The Differences Between Interfacing

Posted in Uncategorized on 08/10/2012 07:22 am by tbasel

The last post I was talking to you about interfacing, and what it can do for a particular type of garment that you’re working on. It’s all well and fine if you know how to use interfacing, but if you aren’t able to tell the differences between the varieties, than how are you supposed to know what interfacing you’re supposed to use for what design? You won’t!

We now know that interfacing is a fabric that is designed to help give a garment structure, support and shape. It’s often used in shirt collars to keep them looking stiff, and it’s used in waist bands for the same purpose. When you start getting really proficient at your sewing, and you want to take it to the next level, say, fashion design, interfacing will be something you’ll use quite often to ensure that a particular part of your garment can hold its own. So to ensure that you accomplish this, you need to understand that interfacing comes in a variety of different weights. Understanding the weight to fabric ratio isn’t rocket science, for a thicker fabric, you’re going to use a slightly thicker interfacing material, and for thinner, more delicate fabric, you’re going to use something much lighter. See, simple! If you’re having some difficulty in the beginning with determining the right weighted interfacing for whatever it is that you’re working on, take a swatch of the fabric that you’re using into a fabric shop, and have a chat with a professional, they’ll be happy to help!

You are also going to come across another difference, and that is woven and non-woven interfacing. Again, these are pretty simple concepts. Woven interfacing is just that, it’s woven in the same way fabric is woven or knitted. You’re actually able to see threads that are woven in both a horizontal as well as vertical direction. Obviously, this interfacing will cost you a bit more, but is necessary for certain projects. Unwoven interfacing far more common, and less expensive, so if you’re on a budget, or you don’t have time to run all over town looking for a woven option, you might just want to consider unwoven.

Now we get to the difference between fusible and sew-in interfacing. I’ve had a few adventures, shall we call them, with both fusible and sew-in interfacing! I once sewed interfacing into the waist band of my skirt, and then had to try and remove it because I had sewn it in the wrong place. So frustrating. But don’t worry, you probably won’t make the same mistakes I did, and if you do, it’s no big deal! Designing and sewing is supposed to be fun, so let’s talk about these two different types of interfacing.

When you’re standing in the aisle with the interfacing fabric, make sure you touch all of them, because this is first how you will determine weight, and second, determine whether or not you’re looking at fusible or sew-in interfacing. The fusible interfacing will be spotted on side, it will look like hundreds of little holes. This is the side that you’re going to fuse to the fabric with an iron. On the other side, it will feel soft, and somewhat waxy. Sew-in interfacing is exactly the same on both sides, so it doesn’t matter which side you sew it on. Just remember when you’re working with the fusible variety, you’ve already washed your fabric. Pre-washing the fabric ensures that there won’t be any shrinkage after you’ve fused your interfacing, and everything will keep its shape.

 

How to Use Interfacing

Posted in Uncategorized on 06/28/2012 08:45 pm by tbasel

As a sewbie (sewing newbie!), learning all of the components of sewing can be, and probably is for most, incredibly overwhelming. I’ve been teaching myself to sew for the last nine months now, and because I have so much on my plate, it’s really difficult to find time to sit down and do all the research I really want to. However, I do manage to squeeze some time in, and since I’m currently working on a few pieces for my summer wardrobe, so I can take them with me when I travel to Europe this summer, I’ve been spending a great deal more time with my sewing books, and on the blogs. There is one component of sewing that I realized I hadn’t quite done enough research into, and it was something that effecting my finished projects in a negative manner, so I decided that before I made another garment, I was going to get myself educated.

Interfacing is a pertinent component to most garments, and without it, a garment can lack the structure it needs to keep its shape. It’s generally used in places where the fabric needs to be extra strong, like a shirt collar or around a button hole. These are both areas that are either worked often with your fingers, or after several washings (like a shirt collar), can lose their shape, thus the garment loses its integrity. But as important as knowing exactly what it is that interfacing does for a garment, it’s also essential to know when you’re supposed to use it, and what type of interfacing works best with what fabric. So, to save you the trouble of hunting around for online schools that teach sewing and design, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about interfacing in one quick blog post! So let’s go!

