Sewing Quick Tips

If you need to duplicate a pattern, try using waxed paper. It’s lightweight, see-through, and most of us have it on hand in our cupboard. If you need larger pieces, just tape the paper together.

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Did you know that some fabric designs can be printed onto the fabric crookedly? This is more common with cheaper fabrics, but expensive fabrics aren’t immune.

And trying to cut pattern pieces from a crooked print can be exasperating. Cutting with the print can result in pieces that are off grain and a final garment that may not hang properly. And cutting with the fabric grain can result in a print that looks skewed in your finished item.

Therefore, before purchasing any print fabric, unroll a length of it first to make sure the design has been printed on grain.

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We’ve all heard the advice, “get extra fabric for matching plaids.” But just how much extra fabric should you get?

Since plaid designs can differ greatly, it can be difficult to give an exact figure, but here are some rough guidelines you can follow:

For a small plaid: Get about 1/8 of a yard extra fabric. If the plaid is very small, you may not even want to bother with matching and therefore wouldn’t need any extra fabric.

For a medium-sized plaid: Get about 1/4 to 1/2 of a yard extra fabric.

For a large plaid: Get about 1 yard extra fabric.

Another guideline you can use is to purchase one or two extra repeats of the design.

And remember to also get extra fabric to allow for possible shrinkage.

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If you need help to sew accurate seams, try using a raised seam guide instead of the flat seam guide on your sewing machine. The edge of your fabric will butt up against the edge of a raised seam guide and therefore not shift easily out of place as it can with a flat seam guide.

You can make your own raised seam guide by wrapping a thick rubber band around the bed of your machine. Or you can layer several pieces of tape together, then adhere this to the bed of your machine.

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Sewing over pins can be convenient (it’s easier to take them out all at once after you’ve sewn a seam than to take each one out as you come to it), but it really isn’t a good idea. Not only could your needle hit a pin and break, which could be dangerous, but it can cause your stitches to come out distorted.

For more great sewing informaton, visit SewingSupport.com.