A college student sat in our kitchen last week and told me of his experience at a local alteration shop. He had needed some sewing done and noticed a shop along the road. He didn’t know to call around and see what the going rate was for what he needed. He needed three repairs done…
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How To Fix Boning Issues
I’d like to address how to fix a few problems with the boning in your wedding dress, formal dress, corset, tops or really anything that has boning! Please read to the end because I address more issues other than this one that pertain to other problems you might have with boning. Recently, a customer tried…
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How To Take in Side Seams and Facings
This is a mother of the bride dress and jacket that a customer brought in. The short jacket needs to be altered at the sides. The jacket does not have lining, but it does have facings. And because of the facings, we will need to alter both. So, let’s learn how to take in side…
Read MoreHow to Alter a Dress or Top With Binding
You may have a garment that you need to alter but it has bias binding (or edging) along the armhole and/or neckline edge. The binding is a separate, narrow, bias strip of fabric that is sewn on to the garment. Here is an example of what binding looks like: Many customers ask me to make this alteration…
Read MoreFrench Seams
I want to teach you how to alter a garment that has French Seams in it. But, first, I’d like to talk about what they are and show you how they are made. The French Seam is a seam that is encased within itself so that no raw edges can be seen. You’ve probably seen French…
Read MoreSnow in May?
I just had to show you what we woke up to this morning: We don’t typically get snow in May, especially not after Mother’s Day! We don’t like to see it this late in the Spring as the snow can ruin the blossoms and the branches on trees. It’s just weird seeing snow on tulips…
Read MoreHow To Add a Corset Back to Your Dress…Option #2
You may have already read my post on Adding a Corset Back To Your Wedding Dress. Both that first post and this post offer a great option for dresses that don’t zip all the way up. This is a way to add extra room in any dress or top. Usually, you’ll find this option on…
Read MoreHow To Shorten Spaghetti Straps
Let me show you how easy it is to shorten the spaghetti straps on your dress. This is a prom dress whose straps were too long for the customer: On this dress, there are four straps on each side. But, the technique is the same whether you have one spaghetti strap or several. Not only did this…
Read MoreHow To Hem a Bubble Dress
Let me show you how easy it is to hem a bubble dress. Here is a strapless gown that a customer brought in earlier this week: Sometimes, if the dress isn’t overly long, I can just tack the dress up at random spots and stitch a bar tack in to hold up the hem. Most…
Read MoreSewing Machine Needles…How to Choose The Right One
How do you know what kind of sewing machine needles to use in your machine? Well, I prefer to use Schmetz brand needles. They work. They work well. I have been using them for at least 27 years. Before that, I used my mom’s Singer machine and just used Singer needles on it. But then,…
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The Sewing Garden 