As a rule, and because I love anything that’s quick and easy when it comes to sewing, iron-on interfacing is excellent, and in most cases, if I can substitute it for the sew-in kind of interfacing, than I will. Iron-on interfacing works best with structured fabrics, and works fantastic in places like waistbands, collars and cuffs. When you’re working with more delicate fabrics like silk or even satin, I always use sew-in interfacing because I don’t to risk their being any puckering in the fabric. As a rule of thumb, and this is a rule of thumb that should be applied to any sewing project you’re working on, if you do opt for iron-on interfacing, always iron a small test pieces onto a scrap piece of fabric.

First of all, make sure you’re ironing on the correct side onto the fabric. If you iron on the wrong side, you run the risk of ruining your fabric, and that is not fun! So when you’re you’re testing your interfacing on that scrap piece of fabric, this is the best time to ensure that you’re using the right side. When you’re fusing the interfacing to your fabric, do it in little sections. Lift the iron off, and press it back down bits at a time. Don’t iron over it like you were ironing a shirt or something, as that motion can actually move the interfacing around and cause puckering, and you don’t want that!

I also like to use an interfacing that is just a bit lighter than the fabric I’m working with. If you use an interfacing that’s too stiff, it’s going to prevent any movement in your garment, so keep that in mind. If you do happen to use interfacing that’s too light, you can always double up on your layers without having to rip it off to start all over!

 

It’s Sew Easy – Measuring Your Body

Posted in Uncategorized on 05/16/2012 07:57 pm by tbasel

I have a handful of hobbies. Not because I enjoy being crafty, but mostly because I get bored of things rather easily. Perhaps I suffer from a mild form of ADD, or perhaps I’m just one of those people. I love to climb, I love to camp, I love to cycle, but there’s one hobby that I really enjoy and don’t mind clearing off my entire weekend schedule to sit down to do, and that’s sewing. Sewing truly is an art form, and because of my competitive nature, I’m doing everything I possibly can to master this particular craft. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly an inexpensive hobby. It took me a couple of months to save up for my first sewing machine (which I adore!), and I’ve been slowly collecting pieces of fabric here and there over the last few months, so I would have enough to put together a modest, but unique summer wardrobe. It’s not like I have the time to learn how to become a fashion designer, but I can dedicate a few hours once or twice a week to learning how to make clothes that fit me better than the ones I pay an arm and a leg for at the department stores.

I started this blog a while back to encourage sewing enthusiasts who felt like they were all thumbs, to pick up a needle and thread and learn the craft. A scary endeavour for many, myself included, but I don’t know if there’s anything more satisfying that strolling down the street in a vintage pencil skirt that you’ve put together from a pattern in the package to the last thread on the spool. Everyone loves to feel accomplished, and creating your own sense of style is no different.

Before you run out or jump online to start purchasing patterns, and trust me, you’re going to want to because this is a highly addictive hobby, you need to get some really accurate body measurements. The first few items that you sew are obviously not going to fit like a glove, well, unless you’re a long lost descendent of Gianni Versace, but the more accurate you measure your body, the closer you’ll be to getting the fit that you want. So you’ll want to focus on three main areas; Bust, waist and hip. Follow these steps to get the most accurate measurements:

Bust

Stand tall, but don’t hold your breath, or your expanded rib cage will alter the measurements. Just breathe normally. Wrap the measuring tape around the fullest part of your bust and have the ends meet in the front. Make sure the measuring tape is straight and flat against your back, and not sagging. Also, don’t wear a padded or push-up bra, unless that’s what you wear all the time. Voila, Bust!

Waist

Stand tall, belly muscles relaxed and resist the urge to suck it in! Wrap the tape around at the narrowest part of your waist, unless you’re like those dudes who like to wear their pants under their butt cheeks! Make sure the tape is flat all the way around. Volia, Waist!

Hips

Same as above, stand tall, and try not to be bending all over the place to read the tape. It’s important to make sure that the tape wraps around your hips at their fullest part evenly to ensure you’re not making any clothes that fit too loosely on you. Bring the ends together in the front, and there you’ll have your hips measurement.

