I've always been a crafty person so now that I am not longer working at CRAFT, I hope to be able to post up some of my own crafty adventures on Coquette and Coquette Maman. I took a trip to Bobbin's Nest last week to visit my friend Dolin and in the process have two new sewing projects to work on.
I am working on Sew Liberated's School House Tunic using the orange print fabric and Oliver + S' Ice Cream Dress Pattern in the other two prints. (The green fabric with white dots will be the trim for the dress.)
A lot of people I meet always tell me they don't have time to sew or want to know how. I learned the following tips from Nancy of Belle Epoque which I hope will help you. The jist is: don't try to tackle a sewing project all in one day if you don't have time. If you do, than I am really jealous of you.
The following steps can be broken down to whatever works for your schedule whether it's done in chunks over the course of a week or over a whole summer. Clothes can be especially fun to sew and once you get the hang of it, you can add your own spin to outfits. The tunic I chose for myself is an easy no button/no zipper pattern and will look fresh for summer in the orange print. Make sure if you are just starting out to not overwhelm yourself with a hard pattern or fancy adornments. Start simple!
Sewing Project Tips
1) Wash and dry your fabric. It's important to do this so any fabric shrinkage will be accounted for before you start sewing.
2) Iron fabric.
3) Trace the size for your pattern on to butcher paper (I am using my daughter's white easel paper) or tracing paper and make sure you note down any of the notches or seam allowances. This will allow you to save your original pattern to use again in case you need to make a larger or smaller size.
4) Cut out your pattern pieces and lay them correctly onto your fabric. Pin them onto the fabric and cut accordingly.
5) Once the pattern pieces are cut along with the fabric, prepare the pieces in the right order to sew. Make sure you have all the right supplies to start sewing your project, especially matching thread to your fabric. Wind up a bobbin with the color of thread you are starting with. I like to use my Simplicity Sidewinder where I can make a few bobbins of various colors I am using all at once.
6) Start sewing. For simple garments like the ones I am doing, make sure you have a good chunk of un-interrupted sewing time. At least 2-4 hours. I will probably start sewing the dresses at night knowing that my daughter is in bed as she sometimes doesn't nap well in the afternoon.
I hope this helps any of you who want to start sewing your own clothes. Stay tuned tomorrow as I will be a part of the blog tour for Vintage Craft Workshop by Cathy Callahan.
