Love to Sew

Join us for a discussion of everything sleeves! We review the three main types of sleeves, walk you through several methods of attaching set-in sleeves, and offer lots of sleeve sewing tips. Plus, we cover sleeve fitting, sleeve pattern hacking, and our favourite sleeve styles.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

#LoveToSewSleeves Challenge!

From the Catch-Up Section:

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Historical Sleeves:

Resources:

Patterns:

Tools:

Other Mentions:

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Sleeves!

Caroline: Sleeves!

Ah! Welcome back, Helen!

Helen: Welcome back! We’re so excited to be back, back, back again with another season of Love to Sew.

Caroline: Yes! We have a lot of fun episodes planned for this season, so hold onto your seam rippers, folks.

Helen: Yeah. And you know, when we’re planning, we always worry that we’re gonna run out of topics one day, and then, we start sharing our ideas and realise we actually have too many topics and we have to narrow it down. It never ceases to amaze me. There is so much to talk about when it comes to sewing.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. I know. The possibilities are truly endless. And this year has been pretty busy at both of our businesses. We have some new projects coming down the pipeline that we’re really excited to share with you all very soon.

But because of that, we’re gonna be doing another season with just the two of us. So no guests this season, but we’re still very excited. It’s gonna be a great season.

Helen: Yes. It’s gonna be so much fun. And speaking of a busy year, I wanna hear how 2023 has been treating you, Caroline, what’s going on? What’s new?

Caroline: Okay. I have to say, January and February are my least favourite months of the year. They are always a struggle for me, and we’re in the middle of February right now, so I don’t know. I’m on the struggle bus a little bit. The short days and the rainy weather, kind of, takes a toll, but I am so excited for sunshine and longer days, and they feel like they’re just within reach, so I’m feeling really optimistic about that.

At Blackbird, we are going to be launching BF patterns, which is our new pattern line soon.

Helen: Yay! Oh, my gosh. So excited!

Caroline: You might have seen… Thank you. I know. I’m so excited, too. Might, you might have seen our new Instagram account, and we’ve, kind of, been teasing, and we’ve previewed our logo over there. It’s @BFPatterns. I’m very excited. I’m also very nervous to launch because we have seriously been working on this for, like, two years. I mean, it’s been, kind of, a side passion for a while, and we’ve revved up development over the past year, but it’s been a long time coming, so we’re hoping for an April launch. But I have learned things don’t always go as planned, so don’t hold me to it. We’ll see.

Helen: We won’t.

Caroline: But we’re really excited. We’re so, so, so close. We’re just, you know, we just wanna make sure that our patterns are really, really good. So we’re making sure that we are crossing all our t’s and dotting all our i’s, and fitting everything really well.

Helen: As you should.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s a lot to organise, to start a pattern company, too. Once you get going, it’s gonna be like an unstoppable train.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. And we have so many things in the pipeline, as well, like, new designs that we are dreaming up. So we’re really, really excited. And it’s gonna feel so good when it launches. So y’all will be on that journey with us cuz it’s hopefully gonna happen this season.

Helen: Yay!

Caroline: And then other things in my world, really just wedding planning. We’re getting married in seven months, and I’m making my dress, and I’m doing a lot of the planning myself. And my brother is actually also getting married on the West Coast just a week after us. We’re calling it “weddingpalooza” ‘cause a lot of our family’s coming out for, like, a full week and a half to be able to come to both of our weddings.

And I’ll actually be taking three weeks off in September for this, which is the longest I think I’ve ever taken off work, like, in my entire adult life. So I’m so pumped for that, and I feel like a lot of this year is gonna just feel like I’m preparing for September, but I’m also trying to make the journey there fun. I’m gonna, I’m gonna have a good time. It’s gonna be a great spring and summer, lots of exciting things happening, lots of planning, but Shea and I are having a lot of fun with it, so…

Helen: And you’re gonna be making your dress, which is so exciting, and I know our listeners are gonna be wanting to hear more about that, at least after it’s finished, but also on the journey with you. And if they wanna hear about that, you can join us on Patreon cuz we talk about all this stuff all the time over there.

Caroline: Yes, we sure do. Okay, Helen, tell me what, what’s going on in Helen’s world?

Helen: Well, 2023 feels like it’s off to a great start so far. By the time this episode comes out, we actually have a new pattern in our collection, the Wildwood Jacket and Vest.

Caroline: Woo.

Helen: I’m so stoked about this design. It’s quilted, and it is really marrying my love of quilting and my love of clothing into one kind of perfect garment, and I’m just, I’m just in love, you know?

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. Yes! Your love of quilting, which started how long ago? When was the first, like, quilt you made, or first time you started learning how to quilt?

Helen: I think it’s been about two years at this point that I’ve, yeah, I’ve been getting into quilting. It started off slow, and it’s been ramping up to quite the pace.

Caroline: It was only a matter of time.

Helen: Yeah. I have such a huge appetite for quilting now, and it’s been such a fun addition to my sewing practice. So this garment pattern really is a great way for me to bring that quilting energy into the business and hopefully, get more people on board and interested in trying out quilted garments. I know they’re pretty trendy right now, so hopefully you’ve got your eye on making one, and Wildwood might be your pick. It’s a really fun design. It comes with a jack and a vest option, which I love. I’m obsessed with the vest.

Caroline: Yes! Oh, my gosh. I got to see a little preview of the photoshoot, and oh, my gosh, they look so good.

Helen: Thanks!

Caroline: I can’t wait for the world to see this pattern. It’s really cool, and there are a lot of quilted jackets out there, but this one is unique. You have some really unique details. You have a vest view. I love the pocket. I love everything about this pattern…

Helen: Aw!

Caroline: …so I’m so excited for it to be out in the world.

Helen: Me, too. Thank you. Yeah, it’s been a, it’s been a big one to tackle, and I’m so pumped that it’s finally out there, so you can go check that out on our website. And other than that, I’m really just looking forward to all things spring. Like you said, I’m over the dreary weather and the short days. Excited for things to get bright again, excited for gardening. I’m just so pumped to get back out there in the garden. So, yeah, it’s been a nice winter, but I am ready for spring and summer, and it does feel like it’s right around the corner.

And in other news, I have an exciting surprise planned, and all I will say is something new is coming your way very soon, like, in the next month. So eyes peeled.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: I know.

Caroline: Is this what I think it is?

Helen: Oh, our patrons know what it is.

Caroline: Okay.

Helen: But I haven’t said it publicly to…

Caroline: …on the main show.

Helen: I know! The broader sewing world, so I am very excited to launch this new project that I’ve been working on for quite some time and yeah, couldn’t be more pumped.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. I am so excited for you. Yay! I think 2023 is gonna be a great year.

Helen: Big year. Yeah. It’s gonna be a big one. I hope our listeners feel the same way. Hopefully, y’all have really exciting things in your year, too, and feel free to tell us about them. We love hearing from you.

Caroline: Okay. Well, with the big year, I feel like we need some big sleeve energy. So should we get into our topic?

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I can’t wait. I can’t believe we haven’t done an episode on sleeves. And when I pitched this topic in our brainstorming session, I was like, simple, think, sleeves.

Caroline: And we were all like, sleeves.

Helen: Sleeves.

Caroline: Sleeves. Wow.

Helen: Just sleeves. Yeah. It sounds maybe a little on the boring side, but I think sleeves have a lot of exciting components. They can certainly look very exciting. They can look so many different ways. And when it comes to sewing, they are one of the more complex things to sew, so I think it’s gonna be a really fun discussion today all about sleeves.

Caroline: Yes, sleeves. Our favourite cosy arm tubes, elbow adornments, vehicles for wrist buttons, forearm concealers. They do it all.

Helen: They do it all. They run the gamut, and so many garments have sleeves. They’re really a basic component of our clothes. Even when garments don’t have sleeves, we’re still thinking about sleeves. A tank top is usually called sleeveless, so you really can’t get away from them.

Caroline: And there are so many styles of sleeves. Choosing a sleeve style is one of the easiest ways to customise your garment, and they’re one of the most fun parts of the pattern to play with, which we’re gonna talk about today.

Helen: But before we get into the nitty gritty of sleeve sewing and design, we wanted to share a few historical sleeve facts with you.

Caroline: Yeah, so removable sleeves for function and fashion have appeared throughout history. In late mediaeval Europe, separate sleeves that were pinned or tied on started to appear. People could remove their outer sleeves for work and roll up the linen sleeves of their roomy chemises. Then, when they went out in public, they could put on their nice clean outer sleeves.

I actually saw a lot of this when I was wedding dress shopping.

Helen: Oh, cool.

Caroline: Yeah. Wedding dress designers love a removable sleeve.

Helen: Oh. It just makes it really customizable for the person, I guess, right?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Is it ‘cause you, like wear, it for some of the ceremony and then not for some?

Caroline: Yeah. You, like, wear the, you could, like, wear a sleeve for your ceremony, and then, you, like remove your sleeve, and you’re like, I’m ready to dance. I’m…

Helen: Yeah. I’m evening wedding now.

Caroline: I found them, kind of, awkward. Like, you would, sort of, pin them or, or button them at the shoulder or sometimes, like, in the front shoulder and back shoulder area. But then, like, the armpits were always, sort of, like, open.

Helen: Oh, yeah. That could be good though. Like, vents.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. That’s true.

Helen: I like when, like, rain jackets have those zippers under the arm so you can open them when you get sweaty.

Caroline: Oh, so cute.

Helen: Yeah. Okay, Caroline, I need your help with this French word.

Caroline: Yes, so that would be engageantes.

Helen: Engageantes were decorative removable sleeves that women wore under the wider sleeves of their bodices or dresses in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were usually white and lacey or embroidered, and this was a genius way to change up the look of a dress. It’s a lot cheaper than getting a whole new dress, which at the time would’ve been very expensive.

Caroline: Oh, so cool. I love the idea of having, like, a fancy sleeve that you can, like, put on different garments.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Just throw it on there. Change the look.

Caroline: And the “leg-of-mutton” sleeve has come in and out of fashion since the 16th century. Also called gigot sleeves, these big puffy sleeves are gathered at the sleeve cap, then narrow down to a fitted wrist. You can find these sleeves in portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, in fashion plates from the 1830s, in adaptations of Anne of Green Gables, and then again on the runways in the 1980s. Everything comes back around again, especially in fashion. So maybe we’ll be seeing some “leg-of-mutton” sleeves…

Helen: BF Patterns!

Caroline: …soon.

Helen: Spring Collection. Leg-of-mutton sleeves.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: These sleeves, honestly, look very uncomfortable to me. Like, the way they narrow down the arm.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: I don’t know. I’m not into it.

Caroline: But you have so much airiness in your, like, shoulder and, like, upper arm…

Helen: Yeah, that’s true.

Caroline: …bicep-area.

Helen: Maybe, maybe they, maybe you can move quite easily in them.

Caroline: Yeah. Lots of room for those guns.

Helen: So what do I know? It’s true.

Sleeve garters are also something that has disappeared from modern clothing. These functional accessories held up men’s shirt sleeves so that the fabric didn’t pool around the cuffs. Starting in, around, the mid-19th century, ready-made shirts came with only one arm length, and that was extra long.

So men, especially working men, would wear sleeve garters to hold the fabric up and prevent the cuffs from getting soiled. You sometimes see them in old movies. I think this is such a cool little historical detail.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I love that they were like, we can’t shorten this sleeve. We’re gonna have to add garters.

Caroline: I love it.

And for many sewists, sewing, your first pair of sleeves is a rite of passage. It may even be the moment when your sewing experience turns a little bit sour.

Helen: Yeah. Pinning the sleeve cap curve into the armscye curve is hard enough, but then you have to sew it in without getting any tucks or gathers. It feels impossible the first time you do it, maybe even the first few times you do it. Swearing is definitely going to happen. I have seen tears in sewing classes, but like everything with sewing, it does get easier and better with experience.

Caroline: Yeah. And we just dropped a bunch of sewing terms, so I wanna define some of them. Sleeve cap. So this is the part of the sleeve that goes over the curve of your shoulder. On a flat pattern piece, it looks like a convex curve.

Helen: Yes. It’s a swoopy bit at the top.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Armscye. One of my all-time favourite sewing terms. This is the part of the bodice that forms the hole that your arm is gonna go through. On the flat pattern piece, it looks like a concave curve.

Caroline: And then easing in this is when you’re setting in a sleeve, you usually need to do a bit of light gathering on the sleeve cap to put the sleeve in smoothly. This is called easing in. Sewing in the sleeve cap without making any tucks from the gathering can be tricky.

Helen: Yeah, especially if there’s a lot of fabric to be eased, and there’s varying amounts depending on the sleeve style.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: And then there’s lots of self-explanatory terms. You hear like underarm, which is under your arm, and shoulder seam, which is across your shoulder and arm hole, which is the hole where your arm goes.

Caroline: Okay, we’ve defined some of these terms, so let’s talk about types of sleeves. There are three main types of sleeves, so we’re gonna go through their pros and cons. First up is the set-in sleeve. These are the most common sleeve type. They usually have a curved armscye and a curved sleeve cap.

Helen: Pattern makers can play around with the height of the sleeve cap and the width of the shoulders to create different styles of set-in sleeves. The height of the sleeve cap is the height that’s put into the curved part of the sleeve. So a more dramatic curve has a higher sleeve cap height, and a more shallow curve has a lower sleeve cap height. So in a classic fitted sleeve, the shoulder width is minimal. The sleeve cap hits right at the joint of the shoulder bone. And for this shoulder width, the sleeve cap is a little bit higher.

Caroline: And then a dropped shoulder garment has a wide shoulder width that drops down over the edge of the shoulders. This combined with a short sleeve cap height makes a more casual look. T-shirts are usually made this way.

Helen: Yeah, if you think about a t-shirt pattern, you’ve probably worked with one. It has that dropped shoulder look, and the armscye curve is actually pretty shallow. It’s not, like, a big old scoop. It’s just, like, a light curve. And then, same goes for the top of the sleeve. It’s not, like, a whoop, like, a mountain, it’s just a little hill.

Caroline: Yeah, just a little hill.

Helen: It’s not a whoop. Set-in sleeves can be hard to sew. We were just talking about that moment in sewing where you do your first set-in sleeve and you’re like, ah, why? And this is mostly because sewing a convex curve to a concave curve is a particular skill that you have to learn in sewing, but we’re gonna give you some tips later on in this episode that do make it easier. So many sewists have learned to make beautiful set-in sleeves, and you can do it, too. It’s one of those magic moments when you’re able to put those two contrasting curves together.

Caroline: Yes, and patterns with set-in sleeves are very hackable. You can create lots of different sleeve styles from a fitted sleeve pattern by slashing and spreading different parts. Patterns with set-in sleeves are also the best patterns to hack into sleeveless garments.

I remember in college we had to do a bunch of exercises where we would take a sleeve and, like, cut it, hack it, slash it, spread it, do all kinds of different things to create different looks, and that was so fun and memorable. I encourage anyone to do that. It’s really, really exciting.

Helen: Yeah, we’re gonna talk about the potential later for hacking…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …sleeves because it really is endless, and it’s, kind of, a, like, standalone pattern piece that you can just mess with only that and leave the bodice as is. So it’s a really fun way to dabble in pattern drafting.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Most fitting advice that you’ll see out there is for garments with set-in sleeves, so it’s a bit easier to figure out how to make adjustments with a set-in sleeve. You won’t find quite as much fitting advice for raglan sleeves or grown-on sleeves, unfortunately. It can be a little bit tricky to find.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. Okay, so speaking of grown-on sleeves, that’s the next sleeve type that we’re gonna talk about. These are cut as one piece with the bodice of the garment. These sleeves are usually loose at the shoulder area so that you can move your arms easily. And these are very straightforward and easy to sew.

Helen: Yeah, grown-on sleeves usually produce some folds under the arms. Depending on the fabric and the pattern that you use, this could look amazing and stylish, or it could look, kind of, messy and bulky. And, of course, that comes down to personal preference as well.

Grown-on sleeves are usually best paired with fabrics that don’t hold wrinkles too much because of those folds that are created, and they often look really nice with drapey-er fabrics. Though we have seen some amazing coats with grown-on sleeves, too. Sometimes that volume created in a wool can be really quite becoming, so it does come down to experimentation a lot of the time.

And it can be difficult to hack a garment with grown-on sleeves to have different sleeve styles as well, because it is attached to the bodice. It’s not a separate pattern piece like we were describing earlier.

Caroline: Yeah. I love these sleeves for, like, a quick project because often a grown-on sleeve is, is literally just, you know, you have one piece for the front of the bodice and one piece for the back of the bodice and that’s it.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you’re sewing that together. So it works really well with fabrics with a large scale print or something where you don’t want to interrupt that print with seamlines. And it also just comes together so quickly, which is a win in my book.

Helen: Okay, the last type of sleeve is the raglan sleeve. Raglan sleeves have a seam that runs diagonally from the neck to the underarm, and this gives them a wider underarm than set-in sleeves, which allows for more arm movement.

I often think of raglan tees as, like, baseball tees. When I think raglan, I think baseball, because they have that colour blocked nature to them. Often it’s, like, a white front with a blue sleeve or vice versa.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And so it’s really obvious. You can see those shoulder lines.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. And these sleeves are easy to sew in, and there are usually a few wrinkles under the arms with a raglan sleeve. Not as much as grown-on sleeves, but you can usually expect a few small wrinkles.

Helen: Yeah. And if you usually measure pattern pieces to see what adjustments you might need, raglan sleeves make this a bit harder, at least for the back and shoulder adjustments. And again, there’s just not a ton of information about adjusting raglan sleeves, but they tend to fit more comfortably right out the gate because there is that little bit more room for movement and a little bit of a looser fit.

Caroline: And your Elliot sweater is a raglan sleeve, right?

Helen: Yes, it is. Yeah, and it has, like, a little bit of a scoop to it, which almost makes it like a saddle sleeve, which, yeah, there’s different, kind of, like, variations of raglan that you can have, and they all produce different looks, which I think is really cool.

Caroline: Yeah, that is very cool. Okay, here’s a fun fact. Did you know that the raglan sleeve was named after an actual person named Lord Raglan? He had the sleeve developed after he lost an arm in the Crimean War. It was designed to have greater ease of movement, especially for getting dressed.

Helen: Oh, I love that. I love the, just the concept of being like, to your personal tailor, make me a different type of sleeve, please.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That will allow me to have more ease of movement and we shall name it after me. .

Caroline: Yeah. I, Lord Raglan.

Helen: Okay. Now that we’ve gone over the three main types of sleeves, let’s go back to set-in sleeves for a moment and talk more about that sleeve cap ease.

Caroline: First up, what is sleeve cap ease, Helen? Well, pattern makers will often make the sleeve cap slightly bigger than the armscye that it’s going to be sewn into. This is the sleeve cap ease. This adds a little bit of extra fullness around the top of the shoulder, and that way you can move your arm a little better, and it fits nicely around the flesh of the upper arm.

If there’s no ease in a sleeve, it has a bit of a tighter fit down on top of the shoulder. So that little bit of ease does make quite a difference. And if you have a lot of ease, you even get, like, a little bit of structure happening in the shoulder. It almost, like, goes out from the shoulder and then down the arm.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: So depending on the look you’re going for, the fabric that is gonna be intended to be used for the garment, pattern makers will decide how much ease to put in the sleeve cap.

Caroline: Yeah. And easing in sleeves is, kind of, a big ask because you have to fit extra fabric into the armscye without making gathers or tucks, but it can be done. So we’re gonna talk a little bit about how you can ease in a sleeve gap.

Helen: Yes. The most common method is to sew one to three lines of gathering stitches in between the notches of the sleeve cap, so that front notch and then the double notch on the back. You’re gonna gather those stitches gently, just to make the fabric curve, not to create deep folds or actual tucks and gathers. You’re wanting to create a curved shape.

It’s almost like you’re gonna transform that flat piece of fabric into something that looks like it could sit right on your shoulder. You can actually hold the pattern piece up to your shoulder to have a look and see if the shaping is working. You’re making, like, a little bonnet.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: And then you’re gonna pin the sleeve into the armscye, matching all the notches. And then you’re going to adjust the gathers so that the sleeve cap fits into the armscye, lining up the place where you’re going to be stitching, which is often about five-eighths of an inch in. So keeping that in mind when you’re redistributing your gathers.

Caroline: Yeah. And we’re saying gathers, but we’re really not going for any kind of visible gathering.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It ends up looking quite smooth. And if you have a fabric that steams or presses really well, now could be a good time for you to use some of that steam to, sort of, shrink up the fabric, and it’ll make it so that it fits better in the armhole, and you will have less little tucks and things that you might have to fix later.

If the sleeve cap has very little ease built into the pattern, you may be able to ease it in without even using gathering stitches. Blueprints for Sewing has a tutorial for this. You pin the sleeve cap into the armscye at each of the three notches. Then, you divide the ease evenly by pinning at the halfway points between the notches and then again between those pins.

And when you sew, you’re gently stretching the fabric perpendicular to the seam so that it smooths out. And the fabric will have a bit of stretch because of the curves of the armscye and the sleeve cap; these go across the bias of the fabric. If you’re gonna try this method though, make sure not to stay stitch because that will make even gentle stretching impossible.

Helen: Yeah. Sometimes the stay stitching that you do to stabilise areas while you’re constructing the rest of the garment can be cumbersome when you go to do your sleeve easing in. And I’ve even been in situations where I actually unpick my stay stitching or just take out every 10th stitch or so so that I have some give because it’s, like, too tight, and I’m having trouble getting the stay stitching and the easing to, like, come together properly.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: To get a smooth sleeve cap, hand basting is your friend. It gives you so much control over the easing process, and you can double check that everything looks good before you put in your final machine stitches. When you take it to the machine, things can go awry.

Again, you’re having these two opposite curves that you’re trying to put together, and then you’ve got this, like, shaped sleeve from your gathering, and you’ve got all these stitches everywhere, and it’s very confusing and things slip out of place. So taking a moment to do just, like, a hand basting stitch in between those notches really doesn’t take a lot of time, and it sets you up for success.

Caroline: Yeah, totally worth the time that it takes here.

Helen: I don’t believe you, Caroline. Have you never done it?

Caroline: tI, if it’s like something that I really don’t want to have to sew twice…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Yes. Fair.

Caroline: Especially if it’s dicey and you’re like, ooh, this is gonna be tough to ease in without basting…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …then I’ll do it.

Helen: Or like really beautiful fabric that you’re like, I do not wanna have to, like, take a seam ripper to this delicate…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …silk voile.

Caroline: Totally. And some sewists swear by letting your feed dogs do the work. So when you’re sewing the seam, you would put the sleeve cap side down against the feed dogs, and they’re gonna help you ease in without any tucks. This is because the feed dog’s movement prevents the fabric from getting smushed and folded the way it might if the gathered part was facing up.

And I think this would work best without a walking foot because a walking foot is gonna, kind of, like, counteract that. But yes, I’ve definitely done it this way before. Once I realised, like, oh, you can ease things in by putting that, like, slightly longer piece next to the feed dogs, it’s, kind of, magical when it works.

Helen: Yeah, it is really fun, and it definitely can get the job done. Personally, I like to put the gathered side up because I like to see…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …whether or not I’m creating tucks, so I think it’s, kind of, six of one and whatever works for you.

Caroline: That’s true. Yeah, always just do what works for you.

Helen: Yeah, and it’s important to remember that you can always fix a little tuck or gather, so don’t panic if things don’t go according to plan. Even if you see a tuck form, you don’t need to immediately stop sewing your seam and undo and go back. I mean, you can if you want, but I typically just let that tuck be, finish my seam, and then I will go back and fix it.

I mean, Caroline and I sew all the time, and we still get tucks in our sleeve caps from time to time. It just happens. So if you do wanna fix it, you can simply grab your seam, ripper, unpick one to two inches around where that tuck is formed, and then take it back to your machine and sew that little area again, smoothing it out as much as you can. You can also just leave the tuck in there. If it’s a busy print, you might never see it.

Caroline: That’s so true. Honestly, like, more often than, I’ll get like a little tuck here or there…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …and have to fix it. And sometimes it’s, like, less work to just, like, go in and, like, fix a little tuck than it is to, like, baste the whole thing.

Helen: Get it right the first time?

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. So…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …power through. You got this.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: The traditional way to sew a set-in sleeve is to sew the shoulder seam and the side seam of the bodice first, and then sew the seam along the underarm of the sleeve. So this makes an armhole and a closed sleeve. Then, you do your easing and pin the sleeve into the armscye right sides together.

Helen: Yeah. You’re, like, attaching the two loops together, but this isn’t your only option. You can also sew your sleeves in flat, and this means that the only thing you sew before you add the sleeve is the bodice shoulder seam. Then, you do your easing on the sleeve cap. You pin it into the armscye. Many sewists find this easier to handle than finangiling with that tube and that armhole opening. And when you’ve sewn that up, you just simply sew up the side of the bodice and down the underarm of the sleeve in one long seam. You’ve probably done this already if you’ve sewn t-shirts. This is typically the construction method for basic tees, and it is faster. I really enjoy doing this construction method for knit garments especially.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Helen, have you ever done the, like, tube method where you’re putting, like, a fully constructed sleeve into the armhole and then sewing it in, and then after sewing it, realise that the sleeve is inside out?

Helen: Oh, yes. I can up that though, because one time I did all of that and the sleeve was fully upside down, like, and I put on the bodice, so my arm had to be up in the air because I didn’t mark my notches, and I was being very cavalier and just like, oh, this, this circle goes with this circle and whatever. And yeah.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. That totally is a one up. I, I was just thinking about, like, I, it’s happened to me many times where…

Helen: Oh, yeah.

Caroline: …you look at it and you’re like, yes, this is the right side, is facing the right way, and yes, I can see my seam allowance, so it must be good. And then you, like, put it in, sew it in, and then turn it out, and you’re like, no!

Helen: You’ve got a decorative exterior seam in your shoulder.

Caroline: Yeah, and, like, the only thing more annoying than sewing a sleeve in this method is having to do it twice. So…

Helen: Yeah, it’s truly annoying. Another vote for basting…

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: …because when you base it first, then you have a moment to check. This has happened to me many, many times. I think, because there’s so many things going on when you sew in a sleeve.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So many things to think about that it’s easy to make that little mistake.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly.

Helen: Oh, man.

Caroline: Okay. But back to sewing your sleeves in flat really quick. One of the drawbacks of sewing your sleeves this way is that it can add bulk to the underarm seam, and that can be, kind of, uncomfortable, especially if you’re doing this in a woven application, a woven fabric application.

So there is a third way of sewing in sleeves that gives you the ease of sewing sleeves in flat without the underarm bulk. So in this method, you sew the sleeve cap to the armscye flat, but you leave two inches on each end of the seam. Then, you sew up the side seam and the underarm seam separately and finish them however you want. And then, finally, you’re gonna tuck the sleeve into the armhole and sew those last two inches as if it were a set-in sleeve.

This is so genius. Thank you to Blueprints for Sewing for teaching us that method. And we’re gonna link the article in the show notes, but it’s, kind of, the best of both worlds.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Slightly less confusing, a little bit easier to ease in ‘cause you’re doing it flat and then you don’t get that bulk in the underarm.

Helen: Yeah. And less room for that mistake we were just talking about where you get the wrong sides together.

Caroline: Oh. Yeah.

Helen: Okay. We have a few more just general tips for sleeve sewing success. First of all, we already mentioned make sure to mark those notches because otherwise your sleeve could end up upside down like me.

Caroline: Upside down, inside out, backwards.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. They do also help you from putting your sleeves in backwards, which can happen. Front and back of a sleeve are usually slightly different because they’re matching with the front armscye curve that goes around the front of your body versus the back armscye curve which goes on the back of your body.

And those areas are shaped differently, so the front and back of the sleeve is different. So if you don’t mark your notches, what can happen is you get confused about which sleeve is which, and you might end up with a slightly odd fitting sleeve. It’s probably still gonna be wearable. You might not notice depending on the pattern style, but the sleeve notches are one of the more important notches.

I always say, like, it’s fine if you don’t wanna cut notches. I get it. It’s fine. But, you have to do the sleeve ones. I draw the line.

So traditionally, there’s one notch at the front of the sleeve, two notches at the back of the sleeve, and there’s usually one notch near the sleeve cap. And these notches actually let you know how exactly to ease it in, how much easing you’re gonna be doing and where to put your easing stitches. So that’s another reason not to ignore them.

Caroline: Yeah. And this top notch at the sleeve cap, it’s often where the shoulder seam, kind of, meets the sleeve cap, but not always. So for example, on your Cameron Button Up, Helen, the back yoke is designed to sit slightly forward onto the front. So the top notch aligns with a notch on the back yoke. So that’s one thing to pay attention to and a reason to also notch your armscye…

Helen: Yes, it’s true.

Caroline: …or any of the pieces around the armhole because it’s not always going to line up with the shoulder seam perfectly.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. You wanna watch out for those moments because, yeah, it marks the top of the shoulder which is not necessarily always where the shoulder seam is.

Caroline: Exactly. Okay. So the first sewing step is sometimes to construct your sleeve. Not all sleeves are just one pattern piece. Often, more tailored pieces like coats and blazers have two piece sleeves, and this is allowing the pattern drafter the ability to add more shaping so the sleeve can be designed to follow the natural curve of your relaxed arm. Sometimes there are even little darts in the elbows of sleeves, which is so cool. I love seeing different sleeve constructions and details and seam lines, and there’s some really creative patterns out there.

Helen: Yeah, there really are. And if you’re looking for a good coat pattern that has, like, a fitted set in sleeve, look for one with a two piece sleeve because it will be more comfortable. When you relax your arms at your side, they’re not, like, pinned straight perfect.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Right. They, kind of, sit at a bit of an angle.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: So that’s what that seam is helping to create. And sleeves can have seams in other places, too. A really cool example of this is the Closet Core Sienna Maker Jacket. This one has a horizontal seam on the upper arm that creates a really cool place for a small pocket and a button detail.

It’s a work wear style coat, so this works really well, but you can easily add horizontal seams to sleeves to create opportunities for colour blocking or mixing fabrics. Simply, kind of, cut and add seam allowance, and you’re good to go.

Caroline: And when you pin the sleeve cap to the armscye, it can be helpful to pin along the seam line, not the edges of the pieces. Adding seam allowance to convex and concave curves makes the edge of the convex curve longer than the edge of the concave curve, which is shorter. It’s gonna save you a lot of headache if you pin along the seam line, taking tiny bites out of the fabric with each pin.

Helen: Another tip we have is to pre-press your sleeve hems before you sew your underarm seam. It sucks trying to fit your iron into such a small little tube so you can do it flat beforehand. And then when you go to sew your sleeve hem, it’s a breeze.

Caroline: Yes, and finishing sleeve seams without a surge can be hard, but it is possible to do French seams or even flat felled seams if you can cram them under your machine. Otherwise, a serged finish or a zigzag finish is easiest.

Helen: I’ve done flat felled seams on our Cameron Button Up, and it is funny to, like, try and finagle it through the machine ‘cause you start off at the wide end and you’re like, it’s all going fine. And by the time you get to the narrow end, you’re, like, just eeking it in there. Like, literally, like, trying to sew into this, like, bundle of fabric, but it can be done.

Caroline: You lived to tell the tale.

Helen: I lived to tell the tale. And our final tip is to get yourself a sleeve roll for ironing those small sleeve tubes. You basically stick it inside your sleeve, and then you can iron on the sleeve roll so you’re not pressing creases into either side of your sleeve when you’re trying to press your seams. Total game changer. And if you don’t have one, a rolled up towel works really well for this, too.

Caroline: Yeah, there’s even, like, little tiny ironing boards that are meant just for ironing sleeves. I have one of those…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …which I don’t break out very often, but it feels very fun when you, when you can pull out this tiny, skinny ironing board.

Helen: Love a specialty tool.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. In terms of fitting, there are a few general areas that you wanna assess. We’re gonna describe some adjustments here and tell you how to check if you need them, but we aren’t gonna walk you through each step of each adjustment because that’s no fun to listen to. So for tutorials, check out the show notes on our website. We’re gonna link up some really good ones.

Helen: Yeah, so the first thing you wanna look at is the fit of the shoulder, and that is more of an assessment of the bodice. The seam line on the armscye of a fitted garment is gonna hit at the shoulder joint, at the bone of your shoulder, so you’ll need to press into your shoulder to find this point.

And if you need to adjust the shoulder width on your bodice, look for either a narrow shoulder adjustment or a wide shoulder adjustment. And this is usually done on the upper part of the armscye and the shoulder seam. It’s quite a simple adjustment to make, so if you’re finding that your shoulder seams are typically sitting closer to your neck than they should be or falling off your shoulders, this is definitely one that you’re gonna wanna add to your arsenal. It’s a good one.

Caroline: And a well-fitting armhole doesn’t gape below the underarm. It also isn’t tight and uncomfortable. If you find that your armholes have these problems, you can add or subtract depth from your armhole. This adjustment slashes a horizontal line across the sleeve cap and across the bodice above the bust, and then you spread or overlap the pieces.

Helen: Yeah, I really like this adjustment too because people have different preferences on how much skin they want showing under their arm, and that can depend on what, kind of, undergarments you prefer to wear as well. So it’s really easy to adjust this area to suit your personal preferences.

You can, of course, add or subtract sleeve length as well. It’s a bit more complicated than just adding or taking off length at the very end of the sleeve. If you have a simple sleeve with very little shaping, you could probably get away with just throwing some length onto the end or cutting some length off the end.

But if your sleeve has any shaping to it, it’s a good idea to slash along those lengthen/shorten lines, so you’re not gonna affect the sleeve hem or the cuff attachment seam, if there is one. You can also add a lengthen/shorten line if your pattern doesn’t have one. Just put it somewhere in the middle of the sleeve, and then you’re gonna cut that open and spread or overlap the pieces. Redraw your cut lines, kind of, true up those angles, and then you’re good to go.

Caroline: And you might need a bicep adjustment if your sleeves are too tight or loose over your upper arms. With this adjustment, you slash the sleeve piece into four quarters, and then you spread them or overlap them to get the right fit.

Helen: Yeah, this is another really great one. And you can also mess with the seam allowance on the sleeve. You could shape that seam allowance. You can taper it more or less to get a custom fit for your arms and your fit preferences.

Caroline: Yeah, just remember that you always need a little bit of ease in your sleeves, especially on woven garments. It might feel good when your arms are down, but when you, kind of, move and fold your elbows and act like you’re driving a car or reaching for something.

Helen: Holding a phone.

Caroline: Yeah. Kind of, similar to when you’re testing out a shoulder fit, you wanna test out that movement in your arms before you make any final decisions on the fit of your sleeve.

Helen: Yeah, fitting with sleeves is a little bit complicated because the bodice is involved in a lot of these adjustments.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So what feels like a sleeve fit issue might actually be a bodice fit issue. For example, you lift your arms out in front of you, and the sleeve is digging into your bicep, and it feels really tight. You could make a full bicep adjustment and get more room, but what might be a better choice would be to make a broad back adjustment…

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: …so that when you lift your arms forward, there’s more fabric across your back, and then you don’t feel that restriction. So make sure you’re assessing both of those pieces, the bodice and the sleeve, when you’re thinking about fit here.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay, so let’s talk about fabric. Choosing fabric for your sleeves is a make or break moment for your final garment. You wanna be thinking about the effect you want your sleeves to have. Puffy sleeves and other statement sleeves often need a fabric with volume and body. Woven fabrics that have volume and body include poplin, mid-weight linen, polyester, organza, and silk taffeta. If you make a statement sleeve with too drapey of a fabric, it might turn out looking, kind of, like a deflated balloon.

Helen: Yes. This is true. Dropped sleeves and grown-on sleeves usually look best with a drapey fabric like Tencel twill or rayon challis or knits. If your fabric is too stiff, the shoulders of the garment will stick out from the body and make it look like you’re wearing a really intense, like, shoulder pad situation…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …under your shirt. And this can be a cool look, like, if you like the way that sleeves look when they’re kinda sticking out from your arms. It can look really modern and cool. So it’s not a, you know, a never do it situation. But if that’s not the look you’re going for, it can be disappointing when you finish the garment. So maybe look for a more drapey fabric.