Before you cut a stitch of fabric, knowing your size is the most important factor. The rest will come with trial and error!

 

Sewing Your Own Maxi Dress!

Posted in Uncategorized on 03/28/2012 08:24 pm by tbasel

A close girlfriend of mine recently introduced me to the hit show Fashion Star and after my first ‘Star experience’, I’m absolutely hooked. I’m still trying to decide whether I should scold her or thank her for feeding my burgeoning fashion addiction, but since I have my own online shop, and do some designing of my own, this show is fabulous for keeping me on trend. And I tell you what ladies, I could not be more excited to see Maxi Dresses back in the line-up for summer. Not only is my shop brimming with fabulous prints for summer, but with with a trip to Cancun coming up, I’ve decided I’d like to whip up some fab dresses to don on the sizzling Cancun strip.

Making a Maxi dress is much easier than you think! I mean, go to your closet, and pull out your favourite Maxi. Unless it’s a Ted Baker original, your dress is probably constructed of two main pieces of fabric with a little detailing. I’m not here to teach you how to become a fashion designer, but I think every gal should have the skills to whip herself up something she’ll be proud to prance around in! So let me share with you my favourite Maxi Dress tutorials!

Bored & Crafty

This one of my favourite sewing blogs, and I visit her often. The designs are her own, and they’re super feminine, so if you’re a girly-girl who loves ruffles and floral prints, this is definitely a tutorial you’re going to want to check out. While you’re there, you might as well check out one of her ultra fab bag-making or accessory tutorials to coordinate with your amazing new Maxi!

Sew Much Ado

I love this girl! And this is yet another beautiful and girly Soho maxi tutorialthat uses the kind of retro bold print that is really in right now. I’m not super keen on the t-shirt she has underneath in this photo, so my suggestion would be, lose the Tee, and throw on some gorgeous baubles!

Be Beautiful (Youtube Diva)

I’ve actually used this tutorial several times, and the best part is, you don’t have to sew a stitch! I’ve used sheer material and made myself a fabulous beach cover-up, and I’ve used a heavier fabric and made myself a sexy style for date night!

Just remember, to make a floor length Maxi, you’ll almost always want to get yourself 2-2.5 yards of fabric. If you’re really not big on showing those ankles, get a little more, just to be sure!

 

 

 

 

 

How To Design Your Seasonal Wardrobe

Posted in Uncategorized on 03/18/2012 08:08 pm by tbasel

When you first start sewing, and lay out all of your design books and magazines before you, it can feel incredibly overwhelming, you’ll be asking yourself, where do I start? You’ve probably spent some time perusing sites like BurdaStyle, Craftsy, or Pinterest, looking for inspiration for your Spring/Summer wardrobe. This a great way to find pieces you love and will help you edit your style a bit. You won’t learn how to become a fashion designer overnight, but these online tools will help you get started.


Map out Your Plan of Attack

Once you’ve gathered your ideas together from various sites, magazine clippings and anywhere else you find your inspiration, it’s time to pare down your selections. Unless you have an unlimited amount of time on your hands, you don’t have time to make everything you love, so determine what designs you’ll get the most use out of, and place everything else in a “future design” folder. Decide on a manageable number of pieces, and sketch them out. I usually pick about 10 to 12.

The Project Timeline

Sewing your wardrobe is all about time management. If you don’t draw out a timeline, you’ll be working on a summer blazer sometime in November! Whether you place these pieces in a simple list form, or you draw them out, place them in the order of which you want to sew them. This will not only help you work out your timeline, but it will also help you budget for your wardrobe.

Draw Out a Series of Sketches

This where I get a little uncomfortable. My drawings are a laughable at best, but the more I do it, the better I get, and visuals are useful. Use a ‘Croquis‘, an outline of your own body, this way you’ll have a better idea of how a piece will look on your own body, and not on the triple size zero stick-figure staring back at you from the latest issue of Lou Lou.

File Away Extra Clippings for a Rainy Day

My rainy day folder is starting to burst! These are generally designs that have inspired me, but I haven’t had the time to put together. I like to work on them throughout the year. Having an ‘inspiration wall‘ is another way to organize your future projects, and because they’re out in the open, your more likely to get them done!

