Preparing to Sew

photo credit: BHG

Do you ever feel irritated because you just cannot get time to sew? If meals and clean-up and laundry are putting demands on you, here are some suggestions to free up your time:

1. Clean house the night before: Clear away all clutter, and get children to cooperate with you so that they too, can have a day to pursue a homey interest.  Catch up on the laundry and clean the kitchen.

2. Get the next day's meals organized in the refrigerator. Put the ingredients for the slow-cooker in a container so that you can pull it out in the morning and get it started.  Have sandwich ingredients in another large container or box in the fridge. For breakfast, try something that requires very little clean-up.  

3. During the sewing day, use paper plates and cups.

4. Get out your sewing supplies and prepare your fabric by washing it and ironing it if necessary.

5. Get up before the family starts to stir, and get yourself ready and dressed to face the day. Resist the temptation to be too casual, and dress your best. It will keep you alert and energetic.

6. If possible, cut out your sewing project the night before, so that you can easily sit up to the sewing machine and begin.

7. If you still have trouble getting started, you might need a day to go through your books, patterns, and fabric to assemble the ingredients for your project.

8. Insist that everyone clean up after themselves so that you are not more burdened after sewing. 

9. Avoid confusion while sewing.  Mark with colored chalk  SF for side front, and SB for side back, F for front half of sleeve. There is usually a single notch to indicate the front of the sleeve and a double notch for the back.  Sew up all seams you can first, and iron them all at the same time, including facings and ties and sleeves. Iron all hems in place. Once seams are sewn, start joining parts together: skirts to bodices, sleeves to bodice, back to front.

10. Stay organized by continually cleaning up your sewing space as you sew. 

11. Find a place to sew where you can keep your cutting table and sewing out, so that you do not have to gather it all up and put it away every time the room is needed for something else. I have mine in the bedroom, as it is not a high traffic area, and it is not in anyone's way. The sewing things and machine are on a table at the foot of the bed, so that it does not clutter the rest of the room. 

12.  Look at fashions in catalogs and online to get inspired for your sewing.  I found these at Australian online Targets and K-Marts, and have used the pictures to give me some ideas.  It is summer there now and these are some of the clothes that are being sold there, which can easily be imitated, adding sleeves or changing necklines, etc. to suit your needs.

Australian Summer Dress

This is from a US catalog called The Paragon.  

Look at a garment and then mentally add the things that would make it perfect for you: sleeves, collar, higher neckline, longer hem, and so forth.

After looking at some catalogs and pictures of designs, you might get more of an idea of what to make, and be able to make a decision about patterns and fabric.

When I teach sewing, I first show my student the catalogs and point out good features on a dress, to look for.  Then we go to a fabric store and look at fabric, feeling it and determining what would work best. After that we look at the patterns that are on sale for 99c or $1.99 and try to find something that will work with the fabric.  We may also do this the opposite way, by picking the pattern first.

Once you get a sewing area set up, you will find it easier to take a few minutes each day to sew.  Try taking time to sew one part of the garment, such as the bodice or the sleeves.  Each day's sewing will bring you closer to a completed item.

Beginner Sewing: Child's Pillow and Pillow Case

This project is a little more time-consuming, so if you are not feeling really confident about sewing, you may want to wait for an easier project coming up in a future post.

The process for this child's nap-pillow---a little cushion to use for a nap on the couch, is almost the same as for the very first post in which I showed how to make one of those nature bags. The only difference is that there is no handle, and the inner pillow is stuffed and sewn up. Look to the previous posts on beginner sewing, to find instructions if needed.

It is really important to pre-shrink your fabric. Fill a pan with lukewarm water, and put your fabric in it, and leave it soaking for 10 to 20 minutes.  The water will remove the starch, some extra dyes and other things produced by the cotton mill. The fabric shrinks when it has been wet, and when you pre-shrink your fabric before you sew something, you prevent the finished garment or project from shrinking after it has been washed.

  The fabric I like best comes from the cotton mills in the Southern States, and there is good cotton from other sources, such as northern England and India. 

For less wrinkling on cotton fabrics, gently press or squeeze out the excess water, and hang it on a line or fence outside, to dry. Here is one yard of the cotton fabric I have been working with in previous projects. I hope you are not tired of it yet.

Ironing goes hand in hand with sewing, so the next thing to do is press with a very hot steam iron. It makes it easier to cut a straight line, and easier to put your pieces together. Ironing creates a wee bit of static-cling, which is an advantage in sewing, when putting pieces together to stitch. If you use a tissue pattern, iron it on low heat, and it will cling to your fabric.

What you see above is a piece of muslin, cut in a rectangle, the size desired for a child, and stitched on 3 sides. I've shown how to turn a corner so that it will be square when you turn it inside out.

If you are a beginner and just getting used to needle and thread, you might cut across the corner, as in the above photo, but do not worry about it. Just make sure you stitch across the rest of the corners exactly the same way. It will end up being a more rounded corner, but still look fine.

Mark your stitches with pencil if you like. I am using a darker thread so it will show up better in the picture.  Leave a half inch between your stitching and the rough edges, as you see. If you sew too close to that raw edge, your stitching will come undone.

Now, turn the piece so that the stitches are on the inside, and it looks like a bag. It does not matter which end you left open. Be sure you have fastened off your stitches by stitching in the same place several times and making a circle with your thread, pulling your needle through, and  making a knot.

On that open edge that you did not sew, take a hot iron and press it down one fourth or one half inch. You just need to fold it once, as you see, above.

Now it is ready to fill with some kind of soft stuffing. You can get fiber-fill products made of cotton, wool, or polyester. If you do not have stuffing, you might try several layers of thick quilt batting, cutting it just smaller than the pillow, and insert it, like this.

Insert the stuffing or batting, making sure the corners are filled, by pushing it in with your fingers.

With an over-cast stitch, close up that opening, keeping the folds down and joining the top edges of both sides.  I like to take an extra stitch inside the over-cast stitch, to secure the stitching. That way, if one stitch comes undone, the whole thing will not unravel. It is like tying a knot in every stitch. You will have to find someone to show you how to do this.

If you need to distribute the stuffing a little better, shake the pillow from each side. Remember that it does not have to be perfect. You will find that with each small success in sewing, you will strive for more perfection, but these small projects are designed to get you used to working with the needle and thread and the fabric.

Cut a piece of folded fabric a little larger than the pillow, leaving it longer on one end, like this. Notice that one side is folded, and the long side may be the selvage, which is the finished woven edge from the mill. If you put the selvage on the long end, as shown, you will not have to hem that end. Now, beginning at the folded edge, stitch one fourth inch from the raw edges, all around the two unfinished edges. There is very little sewing, for the child's pillow case.

If you do not use the selvage on that end, you will have to iron down a fourth inch, and then fold that down again and press. Stitch as in previous projects.

Turn it inside out and, if you have not used the selvage edge for the opening, iron it down twice and stitch around it. Fasten off.

Here it is plain, and it will do just fine for a little person who falls asleep on the couch. If you want to add trim, just stitch it on, turning the ends under, to make it neat, and fasten off.  By following previous instructions for bags, you can make a matching bag for this pillow, and use it  for an adult, when on the train or plane, or on a car trip.

With sewing, you do not have to stay indoors all day. You can move your sewing equipment to the porch and enjoy the fine weather.


Next in the sewing category: adult pillow case, men's handkerchief, ladies handkerchief, eyeglass case.


How to get time to sew:  Leave the house clean in the evening, and, after the dishes are washed in the morning, and the beds are made and the floors are swept, just get out a basket where you keep your sewing things, and work on one small item.