Caroline: Yeah. You’ll also see, like, kind of, bunching and the fabric, sort of, doing weird things in the underarm if you use something that’s not too drapey.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: And if you feel nervous about picking the right fabric, go with one of the suggested fabrics on the pattern envelope or webpage. If you like the way a sleeve looks on a particular sample, it’s often gonna be listed on the website, what fabric that’s made out of.

And you can also look at the pattern hashtags on Instagram. Many sewists include the details of the fabric they used in the comments, and this is a great way to find search terms for online fabric shopping.

Helen: Totally. Okay. I wanna take a moment to talk about different styles of sleeves. We talked about the main, kind of, three camps, but there are so many particular, uniquely designed sleeves out there. And some examples include, like, giant peasant sleeves that are gathered at the sleeve cap, and then the cuff.

Caroline: Slim fitted sleeves with elbow darts.

Helen: There are flutter sleeves that flare out from the shoulder and give that beautiful movement all across the upper arm.

Caroline: You’ll also find classic shirt sleeves with plackets and buttoned cuffs.

Helen: Bell sleeves that are fitted at the top and then flare out towards the wrist.

Caroline: Cap sleeves that are only a couple of inches long.

Helen: And there are so many more. There’s bishop sleeves, cape sleeves, batwing sleeves, petal sleeves, butterfly sleeves, Juliet sleeves, poet sleeves, and, of course, the leg of mutton sleeve.

Caroline: Personal fave. Personal fave.

Helen: Personal fave.

Caroline: We could go on though. There are so many styles, most of which are not actually very common these days. So if you ever wanna look up different sleeve styles, just Google it, and it’s a fun thing to look up.

Helen: It is so fun, especially if you can find a resource, and maybe Lisa can link one up for us in our show notes that has this, where it shows the picture of the sleeve and then the picture of the pattern piece that would make that sleeve.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: So interesting to see.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Do you have a favourite sleeve style or, like, a most worn sleeve style, Helen?

Helen: Well, I do love a statement sleeve, and I am totally here for the pouffy and rufflely cottage core aesthetic . But one sleeve I wanted to mention that I’ve always found so appealing and I’ve never actually tried is a lantern sleeve. This one flares out at the bottom, kind of, like a bell sleeve, but then it’s immediately brought back into the wrist using a separate pattern piece.

It’s almost like a, a circle with a hole in it, and that attaches to the bell sleeve, so you get a look that looks like a lantern. And I just think it is so pretty. And as I’m saying this, I’m thinking, I really do need to try this.

Caroline: I agree. I think that the lantern sleeve is so pretty, and you have to make something with a lantern sleeve so that I can try it on.

Helen: I should make a pattern. I feel like it’s a good sleeve for, like, a winter dress situation.

Caroline: Yeah. Yes.

Helen: With all that being said, my, I do love a dramatic, beautiful statement sleeve. But my most worn sleeve type is just a dropped shoulder sleeve that you find on most t-shirts. I wear our Jackson Tee pattern almost every day.

My everyday lifestyle is very casual, working from home, so I wear a lot of dropped shoulders, and I also wear sleeveless a lot. I’m a big fan of sleeveless tops, so throughout the summer, you pretty much will never see me wearing a sleeve.

Caroline: But we’re still thinking about sleeves ‘cause…

Helen: It’s true.

Caroline: … they’re sleeveless.

Helen: They’re sleeveless. They are lacking in sleeves.

Caroline: Yeah, we’re totally on the same page there. I think we have similar style. And for me, like, the grown-on or drop shoulder sleeve is the most common in my wardrobe. I’m thinking of all of my, kind of, like, boxy tees. Some of them have cuffs, some of them don’t.

And I also definitely gravitate towards the puffy peasant sleeves. I wear a lot of peasanty dresses and ruffly dresses and things like that. Lots of hacks that I’ve, sort of, added ruffles onto sleeves.

And I wear a lot of button up shirts as well. I wanted to give an honourable mention to a shirt sleeve ‘cause, I love a button up. Although I do dislike sewing plackets ‘cause I often just end up rolling up my sleeves and you don’t get to see all of that beautiful detail…

Helen: That’s true.

Caroline: …and all the work that went into it. But yeah, a shirt sleeve definitely makes an appearance in my wardrobe.

Helen: And I mean, if you’re never really gonna wear the shirt unrolled, you can just, like, leave off the cuff…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and the placket and do a straight hem and then just roll her up and nobody will be none the wiser.

Caroline: Totally.

Helen: Okay. As we just mentioned, we both love a statement sleeve. I know it’s not for everybody and that’s totally fine, but with statement sleeves, you can go about as voluminous as you could possibly imagine, or you can do a much more subtle statement and just have a little bit of pouffer ruffle.

We’ve seen some pretty outrageous sleeves on fashion runways, in particular. This is a great place to look for sleeve inspiration. The shoulder is really the perfect place to make a statement, if runways have taught me anything. Looking at you, RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Caroline: Yes! Love a dramatic sleeve! But playing with sleeve style is so much fun, and it’s pretty easy to do. If you have a sleeve shirt that fits you well, you can take that sleeve and make all sorts of changes to it and try out different looks without changing the shape of the bodice. It’s a great way to play with pattern drafting, and it’s actually pretty simple.

Helen: Yeah, in a lot of cases, you’re gonna slash the sleeve pattern vertically, into say, four to six pieces, and then you spread them wherever you want the volume. So, for example, to make a classic puffed sleeve with volume at the sleeve cap and the hem, you take a sleeve pattern, you slash it into those four pieces. You spread the pieces apart evenly.

The further you spread them apart, the puffier the sleeve will be because you’ll have to add more gathers to get it back to the shape it needs to be. And then you’re gonna wanna add some length to your sleeve cap and also a little bit to the hem so that there’s enough fabric for the sleeve to puff out from your shoulder as well. We want width and a bit of height.

Also, if you’re going for really puffy sleeves, you could take off a bit of width at the armscye of your bodice piece if you like. You’re still gonna have really great range of movement because you have all that fabric in your sleeve, and it will make your sleeves puff up even more if you do this. So that’s something to consider as well.

Caroline: Yeah, and when you’re sewing this up, you will gather up all of that excess into the arm side and cuff to create that shoulder and wrist poof. So it’s really a simple construction and you’re actually not worrying about easing in the sleeve ‘cause you have all those gathers anyway.

Helen: Yeah. In this case, you might need to add some kind of cuff because those gathers at the hem of the sleeve need somewhere to go.

Caroline: For sure.

Helen: You’re not just gonna, like, turn them under twice and topstitch.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You’ll have to add a little cuff, or you could add like a channel to put some elastic in instead of doing gathers. So there’s options.

Caroline: Yes, definitely. There’s a few people that I follow on Instagram, I’m thinking specifically of Natalie Ebaugh, who when she was working on one of her patterns, shared her process of deciding, like, how gathered she wanted her sleeve to be. So she tried all these different versions of like, okay, this is, like, two times or three times or four times gathered, which is, that’s, like, how much volume you’re adding basically.

Helen: Mm-hmm.

Caroline: And…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …it’s so crazy, like, the different fabrics, how that will affect the poof of the sleeve, how much gathering. And if you have time on your hands and you like experimenting, this is a really fun way to just, kind of, like, get some creative energy out and experiment with drafting and sewing gathers and puffy sleeves. It’s just all good things.

Helen: Yeah, so fun. There is a fabulous post at The Shapes of Fabric, we’re gonna link that up in the show notes, that actually illustrates seven ways to slash and spread sleeve patterns to get different results. So this is a great way to visualise how you can add volume to your sleeves in lots of different ways.

Caroline: Another great resource is the Pattern Magic books by Tomoko Nakamichi. She does some truly incredible sleeve manipulation. So if you can get your hands on one of those books, check it out.

Helen: So, so cool. You can also learn how to add a sleeve to a sleeveless bodice or remove a sleeve and make a garment sleeveless. The basic idea of removing sleeves is that sleeved garments have a longer shoulder seam and a bit of a deeper armscye than sleeveless garments, so you can move your arms around well.

When you take off the sleeves, you no longer need that extra ease because your arm is free and easy. So you may want to reduce the width of the shoulder seam and then bring up that armscye curve so you’re, kind of, tightening things up and bringing it in towards your neck so that you get the look that you’re going for.

And this is pretty easy to just experiment with on your muslin or even on your garment. You can trim off here and there to, like, get the right placement before you do your finishing, like your arm binding. And you may also want to increase the angle of the shoulder seam for that more fitted look as well. Like, you might wanna taper it down so it follows the angle of your shoulder.

We actually have a tutorial on the Helen’s Closet blog for a sleeveless Gilbert Top hack that shows how to make all of these adjustments, and you can apply that to any sleeve, to any set-in sleeve pattern.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. And adding sleeves is more complicated, but it’s still doable, especially if you have a pattern with sleeves that you like. Basically, you make a template of the armscye of the pattern you like and lay it over the bodice of the sleeveless pattern to trace the new armscye. The article “A New Way to Fit Sleeves” by Judith Newcomb in Threads has some great pictures of this method, as well as some information about drafting your own couture-level, fitted sleeves.

Helen: Yeah, the next level is totally, like, drafting your own sleeve, which is really an interesting process as well. But I love the idea of the quick and dirty, basically, like, pattern mashup. You’re taking the bodice from this pattern and the sleeve and matching armscye from another pattern and making your own little pattern baby.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: I wanna talk briefly about some of the details that you’ll find on sleeves ‘cause there’s a lot of fun things. Sleeve plackets are a classic way to finish a fitted sleeve. They give you room to put your hand through the sleeve and then close that cuff. They’re also very elegant and classy.

Like a welt pocket or a fly, they have a lot of steps, one of which is cutting a slit into your fabric, which is a little intimidating, but just follow the steps one by one, and you will do just fine. And like we said, if you are rolling your sleeves up, it doesn’t even matter if it’s perfect, you can just get through it, and nobody will see it anyway.

And if you’re really nervous, I strongly recommend trying out a placket on a small scrap of fabric first. It’s a really small sewing technique, so you can just grab a couple little scraps and give it a go. Um, and another tip I have is to find a video tutorial or a detailed photo tutorial for sewing a sleeve placket. It’s a great supplement for your pattern instructions.

Or you can just buy our Cameron Button Up because the placket instructions are incredible.

Caroline: Yes, do that.

Cuffs are another common feature on shirts. So classic shirt cuffs close with buttons or cuff links, and they’re interfaced well and fitted to the wrists. Elastic cuffs are comfy and less formal. They’re usually made from elastic threaded through a narrow channel. Using a wider elastic for cuffs is an unexpected and cool detail. And then gathered sleeves are often finished with bands of bias binding.

Helen: Tabs are a more sporty detail that can also be really functional. They can be used to hold up your rolled sleeves, or they can just be put on for looks. Do you remember when pretty much all button up shirts had tabs on them? Like, in the two thousands?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, you could not buy a button up shirt without a tab on it.

Caroline: I know. Yeah.

Helen: You don’t see them as much anymore, but maybe they’ll come back around.

Caroline: They’ll probably come back. Yeah.

Okay. Pockets on your sleeves. We know you want them. We already mentioned the Sienna Maker Jacket by Closet Core. This would also be a cool hack for any utility jacket. Even sewing a patch pocket on your sleeve could be a really fun and cute detail. So don’t discount pockets on sleeves. I feel like they’re, I don’t know, stick a credit card in there. Pair of keys, right? Pair of keys.

Helen: But then what happens when you raise your arms?

Caroline: It needs to close.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. I do like on, like, more athletic wear when there’s that little tiny zipper pocket…

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: …on the arm for the..

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …the ski pass or the credit card or the…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …the key for when you go for your run. I think that’s, that’s smart.

Elbow patches are another fun detail that can suit so many different styles. You can sew canvas rectangles over the elbows of your chore jacket to reinforce them. You can sew leather patches over the elbows of your tweed blazer for an English countryside look. Or you can sew some wacky, colourful embroidered patches over the elbows of your worn out denim shirt. It’s all good. You can pretty much put whatever you want on your elbows. You heard it here first.

Caroline: And finally, shoulder frills are such a cute way to add pzazz to a sleeve. You can make a wide circular frill, gather it, and sandwich it between your f-, sleeve caps and armscye. I’ve seen shoulder frills on puffer jackets lately, which is such a cool detail, but you can add this to pretty much any kind of garment and it really adds, really adds something.

Helen: Yeah. We had a guest blogger do a whole blog post about adding shoulder frills to the Jackson Tee and just adding a, like…

Caroline: So cute.

Helen: …frill in that shoulder seam. So cute.

Caroline: I love that look.

Helen: I really feel like we could do a whole season on sleeves alone. Honestly, this has got me very excited.

Caroline: Yes, Helen. We could do a whole episode about the leg of mutton sleeve alone.

Helen: That’s true. I have so many questions.

Caroline: Oh, we had a ton to cover today, and I think we, at least, touched on most of the sleeve basics. If any of our listeners out there have any sleeve sewing tips, we love to hear them. We always love to hear from you all.

Helen: Yes. And one more thing, we have a really fun sewing challenge for you. Given that this is our first episode of the season, we thought it’d be fun to do a little community event, and we’re calling it #LoveToSewSleeves.

Caroline: Yes. You can sew embellish, draft, or manipulate a sleeve and share it with us on social media by using the #LoveToSewSleeves.

Helen: We can’t wait to see what you do. For example, you could add a trim or embellishment to your sleeves or alter the sleeves of a garment that you already have.

Caroline: Yeah, you can mend a sleeve. You can draft a sleeve. You can hack a sleeve pattern to try a new type of sleeve. Or you can simply just sew a sleeve.

Helen: Yeah, we would love to see it. Please tag us and use that #LoveToSewSleeves.

Caroline: And this is your chance: try to sew a sleeve you’ve always wanted to try or tackle a sleeve sewing technique that you’re nervous about or take something off the mending pile. We’re so excited to see your sleeves. Please do share.

And that’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew Sleeves, I mean Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording today in rainy British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures and resources from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew, and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full length bonus episode and weekly behind the scenes pictures. And for $10 a month you get all that plus a mini episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics that you can use again and again. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you so much for listening and coming back for another season of Love to Sew. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

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Hello Caller, this is the Love to Sew Help Line! What’s your sewing struggle? We answer questions from our listeners about pattern alterations, interfacing, re-fashioning, regaining sewjo after a long break, and more! We also share an inspiring listener email about whether or not to go to fashion school.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Learning Resources:

Patterns:

Other Mentions:

A post shared by Muna And Broad (@munaandbroad)

Transcript: 

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us today as we troubleshoot your sewing problems! Welcome to our sewing helpline.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m great. How are you?

Caroline: I am good. It’s a bittersweet episode ‘cause this is the last episode of this season. Can you believe it?

Helen: Oh, my gosh. This season actually flew by with so much fun recording.

Caroline: Yeah, it was so fun. We had tons of great topics. It was just the two of us this season, which was a little bit different, and I think we had a great time. And the season also marked our five year podcasting anniversary. Like, wow, I can’t believe it’s been five years. I was looking up some stats before we came on to record, and I wanted to ask, did you know that in five years we’ve had 5 million podcast downloads?

Helen: Whoa! 5 million?

Caroline: 5 million.

Helen: Holy. Wow.

Caroline: It’s absolutely wild.

Helen: That is so cool. I love that. Five years, 5 million.

Caroline: Yeah. I wanna thank our listeners for being here and supporting us and downloading the show and listening to the show and loving on us all the time. It’s so fun to make this podcast with you, Helen.

Helen: Oh, it is so fun. Caroline, I love making this podcast with you, and I love sharing it with our listeners. We have some real super fans out there. I know there are lots of folks out there who have been listening since the beginning, so thank you so, so, so much for contributing to that 5 million downloads. That is amazing.

Caroline: Yes. One of my favourite things is seeing those Love To Sew podcast babies. Uh, when folks make one of your patterns with a Blackbird fabric and tag us and we get to see the podcast babies. It’s so cute.

Helen: Yes. #LoveToSewPodcastBaby.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Well, this is our last episode of the season, but if you want to hear from us during the off season, you can find us over on Patreon. We make our full-length, fun, chatty bonus episodes and sewing-focused mini-episodes all year long over there. Plus, depending on the tier that you subscribe at, you can get behind-the-scenes photos and discount codes to Blackbird Fabrics and Helen’s Closet Patterns. Visit patreon.com/LoveToSew to check it out, and if supporting us isn’t in the cards right now, that’s totally okay, too. We just appreciate so much that you listen to the show.

Caroline: Yeah. Thanks everyone for listening. Okay. Let’s start this episode off with some feedback! We got a lovely letter from listener Rosie, which we shared in the questions section of our History of Sewing Patterns episode! Rosie was struggling with life direction and wondering if she should follow her passion and go to fashion school. After hearing that, Karoline wrote to us with her own perspective. We loved it, so we wanted to share it with you. Karoline said hearing Rosie’s letter was like “reading a letter from (herself) 20 years ago.”

Helen: Oh, I love this. And just to be clear, this is Caroline with a K, not Caroline, host of the show.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Caroline says,

“Dear Rosie,

“I too didn’t have anyone to teach me sewing, so I stumbled through it by myself. This was before YouTube, but I got books from the library, found some sewing blogs, and did a lot of trial and error.

“My favourite subjects in school were maths and crafts. I started dreaming of a career in fashion when I was 12. At 19, it was time to choose higher education. I looked into fashion design, but chose the sensible option of computer programming. After half a year, I realised this was not for me, and again, started looking into fashion schools, and this time even sent a few applications. I chose a school that focused on construction and sewing over design. All fashion schools will teach both the design side and the more practical side, but not in equal parts. For me, the transformation of a flat piece of cloth into a three-dimensional object was the most fascinating. Pattern construction is a lot of maths and a lot of fun. So what’s your favourite part of the whole process? Find out what it is, and then, find a school that teaches.

“Fashion school was so much fun! Sure there were people there who were better at sewing when we started, and most were way more creative than me, but I sure aced the pattern drafting. So my designs might have looked boring, but the quality was high. I wasn’t designing for the runway or the next fashion trend, I was designing for life. Find what’s important to you and make that your first priority.

“After school, I got a design gig with a startup. It didn’t go anywhere, but it was a great experience. I then set up my own sewing company for a while. That too, didn’t really go anywhere. Eventually, I got an office job, and fast forward 20 years, now I have a degree in economics and a career in accounting.

“I never regretted getting that first degree in fashion. It taught me so many valuable skills, and even if I don’t earn money from my sewing, I get a lot of other valuable things from it. Seeing the joy in my kids’ eyes when I make them a costume is at the top, but also friendships and fun adventures and the knowledge that I can always clothe my family. And being able to care for our clothes means less shopping and hopefully, a better future. I still dream of one day making a living off sewing, perhaps teaching future generations to sew.

“So I’m here to tell you to follow your dreams. There is plenty of time to change your mind or get a second degree later. Trying new things is always scary, but it also leaves you richer than you were. Think about what’s important to you, and then, go get it.

“Wishing you the best of luck, Karoline, from Norway.”

Caroline: I have goosebumps.

Helen: Me, too. I love this so much.

Caroline: Yeah, thank you so much for your response, Karoline. It’s so great to hear your story, and you have such an encouraging, positive perspective. I love all of this advice, and yeah, I hope Rosie gets to listen to this. We’ll make sure Rosie gets this.

Helen: Yes, definitely.

Okay, I think we’re ready to open our sewing helpline. Operator, can you patch in our first caller?

Emily: Hi, Helen and Caroline. This is Emily calling from Bellingham, Washington, and I’m so excited to call the helpline. I always have so many questions bumping around in my head about my sewing projects, so it’s really nice to ask them out loud. Um, I have two fitting questions today but different projects and different issues.

So, my first issue is that I wanna make a Zadie Jumpsuit, but I often have issues with a V-neck or wrap style being too low on my chest. I have a very small bust, and it’s also high set. Um, I dunno if that’s the right term for it, but, like, the distance between my high bust and my collarbone is really short. And I’m wondering what would be the alteration you recommend if I find that the neckline on the jumpsuit is sitting too low or too wide and not giving me enough coverage? I have a similar issue with the McCall 7969 faux-wrap style dress, which I’d also like to make again this winter and be able to wear without a tank top underneath the coverage.

My second fit question is about pants, and I’m really excited about your new jeans pattern, Helen. Congratulations. My basic challenge with pants is that I have a small waist and muscular legs, so looking at your size chart, and most size charts, I see that my leg measurements are a size, possibly two sizes, larger than my waist and hip measurement. So would you recommend that I start by grading between my hip and waist to the leg? Or would you suggest that I start by adjusting the front leg piece because that’s specifically where my fit issue is? Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions, and I’m so excited to move forward on these projects potentially with your advice. Thank you!

Caroline: Thank you for calling in, Emily. We’ll answer your first question first. For your high set bust, we would recommend trying to shorten the bodice pattern above the bust. If the armscye fits well, you can draw a diagonal line from the centre front above the bust to the side seam under the armscye. And when you cut along that line and overlap the pieces to shorten the bodice, it’s not gonna alter the shape of the armscye, which is what you want here.

However, if the armscye is also too big, you can draw a horizontal line above the bust into the armscye, and then, slash, overlap the pieces, and redraw the armscye curve. If you do this option, you will also need to alter the sleeve pieces. Megan Nielsen has a tutorial for the Matilda Dress Sewalong that shows how to make these adjustments. Of course, the diagrams of the pattern pieces won’t look exactly the same as the pattern pieces you’ll be using, but the principles are the same!

And after you shorten the bodice above the bust, you will want to check the fit of the waistline. This is because the waistline will be raised. So try on your muslin and make sure that the waistline is in the right place. If it’s too high, you’ll need to lengthen the bodice below the bust. That thorough Megan Nielsen tutorial shows how to do this as well. It’s much simpler because there are no armscyes involved! So just some good old slashing and spreading should help you out here.

Helen: Yeah, this is an adjustment that I think a lot of people aren’t aware that they can do. Like, we lengthen and shorten a lot, you know, in the tummy area or on the legs for, like, a skirt or pants, but we don’t often lengthen and shorten above the bust. And it can be really helpful, um, in either direction, depending on your fit issues. I also think with a wrap top, you could, like, curve that front wrap a little bit outwards. So it’s almost, like, a sweetheart wrap, and that will give you a little bit more coverage in front as well. It’s something you could experiment with.

And for your second question about pants, let’s deal with the waist to hip difference first. So think about how your body from your waist to hip is distributed. If the difference is due to the width of your hips, grading between the sizes from waist to hip is the best choice for you, and this is because it will add width at the side seams of the pattern pieces. If the difference in sizes between your hip and waist is mostly due to your butt extending out the back, then you might wanna choose a pattern based on your waist measurement and do a full butt adjustment instead. This will put extra fabric where you need it without changing the placement of that side seam or potentially adding too much fabric to the front of your pants.

And for that waist to leg measurement, since you know the width is due to your quadriceps. Here’s what Colette recommends in their pants fitting cheat sheet, which is a great resource. We’ll link in the show notes. You can “add width at the inseam of the pants front, close to the crotch and tapering down towards the knee.” Your hunch about adjusting the front pants pattern piece is totally correct, and we just wanna reiterate full piece of advice from Alexandra Morgan. You wanna do one adjustment at a time from the top of the pattern to the bottom. So start with your waist to hip adjustment. Get that worked out before you move on to your hip to leg adjustment. Pants fitting does typically involve making muslins, so it’s low pressure, low stakes. Get some, like, cotton and just get going, making some muslins, and you can go from there making adjustments.

Caroline: I think you can also, if you’re wanting to have a little bit of extra security for, like, your real fashion fabric that you end up using, add a little bit to your side seam seam allowance so that you can make some adjustments on your final garment if that is needed.

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: Next caller?

Kristen: Hi, there. My name is Kristen, and I am from St. Louis, Missouri. And I am more of a beginner sewer, uh, confident beginner, but I am having some neck gaping problems on some of the tops, the blouses I’ve made, and I have made them in different sizes thinking maybe it was too small, and I’m just not quite able to figure that out. And tailoring is, is a little bit of a beast, uh, for me to wrap my brain around. So for a more beginner sewer, um, how can we eliminate neck gape? Thank you. Have a great day.

Helen: Aw, thank you so much for your call, Kristen. Neck gaping is a common problem, so you’re definitely not alone. And we have tips for woven and knit garments. So let’s start with the wovens.

If your garment has a neckline that’s cut mostly on the bias, like a wrap dress or a V-neck, you need to take steps to keep it from stretching out. First of all, don’t skip any stay stitching, and we’re not accusing you of skipping the stay stitching, but just in case, we’re gonna mention it. This is when you sew basting stitches around a quarter inch into the seam allowance. This keeps the neckline from stretching along the bias and gaping later on.

Secondly, you might want to consider stabilising the neckline edge. You can sew in twill tape or grosgrain ribbon. You can fuse a thin strip of interfacing along that edge to stabilise it. You’ve got various options here.

Caroline: Yeah, and if your neck line is gaping, mostly in the front, there’s actually a pattern adjustment you can do that moves some of the neckline fullness to the dart if you have a dart. So Tilly and the Buttons has a tutorial for how to do this, and if your neckline is gaping at the back, you may want to add a dart or a curved seam at centre back or along the back neckline. Muna and Broad sometimes work a curved seam into the centre back of their top and dress patterns because a lot of plus size sewists have a rounded upper back, and you can do this for wovens or knits. And as a last ditch effort on woven fabrics, you could pinch out the extra fabric and add a small dart or two to cut down on the gaping.

Helen: And I know you mentioned that tailoring is a bit of a beast and a bit intimidating for you as a beginner, and that’s totally normal. But I wanna reassure you that pattern adjustments are very doable. They are actually really fun once you get the hang of them. And initially, you’re just gonna be working with paper. So, again, the stakes are low here, give it a try and just see what happens. You might find that you really enjoy making pattern adjustments. I, personally, do.

On a knit garment, you could shorten the neckband. The neckband pieces that are provided with knit patterns are, kind of, averaged out over different types of fabrics that you can use with varying degrees of stretch. So it’s not going to work on every single fabric with every single type of stretch out there. You do need to customise these neckbands. So if you sew up your neckband and find it’s too big, you can unpick it and shorten it. Or as you get better at sewing more practice, you’ll know as soon as you start pinning that neckband on that it’s too short or it’s too long, and you’ll be able to adjust before you even sew it.

Caroline: Yeah, and remember to use your iron and lots of steam when you’re pressing out these neck lines cuz that can help a lot to, sort of, shrink everything up.

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: Next caller?

Tanya: Hi, guys. Tanya here from Sunny Melbourne, Australia. Just wondering, how do I know when I need to turn my work to keep it at the same seam allowance. For example, on a pocket I’m top stitching, how do I know if I’m doing five-eighths and then turn? When do I stop? How do I know when to turn? Sometimes it’s a bit more than five eighths. Sometimes it’s a bit less. I’m not sure how to make it nice and neat when I turn. Love your show. Thanks so much. Bye.

Caroline: Hi, Tanya. To be honest, the only way to really know for sure when to pivot your top stitching is to mark it beforehand. So you can either mark out your top stitching lines completely, or you can put a little dot at the corner points so you know where to stop and pivot. Just make sure to test your marking tool on the fabric you’re using first, so you know it’s gonna come out completely.

And also, in case you haven’t heard it, we have a whole all about marking tools, which is gonna help you know what your options are there. But to be honest, a lot of the time I just eyeball it. If you’re an eighth of an inch off, it’s not gonna be noticeable anyway. Just remember the three foot rule. If you can’t tell a mistake from three feet away, it doesn’t count as a mistake.

Helen: It’s so true. I always just eyeball it, and sometimes, I turn that corner on that pocket and I was wrong. And that’s okay. That’s totally fine.

Caroline: Yeah. It helps to really slow down, obviously, as you approach the corner, and…

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: …even, like, with your needle in the fabric, you can lift your presser foot and, sort of, see what’s going on under there as you approach that corner to see, okay, I need to maybe do two more stitches before I turn around and that looks about right.

Helen: Yeah. Alright. Next caller?

Katherine: Hi, Helen and Caroline. This is Katherine calling from Boise, Idaho, and I have a question about pre-washing fabric. So I do always pre-wash all my fabric. Typically, I like to do it as soon as I get my fabric home just to get that first step out of the way. But I’m often buying more than one fabric at once, and so I find myself wondering, do I need to wash each fabric individually even if they have the same care instructions? It just takes a really long time, and it feels wasteful, but I also really don’t want the colours to bleed between fabrics and ruin all my new fabric.

Uh, so I’m wondering if there’s a better way to do this. Is there a way to know if the dye will bleed between fabrics? Basically, just wondering if I need to continue to wash all my fabric individually, or if I can throw it all in the wash together. So thank you so much. I’m really obsessed with your show. I started sewing about a year ago, and it’s been really helpful and informative for me. So thanks.

Helen: Hi, Katherine. So much for calling, and I’m so excited that you just got into sewing a year ago. That’s so awesome. Thank you for listening to the show, and first of all, we want to applaud you for always pre-washing. This is a step that we consider non-skippable for most fabrics, but you’re right that it can be a bit overwhelming washing everything separately, especially if you have small pieces for quilting or something like that. There is a way you can get some information on which fabrics will bleed and which won’t. You can do a test for colour fastness.

So take a small swatch of each fabric you want to test. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be about an inch square. Line those up on a piece of white fabric and just stitch them on willy-nilly. Wet the whole thing thoroughly, and just lay it out to sit for about five minutes. Lift up the swatches to see if they’ve left any dye on the white fabric. Any fabrics that leave dye behind need to be washed alone. The ones that don’t leave dye behind can be washed with a laundry load of similar colours. This is one way to test for colour fastness. I also just tick, stick a corner of the fabric under the tap…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …and wet it and squeeze it and hold my hand underneath to see if any dye comes out. Uh, it’s not nearly as scientific, but that’s my method, and it’s been working pretty well.

Caroline: Yeah, we do this at the office a lot when we’re looking at fabric samples from suppliers, or if we get shipment samples from something that we have coming in, we wanna test out the colour fastness. We’ll just, like, throw it under the uh, faucet and see what happens.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: A little squeeze.

Helen: Exactly. I often will batch wash my fabrics, like with like. So I have a lot of dark colours, I’ll wash those together. It doesn’t necessarily have to be all knits or all wovens. I’ll typically just throw the light colours together, and that will work out fine. If a fabric is bleeding a little bit, throw it in with a colour that’s similar, and it will still be fine. I don’t think it’s a big deal if some of the colour leaks out onto a fabric that’s similarly colored.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Next question?

Renee: Hi, my name’s Renee from Temecula, California, and I have a refashioning question. What is the best way to hem ready to wear jeans? Thank you so much.

Caroline: Hi, Renee. This is a great question. The classic way to hem jeans is to simply cut away the excess and do a single or double fold hem. A single fold hem is probably gonna be the easiest to manage on a machine because it’s less bulky, so you just trim away the excess, finish the raw edge with a zigzag or a serger, press it up once, and top stitch it down. The only issue with this option is that it’s not gonna look as neat if you cuff your jeans.

A double fold hem is gonna look neater for that option, and it’s the traditional way jeans are finished. You’re gonna want a stronger needle than usual, like a denim needle or a size 90 regular point needle. And for the top stitching, take your jeans to the store and try to match the colour and weight of the top stitching thread used on the rest of the jeans. This is the finish that’s gonna allow you to get those really nice, kind of, like, fade lines when you wash your jeans. Um, it’s just gonna really replicate that ready to wear look.

Helen: Exactly, and that will happen faster than you think. When you first hem your jeans, it’s not gonna match the rest of the jeans. It’s gonna look weird. Don’t worry. A few washes is gonna sort that right out. But if your jeans are pre-washed or pre-worn and you really don’t wanna lose that nice wear that’s on the hems, there is a method of hemming that will help you to keep that.

So first you’re gonna figure out how much length you need to lose. Let’s say you wanna hem them two inches shorter. You draw a line half that length, an inch or so above the fold of the hem that’s already there. Fold the hem up along that line with right sides together and use a zipper foot to sew a stitch line right up close to the existing hem, and then you’re gonna trim away the excess seam allowance.

Finish the seam allowance with a zigzag or serger over the edge, and then press it up towards the pant leg. And then your final step is to use a matching thread to the jean’s fabric to subtly top stitch the seam allowance to that pant leg to get it to lie nice and flat. And that way you keep the original hem of the jean. So it’s such a cool method. We’re gonna link a tutorial for it from Sustain My Craft Habit in our show notes if you wanna check this one out.

Caroline: Yes. I was, kind of, blown away by this tutorial cause I hadn’t seen this method before, and Lisa put this in here, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so cool…

Helen: So cool.

Caroline: …cause it’s really invisible, but you’re preserving that beautiful worn in look. So love it.

Helen: Alright. Let’s hear from our next caller.

Carly: Hey, Helen and Caroline. My name’s Carly. I’m @SewingYourWildOats on Instagram. I have a question about a couple jeans patterns I have. They call for a ponte knit or a stretch denim of 30%, which seems really high. I did end up finding some stretch denim that was 30%, but I have some that’s less than that. I was wondering if I could size up and use the one with, like, maybe 10% stretch and just size up. Is that possible? I don’t know. I’m so nervous. I want to, but I just don’t know if I can. I don’t wanna ruin it, so, um, let me know. Thank you!

Caroline: Thank you, Carly. Another jeans question. I love it. Thank you so much for calling. Um, it sounds like the pattern that you’re using is for, kind of, like, a jegging style or legging jeans style with 30% stretch. You can sometimes switch up your stretch percentage and size up, but using 10% stretch for a pattern that calls for 30% stretch seems like too big of a difference to me. If you had some 20% stretch denim, I think you could go up a size and be fine. But I think the results of sizing up two sizes to use this lower stretch denim would be too unpredictable for me to recommend it.

You could either find some 30% stretch denim for this pattern, or find another pattern for your 10% stretch denim, and we’re talking about stretch percentage, not percentage of spandex here, you’re not really gonna find denims with 30% spandex in them. But, um, when you use your little ruler to do a stretch test, this denim needs to stretch 30% for this pattern. So you’re really looking for something that has really good stretch and recovery here.

Helen: Yes, definitely. Sorry to, uh, give you the news you didn’t want to hear here, Carly, but hopefully, you can use this great denim for another project.

Alright. Our next couple of voicemails are from my lovely mother-in-law, Laurie. Let’s play the first one.

Laurie: Hi, this is Laurie calling from Victoria, and I was about to call my darling daughter-in-law but thought, wait, I could call the podcast while the two experts are together. I am about to embark on my first Pona Jacket, very excited, and I’ve bought a gorgeous wool blend and merlon blend anyway, to be dry clean. But the people have said you could also wash it, though it might shrink a little. So my question is, do I pre-wash wool blend material. Thanks a lot. Love your show. Bye.

Helen: Oh, thank you Laurie. Always lovely to hear your voice. Um, and I did get back to Laurie already with an answer to this question ‘cause I’m eager for her to start her project . She has got some wool melton, which is almost like a felt-esque, uh, wool material. That’s great for making coats. And I would pre-wash, uh, your wool blend fabric.

It’s common for fabrics off the bolt to have stuff on them, like sizing for crispness and powders to prevent mould growth. Plus, you absolutely want to get any shrinkage out before you sew up your jacket if it’s something that you want to be able to quickly wash and wear in the future.

Generally, wool blends are easier to care for than pure wools. With that said, you are gonna wanna follow the care instructions for your specific fabric. So usually this is on the product listing online or the bolt in person. If you don’t have access to the care instructions or they’re sparse, here’s what you wanna do, and it’s probably a good idea to do this regardless if you’re working with wool and you’re gonna wash it, is to test a swatch in the washing machine.

So cut a five inch by five inch section of your fabric, throw it into the wash, and then check the fabric for any changes after it comes out. Some wool blends can be washed with cold water on a gentle cycle in the machine. Some need to be hand washed with gentle detergent. If your fabric looks like it’s gonna fray when it’s in the wash, you can finish the edges before you throw it in there with zigzag or serger to keep them from fraying.

Usually, wool blend fabrics are best dried flat, so you can lay out some towels and arrange the fabric, so the grainline is straight. Flip it over every 12 hours or so so it dries evenly. If it seems pretty stable, you could also hang it to dry instead. A shower curtain rod is great for hanging large pieces to dry.