 

 

She’s Sew Frugal!

Posted in Uncategorized on 03/03/2012 01:34 am by tbasel

A very good friend of mine came over last weekend to work on a few sewing projects with me. I brought her into my office where I do all of my sewing and she  nearly gasped out loud as she walked in the door, “how in the world do you keep everything so orderly?” The answer was two fold. Firstly, I didn’t spend my days chasing after kids around the house like an elementary school teacher (my friend homeschool’s her brood!), so free time is plentiful. And secondly and most importantly, I don’t have a lot of money, and because sewing can be quite a costly hobby, the more organized I am, the less likely I am to spend frivolously on things I don’t need. Here are a few tips that I’ve compiled for you on how to keep watch your pennies and keep your space in order.

1) Designate a sewing storage space, that is, somewhere in your house or studio that’s solely dedicated to your sewing supplies. If you already have fabric, take inventory of what you have, and make a note of it somewhere, that way, when you’re out shopping for more fabric, you’ll know how much space you have at home to store it.

2)  Buy the pattern first! I always hear my girlfriends moaning about how they have so much left-over fabric, they don’t know what to do with it (I wish I had that problem!) and I always tell them that this can be easily avoided by shopping with a list and not on a whim. If you are working with a pattern, look at the instructions, analyze the layout and see if it you really need as much as the pattern asks for. If you’re just starting out, this can be difficult, but if you’re a pro, you it’s a piece of cake!

3) Build up your inventory slowly! We all love sales right? Taking advantage of a sale at your favourite fabric and notions store is the best time to grab things that you may need. This may sound a little over the top, but when ever I feel inspired, or find a pattern I want to use later, I keep a running list of everything I’ll need. When there’s a big sale, I grab my list and head out to knock whatever I can off the list!

These are just a few of the things that help keep my creative juices flowing and my wallet in good shape!

 

Learning to Sew by Hand – The Basting Stitch

Posted in Uncategorized on 02/22/2012 06:36 pm by tbasel

A good designer is an absolute wizard with their sewing machine, and brilliant designer is a master with their sewing needle. With the advent of the sewing machine back in 1790, over time, hand sewing withered away, appreciated by a few, and replaced by the modern machine. But let’s not forget, we’ve hand-sewing our clothes for thousands of years. If you ever make the leap from hobby sewing to couture sewing, learning how to hands-sew is a requirement, and is often essential in finishing a garment.

Couture sewing aside, hand-sewing, or hand-stitching as it’s often called, is commonly used to stitch items together before they are finished with a machine, finish an item, and attaching fasteners. There are several different stitches that can be used to accomplish all of the above, and here are some that may help you with your newest project.

 

Basting Stitches

This is one of the most important stitches you’ll ever use, and the easiest. I use the basting stitch to ensure that the seam on my piece are fitting correctly, and that I’ve put darts in the right place. This is a good practice to get into the habit of before you finish your piece with a machine so you don’t risk ruining the fabric by making a mistake. Basting is also great for working with slippery fabric. Satins and silks can sometimes bunch, gather  and slip in places you don’t want it to, and basting it before you finish it. I’m also a big fan of basting for holding a zipper in place, before attaching my zipper foot to my Janome.

Another incredibly useful basting stitch, is the diagonal basting stitch. I use this form of basting stitch when I’m trying to hold together several pieces of fabric or if I am working with an unusually thick fabric. It’s more stable and just as easy to remove after you’ve finished with a machine. The thicker the fabric, the larger your stitches should be. If you need to sew a blind hem, though you can do it with a machine, I prefer to hand-sew it. For a tutorial on how to master this ultra useful stitch, check out this video.

 

 

 

Let’s Talk Fabric – Crazy for Cotton!

Posted in Uncategorized on 02/16/2012 06:18 pm by tbasel

Once you’ve acquired all of the right tools, the right machine, before an artists can start to create, they need to understand the medium they’re working with. If you are learning how to become a fashion designer, you must understand the inner-workings of the fibres you are working with. And if you’re just learning to sew for fun, working with a difficult fabric  has the ability to throw you off and make you feel discouraged. Knowledge is power, right? Here are a few tips.

