer shorts instead!" Hah! What a good idea. I don't have a pant block drafted to my husband's measurements, and didn't have time to make one, so I decided to just go search for a boxer short pattern. I found 400 Oak Street by Green Style Creations. They sewed up pretty quickly and I'm pleased with how they came out. Whether they fit or not remains to be seen; these are a Valentine's Day present. I didn't see many reviews for this pattern, so I'll give you a short summary of the pros and cons. When I talk about sewing my own bras and panties, one of the comments I hear most often is, “I can’t do that, I don’t have a serger!”
Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a serger to sew knits! Is it nice to have a serger? Of course! But, if I can be honest, most of the time I don’t use a serger when sewing panties; the raw edges are usually (but not always) covered with elastic and only the side seams have exposed edges. Since I can sew a basic pair of panties in under half an hour, it doesn’t seem worth the trouble changing out the threads on my serger. So, if not a serger, do you need any special stitches? The answer is yes, and I’ll bet your machine has them! Below I’ll share the two essential stitches needed to sew your own bras and panties, and two other stitches that are nice to have. Happy New Year, sewing friends!
A new year means lots of new things to come here. More patterns, tutorials and videos are coming your way. Is there something you'd like to see? Let me know by leaving a comment below, or filling out my contact form. Thanks! I’m starting a featured set of the week, with details on the patterns, fabrics and trims. To begin, here is Black & Tan: Have you ever used pattern weights? I hadn't heard of them until I worked in the fashion industry and saw the sample cutter using large cast iron pattern weights instead of pins to hold down the pattern pieces. It made sense in that instance, since patterns were printed on heavy paper and not flimsy tissue paper.
But are pattern weights good for home sewing use? I definitely think so. Supposedly they are more accurate than pins, because the fabric is not being distorted. I'm not the queen of accuracy, so I can't really say I noticed a huge difference in the accuracy of my cutting. But I did find them much faster to use than pins. Instead of spending lots of time adding in pins, I just plop down the weights in the corners and halfway down the seams, and I'm ready to cut. Pattern weights work best if you are using a rotary cutter. The sample cutter with the industrial pattern weights did use scissors, but I don't really know how he was able to cut right along the edge of the pattern pieces. You can buy Dritz pattern weights from Joann, but at $17 for 4 they are quite pricey. Four pattern weights wouldn't get you very far, so you would need at least two sets. Thankfully, I found how to make my own! I went to my local home improvement store and bought the largest washers I could find. I think they are about 1-3/4" wide. I stacked three on top of each other, then used scraps of yarn to wind around and around until all the washers were covered. If you don't have yarn, you can also use narrow strips of thin fabric, maybe leftover bias binding or selvedges. You want to cover up all the metal edges so that nothing will get snagged on the fabric. Easy, right? I have nine of these homemade pattern weights and I use them on every project. If you make a lot of bras, or anything with tiny pieces, you might wish to make a few smaller weights as well. I was given a set of the Dritz pattern weights, which are smaller than the ones I made, and I frequently end up using them when I cut out a bra project. Do you use pattern weights? Do you prefer them over pins? I'm sure many (if not most) sewists today have a magnetic pincushion just like the one pictured above. I've had this particular once for almost as long as I have been sewing. But one pincushion is never quite enough, is it? I don't know about you, but I pin at my cutting table, then carry the pieces over to another room with my sewing table. I usually forget to bring the pincushion with me, so I usually spend half my sewing time traipsing back and forth across my house. So, I decided to get another magnetic pincushion, only to find out that they are expensive! I believe at Joann right now they are around $15. Ridiculous! There must be a cheaper solution. Well, I can thank my husband for solving the problem. One day on a shopping trip, we stopped by Harbor Freight Tools. While he did his thing, I was wandering around and saw quite a few tools that are great for sewing! Here is what I found, a 4" magnetic bowl (same size as the pin cushion from Joann) but for $3! Now, of course it doesn't come in pretty colors, but if I have to choose between form and function, I'm definitely going to choose function! And at that price, I bought two so I have multiple pin cushions around my sewing areas. I also like to put the screws and throat plate on here when I clean my machine, so nothing gets lost. You do clean under your feed dogs, right? Right?... ok, maybe that's a blog post for another day.
Do you shop for sewing tools at the hardware store? |
CassieI design lingerie sewing patterns for everyday comfort and feminine style in an inclusive size range. Fill up your underwear drawer with beautiful custom-made bras and panties in your favorite fabrics and trims, designed to fit your body. Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
|