Or if you plan to throw it in the and the dryer, do that with your test swatch and see what happens. We’re looking for shrinkage, we’re looking for texture changes, colour changes, anything that changes from the existing fabric to the washed fabric. And then you get to decide if you’re okay with those changes.

Caroline: Mhm. I’m just imagining, like, laying out a, your yardage of wool fabric for several days on the floor to wash. I know. Honey, what is this fabric in the middle of the house? Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.

Helen: Don’t worry about it. Yeah. Oh, that just needs to be there for, like, 24 more hours. Don’t worry.

Caroline: Don’t worry. Keep the animals away,

Okay, let’s hear Laurie’s next question.

Laurie: Oh, hi, Helen and Caroline. It’s Laurie from Victoria. And my question is about cutting mats, and I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, or if you might think I’m just being too precious, but I cut on a table and I have a, sort of, standard size cutting mat, and often my patterns are too big, and I have to go over the edge. So there’s that little glitch where the pattern goes off the edge, and I have to move the material or do something or cut it with scissors. I’m just wondering what your clever expert tips are for managing a pattern piece that is bigger than your cutting mat. Thanks for your help. Bye.

Caroline: Thanks, Laurie. You really came through for us when we asked for calls. Okay. Before we start giving you ideas, let me tell you having a custom cutting mat that covers the whole table has been amazing. We have these at the Blackbird Warehouse, and I cut all my projects there. And Helen, I know you have this at home as well, right?

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: In your home studio?

Helen: Yes, and it really is amazing. It’s one of those things that when you’re able to upgrade, do it. It is life changing, but everybody who does not have a beautiful full, uh, length table cutting mat does have this problem. It is so, so common. You’re definitely not alone.

Caroline: Yes. So let’s talk about making smaller mats work. If you’re working with shifty fabric, you can put a layer of tissue paper underneath, and then if you need to move your fabric over so you can continue cutting, it won’t shift around too much. You can also do a, kind of, hybrid situation where you pin the pattern to the fabric in the area that’s not on the sewing mat.

You can put paper weights on the part that’s on the cutting mat, and then you can use a rotary cutter on the mat part and scissors to cut the part that hangs off. This is still probably faster than pinning and cutting the whole thing with your scissors. I do this at home because I don’t have a full size cutting mat, and sometimes, I just need to cut out a project at home.

Um, and I always try to place my project so that the most, I don’t know, full difficult part to cut is on my cutting mat, and then I’ll leave just a little bit of excess off the edge, the easiest part to cut, and then I do this, sort of, hybrid situation, and it works quite well. Yeah. What do you think, Helen, do you have any other tips?

Helen: Yeah, I think scissors are your friend here. This is where pinning and cutting with scissors is sometimes more advantageous than cutting with a rotary cutter, even if it is a little bit slower. I do think that shifting your fabric and pattern pieces mid-cut, like when you’re in the middle of cutting a piece, is not a good idea because things are gonna shift out of place. So if you need to move things around, do it in between pieces, but not when you’re in the middle of a piece. So I think Caroline, your idea of that little bit hanging off that you cut with scissors is probably the best solution here.

Another thing you can do is get a second cutting mat. This is what I used to do for years when, uh, and lived in my apartment ,and I did not have a full cutting mat on my table. I had actually three of those 24 by 36 inch Fisker cutting mats, and I had them all laid out in a line and then I taped them together on the back, just using duct tape, so that they wouldn’t shift apart and create gaps. You still get, like, that tiny little bit of fibre that doesn’t cut when you cross the line of the cutting mat. But once you get used to that, you’ll know to go in there with your snips and get it, and that has been a game changer. So if you’re able to get a second cutting mat, tape them together, that’s probably the best solution for you at the moment.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. Next caller, please.

Sandra: Hello, Helen and Caroline. My name is Sandra, and I live in Southwestern Ontario in Canada. I’m a huge fan of the podcast. I’ve listened to all your episodes and many of them several times, and I’m so thankful for everything I’ve learned from the two of you. I’m also a Patreon supporter, and I gotta say that is the best money spent ever. So my question, my sewing puzzler for you is I’ve always wondered on sewing patterns, why the lengthen and shorten line is a double line. Am I supposed to cut it at the top line or the bottom line or in the middle? Or why is it not just a line? That’s my question. Anyway, thanks so much for everything you do. Bye-bye.

Helen: Hi, Sandra. Thank you so much for supporting us on Patreon. That means a lot to us, and thanks for the excellent Patreon plug. I mean, money well spent doesn’t get better than that.

Caroline: Best money spent.

Helen: Best money spent. I love that.

Caroline: Ever. Love that. Thank you, Sandra.

Helen: Yes, thank you. And this is a super interesting question. Um, the reason I think that lengthen and shorten line is a double line is to differentiate it from being a cut line for the pattern. So it might get confusing if it were a single solid line. People might think it’s a cut line for a view or something like that. The double line makes it stand out, and it’s really obvious that it’s a length and shortened line. Uh, we couldn’t find any other reason why in our research. So that’s the answer we’re gonna stick with and go with our gut. But if any listeners out there have any resources that give any other reason, we’d love to hear it.

And as far as where to cut, you can cut on the top line. You can cut on the lower line. You can cut right in the middle. Um, it’s really up to you. There isn’t, like, a hard and fast rule here, but I understand that it’s a bit confusing as to where you’re supposed to put your scissors.

Caroline: Mhm. Okay. Let’s patch in our next caller.

Stephanie: Hi, there. Um, I would consider myself maybe an, an intermediate sewist. I’ve been sewing for quite a while now, but there’s one thing that I just cannot seem to perfect, and that’s bias bound necklines and arm holes. Uh, so I’m talking about, kind of, the invisible, where the, you know, the binding is flipped to the inside, um, to, to to ensure, like, a nice clean edge. And no matter what I do, um, it always seems to, kind of, flip out, um, you know, flip out at the curve.

And I just, I feel like I’ve read so many blogs and so many tutorials, um, and no matter what I do, I just, it, it always seems to flip out, you know, there’s some tutorials that say to tug it a bit, uh, taut. Others say not to at all. Um, and I know there must be some kind of geometry or something about it in terms of the, the shape, the, the circular, um, the circular seamline. Uh, but anyway, any help you could, uh, provide would be very greatly appreciated. And this is coming from Stephanie in London, Ontario.

Caroline: Thanks for calling, Stephanie. Bias bound necklines and arm holes can leave a fabulous clean finish, but many sewists have issues with getting them to lie flat, so you’re not alone here. We do have some good tips for you to get a flat bias finish though.

So the first tip is to use the right weight and drape of bias binding for your fabric. So for drapey fabrics like rayons and silks, the best binding is gonna be made of the same fabric as the garment. Quilting cotton is too heavy for most garments, so save it for binding on heavier fabrics like corduroy and denim and lightweight cottons like lawns, batistes, and poplins are good for mid-weight fabrics. Basically, you wanna use a fabric that’s equal in weight or lighter than your main fabric.

And you can either make your own bias or buy some of the many beautiful options online. Etsy has a lot of them. I think the classic bias tape that you find in big box, like, retail stores, I don’t know the brand, but it’s, sort of, starchy and cottony and thick and comes in a lot of solid colours. That stuff is not necessarily good for most garment making projects, I would say. I would probably not recommend it, especially if you’re making yourself, like, a top in a draping fabric. You really wanna, um, find something with a similar weight and drape to the fabric that you’re using.

Helen: Yeah. And often, I mean, look no further than the fabric that you’re using ideally. You, if you’re making a linen top, you just use that same fabric for the binding, and that’s probably gonna give you the best result.

Our next tip is to, again, stay stitch your neckline and arm holes. They could be stretching out when you’re handling them before attaching the bias binding, which could be what’s part of causing the gaping.

And we found that the bias tape method where each half of the tape folds into the middle does end up lying flatter than the method where you fold the tape in half once and then line up both those raw edges on the edge. They’re both good methods of bias binding. So if you prefer one over the other, that’s totally fine. But in our experience, the one where you fold it towards the middle, which is a little bit more cumbersome, does tend to pay off in the end.

Caroline: Mhm. And you wanna make sure you’re understitching. This is gonna keep the tape from rising up and being visible from the outside of the garment. It helps to just keep everything flat and in place.

Helen: Yeah, and our last tip, actually, our second to last tip, is to leave some slack in the tape when you’re pinning and sewing it onto a curve, especially a really extreme curve. We have a pattern, the York Pinafore, that has a pretty extreme curve around the lower neck, and it trips people up because it does take a lot of slack in the tape to be able to turn it to the wrong side of the fabric successfully without it, kind of, puckering and wanting to flip out.

So the more you’re going around a curve, the more slack you wanna leave in the tape. And I’m not talking about, you know, gathering amount of slack, just making sure that you’re not pulling it taut as you go around that corner, possibly even pushing it so you’re leaving just that little bit of extra so you have room to turn it to the wrong side. Um, and this is something that will become easier to gauge over time as you make more garments.

And then after you finish, of course, you’re gonna wanna use a steamy iron to press your neckline and arm hole flat. Steam is definitely your friend here, so go for it.

Caroline: Yes. Next caller?

Allie: Hello. Thanks for taking my voice note. My name’s Allie. My sewing Instagram is @A_Made_. The question that I have for you relates to mainly jeans making, but also pants making. Um, I have this issue where I am two sizes smaller in my waist, so I have to grade out for the hips, and I find that my thighs in the pants that I make are too big, and there’s just a lot of fabric around there, and I can’t find anything online about how to grade back through the thighs. So what I’d like to do is have say a four at the waist, eight at the hips, then back to a four at the thighs. And I’m wondering if you have tips on how to grade back through the thighs. It’s a little bit of a tricky curvy area on pattern pieces. So if you have any tips, it’d be appreciated. Thank you.

Helen: Thank you, Allie. You can definitely grade back down for the legs of your pants. The first step is to mark your pattern at the fullest point of the hip, uh, at the size that you need. You mentioned a size eight. And then mark at the size eight line just below the crotch seam right after it pivots to become the inseam at that point there.

And then move down and mark a point on the size four line at around the mid-thigh on both the inseam and the side seams, and then make a smoothly curved line between the hip mark and the mid-thigh outseam mark and grade between the crotch mark and the mid-thigh inseam mark.

A little hard to describe over the podcast, but Cashmerette does have a great tutorial for grading between sizes with images that make this really clear. It is totally doable. I understand what you’re saying about the crotch area becoming a little bit confusing. There’s so many different curves happening there. Um, and a lot of times we think that the sizing for pants especially is all happening on that side seam, but it’s also happening on that inseam. So that’s an area that you can grade as well, and it’s definitely not something you wanna overlook.

Caroline: Yes. And happy sewing, Allie.

Helen: Happy sewing. All right. Let’s hear from our next caller.

Katherine: Hello. My name is Katherine from Victoria, BC. I have a question about wool coatings for outside jackets. A friend of mine who has recently passed, bought me the most beautiful wool fabric I ever did see, and I have made a tester jacket with another wool coating from Blackbird Fabrics to see if I like the pattern. And I love the pattern, but it’s just the front is, like, a little bit wavy, and it’s not quite as structured as I would like it. And I can’t add interfacing, I don’t think, because I can’t iron onto the wool because it will melt the wool.

So I don’t know how to make the jacket look structured as, as I’d like. And I really wanna sew this jacket as a process of grieving my, my dear friend who purchased this jacket for me, or who purchased the fabric for me because I made him a jacket. So that was our little trade, and I just want it to be perfect, and I don’t know who to ask for help for this, so I’m happy to have somewhere to ask. Thank you.

Caroline: Hi, Katherine. Thank you so much for calling. This is such a sweet way to honour your friend. I’m so sorry for your loss. You can actually use fusible interfacing with wool fabric. It’s not going to melt. Now, I don’t know the exact fabric that you’re working with, if maybe it’s a wool blend, maybe it has a high polyester content, but typically, wool can definitely take some heat. It can take ironing. It can take a beating. So you want to definitely fuse your pieces if you can, and maybe test on a piece of the fabric first, just to make sure.

But Core Fabrics recommends using a fusible weft interfacing, which adds soft structure without compromising the drape of the fabric. And their second tier recommendation is to use a fusible knit interfacing. However, we’ve also seen some wonderful coats that have used fusible woven interfacing. Lauren from Guthrie & Ghani recommends block fusing for wool fabrics. This is when you interface a large piece of fabric and then cut out the pattern pieces afterwards. Always use a press cloth when you’re applying interfacing. Silk organza is a classic choice for this.

Helen: And if you really don’t like the idea of using fusible interfacing, you can use sew-in interfacing. Instead, you baste the interfacing to the fabric all along the edges of the pattern pieces within the seam allowance, basically adding a whole other layer of fabric to your fabric. And make sure everything is lying very flat when you do the basting so that you don’t get wrinkles and rumples. Then, you’re gonna treat the interfaced fabric as a single layer of fabric when you go ahead to sew the garment.

Caroline: Yeah, and you can also add twill tape along the neckline to stabilise it further. This is a really typical, um, material that you might use with tailoring and coat making. So you would just, um, attach the twill tape by sewing it on along the seam line, along the neckline, and that’s just gonna help it from stretching out or being wavy. You could do this instead of interfacing if you really don’t want to or can’t interface your fabric or alongside it.

Helen: We’re so excited for you to make this coat. I hope you think of your friend with love all through the process and every time you wear it. I just love the idea of sewing being a part of grieving process. I think that’s amazing. So best of luck with your coat and share it with us when you’re done. We wanna see it.

Caroline: Yeah, please do. Okay, let’s patch in our next caller.

Hannah: Hi, this is Hannah calling from Seattle, Washington, USA. I’m calling about, like, standard fitting adjustments that you tend to need on a lot of patterns. Um, how do you know whether to make that adjustment before you cut into your fabric? And is there a way to figure that out without making a muslin for every single thing? I have really narrow shoulders apparently. I didn’t know that until I found out that most patterns are drafted for wider shoulders than mine. Um, so apparently I have narrow shoulders. And should I always be doing a narrow shoulder adjustment? Um, I often will make a muslin and find that, oh, yep, the shoulders need to be narrower, but that might not be the case every single time. But it also seems like a waste to make all those muslins. How do you approach this? Help! Thank you. Love the show. Bye.

Helen: Hi, Hannah. Oh, this is such a balance, isn’t it? Like, you wanna get the right fit, but making a muslin for every single garment is just not realistic for a lot of us. So there is a third option out there since you’ve already done successful narrow shoulder adjustments on past patterns.

Take a pattern that fits you really well and lay it over the pattern you’re about to work with. If there’s a big difference in the shoulder fit, you can tell that you’ll need to make a narrow shoulder adjustment. Of course, this depends on the style line of the pattern, so you’re gonna wanna match a similar style when you’re doing this. Um, and it may not always be a hundred percent accurate, but this is a bit of a shortcut that you can take.

Caroline: Yeah, and another strategy is to measure the pattern pieces and compare them to your body measurements. This might not be a lot of help with deciding if you need a narrow shoulder adjustment, but it can help with other adjustments. Just remember to subtract the seam allowance and leave room for ease. There’s an article on the Thread’s website that tells you how to assess fit by measuring pattern pieces, so we’ll link it in the show notes.

I also just wanted to add, I feel like it’s so relatable when Hannah said, well, apparently I have narrow shoulders. I feel like as sewists, we all have that realisation when we get into sewing multiples of patterns from different companies where you’re like, oh, okay, this is a trend.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And just remember your body is perfect. There are no two, you know, bodies that are exactly the same, and pattern drafters often will sort of draft for what an a-, the average is, but you know, you can’t expect for every pattern to fit you. I find it really helpful to take a look at the instructions and see if there are any fitting notes or information on perhaps what height the pattern is drafted for, if you are often making adjustments, for example, maybe for a long torso or something you, um, you might wanna take a look at the height and see how different that is from your height and that could help you to figure out how many inches to add…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …or remove from a pattern. So you might find that you end up making the same adjustments to a lot of different patterns. And that is A-okay and very normal.

Helen: Totally normal. I mean, I always lengthen a pattern before I sew the muslin. Um, lots of people always lower bust darts because they’re drafted for younger busts, and typically, as we age, that changes, so that’s a really common one. Narrow shoulders is definitely a common one. Sway back is a common one. I mean, there’s just so, so many out there. So if it is something you’re encountering a lot, I mean, go for it. Make that adjustment ahead of time. I still would recommend making a muslin and I don’t think that muslins are a waste of time, but I totally understand your desire to get right into the final project. I am with you there.

Caroline: Mhm. Me, too. Alright. Let’s hear from our next caller.

Natasha: Hi, Love To Sew Podcast. Hi, Helen. Hi, Caroline. My name is Natasha. I am a first time caller, long time listener, and I have a question for you, too. Is it true that using a handwheel too much can mess up the timing on your sewing machine? I hope not. Thank you so much for all that you do and love you two both.

Helen: Oh, thanks for calling Natasha. We love you, too. And this is partially true. You always want to turn the handwheel towards you. You can turn it away from you a little bit, like if you need to release the tension from a bobbin when there’s a bobbin thread nest and everything’s caught up in there. Sometimes you are gonna have to jiggle it backwards a little bit, but try to avoid turning backwards otherwise.

You can turn it towards you as much as you need. Um, it can be a really good way of getting through a tough spot on thick fabrics, but if you turn it away from you too much or too often, it can mess up the timing of your sewing machine. This means that the bobbin and hook won’t catch at the right time, and you won’t be able to stitch at all unless you take your machine to the repair shop to get that timing sorted out. So, proceed with caution. Or backtrack with caution, I suppose.

Caroline: Yeah. Next caller?

Silvana: Hello, Caroline and Helen. Um, this is Silvana from Montreal. My question is regarding sewing, uh, corners, uh, angles, or curves on, on a pattern usually that requires a little bit of a sniping, uh, on one side, so that when we turn the fabric over, we can have a smooth finish. Uh, my question is regarding the snipping. Sometimes I’ve over snipped, or I find that it’s some fabrics, it looks very messy. The finish looks very messy. So is there a way to avoid that? Is there a trick that, uh, you could suggest or maybe I’m just not doing it well. Anyways, I would appreciate, um, your suggestions. Thank you. Bye.

Caroline: Hello, Silvana. This is actually my mom. Thank you so much for calling in, Mom.

Helen: Hi, Mom.

Caroline: Hi, Mom. Um, so clipping into curves and on points can be really helpful, but I think many of us have had the experience of accidentally poking through when you turn it out, which can be so heartbreaking. And when you clip, it’s a good idea to keep an eighth of an inch away from the stitches, kind of, like, a little bit of security so that you’re not clipping through.

Usually, when you’re clipping, you would clip into a convex curve so that the seam allowance can spread out and notch little V’s into a concave curve so that the seam allowance can fold together. However, if the fabric isn’t super bulky, clipping is probably, um, gonna do fine for both. You might not need to do those little V’s.

And to trim points, you can either trim around the point so that the seam allowance is about an eighth of an inch, or you can clip the pointy end of the seam allowance off at an angle. Now, if you have fabric that’s not tightly woven or that comes unravelled easily, I would hesitate to clip, try to see what you can do by turning the piece out gently with a chopstick and pressing it without actually clipping it too much, just to avoid that fabric from unravelling and getting holes in that little point.

Helen: And some people prefer to not clip at all. For example, David Page Coffin had a method of getting a lovely pointy collar by folding the seam allowance, pinching it in place with a hemostat, which is a medical instrument, and then turning the collar right side out. So you’re basically folding that corner instead of having to clip it. You can see this method in action in his article, “How to Make a Perfect Point” in Seamwork Magazine.

I have started doing this on my collars and lightweight pockets, like I’ve been putting a chest pocket on a button up shirt or something. You don’t need to be clipping those corners and cutting them off. You can just fold them, and it makes a really nice, neat little finish.

Caroline: Mhm. And the advantage of this being my mom is that I know some things about her, and I know that last time she was in town, she was asking me if I had recommendations for little snips for her. So I have a feeling that you might not have the right tool for this particular application because clipping into seams like this is not necessarily a job for your fabric shears unless they have a really pointy tip. I love using small snips for this. I have a particular Kai brand snip that is perfect. You really want something sharp and pointy that you can control exactly where that snip ends, and you’ll have less, like, oops moments.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: And I think I need to send my mom some of these little snips because they’re really great.

Helen: Those are the ones with the purple handles, right?

Caroline: Yes. Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. I love my Kai snips. I have those as well. And I also use my appliqué, my Gingher appliqué scissors for notching and snips because they also offer a lot of control and a really nice, precise snip at the end.

Alright. We have one last caller to hear from.

Anna: Hi, Helen. Hi, Caroline. This is Anna. I’m calling from British Columbia, Canada. My question is about your sew-jo. So I had my son over a year ago, and I took an unexpectedly long hiatus from sewing. I’ve definitely been keeping up to date on all the new sewing pattern releases and fabric releases. I’m looking at you, Caroline, um, but I’m just a little bit overwhelmed about where to begin. I feel like I’ve lost all of my sewing skills, so I’m just wondering if you guys have any tips on how to get back into your sewing after you take an extra long sewing hiatus. Thanks so much. Bye.

Helen: Oh, thank you so much for your call, Anna. I’m very excited for you to get back into sewing. I know it can feel nerve-wracking, like, have I forgotten everything? But I can guarantee you that you haven’t. It is truly like riding a bike for those of us out there who know how to ride a bike. If you don’t, find another metaphor.

Most sewists will have periods of time where they take a break from sewing for one reason or another. And in fact, we have heard from listeners who have taken over 30 years off from sewing and gotten back into it, so it is never too late.

Caroline: So true. So here’s what I think you should do. Dream up a project that you’d really like to make, something that makes you excited to get back into it. It doesn’t have to be complicated and difficult to sew, though it can be if that’s what excites you. Just try not to get bogged down by what you think you should make or what others want you to make. Choose something that lights you up.

Helen: Yes, and spend some time looking at inspiration images, or maybe you’ve already spent a year looking at inspiration images and you’ve got a stockpile. But this will give you a great idea of what kinds of fabrics and patterns you wanna start with. You can save pictures on Instagram or Pinterest and save them to your photos on your phone to scroll through them later. It’s such a fun way to get the creative juices flowing and get excited.

Caroline: And when you’re working on your chosen project, lower the pressure on yourself. If you don’t have long stretches of time, when you can sew, try to sew in small chunks whenever you can. Find 15 minutes here and there and be proud of yourself for doing that. This is really gonna add up.

Helen: Yes, and along that vein, you’re gonna wanna resist comparisons. It can be so easy to slip into measuring yourself against sewing influencers, or even against your past self, in this case. You have a child now. You are not going to have the same amount of time and energy, and that’s totally okay. Your sewing practice is yours. You don’t need to meet arbitrary deadlines or make your topstitching straighter than ever. It is okay to enjoy the process and let go of those outside pressures.

Caroline: Yeah, I know that there will be some adjusting. Your life is different than it was before you took a break from sewing, and that is a wonderful thing. It will probably take some time troubleshooting and adjusting to figure out how to fit a sewing habit into your life. And if you find yourself feeling frustrated and annoyed by this process, know that it won’t last forever. If you think creatively and try different strategies, you’re gonna find a system that works for your life now. I hope you have an amazing time getting back into sewing, Anna. We wish you lots of sew-jo.

Helen: Yes. We wish all of our listeners lots of sew-jo.

Caroline: Yeah. Alright, so that’s all the calls we have time for today, and that’s actually all the episodes we have time for this season. We’re gonna see you all in March for our spring season, and we’ll be on Patreon all winter long. Thank you to all our listeners who called in today, and to all our listeners who listened to our episodes commented, DMed, and emailed us this season. We love you. We love you so much.

Helen: Oh, we really do. It was so nice to hear your voices, so I wanna put it out there that you can always call us. We love hearing your voices. It’s so fun to have calls to play on the show, so if you have a question or comment, you wanna share something, give us a call at 1-844-739-9428. Or send us a voice memo if you wanna pre-record something on your phone and email it to us, that’s great, too. Send that over to us over this holiday season, and we might play your question or comment on an episode next spring.

Caroline: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. We’re recording today in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode, and if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info. We can’t wait to connect with you in the off-season over there.

Helen: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you again for listening. We’ll see you next year.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Oh. We’re gonna miss you guys.

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We dive into fancy weaves – those fabrics that are made with special looms, special tools, special yarn twists, or otherwise unusual processes! We cover satins, jacquards, velvets, dobby weaves, and more, describing what they’re like, how they’re made, and how to sew with them. We also give advice to a listener who’s starting her own business.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

A Couple of Helen and Caroline’s Fancy Weave Fabric Makes:

Resources:

Fabrics:

Tools:

Patterns:

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: Fancy Weaves.

Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m good. How are you?

Caroline: I’m feeling fancy.

Helen: Right? I feel like I should have some fancy tea or fancy cocktail or something. I wasn’t thinking.

Caroline: I’m actually recording right now in sweats, so I’m, like, the opposite of fancy.

Helen: You’re not wearing your jacquard and velvet today?

Caroline: No. I should have. Why am I not wearing my satin dress?

Helen: Right?

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: Maybe Jordan can put some, uh, violin music in the background of our intro.

Caroline: Oh, yes. Okay. I like that. Let’s get in the mood.

Helen: Yeah, get in the fancy mood. But, I mean, that’s part of the reason why we wanted to do this episode is that the holidays are coming up and now’s the time when a lot of people do sew these kinds of fabrics, so we’re gonna do a deep dive today.

Caroline: Yeah, I can’t wait. I love our fabric episodes. I love finding new topics to get into as they relate to fabric, so it’s gonna be a good one just in time for the holiday season. But I think we need to kick it off with a question.

Helen: Yes, hit me.

Caroline: Okay. Today we’re answering a question from listener Madeleine. She writes, “I wanted to let you know how much I love and appreciate your podcast. Your episodes have helped me so much to improve my sewing skills and given me the confidence to try (and succeed) at projects that always seemed way too advanced for me. I’m 17 years old and in my last year of high school, and sewing is really what keeps me going! It’s my therapy, the reason I never have any free time or money, the cause of my worst nightmares and my proudest moments.

“Recently, I’ve been looking into starting my own RTW and custom swimwear business that will be open for the spring/summer before I go to university. I always knew it would be a lot of work to start a business, but now that I’ve begun testing the waters with an Instagram account (crazily enough for a Gen Z teen, my first one!), I already feel completely out of my depth! I’m so scared I won’t find anybody to buy my suits, and I am so lost in the world of Instagram stories, reels, and posts.

“Do you have any tips for me as I start my (really) small business? Do you have any pointers on how to make my Instagram page look professional and cute without taking up too much of my time? Do you have any ideas on how to reach customers in my area who will be interested in what I have to offer? As both of you have started your own (amazing) businesses, I would so much appreciate any advice that you can give me.”

Helen: Ooh, I love a business question. Let me put my glasses on.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Alright, Madeleine. First of all, congrats on starting a business. I love that you came in really confident with the, like, I’m starting a business, and it’s launching in the summer, so…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …I need to get this together. So amazing, especially at your age to start a business, and it is totally normal to feel overwhelmed by all the things that you feel you need to do. I think social media is especially challenging ‘cause there’s so many people and other businesses to compare yourself to. The biggest piece of advice I have is simply this. Don’t compare your beginning to somebody else’s middle. And I know that’s so corny, but it’s also so true.

You are just starting out. Other people have been at this for a long time, so believe me, you will be amazed by how far you’ve come in just a year from now. And there are no shortcuts because everything you do is gonna lead you to the next thing. And all of that skill building is so important. I wish there was a button that you could press to be, like, now I’ll have a hundred thousand followers and my feed will look perfect, and, like, everything will be easy and that does not exist.

Even I, like, still struggle with comparison with social. My business isn’t that big compared to huge businesses, right?

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: There’s always going to be that element of like, what’s next? What could I be doing better? So it’s really important to not let that get you down.

And another tip I have is when you’re small, you can really engage with the people who follow you because those people are going to become your super fans, and they’re gonna champion your business and they’re gonna be there for, like, the whole way through, and those relationships are so important.

Not only that, but when you do get bigger and have lots of followers, you won’t be able to keep up with everyone anymore. You’re not necessarily gonna have time to dedicate to fostering those friendships and relationships on social media, so enjoy this time where you can forge those relationships and build those strong ties with your customers and network with people ‘cause I think it’s a special time.

And as for making an Instagram page professional, I think starting a business specific account, put up a logo if you have one, link your shop or Etsy site if you have one, and be clear about what you’re selling in the bio, and start building up a couple of story highlights so people can learn a bit more about you and what you’re offering, like, maybe an “About Us” highlight and, like, a “Behind-the-Scenes” highlight, and then you can put stories in there as you post them.

Your photography and video skills will definitely improve over time, so really just try not to worry about everything looking perfect, looking just the way you want it. You just have to put yourself out there and start putting content up.

The most important thing is don’t shy away from selling what you’re selling. You want people to come to your page and know what it is you offer and what you’re all about. So just try to communicate that as much as possible.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s so true. And I have to add that, like, from what I have been observing of social media, it is moving in the direction where people don’t wanna see, like, a polished feed. They want that real, raw behind-the-scenes look. They wanna get to know who they’re following, so don’t be afraid to just, like, put things out there that you might not feel are perfect because you, you don’t need to strive for perfection.

Helen: No.

Caroline: You just have to put yourself out there and connect with your customers.

Helen: Oh, yeah. And the bar is always changing, too.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can plan as much as you want about how to have the perfect social media profile, whatever that looks like, by the time you get it, it’s gonna be different.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So there’s really no point in striving to meet that bar ‘cause it’s always gonna be different, and it’s so hard to produce all the types of content that social media wants from us – photos, videos, stories, lives. It’s exhausting sometimes. And so it’s important to only take on as much of that stuff as you can while you’re still working on the business – the products.

And most importantly, taking care of yourself and your mental health. Try not to get too sucked into making content for social all the time because not only will it not be great for your mental health, it can be a huge time sink, and it doesn’t always pay off. It’s really easy to think, oh, if I’ll make more content for social media, I’ll sell more products. Not necessarily. You really need to look at your numbers and figure out what is actually paying off. Maybe you need to find more customers, like you were talking about in more direct ways than social media.

And try to make content as quickly as you can without too much effort. Like, for you, that could mean photos of your products, behind-the-scenes videos of your sewing or designing, or sneak peaks of upcoming suits or fabrics that you’re gonna be using, and customer testimonials and images, with permission, of course, from those people can be really powerful and an easy one for you to put up on your social media, so play around with different types of media and try to have fun with it while not putting in a ton of effort.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s so true. There’s no magic formula, and every business is so unique as it should be, so you’ll have to try different things and see what sticks and see what works for you in your own business and your own life.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. And as for finding customers, I mean, it’s really hard to answer ‘cause I, I don’t know that much about the custom swimwear industry, but I think when you’re small, like, partnering with other businesses can be a really great way to help spread the word about your brand and make some friends, some business buddies, especially, could be really cool.

I mean, look at Caroline and I, like, partnering on this podcast with our businesses has really helped us to help market our products and continue to grow our businesses and bounce off of each other. So starting something like that when you’re small with another small business can be really advantageous, so keep your eye out for anything like that that could be a good match for you.

And, of course, we hope this all helps. It’s a lot of information, and hopefully, it’s valuable to other folks out there, too. Best of luck with your business, and thank you so much for listening to the show.

Caroline: Yeah, thank you. Okay. It’s time to get fancy, and I think first up we need to explain the title of this episode. So, Helen, what is a fancy weave?

Helen: Well, in our Fabrics 101 episode, we reviewed a few of the main types of fabric weaves, like plain weaves and twill weave. Fancy weave fabrics differ from these. Sometimes, they’re made with special looms or special tools, or the yarns are twisted differently, or they have a pile.

Caroline: Yeah. Fancy weaves are more complicated to produce, and therefore, their prices are usually higher. The most common place you’ll see fancy weave fabrics is in formal wear. They make the most special outfits for the most special days. I’m thinking a lot about fancy weaves lately ‘cause I’ve been thinking about my wedding dress. I’m getting married next year, and I wanna make my dress. And yeah, I’ve just been thinking a lot about what type of fabric I want to use, and a lot of my options fall under this category.

Helen: Yeah, it’s so exciting when you do get to use a fancy weave, and I think as more casual sewists, like Caroline and I, we don’t encounter them that often. We love them, and we love seeing them and touching them, but when it comes to actually sewing with them, it is a special treat because it doesn’t happen every day. So in this episode, we’re not gonna cover every possible fancy weave. There’s just too many specific ones out there, but we picked the ones that you are most likely to come across in fabric shops and in the fashion world.

Caroline: And we’re gonna describe each fancy weave and tell you a bit about how it’s made. And for the ones that are tricky to sew, we’ll give some sewing tips. And if the fabric’s easy to sew though, we won’t give as many. Cotton swiss dot for example, just isn’t as hard to sew as silk brocade.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. So let’s go through each of the fancy weaves and give you a bit of a crash course. Our first fancy weave is satin. Satin has that smooth shiny surface and a matte back. It’s a classic for formal wear because it’s so beautiful, and it’s made by floating yarns over the surface of the fabric.

Caroline: Yeah, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of touching and wearing satin and how it drapes and how shiny and smooth and soft it can be. So in terms of weave, for example, in a four harness satin weave, the weft yarn goes over three warp threads and under one. In an eight harness satin weave, the weft goes over seven warp threads and under one. The higher the harness number, the longer the floats are. And the longer the floats are, the more flexible and shiny the fabric is gonna be.

Helen: Satin is made with long-filament fibres, like silk, polyester, or nylon. Satine, on the other hand, is made with short-staple fibres, like cotton or rayon. Satine has a lustre and a smoothness, but it can’t reach the same shine and drape of satin, so that’s, kind of, the difference there. They’re both beautiful, though.

Caroline: And you still get that shininess in a satine. It’s just not quite as much as a satin.

And satin can also come in an array of weights, from thick duchess satin to super lightweight charmeuse.

So we wanna give you guys some tips for sewing with satin. The first one is when choosing a pattern, think about the drape of your satin. If you’ve chosen a charmeuse, or charmeuse in French, you’ll want to look for something not super structured. A floaty skirt or sleeve will show it off. And for very fitted garments, like a fitted bodice, consider underlining your pieces to add strength and keep the seams from pulling.

On the other hand, duchess satin is a lot less drapey. It would be great for a structured bodice and a sweeping skirt. It’s a classic choice for wedding gowns.

Helen: Ooh, satin fabrics love the bias. A bias cut slip dress or skirt is dreamy in satin. Plus, it cuts down on the fraying problems that satin has when you cut it on the bias.

Caroline: Yeah, and you wanna cut satin in a single layer. Use a lot of super sharp pins or weights to hold it in place as you cut. Satin can be really shifty, so cutting it on a double layer, it just makes for, I don’t know, potential disasters because your bottom layer might be a little bit shifted, off grain, and you just wanna make sure you have full control. That’s why we suggest cutting on a single layer.

Helen: Yeah, and these are fancy fabrics, so it’s time to get fancy with fancy cutting. You can get out your fancy tools, you can take your fancy time. You know, enjoy yourself.

Caroline: Yeah, take that fancy time. Yeah.

Helen: Another thing to note is that satin is delicate. So you always want to use a press cloth and a low heat on your iron. And a microtex needle and pins can help prevent any snags. Pin within the seam allowance if you find that your pins leave holes in your fabric. Certain types of satin, you might notice that they’re actually leaving a mark.

Caroline: Mhm. And the shine of satin shows every lump and bump. And what would look like a smooth seam on a matte fabric can look like a puckered mess on satin, so you wanna be using a short stitch length and hold the fabric taut as it feeds into your machine. You can test out your tension settings on scraps until your seam looks smooth.

For your first satin project, consider a satin print. It’s gonna camouflage things more than a solid, and you’ll get used to it. I’ve sewn with satin before, and it can be a little pucky at first, but you’ll learn how to handle your fabric and just be gentle with it.

Helen: Yeah. And with yourself.

Caroline: And with yourself. Yeah.

Helen: Consider hand basting your seams, especially curves. Satin is a slippery devil, so starching the fabric can help, but we want to advise you to check on a scrap first to make sure that it doesn’t change the look of the fabric permanently.