Fabric consists of small fibres that can be man-made like polyester, or natural like wool. When you start sewing with patterns, they will often suggest what fabric is best suited for the project. But if you’ve never really touched, or examined fabric closely, it’s hard to know what you’re looking for or what you’re look at exactly.

Cotton. This is one of the most common and versatile fabrics used, and the one you will most likely beexperimenting with first. Cotton comes from the little seed pods or balls of the cotton plant. The United States is one of the largest cotton producers in the world, along with India and several countries in the Middle East. Cotton has several interesting properties that you will want to consider when using it to design a garment. It’s a very dyeable fabric, it doesn’t build up static electricity so it’s great for winter, and it’s because it’s very absorbent, in the heat, it will wick warmth away from the body.

Chambray. This is a cotton fabric that is generally used to make men’s shirts, children’s clothing and women’s blouses. If you are examining it carefully, you’ll notice that it has a striped property to it. It has a coloured warp thread and a white weft thread. 

Jersey. Personally, one of my favourite fabrics, jersey is gererally used for active leisure wear, underwear, and drapey dresses. It’s a fine cotton that is woven to give it some stretch, which makes it ideal for everyone.

Gingham. Another favourite of mine, gingham is a very simple weave that is featured in several colours. It is made distinctive by its groupings of small white and coloured checkers. It has a stiff, slightly rough feel to it, and is generally used for dresses, skirts, and shirts.

Corduroy. It takes some skill to work with corduroy because of its’ thickness. It’s what we call a “soft pile fabric” and is distinctive because of it’s stripes or ribs. These ribs can be varied thicknesses and depending on the thickness, it can be used to make skirts, men’s shirts or children’s clothes.

 

So You Wanna Sew?

Posted in Uncategorized on 01/23/2012 08:33 am by tbasel

Like many women who take up the art of sewing, my interest in making my own clothes came from a lifelong love-hate relationship with designers. I was tired of paying through the nose for poor fabrics, poorly constructed garments and poor fit, it felt like nothing fit me anymore! Not every woman’s body is the same, this we know. So why do we all pay for crap? As Stacy and Clinton always say, women can never just wear clothes off the rack, everything needs to be altered. Well, if that’s the case, then why not just learn to make clothes that fit my body like a glove? So I decided, in protest to the retailers and designers selling me false promises, I would invest some money in a good sewing machine and embark on my sewing journey. But before you master any craft, you need the right tools!

1) A little Homework! Don’t worry, this is fun reading! There are a number of fantastic books out there to help you get started. The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook is excellent. So to is the Collette Sewing Handbook. Both are clearly written, with beautiful illustrations and photos, and come with simple patterns to begin with.

2) The Machine. Just a word of advice, don’t blow your entire budget on a fancy, computerized sewing machine. Bells and whistles are only good if you know how to use them! Shop for a reasonably priced, but reliable sewing machine. Personally, I like the Janome brand. They’re a Japanese designed machine and they last forever. Pfaff is another great machine, a little on the pricey site, so maybe when you start to get really serious, you can save up! Your machine should be able to sew four main stitches, the blind stitch, an overlocking stitch (so you won’t need a serger right off the bat) the zig-zag stitch and the straight stitch. Other than that, a few decorative stitches are nice for finishing, but not completely necessary when you’re just starting.

3) The Toolkit. Just like when you’re learning how to become a tattoo artist, you need a solid set of tools. The same goes for when you’re learning to sew, good tools are everything! Pinking shears (fabric scissors), good thread (I use gutermann thread), a good iron and ironing board, straight pins, a seam ripper, tracing paper, measuring tape, french curve, a tracing wheel, water-soluble fabric marker, and needles. 

4) Patterns. When you can understand a sewing pattern, you unlock the door to a world of possibilities. Patterns are like the blue prints to a garment, the many components to it and how to put it all together. Don’t be worried if you get overwhelmed, anyone’s who tried to read a pattern, has wanted to rip their hair out once or twice! There are a number of great online sources to help you understand.