Thread Den

Learn to Sew Melbourne

Sewing Tips

Tips for cutting out fabric when sewing

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These are the top tips for cutting out your fabric that we share when you join a sewing workshop at Thread Den. Doing a great job of cutting out all your pattern pieces before you even start sewing will help the rest of your project go smoothly.

  • Keep the shears and fabric as close to the tabletop as possible. Keep your fabric flat, do not lift it up or off the table to access it. You can scootch your shears along the tabletop (keeping the lower blade touching the tabletop).
  • Keep your shears straight.
  • Take long cuts.
  • Peel the fabric of the cutout pattern pieces out of your way as you cut.
  • Keep the pattern pieces on the left of your shears (if right-handed).
  • Use lovely sharp fabric shears.
  • When snipping in your notches, never cut them deeper than the seam allowance. 5mm or less is about right.

Sew a simple face mask

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YouTube Watch it on YouTube – click here.

We’ve put together a video to help with making face masks. We’ve kept it simple so you can make these for yourself and your family.

We used this pattern from Birch Creative – click here.

The face mask made in the video is from a pillow case. The high thread count makes for a good tight weave fabric and this was a cotton poly-blend. Also we opted for three layers of fabric. For extra options on the ties, we popped two ties on each side. We couldn’t decide if ties around the back of the head or behind the ears was most comfortable, so we’ve allowed for both options.

Victoria State Government advice on supplies and instructions to make a rectangular cloth mask – click here.

Simple Face Mask Banner

Threading your needle

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Quick tip:

Make it easier to thread your machine needle; snip your thread on an angle to give it a point and always ensure your needle is in its highest position as you thread it. Before you know it, your fingers will remember exactly where to go. 

Old fashioned or necessary: Hang the garment?

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Have you ever come across the instruction “hang the garment for 24 hours”. It may seem unnecessary or even a bit of an old fashioned wive’s tale. But this instruction is necessary and has a purpose. 

 

A circle skirt covers all the angles of the fabric, think of the skirt hanging on your body – at the front the grain line hangs vertically, on your hips the cross grain hangs vertically, in between the bias is hanging vertically.

 

If you pull on the angles of your fabric you would find there is very little give along the grain line, there is some give along the cross grain, and there is loads of give or stretch along the bias. Once hanging the bias will stretch and this makes the hem drop more at the bias angles. By hanging your garment, you allow the dropping to occur before hemming.

 

Make a circle skirt in our class and learn all about the bias and handling the fabric, inserting an invisible zip, attaching a waistband and how to narrow hem all that fabric! Make a Circle Skirt at Thread Den.

 

Image from Melly Sews

Terminology – is grading, alterations?

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Pattern grading should not be confused with pattern alterations. Alterations are the process of making a pattern fit the nuances of an individual body. Whereas, grading is the process of creating a range of new sizes, or a size run.

Grading may simply be defined as the increasing or decreasing of a pattern according to a set of corresponding body measurements.  The secret to professional grading is to understand where the body requires these changes.[1]

Patterns can be graded using: the cut and spread method, pattern shifting or with computer grading.

We teach the basics of Grading in a 3 hour workshop at Thread Den – click here to read more.

[Read more…] about Terminology – is grading, alterations?

Terminology – Sloper or Block?

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Sewing terms change internationally, which is confusing, slopers and blocks are one of those terms:

In Australia when we refer to a pattern block, we are referring to the basic shapes that sewing patterns start from. There is a skirt block, bodice block, pants block, torso block and sleeve block.  The USA refers to these as slopers.

A block can be fit to a standard size or custom to fit you perfectly. You then use this as the basis to draft your own designs and variations.

Book into our pattern drafting program and you will not only custom fit your own block, but learn to draft your own design variations. Read more here.