And a rolled or a baby hem will work best on satin ‘cause you don’t necessarily want to have that big, chunky line of stitches across the bottom of your garment.

Caroline: Yeah. Have you sewn with a lot of satin in your sewing journey?

Helen: I have not. I feel like you’re gonna be our resident expert ‘cause you just made two satin garments in the last, like, two months.

Caroline: I did a bias cut satin dress and, like, um, kind of, billowy puffy sleeve dress, as well, both for weddings that I attended, and I really enjoyed sewing with them. I, I used rayon, or viscose satins, so I don’t know how that behaves differently from, like, a silk satin. I have a feeling silk would’ve been a little bit more difficult to work with, but they were, I don’t know, I, I love using fancy fabrics. You can, kind of, take your time, and it feels really special and…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I love the way satin feels to wear, so it’s, kind of, worth all of the headache.

Helen: Oh, it is so dreamy. It has that lovely cool hand.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: It’s like wearing a breeze.

Caroline: I know. It’s like wearing nothing. It’s so nice to not, I don’t know, personally, I don’t love a super structured bodice. I like things to feel flowy and sort of skim my body, and satin totally fits the bill, especially something like a charmeuse or a drapey satin.

Helen: Yeah, it’s cool that there are so many different kinds of satin, and that’s also one thing that can be maybe confusing about satin is that you may encounter it in the store and be like, this is nothing like the last satin that I…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …touched. So, like, what’s going on here? There are so many different kinds of satin, different weights, so that explains why you’re encountering different things out there. And you do wanna choose the right satin for your project.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Not all satins are created equal.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. And oh, I have one extra tip that I just thought of. If you’re someone who has dry hands, Make sure you moisturise before you work with satin because any little, like, dry skin crack can actually, like, kind of, attach itself to the floating yarns in the satin and yeah, create pulls. So it’s really easy to do that with a, with a delicate fabric. So I’ve seen folks even wear gloves, like, plastic surgical gloves when working with delicate fabrics like this if your hands are really dry. It’s just something to keep in mind.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I love it. What about when you’re out in the world in the garment though? There’s so many snags only, snagable things.

Caroline: I actually think that’d be kinda cute. Like, some beautiful satin gloves to go with your satin dress.

Helen: Yeah. Matching satin gloves. Perfect.

Caroline: Okay, let’s move on to. Second fancy weave, which is jacquard. Jacquard is a group that includes damask, brocade, and tapestry. Nowadays, these fabrics are almost always made on a jacquard loom.

Helen: Okay, so in 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard introduced a new loom, which made weaving complicated and beautiful patterns much, much easier. It used cards with holes punched in them as a program for the design. The holes allowed the correct colours of thread to pass through and prevented the other colours from being woven into that row. And fun fact: the jacquard loom is considered an important milestone on the road to modern computing.

Caroline: I love that! And before the jacquard loom, brocade fabrics were woven by hand on a draw loom. This required a master weaver who understood the loom and the pattern diagrams, plus a draw boy who would assist. With the jacquard loom, a single worker could make patterned fabrics, and they didn’t even need to understand how to make the design. The punch cards took care of all of that.

Helen: So cool. You know there’s a jacquard loom in Vancouver at The Maker Studio, I think it’s called…

Caroline: Ooh.

Helen: …something like that. Yeah, they have one there, and they demo’d it during some open house thing, and it was the coolest thing. It’s amazing.

Caroline: I gotta get some deets on where that is. I wanna check that out.

Helen: I’ll look it up. I’ll look it up. We’ll put it in…

Caroline: Very cool.

Helen: …the show notes.

Okay, so because damask, brocade, and tapestry are all made on the jacquard loom, these names now refer more to the style than the method of weaving. Damasks are pattern fabrics that have one style of weave as the ground and then another style of weave for the pattern. So the pattern is usually satine or twill weaves so that the patterned areas reflect the light, and then the ground is usually plain, twill, or satin weave, so there’s a contrast between those two.

And damasks can be made with a single colour where the design stands out just because of the sheen of the patterned area, or they can also be multicoloured. They are reversible, and damasks are usually seen in formal wear. They make gorgeous and classic vests when worn with a masculine suit, and they make amazing show stopping suit jackets as well. I’ve also seen them made into pretty dresses and formal jackets. I love that subtlety when it’s a single colour, and it’s just the difference of the texture. So beautiful.

Caroline: And brocades are fabrics with elaborate embossed or embroidered patterns; they’re not reversible. There are two main types: continuous brocades, which have the long weft thread of the pattern floating on the back, and discontinuous brocades, where the pattern threads are only woven into the patterned part and not floated; they have a smoother back. Brocades make amazing formal wear. They’re not usually very drapey, so they’re best for garments that don’t need a lot of drape, like jackets fitted bodices, and straight skirts.

Helen: And tapestry fabrics are made to look like historical tapestries, usually an elaborate multicolour weave that reverses in colour on the back. Tapestry fabrics sometimes look like they’re finally ribbed, but they do not stretch. These fabrics are pretty stiff and can be heavy in weight. For garments, they make great jackets, pants, vests, hats, and bags. Definitely a quirky artsy look, typically, when you go with a tapestry weave. I have some fun curtains that I picked up at Value Village awhile back, and they are a tapestry weave floral that’s got some gold woven into it.

Caroline: Ooh.

Helen: And I have not made anything out of it because I can’t choose which side to use.

Caroline: Oh, cool.

Helen: Which side should be facing out? It’s so hard to decide with these ones because they’re often just as beautiful on the back as they are on the front.

Caroline: Oh, that sounds awesome. I can’t wait to see what you make with it someday.

Okay. Matelassé is distinctive because of its texture. It looks quilted. It can be simple or elaborate and design, but. All matelassé fabrics have that bubbly raised texture that reminds you of a quilt, without any padding. You can use matelassé anywhere where you would use quilted fabric, especially in jackets.

Helen: Have you encountered this fabric very much, Caroline?

Caroline: I think that I have but not, I don’t hear this term thrown around very often.

Helen: No.

Caroline: So I’m, I’m pretty sure it’s, like, distilled down to just being called a jacquard. But when I hear it described, I do think that I’ve come across this type of fabric before, just not under this name perhaps.

Helen: It sounds so fancy. I mean…

Caroline: It is such a beautiful…

Helen: …nitty gritty. Yeah, it’s a jacquard, but specifically, it’s a matelassé.

Caroline: Yeah, I’m gonna start saying that. Yeah.

Helen: So technically, you can refer to any of those fabrics as jacquards, but sometimes those fabrics are also listed simply as jacquard. So this label is usually used on damask-style fabrics, but we’ve seen it used for tapestry-style fabrics as well. Uh, I think it’s just more recognizable, so it often gets slapped on the label.

Caroline: Yeah, agreed. And if your fabric is slippery, it’s a good idea to cut in one layer. Again, either use a rotary cutter so that your fabric won’t shift around or mark out your pattern pieces and cut along the lines with scissors.

Helen: And all of these jacquard fabrics have huge fraying issues, especially if they’re made with smooth shiny threads. You may want to increase your seam allowance to prevent more fraying within your seams. Um, you can also finish the edges of your cutout pieces with zigzag or seger. Either finish them in advance or, just to make working with them easier, for lightweight damasks and brocades, French seams can be a good choice here. Definitely don’t cut out projects out of jacquard and then leave them sitting for a while because you wanna take care of all those edges as soon as you can so that those frayed bits don’t start to unravel.

Carolien: Yeah, for sure. You don’t wanna be throwing that bag of a cutout project around in your sewing room from box to box. Tapestry and matelassé can be really thick, so to reduce bulk grade your seams. If you want to get a seam started, slide some cardboard under the back of your machine’s foot to level it out. And good seam finishes include Hong Kong seams or flat felt seams. These are gonna keep the seam allowances flat and make your garment easier to wear.

Helen: Okay. Our next fancy weave is velvet.

Caroline: Oh, velvet. I love velvet.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I can tell. Blackbird always stocks the velvet this time of year, and I’m here for it. Velvet fabrics have that distinctive cut pile of smooth threads. A pile is a raised surface or nap in a fabric. It’s made of threads or loops that stand up from the fabric backing.

And velvet has a ground weave of tabby, twill, or satin. Sometimes these are made from a different fibre than the pile. So, for example, many silk velvets have a silk pile and a rayon ground weave.

There are two warps in velvet: the ground warp and then the pile warp. So during weaving, the pile ends are pulled up and a rod is inserted to hold them in place while the ground is being woven.

And then the thicker the rod, the higher the pile. So the pile is initially made up of lots of little loops, which are then trimmed down, so you get that perfectly smooth surface.

Caroline: Mm, I’d love to watch a video of this. I bet you it would be really relaxing.

Helen: That’s true. Think about how many, like, we’re talking about, like, the warps go in and then there’s a rod, but, like, we’re talking about, like, a minuscule, tiny, tiny little rod.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah.

Helen: Not like a curtain rod. Like, like, a…

Caroline: No.

Helen: …a…

Caroline: Like a…

Helen: …not even like a…

Caroline: …a teeny, tiny…

Helen: …like a, like a chicken skewer.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: A souvlaki skewer. Not even like that. Like a…

Caroline: No. Smaller than that.

Helen: Smaller than that.

Caroline: I love the comparison to souvlaki.

Helen: I don’t know why I went to chicken.

Caroline: Not like a souvlaki skewer. Not a sewing machine needle or, like…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …a chopstick or…

Helen: No. It’s dinner time. I’m hungry.

Caroline: I know.

Helen: I’m hungry.

25:32 Caroline: Okay. There are a few variations on velvet. So first up, there’s figured velvet, also called voided velvet. It has a raised velvet design on a non-velvet woven ground. It’s made on a jacquard loom. Such a versatile loom! This kind of velvet is rare to see in garment fabrics, but it’s everywhere in home decor fabrics.

Helen: And figured velvet is not quite the same as burnout velvet, which is seen in a lot of garment fabrics. Burnout velvet is made by using acid to actually burn away the pile, leaving only the ground fabric. Sometimes the ground fabric is sheer, which can make a really pretty effect. Blackbird Fabrics has some of these in stock, these burnout prints. They’re so cool. And burnout velvet makes amazing formal dresses and really cool, like, layering pieces, robes and things like that that you can wear over jeans and a tee or a tank to dress them up. Super fun for the holidays and comfy, too.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. I have one of our burnout velvets in my stash, and it’s one of those fabrics that I can’t seem to cut into because I love it so much, and I’m afraid that whatever I make is not gonna do it justice.

Helen: Not so, not so.

Caroline: I need a pep talk. No, I’m kidding. I just love burnout velvet. It’s so pretty. Okay. Next up is panné velvet, also called crushed velvet. It’s either a regular velvet that’s been crushed into a design under high pressure, or it’s a velour with a short pile that goes in a lot of different directions. We have some crushed velvet at Blackbird, too, right now, and it is very cool, and that texture just adds a little extra mph to the velvet…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …um, that works really well for, like, holiday dresses and tops and all sorts of things.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. It’s, it catches the light in this just super captivating way. It’s above and beyond velvet.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But it’s cool to know that it actually gets crushed.

Caroline: Yeah. Under high pressure.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. Poor velvet.

Helen: That’s really cool. Well, um, speaking of velour. Velour is a type of velvet with a knitted ground. It’s stretchy and usually used for performance wear or sweatsuits. If a fabric is listed as stretch velvet, it’s either knitted velour or woven velvet with stretch threads woven into it.

Caroline: Mm. So interesting. I think of velour as those, like, Juicy Couture…

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: …sweatpants that we all, I mean, I shouldn’t speak for everyone, but that we all wore in the early aughts.

Helen: Yes! If you weren’t wearing pants that said cute on the butt, you weren’t living, you know.

Caroline: Yeah. And velveteen is a kind of velvet where extra weft threads are used to create the pile instead of a second warp. Typically, velveteen is less flexible and drapey than regular velvet.

Helen: Okay, next up we have some velvet sewing tips. First of all, be careful when you’re choosing your pattern. Drapey velvets go well with simple, semi-fitted, or loosely fitted patterns without a lot of shaping. Keep in mind that you can’t do much pressing on velvets or you’re gonna crush the pile, so that’s why you wanna seek out patterns with minimal darts, button holes, top stitching, and curved seams and instead look for gathers, pleats. More structured, less drapey velvets are great for fitted bodices, vests, or tailored jackets, but if you have one of those nice drapey velvets, think about, like, a shift dress or casual over jacket, something that is gonna be pretty straightforward to sew.

Caroline: Mhm. And you wanna cut in a single layer, and pay attention to the nap direction. So this means that you probably won’t be able to use your pattern layout because you’re gonna be choosing the direction you like best, and you’re gonna cut all of your pattern pieces facing in that same direction.

So if you go with the nap pointing down, as in you run your hand over the nap from top to bottom, and it feels smooth, velvet is gonna have more of a muted colour, and the velvet is usually cut with the nap pointing down because it mats less and wears better.

And with the nap pointing up, meaning that when you run your hand over the nap, it feels rough, the colour ends up being more saturated. You can see a good example of this in the Seamwork article “A Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Velvet” and check out our show notes on our website for this and other links from this episode.

I have to say, Helen, when Laura and I are buying Velvet for Blackbird, we always have to pick our colours and then switch spots and look at them from a different direction, and often, they will look completely different.

Helen: Yeah, I bet.

Caroline: We have to make sure we’re looking at any fabric that has nap, velvet or corduroy, from different directions and figure out which way the nap is facing and if we like the colour best, you know, when the nap is facing down ‘cause that’s usually how people will wear it.

Helen: Yeah. I was gonna say, I like sewing it with the nap down because I like to run my hands down my body and for it to feel smooth

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You know?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But if you like it the other way, power to you. There is no right or wrong in this case.

Caroline: Yeah. I think the, the only most important thing is to just pick a direction and stick with it…

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: …because as I’m sure we’ve mentioned on this show before, if you cut your pieces in different directions, they’re gonna look like different colours, and it’s gonna bug you forever.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Or maybe it won’t, and then good for you.

Helen: Yeah. Congratulations. No. One note about not being able to use the cutting directions, this may also mean that you need more fabric. So have a look at the cutting directions before you buy fabric and just see, are all the pieces facing in the same direction, or is it possible that when I turn this piece around, I’m gonna end up needing more? And some patterns will tell you, like, you’re gonna need more if there’s a nap, so watch out.

A layer of tissue paper under your velvet will help you to move the fabric without shifting the grain. Some velvets can be really shifty, so make sure the pile is facing up when you cut. And if you have that tissue paper to put under there, that might save you.

Caroline: Yeah, you also wanna avoid fusible interfacing with velvet and go for sew-in interfacing instead. Obviously, ‘cause if you’re fusing that interfacing, you’re crushing the velvet with your iron, so you wanna use something that you don’t have to iron on. Silk organza is a classic choice for this if you’re looking for sew-in interfacing. But a tightly woven cotton could work really well, too.

Helen: Yeah. And in some cases you may even be able to skip the interfacing. Often, velvets have, like, a pretty stable hand. That ground weave tends to be quite stable. So I mean, I don’t necessarily know your project and what you’re doing, but in some cases, I think it’s probably okay to skip it, so consider that as an option as well.

Caroline: Yeah, it’ll depend a lot on the fabric itself I think…

Helen: Of course.

Caroline: …but if it feels stable, you can totally venture to skip that facing.

Helen: Venture to skip it. I’m always down to skip some interfacing.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Let’s be real.

Caroline: Let’s be real. Me, too. Yeah.

Helen: Pressing velvet is another tricky one. Because of that pile, you don’t wanna crush it. There are two strategies you can use. You can use a lot of steam and do some light finger pressing. And you can press lightly on a thick terry cloth towel or a fancy needle board, also sometimes called a velvaboard. This is a nice tool that you can get for your sewing room if you’re looking to upgrade and get some fanciness injected.

Caroline: Mhm. And avoid invisible zippers. The pile can get caught in the teeth. If you want a fancy finish, go for a handpicked zipper instead. I love a handpicked zipper.

Helen: Yeah. This is a good time to bust that out.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And test out your stitches. You may need a lower tension setting or a slightly longer stitch length because of that pile. You can reduce your presser foot pressure so it doesn’t crush the pile too firmly and cause marks as it goes through the machine. And stitch in the direction of the pile to avoid disturbing the nap too much.

Caroline: And Seamwork recommends hand basting to avoid the creeping that can happen when the right sides of the fabric shift against each other. You can also try using a walking foot, but test first to make sure it doesn’t leave marks. Threads recommends using a light layer of spray adhesive along the seam line and finger pressing your pieces together instead of pinning and basting. Make sure to cover your surface with something disposable or washable to protect it from the adhesive. I’m terrified of using adhesive spray for this reason.

Helen: Yes! It getting everywhere.

Caroline: With my luck, everything in my life is going to be sticky for weeks.

Helen: It’s also the idea of spray adhesive and velvet is especially disturbing to me…

Caroline: Yeah, yeah.

Helen: …but I totally understand what they’re saying. It’s like, it’s almost like Velcro or like two magnets together.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, they, they don’t wanna stick together ‘cause…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …like, they’re opposing each other and, like, it’s like Velcro in that you need to, like, get them to, kind of, interlock.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So I think the finger pressing is really interesting. I could see that being very beneficial. You’re, like, forcing the fibres together. They, kind of, grab hold…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and you might not even have to pin in that case.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s very cool.

Helen: And you can avoid top stitching with velvet as much as possible. Reduce bulk where you can. So this is gonna mean no French seams or double fold hems. Instead, you wanna pink your seams or finish them with a zigzag or serger stitch. For hems, finish the edge and hand stitch a single fold hem. Just explore other options here. Velvet doesn’t necessarily fray a ton. But what it does do is it sheds.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So you are gonna have fibres everywhere from the little naps being cut off when you trim. But beyond that, it doesn’t tend to fray a ton, so you can get away with some different seam finishes here.

Caroline: Yeah. I feel like velvet is really one of those places to, like, slow down your sewing practice.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Take your time. Do some hand sewing, do some experimentation, and yeah, just take your time.

Helen: It’s gonna pay off.

Caroline: It will totally pay off.

Okay. Corduroy is like a cousin of velvet. Corduroy’s pile is made from weft yarns, so it’s made like velveteen. However, its pile is woven and cut in a striped pattern rather than all over. Those stripes are called wales. Corduroy can have wide or fine wales, which affect the weight and thickness of the fabric.

Helen: And corduroy isn’t especially difficult to work with. Because it has lots of stripes and texture already, you probably wanna choose a pattern with pretty simple lines ‘cause details can get lost. But, I mean, that being said, I just made a pair of jeans out of corduroy, and they turned out great. You know, there are those vertical lines going in lots of different directions in certain places…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …but it doesn’t necessarily look bad. It adds a lot of really nice texture to the garment, so that’s pretty cool. And if your corduroy is off-grain, you can fix it by pinning the salvages and the cut edges square and then steaming and smoothing the fabric to get the diagonal wrinkles out. Like with velvet, you’re gonna want to press on a fluffy terry cloth towel or a needle board, or just avoid pressing all together and use that steam and your fingers along those seam lines.

Caroline: Mhm. And since corduroy is a napped fabric, make sure you’re cutting all your pieces out in the same direction. Consider cutting small pieces like collars, cuffs, and pockets on the cross grain or on the bias for interest. And for wide wale corduroy, you can match the wales across seams as if they were stripes. Fun.

Helen: I am, I’ve never tried to match wales before…

Caroline: Me either.

Helen: …but that’s an interesting idea. I feel like I have, like, a less than quarter inch rule. If, if the stripe is below a quarter inch, I’m not matching it.

Caroline: It’s not getting matched. Yeah. One thing I wanna add, too, with corduroy is sometimes off the bolt, it can seem like corduroy marks really easily. Like, if you run your nails across it, you’ll see those marks. I don’t know. We’ve looked at a lot of corduroys, and we’ve test washed a lot of corduroys at Blackbird when, especially this past year when we were picking out our cords for this season.

And we found that after washing them everything, kind of, smooths out and looks a little bit better. I don’t know if it’s the starch in the fabric or if it’s just certain weaves can do that, but I find if you’re finding a fabric to be a little finicky or maybe marking really easily and that’s bothering you when you’re cutting it out, just give it a pre-wash, and, and you’ll see, and it’ll all, it’ll all go away.

Helen: Why are you cutting out before you pre-wash it anyway?

Caroline: Exactly! Right? I wasn’t gonna say anything in this made-up scenario.

Helen: You’re subtly saying something.

Caroline: You should be pre-washing first anyway.

Helen: That is good to know though, because sometimes when fabrics arrive you’re like, oh, it feels, kind of, weird. And it’s true that after washing a lot of those feelings go away.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: There’s a lot of starch in there. Alright. You can use sew-in interfacing rather than feasible interfacing with corduroy as well. And if you have a thick corduroy, you’re gonna wanna do similar things that you would do with velvet, like reducing the bulk by trimming and grading the seams, doing single fold hems. And you can use a lighter weight fabric for things like facings if the pattern calls for them. A Hong Kong finish is great on thick corduroys. Otherwise, a serging finish is just fine.

Caroline: So I haven’t actually sewn with a ton of corduroy, but I feel like you have made some amazing corduroy York Pinafores.

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: I’m sure I’ve seen a pair of corduroy Yantas. You have your corduroy Brooks Jeans that you just debuted. So do you love sewing corduroy? Do you have tips?

Helen: I don’t find it to be hard to sew. I think the pressing is the biggest area where things can go awry because it’s very easy to mark cord with that hot iron, and I’m always eager to get to my ironing board and just get it pressed and get back to my sewing.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So you do have to take your time a little bit there, and I’ve made mistakes with nap direction, and I’ve burnt a little bit of my pile with my iron, and everything still turns out okay in the end. Like, these little details, nobody notices. It’s fine. It’s gonna happen. It’s not a big deal.

But I will say that cord is typically pretty stable. It’s usually made of cotton or a cotton blend, so it’s a nice stable fabric to work with. It can be a little difficult to press, but once you do figure out how to press it, it presses well because it’s cotton, and so it’s fun to sew, and it’s really fun to wear. It’s super cosy and comfortable, so I love that about it.

Caroline: Awesome. We’ll have to show some of your corduroy makes in the show notes…

Helen: Ooh, yes!

Caroline: …‘cause you have so many good ones.

Okay, next up, clip dot fabric. This is known by a few different names, including dotted Swiss, Swiss dot, and clip spot. Typically, it’s made with a lawn or batiste weight ground fabric with small napped dots made by drawing up extra fibres into loops, kind of like velvet. Those loops and the yarn floats on the back are clipped to make little textured dots at regular intervals all over the ground fabric.

Clip dot fabric is perfect for sundresses, and it’s super easy to sew in cotton. If you have a slinky synthetic or silk clip dot fabric, treat it like a delicate fabric. We have a whole episode with tips about Sewing Delicate Fabrics. And we recommend doing French seams if the fabric is very sheer. And if it’s sheer, you’ll probably wanna line it or wear a slip underneath. Check out our episode on Linings for more info on that.

I love a clip dot fabric or a clip spot or dotted Swiss. I love ’em all. I love that little bit of texture. I’ve also seen some really cool ones that are, like, dotted Swiss with a print on top. I mean, for a summer, like, floaty summer dress, I feel like that can be so cute.

Helen: That’s so cool. Yeah. It’s lovely to wear a garment that has texture like that, and I think it can be dressed up or down, which is, kind of, fun.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You can take a more casual shirt and turn it into something that looks more blouse-y, but you can also just wear it casually as well. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a fancy fabric for a fancy occasion. In this case, I think this can be an everyday fabric with a little bit of personality, which is fun.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Okay, next up we have crepe. Crepe can be made in many different fibres and weaves. It’s the twist of the yarns that give it the signature crepe-y texture. The yarns are hard spun, which means they are twisted much more tightly than usual.

Crepe is typically matte, and that’s part of why it was historically the fabric of choice for mourning outfits. I mean, I guess, like, shiny fabrics made it look like you were having too much fun and not mourning enough, so we had to come up with matte fabrics.

Um, but now it’s just a beautiful choice for evening wear or especially for suiting. You see it a lot in suiting.

Caroline: Yeah, and there are a few variations on crepe. Wool crepe is often used for suiting. Crepe de Chine doesn’t have the characteristic wrinkle texture of other crepes. Instead, it has a pebbled texture. Crepe georgette is a lighter sheer fabric with a less noticeable texture than most crepes. And crepe back satin has a matte textured side and a shiny satin side.

When I was trying on wedding dresses last week, I tried on, like, a bias cut heavy crepe dress with a cowl neck, and I had never even, like, seen such a thick, spongy, crepe up close, but it was so beautiful and hefty and the drape of it on the bias was super elegant. Anyway, it really, it kind of, I don’t know, mesmerised, me. It was one of those fabrics that I was like, this is just stunning. And it was just very simple.

Helen: I can imagine that because when fabrics have a lot of weight and body, they have such a beautiful, like, feel when they’re draped on your body. And with wedding dresses you get a lot of fabric, so it probably felt amazing to have all of that on you.

Caroline: Yeah. Definitely, the most fun part of, uh, shopping for wedding dresses was the research, the fabric research.

Helen: That’s so cool. You get to really seem like a pro in the shop, too. Be like, um, is this a crepe back satin?

Caroline: Oh, yeah. There were a couple times where the salesperson was like, so this is called tulle, and I was like, yeah, I know.

Helen: Yeah. Okay, let me tell you. Well, the lighter weight sheer crepes are trickier to sew than those wool crepes. You can cut them in a single layer, and keep an eye on that grainline. You may want to put tissue paper down underneath the fabric so the grainline doesn’t shift as you handle.

Caroline: And use a press cloth whenever you’re pressing. Also, consider starching the fabric using thin strips of stabiliser or sewing through tissue paper to make it easier to sew with.

Helen: You wanna use a really sharp needle to avoid snagging the fabric, maybe even a microtex needle. And you can increase the presser foot pressure and reduce your tension so that things go through your machine smoothly. You can also try a walking foot to feed the fabric evenly. That can help, too.

Caroline: And French seams are a great choice for a finish. Hand rolled hems or a machine sewn baby hems look great on crepe fabric as well.

Helen: You know what kind of crepe fabric I love the most?

Caroline: What?

Helen: Rayon crepe!

Caroline: Ooh. I feel like we just glossed over that. There are so many good crepes out there.

Helen: There really are. Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s a very versatile fabric. Lots of different things going on, but whenever I see a rayon crepe pop up at Blackbird, I pretty much always buy it…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …‘cause I just love the way it feels. I love that texture, and I love that matte, like, appearance. Uh, I don’t know. There’s something special about it.

Caroline: Yeah. And, I mean, not all crepes are created equal ‘cause some of them can have a little bit more of a sheen. Like, a, often, a crepe de Chine has a sheen to it, spelled different. But, um, yeah, or, you know, sometimes they’ll have, like, a drier hand, and sometimes they’ll have a warmer hand. So yeah, if you see fabric, a crepe fabric in store, touch it, feel it. Feel it up.

Helen: Okay, so fabrics can have, like, a wet or a dry hand. Is there such a thing as a wet hand?

Caroline: I think, it’s a, I think I would, yeah. Warm hand. Dry hand.

Helen: Cool hand.

Caroline: Cool hand. Yes.

Helen: So there’s no wet hand?

Caroline: I, not, there’s no wet hand. No. I would say it’s…

Helen: Damp hand?

Caroline: …like, dry or soft. I can’t say I’ve ever actually, you know what, like, a faux leather…

Helen: Has a wet hand?

Caroline: …kind of, has a wet hand. It’s a bit annoying, but in the sense that, like, you touch it, and then, you immediately get sweaty.

Helen: Oh, yeah. Like, you are wet, you’re physically.

Caroline: Therefore, the fabric becomes wet from your sweaty palm.

Helen: But, like, a lot of times I feel, like, a, a drapey cool fabric could also be interpreted as, as wet in the sense that it feels, like, very watery, like moisture.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I don’t know, like a waterfall.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’m reading too much into this probably, but when I heard you say dry hand, I was immediately like, okay, so then, ergo, wet hand.

Caroline: Helen, I’d love to see you go into a fabric store and be like, I would like the fabric with the wettest hand. Yeah, please.

Helen: Show me your dankest fabric.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Helen: Okay, moving on. We’ve got dobby weave. Dobby weave fabrics have small, regular, textured, often geometric, elements woven into the fabric. They’re made on a dobby loom. This loom was introduced in the 1840s, and it’s comparable to the jacquard loom in that it created a much more efficient way to manufacture patterned, woven fabrics, but it’s more limited in the designs that it can make than the jacquard loom.

The word dobby is actually a variation on draw boy, which we talked about earlier, and that’s because it’s a tool that does what the draw boy used to do. It lifts and releases the shafts that control the threads, and that’s what makes the design. So you often see dobby fabric used for men’s dress shirts or women’s silky blouses to give it a subtle texture and visual interest.

Caroline: Mhm. Not to keep bringing it back to Blackbird, but we have a dobby in the store right now that’s really cute. It’s holiday season. We’re bringing in the fancy fabrics, but there’s something about a dobby, it just adds a little element of texture and sheen without the fabric being too shiny. And you, sort of, get that tone on tone look, and the fabric that we have particularly is really vibrant. It holds colour so well. It’s just like, I don’t know, it’s just really beautiful, and I just wanna sew it up into, like, a billowy blouse. It’s just so perfect for that.

Okay. Woven pique is a type of dobby weave. It uses extra yarns called stuffer yarns to create its texture. It typically has a texture design, like parallel cords or geometric shapes. Some white tie shirts are made in a pique weave so that they can hold more starch. Waffle, honeycomb, and bird’s eye are all pique weaves. A thick waffle or honeycomb pique is wonderful for a robe. And there’s also pique knit, which has a fine texture of alternating raised stitches and little pits that give it a cellular effect. It’s usually used for polo shirts.

Helen: Ooh, cool. Yeah, I wasn’t that familiar with dobby versus like swiss dot. I think I thought they were all, kind of, the same thing, but it makes sense now that I’m looking at the picture comparisons that they are different things, and it seems like there’s lots of different ways that you can do dobby weaves.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. I think the biggest difference is, like, a dobby is almost like a jacquard or similar to a jacquard in, in the weave, whereas a swiss or clip dot is more like a velvet…

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: …um, in some ways, but…

Helen: Yeah, because it has that ground fabric and then it has those, like, protrusions, right?

Caroline: Exactly. Yeah.

Helen: Okay. Our last but certainly not least fabric is seersucker. Seeersucker is a lightweight fabric with a puckered bubbly texture. It’s usually striped, and it’s made by changing up the tension on the loom, so the warp threads are fed at a faster rate than the weft threads creating bands that pucker up. The puckering makes it a great fabric for hot weather garments because it stands away from the skin. You can look for a cotton seersucker for better breathability.

It makes amazing sundresses shirts and even summer suits. I always think of seersucker as, like, something that people at, like, the turn of the century wore in the summertime for fancy occasions. I don’t know. I’ve never made anything out of it, I don’t think.

Caroline: Helen, you can make a seersucker suit to wear to my wedding, and I’ll wear satin.

Helen: Yeah. Oh, a great texture difference. I love it.

Caroline: Yes. We’re gonna play with all the fancy weaves for the holidays and beyond.

Helen: Yes. I’m so excited. Do you have anything in mind for a holiday outfit? I guess you just made those satin dresses, so maybe you’re all set.

Caroline: I did just make those satin dresses, and I’m spending the holidays at home with Shea this year.

Helen: Nice.

Caroline: No, like, fancy occasions to go to, but I was thinking it would be fun to make a pair of satin pyjamas to wear around the house.

Helen: Ooh. Yes. That would be amazing. I got some fancy fabrics from y’all at Blackbird with a few projects in mind. I would really like to sew a velvet Dawson top…

Caroline: Ooh.

Helen: …with a stretch velvet. I think that would be really fun. And, like, a nice holiday outfit that’s not, you know, uncomfortable. It’s just like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …it’s casual but fancy at the same time.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, and in a similar vein, I bought some of the floral mesh fabric that you guys have that’s also stretchy.

Caroline: Ooh.

Helen: And I’m just gonna make, like, a mesh Dawson or a mesh Jackson tee.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Um, and wear it over, like, a black bralette or something. I haven’t quite figured it out, but that’s another look that I really enjoy, so I’m gonna try that.

Caroline: I’m so into the mesh trend…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Like, the sheer top layered trend with, like, ruching and sleeves. Lean in. I love it.

Helen: Well, now that we know a little bit more about these fancy weave fabrics that we’ve been seeing on our sewing journey and in the shops these days, well, hopefully, actually we know a lot more, you can go out there and get started on all your holiday projects. And if there’s any other special woven fabrics you’d like us to cover, let us know. We are always down to do a fabric deep dive.

Caroline: Yeah, we are

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording today in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected]

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures from us. And for $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics that you can use again and again. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content for y’all. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

Ooh, fancy.

Caroline: Fancy. We’re getting fancy today.

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Have you ever looked at all the stitches you can do on your machine and wondered, “What’s that one for?” In this episode, we explain the function of each stitch, give tips on how to get the best results from machine stitching, and share some ideas for how to use decorative stitches. We also share listener feedback about sewing social media platforms!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

From the Listener Feedback Section:

Other Episodes Mentioned:

Resources:

Machine Stitches:

Machine Feet:

Other Links:

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Machine Stitches.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m great. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. Excited to talk about machine stitches. Very excited.

Helen: Me, too. The opposite.

Caroline: Very exciting topic.

Helen: It’s the opposite of hand sewing. It’s machine sewing. Yay.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It may not seem like an exciting topic, but there is a lot of meat here. Let me tell you.

Caroline: There really is actually.

Helen: There’s so many stitches.

Caroline: There are so many stitches, and I feel like this is a very beginner-friendly episode because if you’re just getting into sewing and you’re looking at your machine, you might be like, what the heck do all of these little symbols mean?

Helen: Yeah. And when am I supposed to use them?

Caroline: Yeah. And we’re gonna get into it today. We’re gonna talk about it.

Helen: Yes, but we have some feedback first that we got after our History of Sewing Patterns episode about various sewing social medias. Jill wrote, “I wanted to mention a webpage that is a social group of sewists that may be of interest. It’s called Stitcher’s Guild. I’ve been on it for many years, and they have so many experienced sewists there.”

Caroline: Awesome. Thank you for recommending this, Jill. Stitcher’s Guild is a discussion board or forum that is made just for sewists.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: And Molly wrote in and said, “Helen was saying how she wishes there was a sewing specific social platform for people to share their makes, without all the drawbacks of Instagram life. It’s not sewing specific but I recommend checking out the Making App. It’s an extension of the glorious Making Magazines that are full of beautiful projects of all varieties; sewing, knitting, crochet, natural dyeing, embroidery etc. The Making App is a place for people to share what they’re working on – it’s beautiful and inspiring, without all the noise of ads and perfectly curated feeds and exhausting pressures that Instagram perpetuates. Also, Making has a podcast called Making Conversation which is my second favourite podcast on creative work and play, after yours of course! It’s thoughtful and inspiring, and the guests all have interesting stories.”

I have not heard of this podcast, and I’m really excited to listen.

Helen: Oh really? Yeah, it’s a great, it’s a great podcast, and I’m, like, a big fan of the magazines, although I’m pretty sure they’re discontinuing the print magazine, they just put out, like, their last issue. Yeah. But they’re moving all of that, like, creative energy into this app, and it sounds so cool. It actually just sounds like exactly what I’m looking for. So thank you so much for recommending it, Molly, and thank you for listening to our podcast. We’re so glad you enjoy it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Jan recommended Pattern Review, which has been around for years – she said she couldn’t believe we missed it. And I’m ashamed to say I can’t believe we missed it, too. I think we skipped over it because we were thinking more of, like, an image-based platform with a feed, rather than message boards and forums. However, we shouldn’t sleep on message boards – they’re still around ‘cause they’re full of great information and people do love them! So go check out Pattern Review. The sewing subreddit is super active as well if you’re looking for a place to have sewing conversations.

