The Sewing Garden

Repairing Leather

By: Linda June 10, 2009February 23, 2018

Alterationsgolf channel, golf club covers, how to mend holes in leather, how to repair leather, how to sew suede, how to sew through leather, Jean-a-ma-jig, repairing leather, sewing1 Comment

My husband presented me with his golf club cover this morning. It has a big hole in it. If you watch the golf channel (like my husband does), you’ll notice the caddies take the covers off the clubs by grabbing the top of the cover and pulling hard on it. I bet that’s what happened with…

Job Opportunity

By: Linda June 8, 2009March 25, 2021

Alterations, Basic Skills, Sew For Doughextra income sewing at home, How to sew on patches on a uniform, sew patches on uniforms, sewing at home for a living, sewing on patches for fraternities and sororities, soccer mom way to make money at home3 Comments

Are you looking for an additional way to earn some extra cash each month using your sewing skills? You may have thought it wasn’t possible, if you have kids running underfoot and your sewing skills aren’t perfect yet. Or, perhaps your sewing skills are just fine, but you want to be able to stay at home…

The Blind Stitch Hem Foot

By: Linda June 3, 2009February 22, 2018

Alterations, Hemsblind stitch, Do I need a blind stitch hem foot?, Hems, How to sew with a blind stitch hem foot, sew, sewingLeave a Comment

Does your machine come with a blind stitch hem foot? Have you used it before? Most of the time, it is used for stitching hems, but some folks use it to stitch down appliques for quilting or decorating clothes or hand towels. They can make a hem look rather professional. (I used contrasting thread here, but…

How to Hem Without Puckers…For Flared and Tapered Pants

By: Linda June 1, 2009February 25, 2023

Alterations, Hemsflared, hem, how to get gathers out of pants, how to hand sew a hem, How to hem boot cut jeans, how to hem flared pants, how to hem narrow pants, How to hem pants that have bell bottoms, How to hem wide leg jeans or pants, puckers, sew, sewing, tapered41 Comments

Have you ever tried to hem a pair of pants and by the time you were nearly finished sewing it, you realized that you were going to get puckers? It happens to the best of us. But, how do you avoid it? I couldn’t find the answer anywhere in books or on the internet, so I devised…

Mending a Hole Near A Seam…Important Concept!

By: Linda June 1, 2009February 13, 2021

Alterationshow to fix a hole in a garment, how to fix a tear in fabric, how to mend a hole, how to sew up a hole or tear, how to stitch up a hole, how to stitch up a tear in fabric2 Comments

I’ll be back later today with a post on “How To Hem Without Puckers“, but for now I have a quick mending tip. Our oldest daughter was home last weekend and she had a hole in her workout pants near the seam. She hadn’t done this alteration before, but she knew what to do. So, I thought you’d…

Spaghetti Straps…Let’s make some!

By: Linda May 30, 2009February 11, 2021

Alterations, Bridalcamisole, Fast Turn, how to make spaghetti straps, how to make straps fast, how to turn tubes of fabric, sewing, upholstery26 Comments

Alot of what we do as seamstresses, is construct items that enhance a garment or upholstery project. Making spaghetti straps (or straps of any width) or fabric covered tubes falls into that category. It’s an easy process how to make spaghetti straps, so let’s make some like this one in the photo below: I borrowed this great…

Fray Block…What is that?

By: Linda May 29, 2009March 25, 2021

Alterations, Gadgetshow to keep edges of fabric from fraying, how to keep fabric from unravelling, how to stop fraying, what do you use to keep the edges of fabric from fraying?7 Comments

Have you ever tried sewing on fabric that frays and ravels on you? There’s usually a big mess of tangled threads that get in your way. Many store bought garments pop out at the seams because the seam allowance was very narrow to begin with and the fabric started fraying. This may sound weird, but you might want to check the…

Hemming Stretch Knits

By: Linda May 27, 2009February 24, 2018

Alterations, Hemshem, how to hem garments that stretch, how to hem knit items, how to sew with knit fabrics, Schmetz, stretch knits, twin needle17 Comments

Do you have trouble hemming stretchy knits? They can be tricky. Let’s look at the various ways to hem knits so that they don’t stretch out. Then, we’ll look at some alternatives and see if they work as well. This dress is a customer’s. Her dog chewed the hemline and she brought it to me…

How To Thread a Serger Quickly

By: Linda May 26, 2009February 13, 2021

Alterations, Hemshow to set the tension dials on a serger, how to thread a serger, how to thread an overlocker quickly, quick tips on threading an overlocker, tricks on how to thread a serger16 Comments

You may have a serger or overlock machine that doesn’t have automatic threading capability. I don’t either. But I’ve found a way that makes a nice shortcut, so I wanted to show you how to thread a serger quickly. Until I learned this threading shortcut myself, it took so long for me to thread a…

Sergers…Do You Need One?

By: Linda May 22, 2009April 26, 2023

Alterations, Hemschain stitch, Consumer reports overlocker, consumer reports serger, cover stitch, differential feed, do you need a flatlock machine?, Do you need an overlocker?, How to choose a serger, how to use a serger, Should I buy a serger?, What is the advantage of a serger?, What is the advantage of an overlocker?, Why would I want a serger?, Why would I want an overlocker?5 Comments

For many years I lived without a serger (also called an overlocker). First of all, they weren’t even invented when I started to sew. But even years after they were available, I still hadn’t forked over the money to buy one. I hemmed (no pun intended) and hawed about the cost and wondered if I’d ever…