Teaching Sewing and Alterations for Fun or Profit
This is a close up of a rolled hem: You’ll find them on prom dresses, wedding dresses, casual dresses, skirts and men’s shirt tails. In fact, they are found on all sorts of garments made from all sorts of fabrics. You can make a rolled hem “by hand”. You simply press up 1/8″ along your hemline…
Read MoreMy friend Sharon has a special knack for getting me the perfect gifts for my birthday and Christmas. She seems to know exactly what I need. Maybe it’s because she’s a seamstress too. Mostly, it’s because she is thoughtful and generous. One of these great gifts was this mini iron: They are perfect for those…
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This is what a serged hem looks like up close: Maybe you have a dress, skirt, shirt or even a scarf that really needs this type of hem. You can duplicate this look with your serger (and I’ll give some pointers for how to do this on your sewing machine at the end of this…
Read MoreI just love my rotary cutter. Do you have one? They are so sweet. They make your sewing life a breeze. Also your quilting life. They are like a pizza cutter, except that they cut fabric. They are easy to operate. This model is made by a company called Olfa. Dritz and Omnigrid also make…
Read MoreThis dress came from a mother of a groom and it needed to be taken in in the bust area, so I’d like to show you how to do that. You can use this technique on strapless dresses as well. Do you see the pins in the side seam? There are pins on the other side seam as well. I…
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One thing I’ve noticed is that many of my customers could do simple repairs on their own machines, but they just lack the confidence that they can do it! Do you have some webbing that is loose or chewed up by the dog? Maybe the dog leash? Maybe a backpack? Duffle bag? Repairing webbing is…
Read MoreHave you ever had a halter top or halter dress fit loosely on the side of the bust area? It’s a very common problem. And since halters are so “in” right now, I thought I’d show you how to fix that problem. First, let’s look at the superb diagram below! Aren’t you impressed? It illustrates the basic idea…
Read MoreToday marks what would have been my Dad’s 79th birthday. He passed away two years ago. So, this is to honor him and, being that it’s almost Father’s Day, I figured you wouldn’t mind because there’s some sewing parallels to be observed here. Dad bought me a little battery operated chain stitch sewing machine for my 7th…
Read MoreA dear friend of mine had a bone marrow transplant for cancer and is in remission. She lost all her hair from chemo and it’s growing back. In the meantime, she is wearing scarves over her wigs and wants the scarves altered. Here is the collection of scarves that I need to alter: Maybe you…
Read MoreRecently, a reader inquired about how to hand sew a hem. So, let’s walk that through together. There are many techniques and stitches that can be used, so I just want to say up front that this is not the final word in hemming, but I hope it will help. First, if you would like to look at…
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The Sewing Garden 