Caroline: And then Patti wrote in and said, “I just listened to today’s episode and you mentioned a place other than Instagram to share makes. Knitters and crocheters have Ravelry. When I started sewing this past year or so, I went looking for the sewer’s version of Ravelry and was surprised to find it didn’t exist! Something like this would be the perfect solution for sharing makes, and Ravelry allows knitters to create a library of patterns they own, keep an inventory of yarn owned or used, keep track of needles, and track projects. This is exactly what sewists need.”

Thank you, Patti. I mean, it would be so amazing to have all those functions on a single website or app. I mean, you could catalogue your fabric stash and patterns and review them, share your makes, ask questions, have discussions, make notes about your makes, help other sewists. I mean, the possibilities are endless. I am a Ravelry user, and I absolutely love it. We will cross our fingers that some enterprising person will make this happen in the future, and I do believe it has been attempted. There are definitely online communities like this. There’s Textilia comes to mind. I think The Fold Line was, kind of, going in this direction for a time. I’m not sure if they are still, um, hosting people’s makes in that way, but there’s definitely been communities that have popped up over the years, and it would be so cool to see one really take hold the way that Ravelry has. Um, and will it? I don’t know. This is the future of sewing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s, kind of, exciting to wait and see what happens.

Helen: Yeah. Shem wrote, “Your good friend Saremy of Sew Sew Live launched Sew Sew Guild on Mighty Networks about a year ago. It is an amazing place for sewists. It’s a tiered platform so to join and interact with the community it’s FREE! However, Saremy also offers two tiers of paid subscription where you can get a monthly themed tutorial (Everything you wanted to know about fitting sleeves? Sewing buttons? Sewing pockets? Fitting pants and SO MUCH MORE!) each month she offers videos and written content to teach what she calls a Skill Building Session. And best of all? There are even Zoom Workshops! Sewists from all over the world come together, hang out in their sewing rooms or wherever, sew, talk, and get help! Stuck on a tricky collar? Sarmey and the rest of the sewists are on hand to see if they can get you unstuck! The community is so supportive, encouraging, and diverse! Go check it out!”

Caroline: Yes! This sounds like a great place to be on the internet. Thank you so much for the recommendation, Shem. Okay. That’s all of our feedback for today. I think it’s time to get onto today’s topic.

Helen: Yes! Okay. First of all, let’s explain what we mean by machine stitches. We’re going to explain the stitch options that come on regular sewing machines – how they work, when to use them, and general tips for getting great results no matter which stitch you choose.

Caroline: And we’re not covering serger or coverstitch machine stitches today. There’s so much to cover with all the regular machine stitches available, so we’re not going there.

Helen: And if you have a straight stitch-only machine, it probably only does straight stitch. And I’m sorry.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But it probably does it really well, so that’s good, too. And as I mentioned at the top of the show, machine stitches are different from hand stitches. The very first sewing machines invented, they actually tried to replicate hand stitches by inventing a mechanism that would put the needle down through the fabric and then back up again. The needle had an eye at the blunt end, just like a hand sewing needle does, and the machine used a single thread. These machines did not work super well. Uh, they were inefficient. I’m having a hard time even visualising how you get a needle down and back up again. So it’s not surprising that we moved on from there.

Caroline: Yeah, seriously. And several breakthroughs were made in sewing machine design leading up to the style of machines we have today. It was patented by Massachusetts mechanic and tinkerer Elias Howe in 1846. It used a top thread, a bobbin thread, and a needle with an eye at the sharp end to make a lock stitch.

Helen: And a regular sewing machine stitches are all lock stitches. This is how it works. The needle puts the top thread through the fabric. Then, the bobbin hook hooks onto the top thread, makes a loop, and loops it around the bobbin thread. Then, the top thread is pulled back up through the fabric. So on each side of the fabric, there’s a stitch of the same length. At the end of each stitch, the top thread has looped around the bobbin thread to lock it in.

There’s a great video on the Threads Magazine website that has an animation of how this works. It’s, kind of, hard to visualise, but it’s really cool. And it’s even cooler when you think about how fast that’s happening. Like, when you really are going fast on your sewing machine, that bobbin is spinning around and around and around under there. And it’s just amazing that it can make all those stitches so quickly.

Caroline: Yeah. It’s, kind of, funny ‘cause we’ve done a whole episode on sewing machines. We’ve definitely talked about this type of thing before, but I don’t often think about the real mechanics of how our sewing machines work and what has to happen underneath that plate…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …to make the stitches actual stitches.

Helen: There’s just little gnomes down there.

Caroline: Like, if I needed to explain it to someone, I would not be able to. It’s just magic.

Helen: It’s just magic. Yeah. Whatever happens down there, I mean, it’s great.

Caroline: We don’t need to know. We don’t need to know. Okay. Before we get into all the different stitches, we’re gonna share some general tips to get the best results on your machine. So our first tip is that it’s a good idea to test on a scrap first. You don’t have to do this every single time.

For example, if you sew with a lot of cotton lawns, you probably don’t need to test every single time. But if you’re making one project in a wool melton, and then your next project in a rayon challis, you’ll wanna test on a scrap to make sure you have your tension and stitch length right.

Helen, do you do this?

Helen: Why are you asking me? I mean, I don’t, I, I, I often regret it though because I’ll start on, you know, you start on, like, folding the top of the pocket over or something. You’re doing, like, a little, like, just getting going or, like, stay stitching an armscye and, like, the tension’s all wackadoo, and you’re like, oh, I should have tested it first.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But I often just jump right in, and I have to get out my, my seam ripper sometimes, but that’s life. How about you?

Caroline: Yeah, I get that. I usually do. I do like to test my machine and my serger on a scrap of fabric. I’ll, like, double up a piece of fabric that’s, like, in my scrap bin from the project and then test it out just to make sure the colour looks good and all my stitches look good. And, yeah, I’m in the same boat. When I don’t do that, I usually regret it. So it’s worth the two seconds that it takes to test it out.

Helen: Yeah, and that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. So, good for you.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: Our second tip is to pay close attention to the tension. A line of stitches with perfect tension will look like an even line without any little loops or bumps pulled to either the top or the bottom of the fabric. If the tension is off, you will have too tight or too loose stitches with either puckering or thread loops in between the stitches. There are several things that can throw off the tension, so here are a few things to try if your tension doesn’t look quite right.

Caroline: So you wanna change your needle. A blunt needle, the wrong size needle, or the wrong type of needle can mess up your stitches. It’s recommended to change your needle after eight to 10 hours of sewing. That’s probably a medium length sewing project. And use a size 70 or 80 needle for medium weight fabrics, a size 90 for heavy weight, and a size 60 for lightweight fabrics. If you’re sewing wovens, use a regular point needle; if you’re sewing knits, use a ballpoint or stretch needle. For delicate fabrics, choose a microtex needle. And once you have the right needle for your project, try sewing again and see if this should just come out better.

Helen: And that sounds like a lot of needles, but trust me, as you get more competent with your sewing, and you’re just gonna have these on hand, and you’re gonna know exactly which one you’re gonna put in your machine.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Another thing you can do is re-thread your machine. Let me tell you, re-threading has fixed the problem so many times. Like, it’s often just that it didn’t quite thread properly, or things have slipped out of place, or it’s caught on something. Um, it’s always the first thing I try when things look wonky. And I rethread the top and the bobbin. So make sure your top thread is hooking on whatever it needs to hook on, and then, just take your bobbin out and put it back in again and make sure that it’s all sitting properly.

Caroline: And sometimes your bobbin gets threaded or even, like, inserted into your machine in a weird way, and it throws the tension off, so you can try undoing it and rewinding it. So, literally, undoing the whole bobbin and rewinding it. Or just maybe grabbing an empty bobbin and starting over. And again, make sure you’re putting the thread through the tension discs correctly so that it winds right when you’re winding that. And you might also just need to take out your bobbin and put it back in. This is an easier fix than totally rewinding. I would usually try this first before rewinding a whole bobbin ‘cause that’s, kind of, annoying.

Helen: Or just grab another bobbin full of thread and try that, and then you can see, okay, it’s not the bobbin…

Caroline: True.

Helen: …it’s something else.

Caroline: That’s a good point.

Helen: Yeah, of course, you can also adjust your machine tension. Most tension problems can be solved by adjusting the top thread tension. If there are loops on the top of the fabric, you’re gonna turn that tension dial down, and if there are loops underneath, you’re gonna turn that tension dial up.

Caroline: And bobbin tension is a little bit more complicated to play around with. Some people say to never try to adjust the bobbin tension, but we think that you’ll probably be okay. You can only adjust the bobbin tension if you have a removable bobbin case. So to test out your tension, thread your bobbin into your bobbin case. Hold onto the thread and drop the bobbin.

If it drops a couple of inches and then stops, the bobbin tension is just right. If it barely drops at all, the tension is probably too tight. And if it drops more than a couple of inches, it’s too loose. Just make sure that you do this over a soft surface or maybe a towel on the ground, so that the bobbin case doesn’t get damaged if you drop it.

And if you need to adjust the bobbin tension, you can get a screwdriver and turn the screw on the bobbin case, only a quarter turn at a time. Think of it as a clock that you’re turning only 15 minutes at a time. A tiny adjustment can make a really big difference.

Helen: Yes, and, you know, most machine maintenance professionals will tell you not to do this. So if there’s any listening, I wanna put this huge caveat on here that this can mess with your machine. So if you are having a lot of machine issues, it might be time for servicing rather than time to break out that screwdriver. Um, but if you have a vintage machine and you have messed with it before or you’re comfortable messing with it, then I think it can be, kind of, cool to be able to take things into your own hands. If you have a brand new computerised machine, maybe not a great idea to go messing around.

Caroline: I feel like I remember on a really early episode of Love To Sew, we had, like, a little bit of a standoff where I was like, never touch your bobbin tension. And you were like, I do it all the time! And now I’ve come around, and you’re like, actually, maybe don’t.

Helen: The thing is I was sewing on, like, a ‘66 metal Kenmore, right?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So, like, I was changing all those dials all the time.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: They’re all, like, there on the front of the machine. Now I have this fancy new Pfaff machine, and I’m, like, scared to mess with it, and it does such great auto tension, too. So I don’t usually have tension issues. So, yeah, I mean, I think it’s up to the individual.

Caroline: Yeah. No, so, so true.

Helen: Another tip we have to get nice machine stitches is to use the right foot for the job, not the right human foot, the right machine foot. Your universal foot is gonna work for many stitches. It’s also called a zigzag foot because it has a wider opening for the needle to go through. A zipper foot, on the other hand, can get you right up to the edge. It’s great for zippers, of course, but you can also use it for piping or just for hard to reach areas where you need to get in against something. Zipper feet can come in handy for things other than zippers.

Caroline: Definitely.

Helen: And there’s also invisible zipper feet, which are nice for getting super duper close to the teeth on those invisible zippers, so you can’t see any of that zipper from the outside.

Caroline: A straight stitch foot has a much narrower opening so that the needle can pretty much only go one place. This foot also helps prevent lightweight fabric from getting sucked into the machine, which we’re gonna talk a little bit more about later.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: An edge stitch foot is our favourite for top stitching and understitching. It has a guard so you can get your stitches the perfect distance away from the seam.

Helen: If you’re doing free motion embroidery, an open toe embroidery foot is a good choice. It lets you see what you’re doing.

Caroline: And a nonstick or Teflon foot is good for helping the foot glide over sticky fabrics like vinyl, leather, and suede. You can also dupe this foot by putting scotch tape under a regular foot. The only thing is it can be hard to get the tape off. Acetone will help remove any residue from the tape in this case.

Helen: A walking foot, also called an even feed foot, adds a set of feed dogs on the top of the fabric so that both the layers feed through the machine evenly. This is great for shifty, slinky fabrics or projects with multiple layers like quilts. We’ve heard from some sewists who just leave this foot on their machine for every project because they love how it works.

Carolina: Yeah, I recently got a walking foot for my trusty Bernina, and boy, boy, oh, boy, does it make a difference.

Helen: Pretty great, huh?

Caroline: Worth the investment. But there are so many different machine feet. You don’t necessarily need to collect them all. But if you try out stitching on some scraps and you’re finding some issues that could be solved by a specific foot, go ahead and try it out.

Helen: Yeah. Another tip we have is to backstitch at the start and end of your seams. It locks the stitches the same way a knot does in hand sewing, and it keeps the seams from coming unravelled as you handle the garment, test for fit, get to that point where your sewing seams together. Do you always have to backstitch? No, not technically. But if you make it a habit, it, kind of, becomes muscle memory, and you just always do it. So I think if you’re starting out, just backstitch all the time, and eventually, you’ll just backstitch all the time.

Caroline: Yeah, it really does become, like, second nature, just used to pressing that button. An alternative is to tie a knot at the beginning and end of your seams. To do this, you pull on the top thread to pull up a loop of the bobbin thread. Hook that loop with your finger or a pin, and pull the bobbin thread through to the top, then, knot the threads together. At the end, you could also sew off the end of the fabric, trim the threads to be about six inches long, and knot them together.

I usually do this at the pointy end of a dart instead of backstitching. Another alternative is to just, like, reduce your stitch length to almost nothing at the end of a dart, or even at the end of a seam, if you don’t wanna backstitch or knot your threads. And some machines have a button that you can press to lock your stitches, so you can press it when you start and when you wanna end a seam. And it basically just stitches in place a few times, which I think is also a decent alternative to backstitching.

Helen: Yes, definitely. Let’s talk about those issues with machine stitching that you get at the start of a seam. I hate these problems. On my old machine that I was talking about earlier, that Kenmore, it used to eat fabric and thread like crazy. I had to be diligent with these tips that we’re about to give you. So if this is something you struggle with, these are for you.

First thing is thread nests. These are so annoying. It’s when your thread makes that loopy, knotty mess of the thread at the start of your seam. So you can hold your thread tails and gently, gently pull on them as you start your seam so that they don’t get sucked down into that bobbin area and get all knotted up. Again, this is something that will feel annoying at first, but it will become muscle memory over time. You’ll just naturally reach for those thread tails, and you won’t even have to think about it.

Caroline: Yeah. Another way thread nests can happen is if the machine needs to be rethreaded. So do the top thread and the bobbin thread ,and try again.

Helen: Thread nests can also be caused by tension issues, so you can adjust your tension, test on some scraps, and then, try again.

Caroline: Yeah. I remember when I bought, um, my Bernina machine, one of the selling points was they were like, no thread nests. Like, you’ll never get thread nests on the, that machine, which is like…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Such B.S. Like, it’s not possible. Every machine gets thread nests, and you just need to get used to holding onto your threads when you start sewing, and you’ll avoid so many headaches.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. I mean, I feel like I’ve lost this muscle memory a bit ‘cause my Pfaff has way less thread nests. And I’ve also started starting a little bit further in on your fabric, which is our next tip.

Another issue that can happen at the beginning of the seam is that your machine sucks your fabric down into it. And this can really happen a lot with stretchy or lightweight fabrics. And sometimes it gets so jammed in there that you have to lift up the foot and, like, yard it out, which you’re probably not supposed to do, but let’s be real. You’re like, I’m not stopping tonight, so you just yank it out of there, and you can try again.

But one way to solve this is to start just a little further in on your fabric instead of right at the edge. As long as you’re within the seam allowance, you’re gonna be fine. And you can backstitch close to the edge and then sew forward again. So it’s, kind of, starting ahead, going back, and then, going forward. And that solves a lot of those problems.

Caroline: Yeah, and you can also use a leader, so this is a scrap of fabric that you butt up to the edge of the fabric that you’ll actually be sewing. If you’ll be trimming the seam, you can even overlap the leader a little bit. You start sewing in the middle of the leader, and then, sew smoothly onto your actual project. And after you’re done, just trim away the leader.

You can use a tightly woven fabric like quilting cotton for your leaders, or you can use an ender to end the seam the same way. One thing about this one, though, is, like, if you’re cutting off the leader, and then, you don’t have that backstitch anymore at the beginning of your seam. So you might wanna, like, use your leader, get to the beginning of your actual fabric, do a little backstitch, and then keep sewing so that you’re not having your seams unravel.

Helen: Yeah, that’s true. You could totally do that. We just said this, but it’s a good tip, so we’ll say it again: gently pull on your threads as your machine starts to sew. This just helps to keep that fabric moving right along.

Caroline: And you can use a straight stitch plate or a straight stitch foot. These have a smaller opening, so it’s much harder for the fabric to get pulled down into the machine. Just know that you can only use this with a straight stitch. You’re gonna break your needle otherwise. I’ve definitely been there where I’ve had the wrong foot on my machine, and I start to zigzag, and it’s like, woo! Dodged a flying needle.

Helen: Yeah, it happens so fast. It’s so loud. Caroline, you and I have the same machine now, the Pfaff…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …710, right? Great machine. If anyone’s looking to upgrade, and it does this cute thing when you break a needle or something where it’s like, the machine needs to rest. Stop sewing. And everything, kind of, goes, like, dark on the screen, and it just makes you sit there and, like, think about what you did

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. It’s, like, you’re in a timeout now.

Helen: I love it. Um, you can starch your fabric so it’s not so slinky. This will also help with it getting sucked into the machine. You can buy or make your own spray starch. Uh, you can also soak your fabric in it. Test starch on a scrap before doing anything to your yardage, just in case.

Caroline: Yeah, and you can also put a small piece of tissue or paper under where you’re starting to sew. This can just be ripped off afterwards, but it’s gonna act as a barrier so that your lightweight fabric or knit fabric doesn’t get sucked through into your machine.

Helen: Smart. Okay. If we could distill all our advice for sewists who are new to sewing on a machine, it would be this: it takes time and practice to get used to your machine pedal speed. You will master it. This is also adjustable on many new machines, which is awesome. So check out your manual to find out how. It’s usually through a dial or a slider on your machine, but it could also be on the pedal itself.

Caroline: Tension issues are normal and happen to everybody. I definitely remember having more big tension issues in the beginning, but even now, it happens from time to time. Just take a breath, rethread your machine, test out, and adjust your tension on your scraps. What seems like a big issue now is gonna be much easier to fix as you become more experienced.

Helen: And finally, you need to use the right needle and thread for your project. We’ve mentioned some advice about that in this episode, but we have an episode all about pins and needles and another all about thread if you wanna do a deep dive. Just keep in mind the fabric you’re using needs to have the right needle associated with it. And, like I said, you are going to get used to what is for what, and it’s going to become all very clear.

Caroline: And here’s a tidbit of advice even for experienced sewists. Got a new machine? Take some scraps and try out the available stitches. You’re allowed. It’s a practical way to get to know your machine. It’s also super fun to see what it’s capable of. You can also make a stitch library for future reference. Sew a line of each stitch across a big scrap of fabric, and write the number of the stitch next to each one. Then, when you’re interested in using a pretty decorative stitch, you can look through your stitch library and see how it looks all stitched out. It often looks a bit different than it does in your machine’s illustration of it, so this is a really fun thing to try out when you have a new machine.

Helen: Yeah, try out all those cute, little elephant stitches and snowflakes and lattices.

Caroline: And little hearts. Yeah.

Helen: I mean, some machines have, like, 500, so maybe not all of them, but…

Caroline: I don’t know. That sounds like a fun Friday night to me.

Helen: Oh, I love it. Okay, we’re ready to talk about specific machine stitches. Of course, the most basic stitch, but not basic in, like, a basic way, is the straight stitch. It’s the workhorse for wovens and the main stitch you’re gonna be using when you sew.

Caroline: Yeah, stitch length is gonna be your main variation on a straight stitch. A standard stitch length is usually around two and a half millimetres. You can go a little bit longer for heavyweight fabrics, maybe about three millimetres. And for lightweight fabrics, you can go a little bit shorter, like two or 2.5 millimetres. And it’s a good idea to do a slightly shorter stitch length for going around curves so you have a really smooth result and a little bit more control, and it’s stronger if you need to clip into that seam allowance.

Helen: So true. For darts, you can also reduce that stitch length at the end, near the point, like Caroline had mentioned earlier, to secure those stitches really well and reduce any bubbling. For example, if you’re starting with a 2.5 millimetre stitch, slowly reduce until your stitch length is 1.5 millimetres in the last couple of centimetres or so, and sew slowly here, of course.

Caroline: And use a long stitch length for basting stitches and gathering stitches. For gathers, a shorter stitch is gonna make finer gathers. However, the shorter the stitch is, the more likely your thread is to snap. So be careful and split your gathering into sections if you go on the shorter end. Gathering and basting stitches should be anywhere between four and six millimetres.

Helen: On many machines, you can also move the needle to the right or the left to do your straight stitching. This is sometimes listed as a separate stitch, and sometimes it’s just a dial that you can change. It’s good for getting right up there to the edge or just, like, changing the seam allowance gauge if you prefer to, like, always work from a certain line on your machine. You can customise that based on where your needle is. Although, it might get a little confusing based on what the markings say, so you just have to keep that in mind. But if you’re using, like, tape or something to always be your marker, then you can move your needle instead.

Caroline: Yeah, I’ve definitely been there where I’ve had my needle position, let’s say, really far to the right, and then I start sewing a seam using my guides on my machine, like, oh, yeah, I’m sewing at five-eighths, and then, all of a sudden, I’m like, this doesn’t look like five-eighths. What am I doing wrong here? So pay attention to that. When you change it, you always wanna change it back.

And straight stitches can look slightly angled on many machines. This is because of how the top thread twists to loop around the bobbin thread. A straight stitch plate and/or a foot can help make them look less angled. If it’s important to you to have a very straight straight stitch, you can also try out machines in person when you’re shopping for one. Also, if you’re cool with having more than one machine, machines that do straight stitches only, generally, have neater straight stitches than machines that also do zigzag stitches.

Helen: Yeah. This is a real thing that I never fully understood when I was getting into sewing is, like, people would be like, oh, this machine, it does a beautiful straight stitch, just beautiful. I’m like, aren’t they, like, is that not what they all do? I don’t understand. They’re not all created equal.

Caroline: You’re like, chef’s kiss. Amazing straight stitch.

Helen: What a gorgeous straight stitch. I just love it. I mean, it’s, like, imperceptibly different, like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …to the average user, but you know, we’re sewists. We see these things. Okay. speaking of the zigzag stitch, zigzag stitches are also a major workhorse. You can use them to sew seams on knits, finish seams, do machine appliqué, even make your own buttonholes and bar tacks.

Caroline: Zigzag stitches can be adjusted by width and length. Width refers to how far to the right and left the zigs and zags will go, and length refers to how far down the fabric each stitch is gonna go. So a wide width, short length zigzag stitch will look like an embroidery satin stitch. And a narrow with long length zigzag will look like a wavy straight straight stitch.

Helen: A zigzag stitch is great for sewing knits without a serger. It stretches with the fabric, whereas a straight stitch would snap if you tried to stretch it. Tilly and the Buttons recommends a 1.5 millimetre wide by 2.2 millimetre long zigzag stitch for joining seams and a 2.5 millimetre wide, 2.5 millimetre length for top stitching.

Of course, this is up to you, personal preference, and your particular fabric might need slightly different dimensions depending on its weight and fibre and stretch percentage. So test out a few lines of stitches on some scraps first. Adjust the tension the same way you would if you were testing out a straight stitch and look out for puckering or loops and adjust the top thread tension and just keep trying until you find something that stretches enough for your fabric and you think looks good.

Caroline: Mhm. And you can finish woven seams by zigzagging over the edge or very close to the edge of the seam allowance. And you can use zigzag stitch for machine appliqué as well. Use a narrow length zigzag to make a satin-like stitch over the raw edge of an appliqué piece.

Jane from Projects by Jane has a clear tutorial and some advice for doing this. She suggests using an open toe foot so you can see what you’re doing. And she uses a zigzag with a stitch width of three millimetres and a stitch length of 0.4 or half a millimetre, and she shows where to have the needle when you’re pivoting on an inside curve, an outside curve, and a point. It looks really great.

This would be so cool for patches on a chore coat. I’m sorry, every time I hear open toe foot, I think about, like, sandals.

Helen: Yeah, I know. And then you think the combination of open-toed shoes and, like, needle stitching it…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …like, gives me, like, yeah. Skin crawl.

Caroline: I know. Yeah.

Helen: Same. You can also use the zigzag to make your own bar tacks and buttonholes. A bar tack is really simple. It’s just a regular width, low length zigzag stitch that you sew for half an inch or so. You can pass over it two, three, or four times to make a really strong and thick bar tack.

Alina from Alina Design Co. recommends a stitch width of between two and three millimetres and a stitch length of between zero three and 0.5, basically, as low down as you can get typically. Um, we’ll link her tutorial as well as other resources we’ve mentioned in our show notes on our website.

Buttonholes are a little more complicated. You really have to try out the settings on scraps until you figure out the right ones. It’s, kind of, hard to explain on audio medium, but basically you’ll measure your button, draw on little legs, so it looks like the buttonhole marks on patterns, and then you mess around with your settings to create the top, bottom bar tacks, and the sides of the buttonhole.

And don’t stress too much if it doesn’t look perfect or you overshoot it a little bit and you’ve got some zigzag coming out one end, that’s not coming out the other. If it’s a matching thread, and ‘specially, like, no one is going to notice. Megan Nielsen has a great tutorial for how to do this, so we’ll link that up.

Caroline: I’ve done this out of sheer desperation because when you’re doing buttonholes, it’s, like, the end of your project, right? So I’ll be at the end and I’m like, I wanna wear this tomorrow. My buttonhole attachment is lost, or my machine is messing up, and it’s not working. I’m just gonna do it manually, and it does work, and it might look really messy, but honestly, there’s gonna be a button on top of it, so you’re not gonna notice. Just remember that.

Helen: I’ve definitely done this, too, because buttonhole attachments are finicky…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and they don’t always cooperate. And if this is your experience, you are not alone. Like, even high-end machines, they just don’t always work. It can get really annoying. So I’ve definitely done this as well, and it works really well. It just takes a little bit more time.

And one more thing I wanted to mention about zigzag stitch and knits is I have had people ask me about the laddering that happens. So when you sew a t-shirt or something with a zigzag, then from the outside and you pull open that seam, you get like a little bit of a stitch ladder that happens because there is give in those stitches. So the fabric pulls apart, and you can see the stitches inside the seam, especially if you’re using a wider zigzag.

The narrower the zigzag, the less of a ladder. The wider, the more of a ladder. So that’s something to keep in mind. You wanna go as narrow as possible while still having enough stretch for your fabric, and you can change that stretch based on whether you’re doing a horizontal seam that needs a lot of stretch or a vertical seam that needs a little bit of stretch. And unfortunately, that little ladder is just a part of the home sewing game, so you’re just gonna have to embrace it.

Caroline: It’s so true, and we’ll talk about some alternatives for other stretch stitches that you can try out on your machine. I feel like some machines do these better than others, so you might find there’s a different stitch that you prefer for sewing your seams that might not have as much laddering, but it’s so true.

It’s, like, you’ll never get that perfect ready to wear look when you’re sewing seams on a home sewing machine on a knit fabric. Like, it’s pretty hard to do. But you, kind of, just have to accept that and really realise that you’re probably the only person that’s ever gonna notice.

Helen: Oh, no one’s gonna notice. And just make sure you have a good matching thread.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay, so those are your two basic stitches: zigzag and straight stitch. And with these two you can sew almost anything. But with that said, there are a bunch of special stitches that can definitely come in handy. We can’t name them all, but we’re gonna go through some of the main ones.

Helen: First up is the Multi-Stitch Zigzag. It’s also called a lingerie stitch or a three step zigzag or a triple zigzag. It’s like a zigzag, except it’s made of three small straight stitches for each zig and zag. So the small stitches make it a strong way to attach elastic to swimwear or lingerie. You can also use it to make bar tacks or mend rips. This is a great little stitch, um, and I definitely have used this, especially in bra making.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It really does stretch a lot, so it’s a really nice alternative or a nice, not alternative, just a go-to stitch for sewing lingerie.

The Straight Stretch Stitch is represented by three parallel lines of stitches. It looks like a thick line of straight stitches, but it actually stretches with the fabric. It’s a very strong stitch. Each stitch has gone over three times, and you can also use it for embroidery since it makes such a bold stitch line.

Helen: Yeah, this is a really cool one that, again, I didn’t know what it was for the longest time on my machine, and then, I finally tried it and I was like, oh, it stretches. Unexpected stretch, that’s cool.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: A Blind Hem Stitch is usually represented by a few small straight stitches with big V’s in between them. And for this one, you also need a blind hem foot. It’s a bit of a learning curve, but it looks really nice because only a few tiny stitches show up on the outside of your hem.

You can also use this stitch without the blind hem foot to do appliqué. You use a thread colour that matches the background fabric, and then you sew a line right next to the appliqué. There will be tiny stitches that cross over to attach the appliqué to the background, and you can do the same technique to attach cords or trims.

This is one where watching a little video is gonna really make sure that you understand how it works, but super comes in handy if you want to have neat hems where you’re not seeing a stitch line around the exterior.

Caroline: And there’s also the Stretch Blind Hem Stitch. This one looks like the blind hem stitch, except instead of straight stitches in between the V stitches, there are little zigzag stitches. You can use a blind hem foot to hem stretch fabrics with it. Also, this one would make a super cute decorative embroidery stitch. It looks like little mountain shapes.

Helen: Oh, it’s true. Multipurpose. The Stretch Tricot Stitch, also called the Lightning Bolt Stitch, is a slanted zigzag stitch. And I’m talking excitedly because I love the stitch so much. It’s good for light- to medium-weight stretch fabrics, and it has a narrower profile than a regular zig stitch so you don’t get that laddering that I was talking about in your seams. It has a surprising amount of stretch, like…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …most projects, you’re pretty much good to use as a lightning bolt stitch.

Caroline: Yeah. And some of these stitches, like the lightning bolt and the straight stretch stitch, the one that goes over three times, it’s slow, and you’ll notice that if you’re trying to sew a lot of seams…

Helen: Oh, true.

Caroline: …‘cause it just takes so much longer. If you’re used to just, like, flashing through your sewing, you’re gonna notice like, oh, my gosh, I’m waiting here while it’s sewing, like, one inch. You might be questioning your choices.

Helen: It’s so true. Especially when you’re trying to, like, bang out a t-shirt or a pair leggings. You’re like, why? Go faster!

Caroline: An Overlock Stitch looks like a zigzag stitch with one line of stitches on the inner edge. There’s also the Double Overlock Stitch, which looks like a zigzag stitch with straight stitches on both sides. This stitch was designed to mimic an overlock stitch. You can use it to sew stretch fabrics or as an all-in-one seam joining and finishing stitch. This is another one that takes forever, but it is really cool. If you don’t have an overlocker, it’s a great alternative.

Helen: Yeah, definitely. Most regular sew machines come with a buttonhole stitch and a buttonhole function. These can come in one step or multiple steps, so sometimes it does the whole buttonhole, goes all the way around. And sometimes you have to actually program it and, like, tell it to go up, and then, tell it to go over, and then, tell it to go back. But you can check your manual to find out how to attach a buttonhole foot and how to use your buttonhole stitch.

Generally, you put your button in the back part of the foot to adjust the opening to be the right size, which is super cool. And then you clip your buttonhole foot on and pull down the stop bar, which is a vertical metal bar near where the foot comes out of the machine. If it’s a one step, you can just start stitching. If it needs multiple steps, you’ll do one step and then switch the stitch to the next stitch step, et cetera, et cetera.

We always recommend practising on a scrap for your first, or first few buttonholes, if your first one doesn’t turn out. You can make sure that the size is correct for your button this way. You can also adjust any tension issues. And use the same amount of layers and interfacing that you’ll be using on your finished project here, so you’re really replicating what’s gonna happen.

Sewing buttonholes, as we said, can be annoying. It doesn’t always work out. Sometimes your machine goes off the rails, it’s supposed to turn around and it doesn’t for whatever reason.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But, you know, most of the time it works out. So it’s super handy and amazing when it does, and then it’s just so frustrating when it doesn’t. But this is normal and you can unpick buttonholes. It seems like a lot of thread on your project and, like, if on a delicate fabric, this can be pretty devastating, but you can get out your unpicker, and you can carefully unpick those buttonholes, so it’s not the end of the world.

Caroline: I feel like we need to have, like, a moment of silence and a deep cleansing breath for, like, all of the ruined buttonholes and all of the unpicked buttonholes in our sewing journey.

Helen: Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s have a deep breath.

Caroline: Let it go.

Helen: Let it go. Just let it go.

Caroline: Okay. That felt good. Alright, the Button Sewing Stitch is for sewing on buttons. This was life changing when I discovered it. You’ll need a button sewing foot to use it. After you have the foot on and the button in place, you need to test out the stitch width. Unthread the needle and test out the width by slowly using the hand wheel and adjust the width until the needle is clearing the holes of the button, and then, you just sew it on.

You can also use a zigzag stitch with the length set to zero instead of a button sewing stitch. You can also use a piece of tape to hold your button in place before you, kind of, try sewing it ‘cause sometimes that can move around on your project. You can also use a regular foot. I’ve done that before, if you don’t have the special button foot. It’s just, kind of, harder to see your holes that way.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Singer has a good video demonstrating how to do this. But if you have only ever been hand sewing on your buttons and you’re an impatient person like me, this will be life changing for you.

Helen: It is pretty cool. I’ve used this feature a few times, but I am a hand sewing on buttons kind of person. I just love sitting in front of my TV and sewing on the buttons. It’s great.

Caroline: Can’t relate. Can’t relate.

Helen: There’s also Bar Tack Stitches. This is a great way to get a neat and strong bar tack. Sometimes, it’s a really satiny zigzag, and sometimes, it’s a combination of straight stitches and satiny zigzags. And some machines don’t have bar tack functions. So have a look and see if yours does and give it a try. I find with, like, really thick fabrics like denim, which we’ve been sewing a lot of here at Helen’s Closet lately, often when I get to those points where I’m sewing bar tacks on a lot of layers, the bar tack function does not work for me as well as just the zigzag function where you have a little bit more control, and you can, kind of, like, move the fabric where you want it to be versus the bar tack, which just is usually a setting that you, kind of, like, press play, and it goes.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Um, and you don’t have a lot of control, so keep that in mind. And if you’re using a vintage machine, you can turn off your feed dogs and set your machine to zigzag to get that really satiny stitch and satin stitches, like, really close together so that it looks, like, super, super smooth. They often also have the tension dialled down on the bobbin or loosened on the top so that the stitches go more to the wrong side of the fabric to create, again, that super smooth appearance. That’s what I used to do on my old Kenmore, was just switch off the feed dogs and use my zigzag stitch to get those really cute bar tacks.

Caroline: Yeah, great tips. And then, finally, a Satin Stitch looks like a zigzag stitch, but differently angled. It looks more like the letter Z where there are horizontal stitches in between the slanted zigs and zags. We’re saying zigs and zags so much in this episode.

Helen: Zigs and zags.

Caroline: We need a song. A zig and a zag and a zig, zig, zag.

Helen: Literally, the Spice Girls.

Caroline: A zig, a zig, a zag. Is it really?

Helen: Yeah. Zig a zag, ah! That’s what they’re singing about. They’re singing about sewing.

Caroline: Yeah. Anyways, the satin stitch is one that’s made to do really neat sat stitches around appliqués. So check this one out if you have it on your machine, it’s pretty cool. A zig, a zig, zag.

Helen: A zig, a zig, zag. Okay, finally, there are those multitudes of decorative stitches we mentioned earlier. Some machines come with a huge selection. Others come with just a tight selection. Trust me, you do not need a thousand of these stitches. If you’re looking at machines, don’t be swayed by the fact that one has a thousand, one has a hundred ‘cause you’re never gonna use them all.

But the main way to use decorative stitches is to embellish your fabric or your projects. You can use regular all-purpose thread, but it’s always a good idea to go bold so the stitching is actually noticeable. Machine embroidery thread comes in lots of colours and you can get it in heavier weights, too, if you really want it to stand out.

A 50 weight thread is what is usually recommended for hand quilting, and you can get an even bolder look with a thicker thread, like a 12 weight. Again, make sure you’re using the right needle here. And you could also try using top stitching thread or bold quilting thread to really make things pop.

Caroline: And you can stitch lines of different decorative stitches to make a pretty border, centre panel, or yoke on a plain fabric before you even stitch your pieces together. There’s a fabulous tutorial on the Susie Quilts blog by contributor Peyton that shows you how. Basically, decide on your design, mark out your lines, and stitch over them. Peyton made a gorgeous, dusty pink linen dress with red and white embroidery down the centre front to make a front panel, a denim shirt with an embroidered back yoke and cuffs, and a white top with white embroidery at the hem. They all look amazing. You have to see this. It’s so inspiring. We’re gonna link the tutorial in the show notes.

Helen: Yeah. This is definitely, like, the machine decorative stitching dream project. It’s so pretty.

Caroline: It really is. Yeah.

Helen: And if you need to do some top stitching, for whatever reason, it could be really cute to use a decorative stitch instead of a straight stitch. I can imagine some cool stitches along the curve of a slant pocket or down the sides of a pair of jeans, or even along just the hem of a skirt or pair of pants. It’s just there for you. A nice little detail. Okay, that was a lot of stitches and stitch advice. If you have any extra tips or want to tell us how you use your favourite machine stitch, or better yet, show us, let us know. Get in touch and show us your projects. We always love to see them.

Caroline: Yeah, we do. Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

Helen: I wanna see your projects. I wanna see your projects. I wanna see your projects at the zig a zag stitch.

Caroline: Woo. You nailed it. You carried that one, Helen.

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording today in cold British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode, and if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pics. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Oh, I’ll tell you what I want what I really really want. I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna tell what you, what you, I wanna, I wanna wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna zig a zig a zig ah.

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Image credit: Saki Jane (@sakijane) for the article “Sustainable Scrap Busting: Fabric Plant Bucket” on the Helen’s Closet blog

Home decor sewing can make your house into a warm, inviting home! In this episode, we chat about the home decor fabrics, notions, and tools you’ll need to do a bevy of projects. We also give home-decor specific sewing tips, share the projects we’ve made ourselves, and discuss inspiring project ideas. Plus, listener feedback about our quilted garments episode!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

From our Listener Feedback Section:

Previous Episodes Mentioned: 

Helen and Caroline’s Me-Made Home Decor: 

Helen and Caroline’s Natural Dyeing Adventure with Maiwa Blanks:

Tutorials and Resources:

Tools, Fabrics, and Notions: 

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: Home Decor Sewing.

Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m doing well. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. I’m excited to talk about home decor sewing. As you may know, I’m a huge fan. Love sewing things for my home.

Helen: I know. I’m excited to get your hot takes because yeah, I don’t have as much experience as you home decor sewing, and I always admire all your lovely handsewn home decor items when I’m at your place.

Caroline: Yeah, we will get real into it in a minute. But first we have to talk about some feedback that we received about our sewing quilted garments episode. So Irene reminded us that quilted slippers are cosy and cute! I can’t believe we forgot to mention them. She recommended the Nordik Quilted Booties by Jalie, which come in a boot style or a low slipper style with an elastic back. And we’d also like to mention Sew DIY’s Quilted Slippers pattern and Suzy Quilts’ free Quilted Slippers Tutorial. Any of these would make amazing gifts! Check out our show notes for links to these patterns.

I have to say UGGs are back, and I feel like a quilted booty has UGG vibes, so…

Helen: Yes, it does.

Caroline: …I’m on board. All the way.

Helen: I don’t know how you make it, like, appropriate for outdoor wear, but maybe there’s…

Caroline: Indoor.

Helen: Oh, indoor UGG.

Caroline: Indoor UGG. Yeah.

Helen: But I want an outdoor UGG. Can I just slap some soles on there?

Caroline: Yeah, yeah yeah. Gotta get into shoe making then.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: Some soles. I mean, I bet it’s, it’s extremely doable, Helen. You can make anything you set your mind to.

Helen: If there’s any cobblers out there that have any good tips.

Okay. Our next piece of feedback comes from Lalu. They said, “I actually started my sewing journey as a quilter and then after years finally branched out into garment sewing. I wanted to mention one thing about thread choices – quilters are often pretty militant about cotton thread and a big reason for this is that the cotton thread also shrinks a bit when you wash it-the shrinkage mirrors what will happen with your cotton fabric (assuming that you’ve made a cotton quilt) so you get even better little signature quilting wrinkles. I will say, I was never a super strict quilter, so, totally use whatever thread – but this was one detail I thought I’d add to the thread convo!

“There also is a neat technique called spooning! You can use a normal spoon or better yet, a special quilting spoon. It’s for hand quilting and you hold the spoon in one hand on the underside of the quilt, needle in the other hand and then when the needle goes through the fabric, it hits the spoon and the curvature makes the needle pop back up to the top of the quilt. You repeat this for several stitches and then pull the needle through and start over.”

So cool.

Caroline: This is so cool. Thank you so much for these tips, Lalu. The spooning one is especially interesting – we found a video by Jinny Beyer Studio that shows this technique in action, so you can look for it in our show notes. Helen, did you ever see this before? I feel like this is so different and cool.

Helen: It’s so cool. I mean, I love a good unique tool, so I’m obviously going to be getting a quilting spoon to add to my collection, um, and giving it a try. I don’t do a ton of hand quilting, so I haven’t encountered this yet, but I’m excited to, yeah, try it out

Caroline: Awesome. Okay, so let’s move on to our main topic.

Helen: Yes, we’re mixing it up today and diving into the world of home decor sewing. I mean, I can’t believe we haven’t done an episode on this, honestly. Over 200 episodes, and we’ve never talked about making a pillowcase. I mean, come on.

Caroline: I know, especially considering my home is filled with handmade pillow cases, but if you sew your own clothes, I bet you’ve thought about sewing items for your home, too. It’s a natural next or first step on a lot of our sewing journeys. And home decor sewing is just another way to put our sewing skills to good use. It feels great to have me-made accents in your space. I can attest to that. It does feel great.

Helen: Yes, and like garment sewing, home decor sewing gives us control over the colours, textiles, sizes, details of all of our soft furnishings. You don’t have to be limited to what you can find in stores.

Caroline: Sometimes you can save money by sewing your own home decor. It’s, kind of, similar to sewing clothing. If you compare your finished project to what you would pay for something of similar quality, you’re usually gonna come out on top. However, you probably won’t be able to beat the prices of the most affordable home decor on the market. So it makes sense to focus on making things that are harder to find, like custom sized shades or pillow covers in unusual fabrics, or maybe slightly higher end textiles that would be much more expensive if you buy them finished, but…

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: …you save a little bit of money buying them, uh, by the metre.

Helen: Yeah, or using your fabric scraps to make small things ‘cause then it’s, like, you’re totally winning.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: And there’s also a few ways that sewing for your home is easier than sewing clothes. There’s a lot of simple straight lines in home decor sewing, both in the pieces that you’re cutting out and in the seams that you sew. You also don’t have to worry about fitting, even if you’re making a fitted cover, most shapes are gonna be simpler to understand than the fit of the human body, which as we all know, is a challenge.

Caroline: Yes. And the fabrics that you’ll be working with are stable. You don’t have to worry about wrangling stretchy or delicate fabrics most of the time when you’re sewing for home decor. As Helen said, it’s also a great way to use up scraps. You can either make small pieces like pot holders and napkins, or you can patchwork your scraps together.

Helen: Yes! And we’ve both sewn a little home decor before. Well, a little in my case. And I do really enjoy sewing home decor. I don’t do it often enough. I feel like I have a lot of ideas for items that I’d love to sew for my home, but I tend not to prioritise those projects because I get distracted by shiny garments.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, but hopefully this episode will inspire me. I’m really excited to hear all of the project ideas.

Caroline: Yeah. I love sewing home decor so much. I’ve made many things for my home. I have many more ideas for my current home of things that I wanna make. So it’s, it’s a lifelong journey for me, for sure.

Helen: Yeah, tell me about some of the things that you have made in the past and some of your favourite projects.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. So I’ve done a few upholstered projects that I have really fond memories of. At one point when I moved to Vancouver, I tried to dupe, like, an Urban Outfitters upholstered headboard for my bed. So I had, I went to, like, a lumber yard and I had them actually cut with, like, a jigsaw, the shape of the headboard. It was very, like, ornate at the top and curvy at the top. And then I went to the foam store, and I bought the foam. And I had linen and, um, fabric covered buttons. And I upholstered this whole headboard. I have to find pictures for the show notes. I don’t have it anymore ‘cause I ended up, uh, getting a bigger bed when Shea and I moved in together, but I loved that project. And it looked so high end, and it was so much less expensive than buying an upholstered headboard.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So that was a real win. I’ve also done, like, simpler projects. Like, I had a secondhand chair that I got for $5 and I upholstered it, and that was awesome. Also, don’t have that anymore ‘cause tastes change.

Helen: Things come and go.

Caroline: But that was a really fun one. Reupholstering, like, chairs, like, uh, dining room chairs, just the, like, cushions for that. Or, um, I still have a bench actually behind me that I upholstered – just a simple piece of wood, and I added legs and foam and upholstered at the top, but those are, like, bigger projects.

Other than that, I love pillow covers. I think those are, like, really quick to sew up and have a really high impact, and they’re fun to switch out, you know, every year or so if you wanna have a different look in your home.

I also, I think my favourite, favourite home decor items that I’ve sewn are linen napkins and tablecloths because you can get such a high end look for a lower price. I was recently in West Elm, and they were selling four linen napkins for $75, Helen. I was like, this is just linen.

Helen: Just regular old linen. And you probably have enough scraps to make four…

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: …in your stash.

Caroline: Yeah, sure. And I mean, they were beautiful. It was, like, a beautiful, like, rusty colored linen. And I bet you, you know, a lot of people would pay that much for those four napkins. But I was like, I can make this for so much less. This is, like, less than a metre of linen. It’s, like, half a metre of linen.

Helen: Often when you look at those, like, store items, too, like, they’re not even necessarily that nicely sewn. Like, they don’t necessarily have mitered corners or those lovely details. They’re often just, like, fold over twice, top stitch all around, like…

Caroline: Totally. Yeah. And tablecloths, too, like, even with napkins and tablecloths, I find, like, what you can find in stores, it’s limited and when you make it yourself, you have access to so many more fabric options. You can really have it, like, perfectly match your home and your style.

I love using our gingham linens at Blackbird for home decor projects. I have napkins and a tablecloth out of our gingham linen. Um, so yeah, I think you can just do so much when you make it yourself. And it’s so simple; it’s just a rectangle, right?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you just do the mitered corners to get that really beautiful look, and yeah, you have something that you’re gonna use for many, many years.

Helen: Yeah. It’s so true. I really love a cloth napkin. We used to be, like, a paper towel household.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I feel like I’m ashamed to admit this, but, like…

Caroline: Oh, no.

Helen: We used to just use paper towels and whenever you needed a napkin, but I switched to fabric napkins, like, five or six years ago, and no going back, like, I just love the feeling of, like, wiping my face with a beautiful textile.

Caroline: Yeah!

Helen: And then you just throw it in the wash.

Caroline: And they just get softer and softer as you wash them. But I still have yet to have, like, a linen or a cotton napkin, like, fall apart, like, they just last forever. So, yeah, tell me more about your own home decor projects that you’ve made.

Helen: Well, I have a lot of fond memories when I was a kid and a teenager because my mom was really into sewing home decor for our house. And I remember helping her pick out fabrics for a bunch of pillow covers and, like, a futon cover and drapes in our house. And she did all the sewing, but she would always bring me along with my, like, design eye. Even when I was, like, really little. She was always like, you have such a great eye.

Caroline: Aw.

Helen: And, like, she loved getting my help picking out fabrics and things like that. So we would go to those home decor fabric shops, and I really loved these shops. They’re so cool. They’re a little different than, like, a garment sewing fabric shop or quilting shop in that they often have the fabrics displayed on horizontal rolling bars in these, like, big stacks, and you can see all of them, and then, you just, like, pull down the one you wanna look at so you can really visualise it as, like, a drape or a curtain or, like, a bed cover or whatever.

And the fabrics are often, like, really ornate designs, and they have, like, gold and stuff in them. Like, there’s just so much to look at in home decor shops. So I loved going to those shops and picking them out. And yeah, my mom made a lot of stuff growing up. She made beautiful drapes with, like, the blackout fabric on the back, which you can really save money on ‘cause those are expensive.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And she even made those Roman blinds that fold up when you pull on the little string. And I can remember her being so frustrated sewing those blinds ‘cause you have to make the little casing for the dowel and the little metal loops and the string and, like, it’s a whole thing. But again, like, you can save making your own because you get to make it custom fit to your window, and it’s just an absolutely beautiful finish. They’re still hanging in our house, so it’s definitely worth the effort. We’re gonna talk a little bit more about Roman blinds later.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But, as far as my own home decor sewing, in my twenties, I made some drapes for our apartment, but, like, by made drapes, I mean I just, like, clipped some fabric onto a rod using the little, like, round clips and, like, I didn’t even hem it or anything.

Caroline: I mean, it can be as easy as that though.

Helen: Yeah, you can get that hem tape, too, that like IKEA sells that you just fold it under and tape it. I didn’t even do that though. They were just, like, frayed on the bottom. So those hung in our window for, like, 10 years, I think, until they were so sun damaged, like, the fabric was just, like, a totally different colour on the other side than on the front side, but they did the trick. And then, Caroline, you and I did some home decor dyeing together.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Which is super fun. And I still use those napkins and tea towels that we dyed.

Caroline: Me, too.

Helen: And I absolutely love them. And that’s another way you can do home decor stuff is to just dye blanks. And we bought our blanks at Maiwai, and they do sell them online. They have all sorts of things. Like, you can buy tablecloths and napkins and tea towels, and you just, like, they’re just plain and you can dye or block print to your heart’s content, which is pretty cool.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: No sewing required. And I’ve made my fair share of pillow covers for couch cushions. And now that I’m getting into quilting, my home decor sewing has definitely skyrocketed, especially in the blankets department.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: And also wall hangings is a very popular thing for quilters to make ‘cause they’re fast and easy and fun and sticking them up on the wall. You can have quilts everywhere. So I’ve been making some wall hangings as well. And another project I wanted to mention is just putting fabric into a picture frame or wrapping it around a canvas. I’ve done this a few times to, like, decorate my home and it’s such a great scrap buster. It’s a cool way to show off textiles. It’s so easy. And again, no sewing required. You can just use your scrap and pop it in a frame, and people will be impressed. I’ve gotten compliments.

Caroline: Yes. I actually have a frame in my sewing room right now that I wanna frame one of our linen prints from last summer. But it’s such a great idea. I know in your guest bathroom you have some framed fabrics that I always admire when I come over.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It’s a great idea.

Helen: Yeah, I love that. And you know, like, we were saying that everything lasts forever.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But some items do stand the test of time and can be totally worth it. I mean, oftentimes you’ll get more use out of them than you would a garment, so it is worth the effort if you have, like, a home decor item in mind.

Caroline: Okay, so home decor sewing isn’t always smooth sailing. There are a few challenges that you might want to prepare for. So first up, home decor fabrics, especially upholstery types, can be really bulky and wrangling them through your sewing machine can be a challenge. So you may wanna reduce your presser foot pressure if you’re working with a thick and bulky fabric. This makes it a bit easier for your machine to feed the fabric through and reduces shifting. Look at your sewing machine’s manual to find out how to do this. It’s usually done with a knob located on top of the machine over the foot. And if you can’t find your manual, you can usually find it online by Googling your machine brand and model.

Helen: Yes! And you know that little lever you use to lift and drop your machine’s foot? While most levers can be pushed up from the even upmost position to lift the foot a tiny bit higher, and this is super handy when you’re trying to fit layers of thick fabric underneath that foot.

Caroline: Mhm. And you’re probably gonna want a stronger needle than usual. Think a size 90 instead of a size 70, and pair this with heavy duty or upholstery thread.

Helen: Yeah. And if you still run into issues, you could even try a leather needle ‘cause that’ll sew through anything.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Clips will be easier to use than pins with these thicker fabrics. Wonder Clips are made for sewing, but you can also try out using regular old paper clips to hold your pieces together. That’s something you might have already lying around.

Caroline: Mhm. Or bull clips, too…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …work totally well. A hump jumper tool also called a jean-ama-jig, or some pieces of cardboard, will help you get your seam started. The purpose of these tools is to level out the presser foot. So if you find that your foot is angled up at the start of a seam, slip that hump jumper or cardboard under the back end of the foot to level it back out. And this is just gonna help you, um, have, like, a smoother experience with sewing.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. You won’t have as many spread out or skipped stitches and things like that.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Another helpful tool that can level out that foot is the little black button. The little black button looks, kind of, like a knob at the end of a spring, and it’s attached to the foot. You can check the feet of your machine, um, to see if your machine came with this. A lot of recently made machines come with these little black button feet, and of course you can also buy one, but to use it, you raise the foot, which should level out when it’s in that up position, then you press that black button in, and then you lower the foot while you’re holding the button, and it actually makes the foot stay in that horizontal level position, so it can’t tilt back and forth anymore. It’s very magical. We have a link to an article on Among Brenda’s Quilts and Bags that shows how this works. Uh, it’s basically, like, a built-in hump jumper.

Caroline: Very cool. And for super thick areas like where seams meet, or if you’re gonna do top stitching over several layers, you might wanna break out the hammer. Yes, you heard that right. Take your item to a hard surface that will not be damaged by hammering like the bottom of a cast iron pan or one of those cute little anvils like the ones that we sell at Blackbird, and you lay your piece on top and hammer down the seam allowance. This sounds wild, but it actually helps a lot. We do this a lot in jeans making, but it works really well for home decor projects as well when there’s a lot of thickness in the fabric.

Helen: And if you need to do a bit of hand sewing on thick fabric, you can use a thimble or pliers even to help you out. A thimble goes on the middle finger of your sewing hand, and it goes behind the butt of the needle to push through the fabric, and you can use pliers to grasp the needle and pull it the rest of the way through. Make sure you’re using a heavier duty needle in this case, too. Don’t use one of those teeny tiny ones. You’re gonna want something with a little more oomph to it.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Another challenge of home decor sewing is that some projects are gonna be really large. Curtains and duvets can be a slog to sew and a bear to manage when cutting and sewing. So we do have some ideas for managing cutting. First up, take your time when you’re cutting out big pieces. You can use your cutting mat or a cardboard mat with a grid to make sure that things are square and that the lines you’re cutting are straight. And if you don’t have a big enough table, you can put a cardboard mat on a big bed or call in a favour with someone who does have a big table.

Helen: Yes. And here are some ideas for managing sewing big pieces since sewing long, straight line after long straight line can be a little bit monotonous. Get your creative juices flowing by listening to a good podcast, audiobook, or some music while you work. Or you can do the opposite and really settle in and practice mindfulness while pressing those long seams. And if you’re not going to wash your project before you start using it, make sure the floor is clean before you work. The fabric will definitely hang down while you’re sewing and pressing, and upholstery fabrics can collect a lot of dust and crime pretty easily.

Caroline: Yeah, I’ve been there. Big old dust bunnies on my curtains.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It can be challenging to work on home decor projects without a pattern. There aren’t a ton of patterns for home decor, though you can find them out there. Uh, so to make things easier on yourself, you wanna be doing a bit of prep work beforehand.

Helen: Yes. Make a sketch of your project. It doesn’t have to be beautiful. You’re just doing it so that you have a really clear idea of what you’re about to make. Write down the dimensions and the seam allowance on your sketch. Write down a list of the pieces you’re gonna need to cut and their measurements. And when you’re cutting, check off each item as you cut it out.

Figuring all this out at the same time as you’re cutting can get confusing. If you do all the measuring and make a list before you’re standing there with your rotary cutter, there’s less chance that you’ll forget something or get mixed up with all those, like, similarly boxy-shaped pieces.

Caroline: Yeah, and if you feel lost, read through some tutorials for projects similar to yours. Even if you want your end product to look different, you can often catch some useful tips and step-by-step instructions when you use other tutorials as a reference. YouTube is a great place for this. I know when I was also making pillow shams for my bedroom, I looked up measurements online just to, like, get a sense, ‘cause you wanna build in a little bit of extra for, like, the thickness of the pillow, depending on how thick your pillow is. So looking at that really does help.

Helen: Yeah, totally. Let’s talk about the wonderful world of home decor fabrics. As I mentioned, they come in those beautiful rolls from the drapery store, if you are so lucky. But some fabrics can be used for both home decor and garments, so you don’t necessarily have to go to a specialty store. For example, midweight linen is a beautiful choice for home decor. You know we love it for garments, too. Cotton canvas can make a great choice for cushion covers, a DIY poof, or even some upholstery. Quilting cottons can make great napkins, place mats, cushion covers, fabric bins, even pieced tablecloths. So there’s lots of, um, options for those lighter weight fabrics, too.

Caroline: Yeah, even, like, a cotton lawn or poplin can work really well for drapery or pillow covers. So, yeah, the possibilities are pretty endless. There are a lot of fabrics too that are specifically made for home decor. Upholstery fabrics are made to be hard wearing. They can be made of many different fibres from polyester to linen.

Performance fabrics are usually synthetic. They’re easier to keep clean and more stain resistant than natural fibres. Natural fibre upholstery fabrics are usually higher end, beautiful, but harder to maintain. Upholstery fabrics are normally reinforced with fabric, latex, or glue to stabilise them and make them more durable, and it also keeps them from bagging out over time. So when you’re doing an upholstery project, it is probably worth, like, investing in an upholstery grade fabric so that it stands the test of time.

Helen: Yeah. If it’s something you’re gonna be sitting on…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …you probably wanna go with upholstery fabric. Or something that’s gonna be, like, in the sun or outside, you definitely wanna go with something that’s intended for that purpose because that’s how you’re gonna get something that lasts. Upholstery fabrics come in a lot of different weaves. There’s plain weave, twill weave, jacquards, velvet, velveteen, brocade. Those are all really popular upholstery weaves.

And if you have pets or you’re worried about maintaining your upholstery, your best bet is to look for a tightly woven synthetic fabric. A print, or even some mottled colour, can help camouflage any stains that you’re gonna inevitably have to wash out. So keep that in mind when you’re choosing. Maybe now’s not the time to go for cream unless you have a beautiful white cat.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s so true. Yeah. Pepper and Fraidy do not have the same colour fur all the time ‘cause Pepper has black spots, so there’s no winning…

Helen: There’s no winning.

Caroline: …in my house.

Helen: You can’t choose. You need a busy print.

Caroline: Yeah. Sheer fabrics are popular for curtains. Sheer curtains can let in light while giving you privacy, and they’re so pretty. We’ve seen pretty sheer linen, cotton, and synthetic fabrics available.

Helen: And on the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find blackout fabric to make blackout curtains or blinds. This is a lightweight synthetic fabric that usually comes in white or neutral colours, but it’s opaque when you hold it up to the light. It’s great for lining bedroom curtains so you can get those extra z’s.

Caroline: Yeah, and Insul-bright is a cool thermal batting that you can use to line pot holders, oven mitts, lunch sacks, or casserole covers. It’s made of polyester fibres that are needled through a reflective metallic film, and the film reflects the heat or cold back to the object. You don’t have to have Insul-bright to make pot holders. You can use thick batting instead, but it is a really nice option. One note, don’t put it in the microwave. Metals and microwaves do not mix.

Helen: Yes. Now’s not the time to use this if you’re making a soup bowl cosy or something like that. You might have noticed, too, that a lot of home decor fabrics have naps. No, they’re not laying down for a 3:00 PM siesta. A fabric with a nap has a pile that sticks up beyond the fabric space. So think velvet, corduroy, suede, chenille. Pick the direction that you like best for your napped fabric and cut all your pieces in that same direction. Otherwise, the colour can look different on different pieces. Um, and that might be a bit disappointing when you finish your big project.

Caroline: Yeah, we’ve all been there with the corduroy pants.

Helen: The corduroy!

Caroline: The corduroy! Um, there are some special tools, notions, and supplies that are just for home decor. So if you’re doing an upholstery project, you may need foam or batting. For example, an upholstered headboard might need a layer of foam covered with a layer of batting, and the foam is gonna give the headboard comfort and bulk, and the batting is gonna soften out the edges of the foam so that it looks smooth all the way around the back. You can find lots of different foams of different thicknesses and densities out there. And the same with battings. What you choose depends on your budget, how you want your project to feel, and how you want it to look.

Helen: Yeah, if there’s, like, a foam specific store in your area, this is a great place to go to get custom cut foam and just to get advice, too. And keep in mind that foam is more expensive than you think it is.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: Like, getting a chunk of custom cut foam is not cheap, so build that into your budget and maybe check out the foam options before you start your project.

Caroline: Yeah, that has always shocked me in the past when I work on upholstery projects and I go and get the foam and I’m like, ooh.

Helen: Ouch.

Caroline: Yeah. This is really adding to the cost.

Helen: You can find both pillow stuffing and pillow forms available to buy ready-made. Getting ready-made pillow forms will definitely save you some work though, you can’t customise their size or their shape. Um, you can make your own pillow forms pretty easily though. Just use a simple muslin fabric or neutral-coloured fabric scraps. And if you want, you can even put a zipper in your pillow form so you can add stuffing when it starts to get a bit saggy. Most stuffing is polyester, though you can find other kinds, including down, feather, and even bean bag filling. I wonder if bean bags will ever come back. I feel like they probably have, right? Gen-Z?

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

Helen: One note about feather filling. If you use it, you will need a very tightly woven fabric so the feathers don’t come out and stab you. You wanna look for down-proof cotton ticking, in this case. My couch sheds feathers like crazy, and it drives me nuts. I know. I feel like they did not use the right lining, and I’m mad about it.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. I’ve been there, too, with duvets and pillows where you’re like, oh, let me just lay my head down, and then, you get stabbed in the face with a feather.

Helen: Stabbed!

Caroline: Rude.

Helen: They’re so sharp. How are they so sharp?

Caroline: I know!

We just mentioned muslin fabric for pillow forms, but there are other uses of muslin in home decor. By the way, when we say muslin, we just mean the plain weave cotton fabric that people often use to make test garments. So upholsters also use it to cover the backs of pieces that will go against the wall or towards the floor. It keeps the dust and bugs out and it makes it look really neat.

Helen: Yeah, and when we’re also talking about muslin, get a high quality muslin, in this case. If it’s something you’re gonna be using for upholstery or it’s actually gonna be on the outside of the finished garment. There are lots of different qualities of muslin and different weaves. So if you’ve got one that you’re like, I don’t know, this doesn’t seem like a tight weave…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …probably need to pick up something else for these projects. Many upholstery projects also require a staple gun, super fun, and potentially a curved needle. The staple gun holds the edges of the fabric to the frame, and the curved needle makes any hand finishing you need to do much easier, since sometimes you need to do some hand stitching to fabric that’s already attached to a frame. We found a great video by Artisan Upholstery Studio demonstrating how to use a curved needle and do blind stitch on upholstery fabric. We’ll link it up in the show notes. I mean, upholstery is the coolest art form and skill, something I would love to dive into in, like, another life, you know?

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm.

Helen: The people who know how to do this well are so incredibly talented.

Caroline: Yeah. No, you’re so right. I am feeling very inspired to make another upholstered headboard.

Helen: Yeah, you should. It sounds amazing.

Caroline: Okay. Pleat tape is a notion that will help you create even pleats in your curtains. You can use it in combination with pleater hooks. Pleat tape is sewn to the top of the wrong side of your curtains, and it has little pockets at regular intervals that you can slip the prongs of the pleater hooks into. The fabric folds into different shaped pleats depending on where you insert the prongs.

And the hooks can attach the curtain to your window in a few different ways. You can hang the hooks over the curtain rod. You can hook them into the rings or you can loop them onto a track. We found a tutorial on Pretty Prudent that shows how to use plate tape and pleater hooks with lots of pictures, so you can check it out in our show notes.

This is really cool and fascinating, and I feel like it would make me feel like a celebrity home decorator.

Helen: Oh, totally. This is another one of those projects that my mom tackled actually.

Caroline: Really?

Helen: We had pleated curtains in our living room. Yeah. And I remember her making all the little pleats with the pleat hooks and it’s, yeah, it’s tricky, but it’s so cool when it comes together and it looks so professional, like…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Yeah. Really cool.

Caroline: And that’s one of those things where it’s like you can get that high end look that would probably cost you so much money to have, like, custom pleated curtains made.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you can make it yourself for I’m sure a lot cheaper.

Helen: Yeah. In fact, if you are going to tackle, like, a big curtain project, do yourself a favour and get a quote for getting it custom made so that you can pat yourself on the back when you finish it for way cheaper.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Yeah. Another thing you might use when you’re sewing stuff for home decor or upholstering is piping. We do use piping sometimes in the garment world, but it’s a pretty big deal in the home decor sewing world. Piping can make the edges of cushions and upholstery look really neat and intentional. You can buy piping that’s covered with muslin, or you can buy cord that you’ll cover with one layer of your final fabric or maybe a contrast fabric. You will need to make bias strips to cover the cording because it’s gonna curve around corners.

And there are piping and cording feet out there that you can buy. They have a little groove that sits on top of the piping and stitches right next to it. But you can also get a really good finish with a zipper foot. And, in fact, you might need to use a zipper foot if you get really thick home decor piping that won’t fit in that groove.

Melissa from Polka Dot Chair has a tutorial for how to make and sew piping, that’s really helpful. And our favourite tip from it is to sew the piping to your first layer of fabric, then make the fabric sandwich, and sew right on top of that first seam. That’s gonna give you perfect piping with a lot of control. Do you remember one sewing day my friend Kat came and she was upholstering, like, a bench for her kitchen?

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: And she brought the foam to Blackbird, and it was, like, this unwieldy, like, giant pieces of foam and fabric and, like, she was a fairly, like, beginner-ish sewist and was. like…

Caroline: I do remember this.

Helen: …just jumping right into this project, and we were all just like, oh, my gosh.

Caroline: I know. We were like, really? That’s what you brought to work on?

Helen: You know what? She finished it and it, nailed it and it, I was thinking about it because she added this beautiful piping along every edge, and it was for a custom built-in, like, breakfast nook bench situation.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So, like, cushions on the bottom and on the back and, like, it’s so beautiful. I’ll see if I can get her to send me a picture of it. It really turned out great, and she totally managed to pull it off with, like, her first big upholstery project. It was awesome.

Caroline: Yeah, no, she was one of those confident beginners that was like, yeah, I can tackle this, and she did. So that’s awesome. Okay, now it’s time for a fun part of this episode, my favourite part, the part I’m most excited about. We’re gonna go over a bunch of home decor project ideas that you can make, and I can make, and you can make, Helen.

Helen: We’ll all have these beautiful textiles everywhere in our home.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I do love the look of just, like, a bunch of different prints and colours all mashed together. That’s my favourite.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Yes.

Helen: But if you’re into neutrals, that’s fine. It’s cool.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no judgement. No judgement.

Helen: We’ve talked a lot about curtains already, but making your own window coverings is a great way to get that custom look. Curtains changed the whole feeling of a room. Of course, they’re super functional, too, providing privacy, blocking out light, so you can sleep better. There’s a bunch of different styles that you can choose. Simple panels with big grommets feel super modern. Pinch pleats feel very traditional and luxurious. Swooping swags feel super romantic and whimsical. I mean, really, like, whatever you can dream, you can do.

Caroline: Mhm. And to make your windows feel bigger, attach your curtain rod above your window and let your curtains extend beyond the edges of the window. It really opens it up. I actually did this in my kitchen recently. I added some curtains to my kitchen window, which felt so, like, naked and, like, it needed something, and even though we never actually close these curtains, I just wanted them to frame the window out. And I extended them over the edge of the window to make the window feel bigger, and it really, really worked. And I mean, yeah, I’ll have to show everyone a picture in the show notes, but I’m really happy with how those turned out.

Helen: Yeah. It’s such a great way to transform a space. It adds that little touch of cosiness and…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. I just love it.

Caroline: Yeah. And texture, like, that extra layer of a textile in some spaces, really, like, take it over the edge and make it feel more, like, custom and homey and cosy, right?

Helen: Oh, yeah. When people like compliment me on my home decor and ask me like, oh, how did you get it to feel cosy and inviting like this? I’m like, rugs. Just, like, all, so many rugs.

Caroline: Yeah. Rugs, textiles.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You really, really need them to get that feeling.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. There are several ways to attach your curtains to a rod. You can use those pleat tape things and pleater hooks we were talking about. Um, you can make a sleeve at the top of your curtains that slips over a curtain rod. This works best with lightweight curtains like sheers. And I find this, kind of, curtain really annoying, so I never go for it ‘cause I hate how it doesn’t slide on the rod. I want an easy slide.

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. You can put tabs at the back of your curtains to slip over the rod. This is less bulky than a sleeve, so it works with various weights of fabric.

Helen: You can also get those little rings with clips on them like I did, and just clip the pleater hooks to them. You could just clip them directly to the top of the fabric for a more casual look.

Caroline: Yes, that’s what I did in my kitchen. It looks great. Um, you can use big grommets to, made for curtains and these simply snap closed over the fabric. And with these it’s better to cut the holes too small than too big. Oh, yeah. I could see that. Imagine you make a whole set of curtains then you cut your holes too big.

Helen: Yeah. Do a practice grommet.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can also make tabs or ties that hang from the top of your curtains. I really like this for a casual, organic look.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, and it’s pretty easy to achieve, and you still get a decent slide with tabs. Not as good as a ring, but it’s good.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. And curtains aren’t the only window coverings you can make. You can also make your own Roman blinds like Helen’s mom. It’s easier than it sounds. It’s also not the easiest thing you’ll ever do.

Uh, basically you sew a sandwich of decor fabric and lining fabric with horizontal pockets for dowels or wood pieces. Then, you attach rings at the end of each dowel pocket, and you make a wooden header with eyelet screws in it. And then after you attach the curtain to the header, you feed string through the loops and eyelets. And then, when you pull the string, the blindfolds up evenly.

It looks really neat and beautiful, and custom Roman shades are super pricey, so this is definitely one place where you can save if you have your heart set on Roman shades. We’ve found a great tutorial by Christina of The DIY Mommy that you can check out if you’re ready to get started.

I have a confession to make. I was thinking about making Roman blinds for my kitchen and I looked up tutorials and I was, like, thinking, like, I was like, I can do this, I can do this. And then, I just got super overwhelmed.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And I was like, I don’t wanna.

Helen: It’s a lot of parts.

Caroline: It’s too much. And I couldn’t, like, find the kit that I needed, and I was like, forget it. I’m just gonna do regular curtains.

Helen: I think you made the right choice though. Often, Roman blinds are set into the frame.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And they’re great for, like, covering up, especially a highly used curtain, something that you’re gonna, like, put up and down a lot.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Whereas, like, your kitchen curtains are, kind of, more decorative.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And they make the space feel bigger ‘cause you put them on the outside, so…

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah.

Helen: …you nailed it.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: Don’t worry about it.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: I wanted to mention, too, that curtains don’t always have to go over a window. They can be used as a soft cover for a doorway or a closet. I made some curtains to cover a shelf in our old apartment because it was full of pots and pans and other kitchen stuff, but we were tight on space so that shelf was in our living room. So it’s a great way to cover it up and add some textiles and some, like, warm cosy vibes to that space.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You can hide anything behind a curtain, like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s really magical. You got a mess? Curtain.

Caroline: Yeah, add a curtain. I know. And if it’s something that’s just, like, to cover a doorway or a closet, you don’t have to worry about blocking the light or…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …really sun fading it as much. So you can really have fun with the textile that you choose. Choose a fun print. Choose something with a little bit of texture. I feel like the possibilities are endless there.

Helen: Yeah. Pom-pom trim. I mean, come on.

Caroline: Yes, Pom-pom trim. Oh, my gosh. Speaking of curtains, did you ever have a bead curtain?

Helen: Oh, I never have, but I would love to. I think I, if I ever saw one at a thrift store, I would probably buy it.

Caroline: I had a bead curtain in my bedroom growing up.

Helen: Really?

Caroline: Yeah. I loved it.

Helen: That’s awesome. What did it have a picture on it? Often, they have, like, a, like, an image overlay?

Caroline: No. It was, like, multicolor, but all in, like, a warm tone. So it was, like, pink and red and orange and brown little beads, like, all mixed, and it was, kind of, like, shiny. Oh, man. I wish I still had it. It was really cool.

Helne: A project for 2023. DIY bead curtain.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: I bet you the price on that would really add up.

Caroline: Yeah. Seriously.

Helen: Beads aren’t cheap either.

Caroline: No. In this economy.

Okay. Throw cushions are another great DIY. You can add as much personality as you like. Sew on trim, appliqué images, embroider words, use fun fabrics, try an unusual shape. Pillow covers are way easier to change out than a couch, so it’s a great place to take risks and have fun.

Usually, throw pillows are closed with zippers. Zipper insertion in a pillow is pretty similar to zipper insertion in garments, so it’s not a totally new technique. We’ve also seen pillow covers with an overlap on the back that you slip the pillow through. You can also put a button placket on one side or little ties over the edge. So cute.

You can also just, like, sew it shut. I’ve done that before. So it’s not removable, but, like, whatever.

Helen: I mean, if you’re, like, just sewing clothes, the hole, like, with some slip stitches, like, you could rip that open…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …to wash it if you really needed to.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’m a big fan of the envelope back, that overlap.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Because it’s super simple and doesn’t require any hardware.

Also, consider outdoor cushions. Nice patio furniture can be quite pricey, and sewing your own outdoor cushions can help you to save some money. You wanna choose a very sturdy and ideally, like, water- and sun-resistant fabric in this case, and, like, a high quality foam as well. So price it out. May or may not be cheaper, but I think depending on, like, your application, if you need something custom, you can definitely save here.

And cushions don’t always have to be square. You can get pillow forms in all shapes and sizes. You can definitely save money by covering them yourself when it comes to unique shapes,because covers for those kinds of cushions can be pricey. So think about a longer pillow for a couch or a bed or pillow forms for doing yoga or meditation is a really nice way to add some textiles to your space.

Caroline: Yes, I love this idea. And large floor cushions are a fun option, too, kind of, like, a cross between a throw pillow and a pouf. I’ve been seeing these a lot online, and I’d love to have one in my house, and I feel like Pepper would also maybe use it as a bed, which would be really cute.

Helen: Dog bed slash throw cushion.

Caroline: Floor. Lying on the floor.

Helen: Yeah. I’m often lying on the floor when I’m watching television. Like, I’ll start on the couch and then, like, halfway through the show, like, go and lie on the floor. Love a good floor lie, you know?

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But don’t you need a little cushioning there?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Sounds great.

Helen: Something for under the knees, under the head, you know?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Bedding projects are another great place to add a touch of homemade home decor. They can be as easy as pie or as big and complex as you want depending on the project you choose. Pillow cases are a common project for people learning how to sew. They’re really simple. They’re an easy win. A duvet cover or bed quilt is a longer-term project. Duvet covers are pretty simple to make, though they’re also huge and a bit unwieldy. But it’s an amazing way to get a unique bed covering. Bed-sized quilts are a ton of work, obviously. But they’re so special and cool and useful, like, something you’re actually gonna sleep under.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: We can’t cover a lot about quilting in this episode, but do check out our Quilting 101 episode with Bhiravi Rathinasabapathi for more information and resources.

Caroline: Awesome. And okay, cloth napkins. I’m gonna be preaching cloth napkins ‘til I die. They are a fabulous and easy DIY. All you need to do is master a mitered hem. These are so cute in a printed fabric for family meals or in linen for when guests come for dinner. They also make a wonderful housewarming gift. Purl Soho has a tutorial for Classic Mitered Corner Napkins that will tell you everything you need to know.

And you can also make tea towels the same way. And for both napkins and towels, you’ll definitely want cotton or linen because they are absorbent and washable. For towels, you might want something even more absorbent like a terry or waffle weave. I actually have some waffle cotton in my stash that I’ve earmarked for some tea towels. And it’s so cool, and I bet you it’ll be really absorbant, so I’m really excited to try it out.

Helen: That’ll be great. You can buy it – tea towelling, too. Like, they sell it…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …by the roll, and I think it’s, like, the right width. So you just, like, cut it to length and then…

Caroline: Yes. I’ve seen, um, isn’t it Ruby Star Alexia has a line of, like, hand woven fabrics?

Helen: Ooh, towelling?

Caroline: Some of them are in the, that narrow width towelling, and it’s, like, finished on two edges. You just have to finish the other two edges.

Helen: Yeah, it’s great.

Caroline: Um, yeah, you can get some really, really cool, like, stripes and plaids in that fabric. I also love the idea of giving napkins for a housewarming gift.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Like, so special.

Helen: A great gift.

Caroline: Something that that person is gonna keep forever, so…

Helen: Yeah, totally. And you don’t have to just make towels for your tea time, towels for your dishes. You can make, like, a full -size towel for your body.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: I mean, lots of people use linen or towelling towels rather than, like, classic bath towels. And that can be really nice for throwing in your bag, going to the beach, or even just for everyday use.

Caroline: Totally. Place mats are a great way to protect your table and make your place feel more homey. At the same time, if you have a nice, thick textile, you can simply finish the raw edges and turn them under. Thinner fabrics can either be interfaced and sewn together or quilted with batting in the middle. You have some pretty cool place mats that you’ve been working on. Hey!

Helen: I love place mats. I love sewing them. They’re great small quilting projects. I have two sets now of pieced and quilted place mats, and we have absolutely been loving using them. They get softer with wear. And you can stain them all you want and just throw them in the wash. I mean, it’s just a great way to, to dress up your dining table a little bit.

And we use them even when we eat in front of the tv. We put the placemats down. That makes it feel special. Um, but yes, I’m actually working on a little pattern for the future, um, that’s gonna be for a place mat. So keep an eye out for that. I know on the podcast I’m always like, it’s coming. I’m working on it. I’m working on a thing. It’s coming.

Caroline: ‘Cause you are. It takes time, Helen.

Helen: Everything takes time.

Caroline: Yes, custom tablecloths are great, too. Unless you have a small table, you’re probably gonna need to piece your fabric together for it to be big enough. But a linen tablecloth feels so elevated and nice. A themed tablecloth is fun for the holidays. There’s just so many possibilities here.

Helen: That’s so true. I love the gingham one that you made for your dining room recently. It’s so cute. It really fits the space well, and yeah, it just adds that extra touch of, I don’t know, fancy, cosy.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah.

Helen: You can also make your own fabric floor mats. Kate of Centsational Style made a cover out of outdoor fabric and slipped a cut up yoga mat inside. She then used double-sided tape on the underside for slippage. It seems like a rug mat would work as well. You could also make a rope rug in a similar way to a coiled rope basket. You can take thick cotton clothesline rope and zigzag it together.

We found a tutorial on Super Crafty Gal for rope baskets, and you could definitely use this to make your own rope mat. This tutorial also shows you how to wrap sections of the rope with bias cut fabric strips, could be a great way to use up some of your scraps. I’ve also seen, like, scrap rugs where you take your scraps and you hook it onto, like, a rug grid and you make those big, like, scrap um, mats for, you know, under your sink or whatever. And scrap bowls, too.

At Camp Workroom Social, we did a little, like, craft project where we took a bunch of scraps and braided them and then took those braids and sewed them into a rope bowl. And it was so fun and colourful and cool and had this great texture to it, so that was a really fun project.

Caroline: We talked about oven mitts and pot holders a little bit when we talked about Insul-bright, but we’re gonna mention them again because they are great stash busters, great gifts, great ways to bring your sewing into the kitchen. And there are a lot of great patterns and tutorials out there. One that we love is Martha Stewart’s Heart Shaped Pot Holders. They’re so cute. We’re gonna link in the show notes.

Helen: So cute. You can also make super handy microwave soup bowl holders. You’re never gonna burn your little fingies again. We have a post on the Helen’s Closet blog about how to make these, and these make excellent gifts. Uh, I use mine all the time because when you take something out of the microwave and it’s scalding hot, it’s so nice to have some, a cover to carry it to wherever you need it to be.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Super practical.

Caroline: Love this. And you can actually put that holder in the microwave, right? So you’re…

Helen: If you make it out of, like, all, yeah, microwave-safe materials….

Caroline: Yeah. Love it.

Helen: …then you totally can. I often just, like, put the bowl in after I take it outta the microwave ‘cause I forget. Like, it’s not hot when it’s going in, so I don’t think about it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And then it’s hot when it comes out and I’m like, ah. But I just keep it on top of my microwave, so it’s always there.

Caroline: I love it.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Another practical home decor idea is large cloth storage bags. These can be used for laundry, maybe a rag-bag, or just storing, like, items together like sports balls or winter hats and gloves. Super simple to make: just sew a large rectangle bag in a sturdy fabric, turn over the top, and make a casing, and add a drawstring.

Helen: Yeah. And you can hang them up in your closet or stuff them away in the basement.

Caroline: Mhm. Love it.

Helen: Speaking of storage, you can make cloth items for storing things in your fridge. I don’t know if this still counts as decor, but I mean it will look super cute when you go looking for a snack, so I think it’s in there. And you can make things like beeswax covered fabric wraps, cloth bowl covers, and reusable produce bags.

Caroline: Yeah. I was thinking when we were prepping for this episode, like, where is the line between home decor and just, like, an item for your home?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: ‘Cause I was like, my apron that you made me feels like home decor…

Helen: Right? It’s hanging up.

Caroline: …because it, like, coordinates with my house and it’s hanging up, but it’s also something that I wear. So I didn’t put aprons on this list, but I feel like that’s a really fun way to add some personality to your kitchen space, too, is, like, some fun printed aprons.

Helen: Definitely. Yeah, totally.

Caroline: Throw blankets are a no-brainer. There are so many cute, soft fabrics out there that you can whip into a cute blanket. Fleece and minky come to mind. Sometimes the fabrics don’t even need to be finished, so you can just cut them with a straight line along all of the edges, and then that’s it.

Or you can even, like, hand cut a fringe in the fabric or use, like, a little pin to unravel a little bit of the edges to make your own fringe. And then you just have to sew along the edge to stop it from continuing to unravel. But then you have, like, a beautiful fringe blanket with almost no sewing at all. Um, and then, of course, there are quilts, too. I love a throw quilt.

Helen: Yes. It’s so nice to add a little touch of colour and pattern to your living room and something really custom, too.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can make fabric bins for storage. You can use sturdy canvas or interface your lighter weight fabrics with heavy duty interfacing to make those walls strong enough to stand up by themselves. You can make these in any size from small boxes to big laundry hampers. Mandi Johnson has a tutorial for big storage bins over on A Beautiful Mess.

We’ve also found a great tutorial for Sturdy Fabric Baskets by Lilyella, so we’ll link that up in the show notes. I love this idea. I think you could also cover existing bins with fabric. That’s a great way to not have to worry about the interfacing and maybe even just use, like, spray glue.

Caroline: That’s a good idea. Yeah, I definitely have some bins, like, cardboard bins that are a bit worse for wear that I could probably cover with fabric and give new life to.

Helen: Yeah, totally.

Caroline: Love that. In the same vein as fabric bins, you can make cloth pot covers for your house plants. This is a great way to disguise a basic plastic pot and add more textiles to your home. Helen has a post on the Helen’s Closet blog for this, so we’ll link that up in the show notes.

Helen: Yes, it works best with a pot that doesn’t have drainage holes ‘cause you don’t want water getting in there. But it’s great if we’re covering up those boring pots and adding that extra touch of textile.

And of course, we can’t forget the pouf. We have a soft spot for the Closet Core free scrap busting pouf pattern. But you can find a lot of tutorials out there, even upholstered ones. I mean, a pouf is a great win-win because not only are you making it from scraps, you can also stuff it full of scraps. It’s just, like, a scrap repository.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. Actually, I have a pouf that’s looking a little deflated that I need to throw some fabric scraps in.

Helen: They’re getting compressed over time, right?

Caroline: Yeah. Oh yeah. Those things are heavy. Once you fill a pouf with fabric scraps, you gotta warn people before they try to lift it.

Helen: It’s, like, immovable and also, like, not, not that comfortable, to be honest. It’s, like, rock hard.

Caroline: It’s, it’s almost like you need to, like, line the outer edge with, like, some kind of batting or, or fluffy material and then, like, stuff the inside with…

Helen: Yeah, put, like, a top layer of foam. That’s a good idea ‘cause, yeah, it’s like, it, if people do sit down on my Moroccan pouf. Yeah, it’s…

Caroline: And they’re like, like, oh, this is hard. Yeah, it’s like a rock.

Helen: Unexpectedly. Solid.

Caroline: Okay. And of course, there are upholstery projects. Unfortunately, this is a whole skillset that we can’t delve deeply into. Maybe this is a future episode idea, but I will say that there are some really simple upholstery projects that anyone with a staple gun and basic sewing knowledge can do.

Some of the simplest projects are a headboard, a bench, and dining chair seats, all of which I have made and loved, so highly recommend. These are great ones to start with. You can get more and more complicated up to reupholstering a Chesterfield couch, and we would love that for you.

Here are some resources to get you started. Marian of Miss Mustard Seed has a great blog post called “Five Upholstery Tips for Beginners.” She does amazing upholstery work, so we trust her. And Marian’s favourite book for learning upholstery is Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown.

Helen: Ooh, I might order that book ‘cause I’m curious.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: It’s fun to go to thrift stores and find pieces that need a little restoration.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: A little sanding, a little patching, a little history, and bam, whole new look.

Caroline: Absolutely.

Helen: Uh, you can make a dog or a cat bed. This is perfect if you have pets. Quilted, you can do whole cloth, pieced, faux fur, wax canvas. You can cover an existing bed, so you’re just making the cover.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Or you can actually, like, get the foam and make a custom thing. There’s so many cool options out there.

Caroline: Yes. And you can take your sewing to the walls by making a wall hanging. There’s some cool patterns out there, especially for quilting or appliqué. I remember our episode with Bhiravi. She mentioned some inspiring quilters, and there were some wall hangings in there. And I was feeling so excited about making a wall hanging, so I gotta make that happen. But you can also go freestyle. You can do improv quilting with your scraps or I don’t know, just come up with your own design. Uh, wall hangings don’t have to be large, so it’s a really fun way to experiment with your quilting and piecing.

Helen: Yeah, I have made a few improv quilting pieces, and it is so fun and freeing and, like, such a creative process. I highly recommend, if you need to, like, break a streak of lack of sew-jo or something like that, just getting out that scrap bin, sitting at your machine, and just throwing pieces of fabric together and ending up with, like, a, kind of, wacky piece that you can just…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …add some binding to and throw on the wall. I guarantee you it’s gonna look incredible, like really cool art. I love the look of textiles draped over a rustic ladder. I know this is, like, the most Pinterest-y thing ever, but it looks so good and cute. And it’s a cool way to show off your fabric stash or your quilt stash if you have a lot of quilts.

Just don’t put this in direct sunlight if you’re using your fabric stash or your precious quilts. Um, and do try to rotate fabrics out often so things aren’t sitting up there for a long time folded in the same position, getting dusty and things like that. But it’s a fun way to show off your textiles in your home and have, like, a little decor piece that adds that textile feeling.

Caroline: Yes, I love this idea, too.

Another cool idea is to frame a gorgeous fabric. What a way to love on your stash. You could collect cool vintage pieces or pick up a fabric or textile from every place you travel to. I absolutely love this idea. We talked about this before. You do this in your home, Helen. I gotta do it in my house, too. Such an easy project with a high impact.

Helen: Totally. And you don’t have to have a fancy frame. You can use, like, a dollar store canvas and wrap it around.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Or even, like, a piece of wood. I mean, whatever.

Caroline: Yeah, I love this.

Helen: Foam core.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Insulation. I don’t know. Finally, I wanted to mention that it can be really fun to theme your home decor sewing to whatever season it is or whatever holidays you celebrate. These can be practical items like table linens, but they can also be just fun decorations. Like, you could sew velvet pumpkins in the fall or make little ghosts for Halloween. I mean, the possibilities are really endless. There’s so much inspiration online for these kinds of decorative projects. I love my Christmas tree skirt that I made a couple years ago, and I made a set of stockings as well using improv quilting. I feel like these are gonna be cherished items that I’m gonna wanna pass down to future generations. It really helped motivate me to sew those home decor items knowing that I was making them for a specific season because there’s a bit of a deadline.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You wanna finish it in time to, like, celebrate that season or holiday, so that can be a really good motivation. And it’s something that you just get out every once in a while, so it’s, like, a treat when you get to pull it out of storage. And you can rotate textiles in your home, in and out based on seasons. And another little tip is to add a custom label with your name and the date that you made it, especially if it’s something that you think you’re gonna wanna pass down to your kids or other future generations. It’s nice to have that, like, little touch of history there. Imagine like 50 years from now little, like, grand baby niece is pulling out the Christmas tree skirt that great Auntie Helen made, and it has my name and date on it. Like, I think that’s so sweet.

Caroline: Yeah. I love the idea of adding that. I always feel like I forget things so easily. Like, when did I make that? What year was it? And what, and then you can think about the time that you know it was in your life, like, what stage of life you were in. So, so valuable to add that date on there. Love that.

Soft furnishings bring cosiness and warmth to a space and making your own soft furnishings can turn your house into a home. So we would love to hear about the home decor you’ve made and your tips for success. This was such a fun episode, Helen.

Helen: Yeah. Send us pictures of your home decor sewing, too. We wanna see it.

Caroline: Yeah, we do. Send it on over.

And that’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: Head to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. It’s filled with links and pictures from this episode – so many great resources and ideas. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected]

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics that you can use again and again. Basically pays for itself. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: And thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Buh-bye.

Helen: Bye.

Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect. I didn’t realise this was a joke when I started reading it.

Caroline: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect piping.

Helen: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect piping.

Caroline: Peter Piper picked a pack of perfect pi-. No, I meant, no, I didn’t get it that time.

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Soft, cute, and always wire-free, we are HERE for bralettes! In this episode, we talk about the fabrics, patterns, and techniques you can use to make the perfect bralette for you. We review the different ways bralettes can give support, notions you might need, and how to switch out finishes. We also share listener feedback about chalk hem markers!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

From the Listener Feedback Section: 

Previous Episodes Mentioned: 

Resources:

Sewing Patterns:

Fabrics and Notions: 

Where to Buy Bra Supplies:

Other Mentions:

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Bralettes.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m excellent. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. Wearing a bralette.

Helen: I’m always wearing a bralette.

Caroline: Me, too.

Helen: Or a tank top.

Caroline: We’ll talk about that.

Helen: Or no bra.

Caroline: Yeah. We’ll talk about our feelings about bras in a minute, I’m sure.

Helen: Yes, we will. But we have some feedback to kick off today’s episode, and this is about our Hems episode. We mentioned the Dritz Deluxe Chalk Hem Marker, which is that little do-hickey that shoots chalk dust onto your hem when you stand next to it. We asked if any of our listeners have tried it and whether they liked it or not, and we did get a couple of responses.

Malin wrote, “I am working with it almost on a daily basis and it is gold. Sometimes you have to give it a good shake, so it works again (the chalks gets clumpy sometimes) but it’s just the best. Of course, some fabrics just lose it quite quickly and you have to mark it with other things like thread, for example, but it is still great. You didn’t mention it, but there is a similar tool, much more expensive though, that shoots threads into your garment!!! I love it but I don’t have that on hand right now.”

Caroline: I, I wonder what Malin does that they are using a hem marker on a daily basis.

Helen: I don’t know, maybe…

Caroline: A ton of sewing?

Helen: Yeah. Or, like, wedding dresses? I’m imagining all the times people are standing up on those plinths.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s true. Professional Hemmer Malin.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Oh, no. But it, it is great to hear that this tool works well for you, and that thread shooting tool sounds really interesting. We Googled it, but we actually couldn’t find it. So if anyone has more info, please send it our way. In our search, we did find a hem marker by WAWAK that inserts straight pins into your garment at the hem height you want, which sounds handy, but maybe dangerous. I mean, I’m sure it’s fine unless…

Helen: Don’t stand too close to the fabric.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, shoots at, like, what speed?

Caroline: Exactly. Yeah, I know. Like, is it shooting or are they just, is it just, like, gently inserting?

Helen: Like, a little hand comes…

Caroline: In a very controlled way.I know it needs to be a very gentle touch.

Helen: Okay. Denise also wrote in, um, that they use the hem marker when she teaches classes and she said, “You can buy refills of the chalk powder. My one tip is to ensure that whomever the ‘hem-ee’ is, that they don’t look down at their project whilst it’s being marked, otherwise, it distorts how the garment hangs.”

Such a good tip.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. This makes me think of when I was hemming my bias cut dress, and, like, it would just move so easily, and I had to be so still and so careful about how I placed the dress on my body when Shea was marking the hem because any little twist or bend, it would just totally get out of whack, so…

Helen: Yeah, you can’t look down and make sure he is doing it right cause you have to stand perfectly still.

Caroline: You need the mirror. You need a mirror so you can, like, observe but not move.

Helen: Oh, fair. That’s smart.

Caroline: But we only heard good things about the chalk powder hem marker. So now we all know this is one that’s worth it.

Um, and we also have an update about using Crayola washable markers on fabric. When our creative assistant Lisa made a reel where she tested them out on a bunch of fabrics, the comments poured in. A lot of commenters, including former guest Saremy of Sew Sew Live, who we would trust with our lives, recommended Crayola Ultra Clean Washable markers as the best ones to use on fabric. And we had commenters saying that even through ironing and long periods of time, the marks have come out in the wash. As always, test on the fabric you’re going to use – one commenter said she was going to mark on a corner of her fabric before putting them in to pre-wash. This is such a great idea. Get two things done at once.

Helen: Yeah. That’s true.

Caroline: Love it.

Helen: Just have to remember.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. I think it’s time to get to the show.

Helen: Yes, get comfy y’all ‘cause we’re gonna talk about bralettes this episode. And to kick things off, let’s try and define a bralette.

Caroline: First, we have to decide how we’re gonna say it ‘cause I say bralette.

Helen: Bra-… That’s what I’m saying – bralette.

Caroline: You said bralette.

Helen: Bralette.

Caroline: Bralette.

Helen: Well, we’ll have to ask our listeners. We’ll have to do a poll. I don’t say bralette, I say bralette.

Caroline: Okay. We’ll just go our own way. We’ll just each say it our own way. It’ll be perfect.

Helen: I’m fine with that.

Caroline: Okay. So a bralette is a wireless bra that’s designed for comfort. They’re usually stretchy, but sometimes they have non-stretch elements. And most bralettes do not offer as much support as traditional wired bras. This can be a plus for people who prefer a less structured garment or a more natural look. It can be a minus for people who need extra support or who like a more lifted, rounded look.

Helen: And many bralettes are designed for those with small busts relative to their size. It can be hard for big busted people to find a bralette that fits well and gives good support. But there are some patterns being made for sewists with larger busts, and we’re here for it. We’ll talk more about specific patterns later in the episode, and we also have an episode all about bra making with past guest Emerald Erin in our archives. It would be a great pair with this episode today. It’s Episode 53, and we’ll link that in the show notes.

Caroline: Bralettes come in several styles. One of the simplest styles is a tank or camisole style. They don’t have seams or darts for bust shaping. Instead, they support the bust with the stretch of the fabric. Most have a band under the bust, though some don’t.

Helen: Triangle styles are another simple style. They have triangle cups, typically with a dart or a seam for shaping that comes up from the under bust band.

Caroline: And there are some bralettes that look more like a traditional bra with a two or three piece cup, bra straps, and a shaped band.

Helen: Some bralettes pull on over your head while others close in the back or the front with hooks and eyes.

Caroline: And some are made of soft and stretchy jersey. Some are super lacy. Some have foam cups or a thin layer of bra foam while others are made of sheer bra tulle.

Helen: So this gives you an idea of some of the design choices that you’ll make when you’re choosing a pattern and fabric and sewing up your bralettes. What style you choose will depend on what you plan to wear it underneath and what situations you’ll wear it in and what kind of support you want.

Caroline: So how do bralettes give support? ‘Cause I don’t necessarily think of a bralette as really that supportive at all.

Helen: No. It doesn’t give you the kind of support that you think of when you think of an underwire bra.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But stretchy bralettes often rely on negative ease to give support. So, in other words, the stretchy fabric wraps tightly or a little bit snugly around the chest, and it holds the bust a little bit that way. Holds, compresses, makes it feel less like it’s gonna bounce all over the place, I guess.

Caroline: And the band is also a major player in the support game. It distributes the weight of the bust. A firm, well-fitted band that’s tight but not uncomfortable is great for support. And together the band and the straps are two anchor points for the fabric to stretch vertically over the bust.

Helen: Yes, and the Banksia Bralette by Muna and Broad uses slings for light support. So the inside of the bralette has two wide strips of knit fabric that start at the shoulders, cross in the centre front, and pass under each half of the bust to give that added support.

Caroline: I always thought this was such a genius design – the slings.

Helen: It’s very cool.

Caroline: Yeah, and cup shaping doesn’t give a lot of support, but it does make a difference in shape. A seam or dart is gonna allow extra volume in the cup so that the bust isn’t compressed quite so much.

Helen: True. This is a good option if you do have a larger bust, but you still wanna wear the bralette style. Looking for something with a bit of cup shaping is probably where you wanna go.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Okay. We should talk about fabric options cause I feel like fabric is a big factor.

Helen: Yes, and there’s so much to choose from. I mean, most bralettes are designed for knits, so always look at the stretch percentage that your pattern recommends before you shop for fabric. Any good pattern will recommend a range of stretch percentages, and you can check to see if the stretch percentage is listed on the bolt or in the product description of a fabric. And you can also check it yourself really easily if you’re shopping in person. Megan Nielsen has a great tutorial on how to calculate this along with a free printable so you can hold the fabric up and see how much it stretches. We’ll link that up in the show notes.

Caroline: Yeah, and this is so important ‘cause if you pick a knit fabric that has not enough stretch recovery for the pattern or for the style or for your bust shape, then you’re gonna end up with a fabric that, sort of, like, stretches out and doesn’t bounce back. Or you’re gonna end up with something that’s maybe too tight because it doesn’t have the stretch that you need and it just won’t, like, kind of, hug your body the way that you want it to.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. So fabric’s woven with lycra are, also known as elastane, have especially good recovery, so that’s something you can look.

Caroline: Oh, for sure. If you’re not worried too much about support, feel free to go with the softest fabric that matches your stretch percentage. Comfort is one of the main reasons people go for bralette, so don’t compromise it away if that’s what you want. Fabrics made of cellulose, like Tencel and lyocell, rayon, and modal are super soft and comfy. So those are all great choices.

Helen: Yes, and if you wanna level up your bralette and do a little touch of glamour, you can also look for things like stretch velvet.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: That looks very chic and very cool and can be very comfortable as well because it’s stretchy.

Caroline: Yeah. I think stretch velvet is an interesting choice ‘cause I feel like it’s, it’s, kind of, for show, like I wouldn’t necessarily have a stretch velvet bralette that I wear underneath clothing ‘cause I feel like the nap of the velvet might catch on, on my clothes or make…

Helen: That’s true.

Caroline: …other fabrics, sort of, like, not sit properly. I think it could work in some cases, but I feel like a stretch velvet bra is, like, it’s for fancy time.

Helen: It’s pretty fancy. It definitely can be a little bit sexy.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Or if you were planning to wear it as a piece of your look, your outfit, like you’re wearing it under a blazer or under something sheer, for example.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You can play around with velvet and lace with that, too.

Caroline: Like layered. That would be so cool. Okay. Stretch lace, speaking of, looks amazing on bralettes. If it has a scalloped or decorative edge, you can actually feature that. You can remove the seam allowance on the upper edge of the cup or the centre edge of the triangle on your pattern before you cut the lace out. And if you want more support, you can layer stretch lace over mesh or power mesh. So that mesh or power mesh is gonna give the lace a little bit of extra stability and, um, support.

Helen: Exactly, and mesh is a great way to make your bralette sexy and supportive. You can use regular mesh as long as it has the required stretch percentage. If you want extra support, you can use power mesh on some or all parts of your bralette. Closet Core recommends using power mesh on the back band of their Celine bralette if you want that extra support. This makes sense since a firm band is really key for that support. Um, and then you could go for something stretchier for the cups.

Caroline: Mhm. And not all bralettes are stretchy. For example, the Sweet Sixteen Bralette by Pin-Up Girls uses stretch fabrics for the band, but lines the cups with stable fabric like sheer cup lining. Sheer cup lining is a very strong and stable mesh.

Bra tulle is another option for a non-stretch fabric. It looks similar to mesh, but it has no stretch on the straight grain and very little on the cross grain. It comes in a lot of beautiful colours. It’s not as strong as sheer cup lining, but it can hold its own the vast majority of the time.

And another non-stretch fabric option is Duoplex, which is a smooth, opaque, non-stretch knit made specifically for bras. Have you ever worked with Duoplex, Helen?

Helen: Yeah. It’s such a cool fabric, and I’ve only used it while making a bra, but it, kind of, has an other worldly feel to it. Like, I can’t quite describe it.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s, like, shiny and, kind of, like, synthetic-y, almost nylon-y feeling, but it has the look of a knit, although it’s not very stretchy at all, and it often, I don’t know, it feels a little old fashioned to me as a bra fabric, I guess.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I think it works in a lot of cases and I, I mean, I’m, I’m definitely not yucking at anyone’s yum. If you love Duoplex, I say go for it ‘cause you wanna be wearing the undergarments that you wanna wear.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: But I feel like it, it evokes a little bit more of, like, um, like, an old school, almost vintage bra vibe to me, something that I might find secondhand in a thrift store, or I don’t know.

Helen: Yeah. Um, the bras that I’ve made, the underwire bras that I’ve made, often use duplex for…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …like, the cradle and the front part of the band. And then you have power mesh in the back part of the band.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And then you get some sexy lace or something on the cups, so it’s, kind of, hiding down there, but it does offer that super awesome support that you need. So that’s why I think it’s such a popular fabric for bra making ‘cause it just gets the job done.

Caroline: Yeah, I remember we used it in the class that I took when I learned how to make bras, and I learned that you can, sort of, layer lace over top to almost camouflage the Duoplex so the Duoplex acts as that stability and support that you need in a lot of those, um, more structured underwire bra styles. It’s also interesting ‘cause it’s one of the few fabrics out there that really is available in a lot of colours for bra making and seems to be designed, like, specifically for bra making.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So a lot of the other fabrics that you might use outside of, like, a bra tulle or a sheer cup lining, are fabrics that are sort of multipurpose. You’ll find them and be like, oh, I could use this for a bra, but you could also use it for other things. Whereas, like, a, a Duoplex is just, you know, that’s what it’s for.

Helen: You’re not making an entire shirt out of Duoplex.

Caroline: No.

Helen: I haven’t seen it done. If you’ve done it, please send us pictures.

Caroline: Yes! We want to know about it.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: And some bralettes have the option to line the cups with bra foam. So this is different from, sew-in bra cups. You buy bra foam by the yard and sew it into the shape you want, according to the pattern. It comes in different thicknesses. For the Jordy Bralette, Emerald Erin recommends 1.6 millimetres, or about one 16th of an inch.

It doesn’t unravel. So when you’re sewing a cup together along a seam, you just butt the ends of the pieces together and zigzag over them. Um, and if you don’t have specific pattern pieces for the foam, you’re gonna wanna remember to trim off that seam allowance because you’re just butting it together and not actually, uh, sewing a seam.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. You don’t wanna add any unnecessary bulk. And don’t be intimidated by the foam component of bralettes because this stuff is actually really easy to sew…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and easy to cut, so you can totally do it. It’s not a big deal.

Caroline: I always found that one of the most satisfying parts of bra making is when you butt the, like, foam cups together, and you sew them, and then, they, all of a sudden, the foam holds its shape so well, so all of a sudden you have a bra cup in front of you.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: And you can, like, put it over your bust and see if it, kind of, fits yet, and it’s, like, it’s, you start seeing things really come together when you work with foam. It’s cool.

Helen: Yeah. There’s so many exciting parts of bra making. I mean, the materials are so fun. You’re working with small pieces so you can, kind of, sit at your machine and just get it done. You don’t have to get up and down a lot. And you get to work with all these fun things. Not a lot of pressing. And just beautiful details. Even if it doesn’t fit, which happens, happens to all of us.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: That’s part of the bra making journey. You’ve made a beautiful thing and I’ve kept all the bras I’ve made, even the ones that don’t fit.

Caroline: Really? Yeah. They are so special.

Helen: Yeah. They’re just beautiful. They’re nice examples of what is possible in the world of sewing.

Caroline: It’s so true. Yeah.

Helen: Okay. If you’re making a bralette, you’re probably also going to need elastic. If the bra you’re making has an encased elastic band, you’re gonna want non-roll elastic. It’s firm, so it’s gonna give you support, and it won’t roll up into a weird sausage when it’s stretched around your torso. So check that elastic. If when you stretch it, it gets skinnier…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …that’s not the elastic for you.

Caroline: Yeah. And another option is wide plush band elastic. This elastic is made to use without a casing. It has a smooth side that faces out and a softer plush side that goes against your skin. You can replace an encased elastic band with wide plush band elastic, that’s a tongue twister, if you’d like. You would just skip the casing, join the elastic into a circle, pin it to your bralette at the quarter points, and then sew it down, and then you’re lapping the wrong side of the elastic over the right side of the bra for a smooth finish there.

Helen: Yeah, this is a really nice alternative, especially if you happen to have this on hand ‘causeI think it’s a little bit faster and it can look quite modern and cool, too.

Caroline: Yeah. I’m thinking also of those, like, sporty bras that have the, like, exposed elastic as the band underneath.

Helen: They usually say the like brand name on them.

Caroline: Yeah. Like branded ones.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Um, and I think that would also be considered a plush band elastic. It just has, like, a jacquard where you can actually, like, knit a design into it, which I thought was really cool.

Helen: Oh, Caroline, I have a task for you. You can make this happen for us. You need to produce elastic for bras that says like “sewists” or like “badass” or…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …I don’t know.

Caroline: I think that’s a great idea. I mean, I’ll talk to Laura, the person who does the sourcing for Blackboard, and she’s probably gonna be like, the minimums are too high.

Helen: What you can’t sell, like, 5,000 yards of bra elastic?

Caroline: That says sewist on it.

Helen: That says sewist on it.

Caroline: Very niche, Helen. It’s very niche

Helen: And you know what? Knowing that, it will, there’ll be a typo, and they’ll think, it’s supposed to say “sexist” ‘cause it’s what happens when you type sewist. It’s a disaster.

Caroline: Sexist. No! The bane of a sewist’s existence is the autocorrect to sexist.

Helen: Right?

Caroline: Just always happens.

Helen: The world is against us.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. Perfect business idea, Helen. I love it.

Helen: I love it, too. I’m really hopeful. Okay. The other kind of elastic you might encounter is plush back picot elastic. This is a common way to finish the edges of lingerie. We’ve already explained what plush back means, but what about picot? A picot, or picot as it looks like it’s spelled, is the little decorative loop on the edge of the elastic or little bumps along the edge of the elastic. It’s typically only on one side.

When you sew picot elastic on, the plush side is gonna go against your skin, and all that’s visible from the outside of the lingerie is those little bumps along the edge. Now, it can be a little challenging to sew picot elastic so that outer edge isn’t visible. If that’s important to you, we recommend practising on scraps before you sew it to your final piece.

And my best advice is to sew a little closer to the edge of the than you think. You almost want your needle to go, like, in between the little picots.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And then that gives you that really beautiful result. I mean, I love picot elastic. It’s so whimsical and fun.

Caroline: Yeah. Me, too. And it’s another one that I feel like once you sew it and do that little flip and top stitch, you feel like a superhero.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: ‘Cause it’s like, how did I make this look so professional and so much like ready to wear lingerie. It’s so cool.

Helen: It’s so beautiful.

Caroline: Yeah. Another common finishing method uses narrow elastic. So, in this case, you sew narrow elastic to the edge on the wrong side, fold it over, and then top stitch. It’s very similar to swimsuit sewing. We recommend braided elastic for these kinds of finishes. It doesn’t narrow when it stretches like knit elastic does.

Helen: Yes, and fold-over elastic is a great way to get a nice clean finish. This elastic is designed to encase the raw edges of the fabric completely. If you want to switch to a fold-over elastic finish, you wanna make sure to remove any seam allowance first. So you’re just, kind of, sandwiching it on the edge and going for it.

Caroline: And the final type of elastic to consider is bra strap elastic. So some bralettes call for this; some don’t. It usually has a shiny side and a plush side. If you’d like to, you can make your own straps from non-stretch fabrics or you could use twill tape to stabilise fold-over elastic for straps that match your other finishes. You have a lot of options for straps. I feel like some patterns might call for, like, a strap out of a stretch fabric even if the strap needs to be a little bit stretchy.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: ‘Cause definitely bra strap elastic has stretch to it and really, really good recovery.

Helen: Yeah, it does. It definitely feels like it’s gonna last forever.

Caroline: Mhm. And it comes in different widths depending on what you need. So, yeah, that’s a definitely pretty essential for bralette sewing.

Helen: And you may need other notions for your bralette, too. If you’re using that bra strap elastic, you’re probably gonna need rings and sliders. Rings are what’s gonna connect your straps to your bra and the sliders, make your bra strap length adjustable. That adjustability factor is really nice because if the elastic stretches out during the day or with wear over time, you can tighten your straps to make it fit again. You wanna make sure that the width of your rings and sliders matches the width of your strap elastic. I definitely wouldn’t sleep on adjustability because…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …like I said, it’s unlikely your first bra’s gonna fit you in the first place…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …but having any ability to adjust it, like some rings in the back, some hooks and eyes in the back, or some rings to adjust those straps is gonna make it more possible.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. And speaking of hooks and eyes, some bralettes have closures and some don’t. If they close in the back, they’re probably gonna have a hook and eye closure. So the eye side has several rows of eyes for adjustability, both throughout the day and throughout the life of the bralette. You can buy these, but you can also make your own. You just need fabric interfacing, a bunch of eyes, a few hooks, and patience. There’s a wonderful unclear tutorial by Mercedes from Series 5 of the Great British Sewing Bee and the Sewcialists, so we’re gonna link it for you in the show notes.

Helen: Yes. And we also found a great tip from Orange Lingerie. They use a hole punch to punch through the markings on the pattern for the hooks and eyes. And then they lay it over their fabric and mark through the pattern so that everything is in exactly the right place. And this is especially important for a closure that you’re doing behind your back ‘cause you’re gonna want them to be in a predictable and aligned position so that it’s easier to, to actually do it up and take it off.

Caroline: Yeah. You don’t want an asymmetrical hook and eye closure.

Helen: I mean, it’s still hard, let’s be honest. I do the, like, do it in front and spin it around my body.

Caroline: Oh, me, too. I could never master the, like, actually hooking it behind my back without seeing what’s happening.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It doesn’t. I can’t do it. So, yeah. Okay. Speaking of tips we have a bunch of bralette sewing tips for you. So the first one is the seam allowances for lingerie patterns are small, sometimes a quarter of an inch. So, for this reason, do not clip into your fabric at the notches. You wanna be marking them instead. You can use little tailor’s chalk, or you can even do that little method of cutting a little hat instead of cutting into your fabric, you’re cutting like a little triangle outside of where the notch is so that you can still see that marking, um, without using chalk that might rub off.

Helen: And you can switch out the finishes if you want. We’ve talked about a couple of ways to do this already in this episode, but we want to mention one more. You can finish your bralette with fabric bands instead of elastic. This is the ultimate in softness and comfort. It’s how that popular bra and undie company Arq finishes their products. Seamwork has a tutorial for finishing underwear with bands, uh, but it would work for a bralette that has, like, armscyes and necklines as well. And it is, kind of, one of those funny things that when you make your own underwear, there’s a lot of elastic involved.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: But when you buy underwear, there doesn’t seem to be any elastic in the underwear. And I totally get that the elastic is not comfortable for some folks, so…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …doing bands instead is definitely an option. You can totally do that.

Caroline: Yeah. And they have a lot of, like, industrial operations, have special machines just for lingerie, and it’ll be, like, attaching a knit binding or something that attaches the elastic, and it’s not the same as what we have in, like, our home sewing setups. So, I think that’s why a lot of the materials that we use might be different from what you find in ready to wear stores.

Helen: Totally. So if you wanna do the knit band method for the edges, the key is to cut that band about 10% smaller than the edge you’re attaching it to. This is easy enough to do with your phone calculator. Also, when you switch out finishes, you wanna remember to check your seam allowance since you may add or reduce them before you cut things out, um, and start adding bands.

Caroline: Mhm. If your bralette has a very wide elastic band or a long line shape, you may want to grade it down or up towards the waist depending on how your body’s shaped.

Helen: Great tip. I often end up with a little pool of extra fabric at my lower back, and I’ve learned I need to like scoop things out back there.

Caroline: Mm.

Helen: Okay. And sewing curved edges together, which you often have to do on bralette cups, can be a little annoying. Here’s our best tip. You wanna pin along the seam line, instead of along the edge. Because of those curves, the edges will be different lengths, but the seam line is what we’re matching up here. So just take a small bite of the fabric out with your pins. You wanna sew slowly so you can readjust when you need to. In fact, go slowly on all of your bralette and bra sewing. If you could turn down the stitching speed on your machine, now is the time ‘cause these pieces are small, so there’s no rush.

Caroline: Mhm. And bralette fabrics tend to be slinky and stretchy. Those are the kinds of fabrics that tend to get pulled down into the machine, especially when you start sewing. So there are several ways to deal with this. You can put a piece of tissue paper under the start of the seam to stabilise it. The only problem is that if you’re zigzagging, you might have to go back in with tweezers to pull the tissue paper out. Another method is to hold onto both of the thread tails and gently pull them when you start sewing. You can also reinforce the fabric with wash-away interfacing or wonder tape in the first inch or so. So that should help the fabric not get eaten by your machine.

Helen: Yeah. This is when you wanna pull out all the stops and make sure…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …that’s not gonna happen. And if you’re sewing jersey knits, of course, you wanna use the appropriate needle, use a ballpoint needle. For delicate fabrics, like bra tulle and netting, you can use a microtex needle. And for things like elastics, you might wanna switch to a stretch needle.

Caroline: Mhm. And the zigzag stitch is super important for sewing lingerie. You can use it to apply elastic, sew stretchy seams, and even do a bar tack to attach straps. The three step zigzag, also called a lingerie stitch, is just a little bit different. It’s three small stitches in one direction, then three stitches in the other direction, in a zigzag pattern. This is a very strong stitch that keeps delicate fabrics from bunching up. The only thing is it’s pretty hard to take out if you make a mistake, so keep that in mind.

Helen: This is true. Bra pattern designer Madalynne uses spray baste on her hook and eye closures. She actually opens them up, sprays the spray baste inside, and then wraps them around the raw edge of the band she’s attaching them to.

Then, she stitches the closures very close to the edge, about an eighth of an inch. The spray baste is really brilliant here because this is a very fiddly part of bra sewing, and it’s hard to pin through such a sturdy piece of, like, such a sturdy notion and have it lie flat. So love the spray basting, or wonder tape, anything to make this easier.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. It’s so smart. When you’re sewing the hook part of a hook and eye closure, you wanna make sure the hooks are facing up while you sew, because getting those things caught in your machine would not be fun.

Helen: Very true. And as I’ve mentioned a couple times in this episode already, you’re probably gonna wanna make a muslin. Bralettes are a close fitting garments. The only way to really know if it fits is to make one. You, kind of, have to just use the same fashion fabric to get a true sense of the fit, since stretch can vary so much across different fabrics. So you’re obviously not making your bralette muslin out of cotton muslin. You’re going to have to sacrifice some of those lovely materials, but you can absolutely harvest your straps, sliders, rings, even your elastic from your muslin to use in your final bralette. Or you can even harvest some of those things from old brass you have in your wardrobe to save a little bit.

Um, you wanna make your mulin, try it on, evaluate the fit. It should be comfortable with no spilling or gaping. You know, jump around a little bit. Make sure that you feel comfy. The band should be firm and tight fitting. It shouldn’t squeeze you super hard. You wanna pinch out any roomy parts or let out the seams if it’s too tight, and transfer those changes onto your pattern pieces. Typical full bust adjustments aren’t typical for most bralettes because you’re working with small pieces and negative ease. So Seamwork recommends thinking instead about how your flesh is distributed.

If you have a bottom heavy chest, for example, you may want to shorten the cup. If you have more flesh at the top of your chest, you may want to lengthen the cup for more coverage. Your first attempt at a bra may not work out, and that’s totally okay. Think of it as a marathon.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And you are gonna have to make a couple just to, kind of, get going, but that’s okay because you can take what you’ve learned, and you can apply it to your next attempt. And imagine a world in which you have a pattern for a brilliantly fitting bra or bralette that you can just make whenever you need one. Amazing.

Caroline: It is such a fun learning process. And because it’s all small pieces and small amounts of things, things come together quite quickly. And you could sew like a couple bras in a day if you’re really determined. So don’t feel like this is a huge endeavour. I, I think that you can totally, you know, knock out a muslin and then get going on your, on your real thing pretty quickly.

Helen: It’s true, and I think you have a better chance, honestly, of a good fit with a bralette. You might not end up with maybe the support you desire, depending on the style, but stretchy fabrics and things like that are gonna be easier to fit than all of those cut pieces that are involved in making an underwire bra, at least in my experience.

Caroline: Yeah. Totally. Okay, so let’s talk about patterns because there are some great bralette patterns out there and we wanted to go over a selection on today’s show. The first one is one that we’ve already mentioned, the Banksia Bralette by Muna and Broad. It’s a cool tank style option, and this is the one with the hidden slings for support and separation, which I think is just so cool. It’s high coverage, and it looks super comfy.

Helen: Yeah. This is one that you could probably get away with wearing. Well, I mean, any of these you could get away with wearing as tops, but…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: This would make a cute top for summertime wearing with, like, a high-waisted skirt or something like that.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: The Axis Tank by Sophie Hines is another popular one in the sewing community. I’ve seen so many beautiful versions of this. This is also a tank style, but it has a racerback and options for cool colour blocking. Technically, it is a tank, but it’s very fitted so many people wear it as a bralette. And it’s currently being updated for sizes up to 6X and D and E cups, so watch out for that soon. That’s awesome.

Caroline: Another tank that could work as a bralette is the Dune Tank by Christine Haynes. It’s a close fitting tank finished with knit binding. The spaghetti straps are adjustable, and this could be a really great dupe for the Arq bras that I know you and I love, Helen, just make sure to use a cotton spandex with good recovery.

We actually have a cotton jersey knit at Blackbird that I think would be so perfect for the Dune Tank. And I know that some of the samples, I believe, were made from our cotton modal jersey knit.

Helen: Ooh, nice.

Caroline: So if you click on the link in the show notes and take a look at, uh, the photos, that’s, uh, our Blackbird fabrics in those photos. And I just love these photos, too.

Helen: Love the photo shoot for the Dune Tank and Briefs ‘cause it’s just exactly how I wanna feel…

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: …on a Sunday.

Caroline: This is what I wanna wear every day.

Helen: Yeah. Seamwork also has several bralette offerings. The Robin Bralette is a fitted soft bra with princess seams, adjustable straps, and a hook and eye closure at the back. The Kaye Bralette is a long line tank style, similar again to those Arq bralettes. Uh, and the Florence bra is a lacy bra that almost looks like an underwire bra.

Caroline: The Celine Bralette by Closet Core is a soft cup triangle bralette with a back closure and adjustable straps. The mesh versions of these are super cute.

Helen: Totally. The Superstar Bra by Waves and Wild has a crossover front and wide straps that cross in the back. This would also be a great lounge bra.

Caroline: And Jalie has a couple of bralettes that we’ve heard about. Jalie 3131 is a bralette that includes a narrow line of reinforcement under the cups for extra support. Plus, it has a nursing option. Jalie 3886 is a simple bralette with darts under the bust and a supportive band. It’s finished with fold over elastic that goes up to become the straps. I also feel like it’s actually “jalie” because I believe they’re a French company.

Helen: Yeah, I pronounce it “jalie,” but I was questioning myself there.

Caroline: Sorry, everyone.

Helen: They have so many options. I mean, this one is really cute, the Julia. I feel like it could be a swimsuit if you sew it in swimwear fabrics.

Caroline: Which one is that? The 3886?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Ooh. Yeah. I’m looking at it now. Very cute.

Helen: Yeah, it’s adorable.

Caroline: Yeah. I love when they also come with uh, like, an underwear pattern.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: ‘Cause you get two for one.

Helen: Two for one.

Caroline: Also. It’s so fun to, when you’re making a bra or a bralette, just throw in a pair of undies that match.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: Sew them together.

Helen: Chances are you have some fabric left.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Made for Mermaids has the Lana Bra, which has a two piece cup, a shaped band, and a back closure. They always have so many pictures of customers in such a wide array of body shapes that you can look at. Everyone looks amazing in this bra, and they also have the Bryn Brami. Apparently, a “brami” is a cross between a bra and a camisole, a brami. Bramisole?

Caroline: I’m into it.

Helen: This one has the bra, a cropped cami, and a full-length cami with optional shelf bra. It also has a nursing option, so that’s a lot of bang for your buck there.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. I love all the photos in this product listing for Made for Mermaids ‘cause you can see it on all different body shapes, which is really cool.

Helen: Yeah, it’s awesome.

Caroline: Okay. The Jordy Bralette by Emerald Erin is so simple and cute. It’s a triangle cup bra with a plush elastic band and adjustable straps. There are options for an all fabric bralette, lace and bra tulle overlay, and foam cups.

Helen: The Lexington Bra by Orange Lingerie offers support with cut and sew foam cups and side boning. The finishing elastic makes a cute crossover at the centre front. Orange Lingerie are known for their bra patterns, so definitely check this one out.

Caroline: And there are a few bralette patterns that were specifically recommended by Sew Busty for sewists with large busts. The Sweet Sixteen Bralette by Pin-Up Girls is a mix of stretch and non-stretch fabrics. It has a two-piece cup and comes in 12 cup sizes.

Helen: The Lotus Bra by Lily Pad Designs is a non-stretch wireless bra with princess seam cups and a sturdy band. It goes up to a size double G.

Caroline: And the Iris Bralette by Primrose Dawn is a stretchy knit bra with a pretty, demi cup shape and lots of style options.

Helen: So, in addition to all these patterns, we’ve named a lot of specialty fabrics and notions in this episode, but we haven’t told you yet where to buy them. So here are some online shops where you can get what you need. Bra Makers Supply, very popular. This one is based in Burlington, Ontario, but they sell online. You can buy so much great stuff. It’s a trusted retailer in the sewing community with a wide array of fabrics and notions.

Caroline: Emerald Erin, past guest, sells beautiful, high quality fabrics, elastics, and notions. Her shop is super well-curated and worth looking at. She’s also based in Canada but ships all over.

Helen: Stonemountain and Daughter usually has good bra making supplies available in their shop.

Caroline: And Tailor Made Shop has gorgeous lingerie fabrics and kits as well as knits and notions, so check that one out as well.

Helen: I love buying a bra kit, honestly, because everything is there, especially if you’re doing a project that involves…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …lots of extra notions or a little bit of lace here and there. Just having that all curated is so nice.

Caroline: Yeah, it totally takes the guesswork out, and it’s really fun ‘cause then you get all of the, like, colour pairings done for you, and you just get to be like, I want that one. And…

Helen: Exactly.

Caroline: Then, you have to make it, but…

Helen: Okay. We have one more thing to discuss before we go, and that is the question of whether or not you can take a wired bra pattern and make it into a bralette by basically removing the wires. So Beverly Johnson writes on the Bra Maker Supply blog that you just need to keep a few things in mind when you’re doing this.

Caroline: Yeah, so first, the bra pattern must have a full band. This means that the band goes all the way around, including under the cups. There are some patterns that are partial bra bands. They’re not gonna work without wires.

Helen: And secondly, you’re gonna wanna put the wire channelling on, even though you’re not going to insert the wires. This is because the channelling is sturdy, and it does not stretch, so it gives you a bit of support under the bust and keeps it from spreading at the sides.

You could also use twill tape here in a pinch, but adding that channelling in is, kind of, nice because maybe you wanna add the wires, maybe you try them, maybe you don’t like ’em, maybe you leave them out. I mean, you have options.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Third, you may want to raise the neckline on the pattern, so the upper part sits on top of your bust instead of part way down.

Helen: Fourth, you wanna stabilise the neckline and underarm for a bit more support.

Caroline: And fifth, consider moving the straps in towards the centre for more support.

Helen: It’s all about that support.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: We’ll definitely link Beverly’s article in the show notes. She’s so knowledgeable about how bras give support and about bras in general. So you can check out the Bra Makers Supply blog for more resources as well.

Caroline: Yeah, and finally we wanted to throw it out there that there are so many bikini top patterns that are waiting to be adapted into bralettes. I know I want a Sandpiper bralette.

Helen: Yes! I have made some Sandpiper tank tops, and I wear them a lot ‘cause it’s just such a nice cut on the shoulder.

Caroline: Yes! And if you’re gonna take a bikini top pattern and adapt it into a bralette, you wanna keep in mind that you can change the tie closure, if there’s a tie closure, to hook, to a hook and eye closure, or you can just close that up and make a bralette that you pull over your head. And you can change any finishes according to your preference, but most of the techniques used on bikini tops will work really well for bralettes, too, so it’s a pretty easy switch.

Helen: Yeah, and it’s all a big experiment. You’re working with such small amounts of fabric. I mean, just go for it and see what happens. What have you got to lose?

Caroline: So bralette sewing is actually so quick and satisfying. We’ve already said this today, but I’m gonna say it again. We hope that you’ll give it a try because we love bra making. We love bralettes. We love wearing bralettes and bras, and…

Helen: Yes, I’m feeling inspired ‘cause I absolutely love wearing bralettes, especially the, kind of, knit tank options, and they’re expensive if you buy them…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …um, from, like, a nice place. So I think this is one instance where you can make it for cheaper.

Caroline: And there are so many more patterns available now than there were even five or 10 years ago when I started bra making, so…

Helen: Definitely.

Caroline: …the future of bralettes is bright, Helen.

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love To Sew. You can find me Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com. And we’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at [email protected].

Helen: If you love Love To Sew and you want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For just $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off discount codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. That, by the way, you can use again and again. Patreon is the best way to support us so we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Bye.

Ba-ba-bralette.

Helen: Ba-ba-bralette.

Caroline: Bralette.

Helen: Bralette.

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Is there anything scarier than a really bad sewing mishap? Okay, there are a few things, but this episode is about the sewing moments that made our listeners’ hearts drop. We share their funny and harrowing stories, plus answer a listener question about getting a flat bias tape-finished neckline. Happy Spooky Season!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

From the listener questions section:

Listener photos:

Other mentions:

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Sewing Horror Stories.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: I mean, hi, Helen.

Helen: Hello, Caroline.

Caroline: How are you on this spooky day?

Helen: I’m doing well, thanks. I love Spooktober. Big fan.

Caroline: Ooh. Me, too. Me, too. I like all the things that go along with it, like…

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: Like, pumpkins.

Helen: Love a pumpkin.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Love carving a pumpkin. Love eating a pumpkin.

Caroline: Love eating a pumpkin. Yeah. Yeah. Love pumpkin flavoured things.

Helen: Love a skeleton.

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm.

Helen: Not a huge horror movie fan, but I do like a cheesy horror movie, you know?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Something that’s not, not too intense. Yeah, that I can laugh at.

Caroline: I’m on the same page. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we have some horror stories today.

Helen: We do. We reached out to y’all for horror stories. You definitely delivered. But before we get started, we wanted to do a follow up on something that we posted about. On Instagram this summer, we shared about bias tape and asked you if you love it or hate it. And it turns out a lot of our listeners have mixed feelings and also very strong feelings.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: The post got, I think, over a hundred comments.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It was quite the debate. Um, but here’s one of the comments: “Hate making bias tape and also struggle with keeping neck lines flat. I feel like I have tried everything.”

Caroline: Aw. So we wanna be here for you and help you. And we have some tips to make necklines finished with bias tape lay flat.

Helen: Yes. A very common issue, I might add, so you are not alone. Make sure to stay stitch your neck line before you do anything else. This should be your first sewing step after cutting out your pieces. It’s a good idea to stay stitch your armscyes, too. It’s simple. You use a long stitch to stitch a quarter inch from the edge. You don’t even have to lock the stitch at the beginning or end. The reason for this is your first step is that the more you handle your pieces, the more likely it is that you’re gonna stretch out and distort your neckline. So if you stay stitch right away, it’s gonna hold its shape and help it to be more flat in the end.

Caroline: Yeah, and some patterns include pieces for the bias tape, but if yours doesn’t, you’re gonna want to measure your neckline at the seam line. You can draw it onto your pattern piece. And then, make your bias tape piece an eighth of an inch shorter than your neckline measurement.

Helen: After you sew your bias binding to the neckline, you’re gonna grade and clip the seam allowances. Grading will make the seam less bulky, and clipping is gonna allow it to curve better. This is essential, especially if you have a very curved piece. You wanna clip to about a quarter to and eighth of an inch from the stitches.

Caroline: And under stitch that baby. Stitching the seam allowance to the binding close to the seam line is gonna make it so that the binding stays on the underside of the garment and stays nice and flat.

Helen: You’re gonna wanna press your binding flat before you sew it down. It’s tempting just to fold it over and stitch it down, but pressing it first and pinning it down ensures that everything will be in the right place. Definitely have skipped this in the past. And it does make a huge difference to take this step because the steam from your iron is gonna help to shape that piece.

Caroline: Totally. And then make sure your bias binding is the right weight for your fabric. It should be the same weight or lighter than the fabric of your garment. And if your bias binding fabric is too stiff, it can keep a neckline from lying flat. The Wrights bias binding in packets that you might find at Jo-Ann’s is best suited to quilting cottons or heavier fabrics. But there are lots of lovely options for garment bias binding on Etsy, and you can always make your own.

Helen: Yes. I love making my own. I mean, matching it to the garment, I think, is the best way to ensure success.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. And if you have one of those cool Simplicity bias tape makers, it’s really fast and easy.

Helen: It’s a breeze. If you usually do the method of bias binding where you fold the binding in half and then stitch both raw edges to the neckline, you might wanna try a different method. Sometimes this method doesn’t stretch quite as much as a single layer, just something to consider, especially, again, if it’s really a curved area.

Caroline: Yeah, and you can also pre-curve your bias tape. Some sewists swear by this method for a clean finish. So to do this, you’re gonna use a steamy iron at the hottest temperature for your garment and press the tape as you pull it into a curved direction. Let it cool completely before you pick it up. And if you wanna see how this is done, we’ll link an article of bias binding tips by Pattern Scout.

Helen: Yes, and I have one more tip to add, and that is when you’re going around a curve like a neckline, you wanna leave some slack in the tape so that when you turn it over onto the inside, the tape is not having to stretch quite as much and causing your neckline to stick out. Leave a little bit of slack in there, and then, it will have more room to stretch out when you turn it over to the other side. It does just take practice. It’s one of those things that you will learn, um, exactly how it should feel and look when you’re pinning and sewing it on.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And eventually it will become easier to just do it by muscle memory.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. But try these, and hopefully, this helps. Okay, it’s time to get to the spooky stuff.

Helen: Okay. So for as long as sewing has been around, it has been a part of scary stories. Like, for example, In the Disney Halloween movie classic Hocus Pocus, the character Billy Butcherson’s mouth is sewn shut. Apparently, he cheated on Winifred Sanderson with her sister, and that was Winifred’s punishment. I wonder if she used a thimble?

Caroline: Ooh. And then Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Frankenstein-ed doll – she can take her limbs off and sew them back on whenever she wants. A spooky sewing queen!

Helen: Yes! Sally’s also a great choice for a Halloween costume for sewists because you just need a bunch of scraps.

Caroline: Love it.

Helen: Speaking of dolls, you know those Annabelle movies about the creepy doll? The original, allegedly haunted, Annabelle was a hand-sewn Raggedy Ann doll! She sat behind glass in the (now closed) museum of Ed and Lorraine Warren. We’ll post a pic of her – she doesn’t actually look that scary. Maybe that’s why they changed her for the movies to make her even spookier. But it’s cool that it came from an actual, real doll.

Caroline: Yeah, and there’s also a famous haunted house in upstate New York called Burn Brae Mansion, formerly owned by George Ross McKenzie, the third president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. And there have been sightings of an old-timey woman in white and a new-timey man in overalls. People have heard organ music playing, animal sounds, and have seen doors slamming and whatnot. It’s been featured on a couple of paranormal investigation shows. And you can stay there overnight, too! Anyone wanna go on a sewing retreat?

Helen: I think we could make friends with the old-timey woman and the new-timey man.

Caroline: Yeah. Maybe they just want some friends.

Helen: He’s wearing overalls, so I feel like we’re immediately gonna have a connection.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. We have so much in common. Okay, but today’s show isn’t about scary stories in the wider world. It’s about your sewing horror stories. Thank you to all of our listeners who sent in their spooky tales. I can’t wait to get into these.

Helen: Oh, me, too. Okay, the first one is from Lauren in England. “A couple years ago, my boys, then 5 and 7, decided I, their Mama, would like fabric for my birthday! They (assisted by my wife, their other mum) bought me the cutest Liberty lawn fabric full of zoo animals. How well they know me and my sewing addiction.

“I worked super hard on the shirt, princess seamed and flat felled throughout. It took ages.

“When I was done, I hurriedly buttoned it up, the hem still hot, and shouted ‘fashion show’ to summon my family to see. I paraded round only to hear the giant gulping sobs of my youngest. ‘Mama, why are the animals dead?’

“Yes, I had sewn the back with the animals upside down, legs sticking up in the air. Like a zoo massacre.

“They have never forgiven me for that mistake, and they have never bought me fabric again. Perhaps that’s the real tragedy of this story!!”

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. What a gruesome scene. That is too funny. Um, I would say you’re right, though. The worst part is not getting any more Liberty lawn.

Helen: Truly.

Caroline: I think we’ve all had that experience of cutting a directional print upside down and then possibly even finishing a project before we realised. But this, kind of, takes it to another level ‘cause the animals, they’re just upside down. I wan-, I don’t wanna say dead ‘cause they aren’t actually dead, but that’s really sad.

Helen: No, they’re sleeping. They’re sleeping.

Caroline: Yeah. They’re just taking a nap. Okay. Our next story is from Anna. “When I first starting sewing, I was going to a St Patrick’s Day bar crawl and I had a pair of green chequered pants I wanted to wear. They had a rip on the seam in the crotch area. I thought, ‘no problem, I’m a sewist!’ and attempted to sew the rip in the pants back up. It worked well enough to hold for the first hour or so of the day. During lunch I looked down to realise that there was a giant hole in the crotch of my pants, and I’m still not sure when it reopened. Luckily, I had a friend who lived nearby who had more sewing skills than I did who sewed my pants back together. I am now much more careful about attempting alterations on my clothes without a trial run!”

Helen: Oh, no, Anna. This is, kind of, a nightmare, but at the same time, I’m sure you were not the sloppiest one in the bar on St. Patrick’s Day.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’ve never had my pants split, like, in the crotch or butt throughout the day. I’ve definitely had them wear out, but I haven’t had that moment, you know, where you bend over or squat down and it’s, like… rip!

Caroline: You mean you’ve never just, like, done the splits for somebody and then had your pants split down the bum? Me, neither.

Helen: We’ve been lucky.

Caroline: Yeah. Our next story is from Hayley from a small, sleepy town near Jerusalem, Israel. Warning: this story does contain bodily injury and blood, so if you don’t wanna hear it, you can skip ahead of it.

“I am a high school teacher who loves to sew but never really finds enough time. Late one afternoon, I was hurrying to finish the hem on a skirt to wear to a Parent-Teacher conference when I literally sewed through my finger!! Needless to say that the needle broke in half. One half remained securely in the machine and the other half was wedged in my first finger, coming out of both sides. Of course no one was home when I needed help. As I began to feel very dizzy and faint, not to mention the mess from the blood, I phoned around the neighbourhood for help. In the end one of my good friend’s husbands came to the rescue. How embarrassing is that!! With blood everywhere he pulled the broken needle out with a tweezers. To cut a long story short: No, I didn’t finish the skirt to wear that evening to the Parent-Teacher conference. I ended up arriving late with a stitched up finger!!”

Caroline: Oh, every time I read this story, I shiver, like, full body shiver at the thought of a needle going completely through my finger. I feel like this is the scary, cautionary tale every sewist needs to hear. Like, do I really need to be rushing this hard. I think I need to hear this ‘cause I always sew last minute. What is more important though, having this skirt done in the next hour or having an intact finger?

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I just, I, I imagine it must hurt so much.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. And, like, the, the, I have this, like, visual of the neighbour coming in and, like, pulling…

Helen: Oh, I can’t.

Caroline: I can’t. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing. Now, I will be more careful forever.

Helen: Also, this is, like, a, a point in favour of using an awl or a stiletto to help get your pieces under your machine without having to put your fingers so close.

Caroline: Totally. Okay, next up we have a story from Alexandra. “My sewing horror story: it was my first time trying to make pants. I chose an elastic waist pair since I thought those would be best for a rookie. For some reason the finished garment measurements on the envelope only gave the circumference of the pant leg and then the length. I had NO IDEA how to pick a size. So I picked one as a guess. To this day I still can’t tell you the logic behind my decision because I decided to pick a size that was four sizes larger than what I wore in RTW at the time. Needless to say, when I went to try them on to fit the elastic at the waist, they were much too big on me. No big deal, I took in the sides a bit and checked the fit again. And again. And again! It took me multiple tries to get these things to fit me, to the point where I had cut off the pockets in the process! Though I eventually got them to fit. Thankfully, I’ve gotten much better at fitting pants since.”

Helen: Oh, man. Yeah. These must have been way above your size. This really wasn’t your fault though. I have no idea why the pattern company would list leg circumference and not waist measurement. I think that’s a villain move right there, like…

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: That’s, that’s the true horror.

Caroline: Agreed.

Helen: This next story comes from Christine. “I was so excited to make my first non-pajama garment, a jumpsuit. I meticulously followed the instructions and was so pleased… until I tried it on and it was WAY too small.”

Ooh. Counter story.

“I had used the pattern that matched my hip measurement but had looked at the finished garment measurement chart, not the size chart!”

No!

Caroline: No! Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That finished measurement chart was lying in wait, ready to pounce on you and ruin your project. I would say this one was really relatable though. That moment when you go to check the fit, and you’re like, no, the world stands still.

Helen: Yes! Definitely a cautionary tale. You wanna take your time reading those charts, over and over again. Make sure.

Caroline: Okay, now we have a story from Claudia. “In high school I was hand embroidering a beautiful and detailed piece. At the end of the class I stood to pack up, only to realise I had stitched the whole thing to my skirt! Lots of tears and unpicking later, I am still haunted by the ghost of sewing to my skirt.”

Helen: I think this is the worst one so far. I mean, having to unpick so much detailed embroidery, that’s a lot more time and effort than machine sewing. And if this had happened to me, I don’t know if I’d be able to even talk about it, honestly.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You’re a hero, Claudia.

Caroline: Yeah, I can, like, feel the disappointment that, I don’t know, like, spending all that time embroidering something beautiful. And then you get up and you’re like, oh, oh, what?

Helen: I mean, if you don’t like the skirt that much, you could just cut the skirt chunk out of the skirt, and it’s, like, actually your facing for your embroidery. Or maybe you turn it into appliqué on your skirt.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are, there are ways to fix it, but still just, like, so horrific.

Helen: Right?

Caroline: Horrific.

Helen: I know. I feel like Claudia is looking for sympathy, not solutions, so, I’m sorry. Alright. Here’s a short, sweet, and relatable story from Lalu. “What’s my sewing horror story? Every. Single. Time. Someone. Asks. Me. To. Sew. Them. Something. Or. Hem. Their. Pants. WHY.”

Caroline: This reminds me of a horror movie that came out this summer.

Helen: Nope.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. It’s so true. I’m gonna be thinking of that every time someone asks me this.

Helen: Nope. Nope. Nope.

Caroline: But I want more info from Lalu because is it, like, horrific that someone is asking you? Just the idea of someone asking? Or is it that every time you help someone sew something or hem their pants something goes horribly wrong? Like, I need more details.

Helen: I think it’s the first one because I relate to that.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, because wouldn’t that be, like, really terrible if you were like, I’m a selfless sewist, and I’m gonna help sew things for people. But then, like, it always goes terribly.

Helen: Yeah, you’re cursed, and you can never do it, but you wanna do it.

Caroline: Oh, the curse of the selfless sewist. Is this you? Okay, so we’ve all seen scary brides in horror stories, but what about scary wedding dresses? Now, that is terrifying, especially for me because I’m planning my wedding right now, and I’m planning on making my dress, so I’m a little worried about how I’m gonna feel about these next few stories. But they’re all about wedding sewing gone wrong.

Helen: We’ll have to touch base after and see how you feel. How do you feel about sewing your wedding dress right now? You feeling good, feeling confident?

Caroline: I am. I’m feeling excited. I think, yeah, I’m still full of ideas. I haven’t locked down exactly what I wanna do. I’m actually gonna go dress shopping to, sort of, like, scope out different styles and peek at the construction of wedding dresses and fabrics up close and just really do a little bit of research before I make any decisions about exactly what I’m gonna make. But knowing myself it’s gonna be something that’s, like, simple, nothing too frilly or complicated, but I do wanna, like, level up a little bit and make, try to use some, like, more couture techniques and make it really special in my own way. So, yeah, I, I feel good about it now, but let’s, let’s talk after we read these stories.

Helen: Okay. Our first scary gown story is from Alicia, aka “SewLish,” in Portland, Maine.

“My story is about making my daughter‘s wedding gown in 2009.

“I will consolidate my story for your purposes and start by saying: she’s my only daughter, and I’ve been sewing my entire life, so it was my ultimate project, and I wanted it to, of course, be as perfect as possible. We shopped for fabric in New York City and a friend of hers from college was a fashion design student and created the pattern pieces and mailed me the pattern pieces and the fabric. I made this gown in one month! At each stage of the process I stood back in wonder and amazement at how beautiful it was. It was made from shantung silk, and I quickly learned that every iron crease was permanent, so I had to be extremely careful about how I was ironing out the seams. That was disaster #1. But easy to live with.

“Since she lived in another state, every time I needed to do a fitting on her we would arrange to meet halfway. It just so happened that one of her cousins was getting married about a month before her, so, during the reception, we ran up to our hotel room to do the first fitting. I made all the necessary adjustments, and I brought it home to work on it further.

I had just finished the major part of the bodice and I wanted to show it off to my friends at work, so I brought it into the office. Of course, I got lots of ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ and then all of a sudden somebody says, ‘What’s that little stain right there on the front?’ Oh, my god! It was a blood stain! I hadn’t noticed it, and then, I remembered that I had pricked my finger several times while I was fitting it to her in the hotel room the week before.

“Since she couldn’t meet me halfway, I agreed to fly down to New York for the final fitting, and I had to get that stain out before I went! I only had one day! In a panic I called a friend who knew a specialist at a dry cleaners. I called him, and he told me to come right away. I literally drove over there in my nightgown, practically in tears, and he was so confident that he could get it out he told me not to worry. He literally got it out for me in about five minutes and didn’t charge me any money. So The Dress and I flew down to New York City just for the day for the fitting and I brought it back and finished it just in time for the wedding.

“I sewed a row of rhinestone ball shaped buttons with loop closures above the zipper in the back, and it was very difficult to loop those buttons into the loops once it was on her. Of course, it had been easy without her in it, and I really struggled to get those looped on. Then, I learned that when she and her new husband were finally alone at the end of the evening, and it was time to get undressed, he couldn’t get those buttons out of the loops and ended up cutting the loops with his jackknife!

All I can say is I’m glad I only have one daughter, and I would never do this again. The stress of it all was just too much. But boy, it was gorgeous, and she was stunning in it.”

Caroline: Okay. This one is very fairytale-esque. She pricked her finger and left a drop of blood on the white gown! The magical dry cleaner saved her! The new husband cut off the button loops! It’s like a movie. Alicia also sent a picture of her daughter in the gown, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. She looks like a vintage femme fatal. We’ll post it in the show notes if anyone wants to check it out, and I’m so glad everything turned out okay. But the process sounds like a lot of stress. Like, also just starting only one month before the wedding is wild. Like, please, Helen, don’t let me do that ‘cause I will be the person that bleeds on my white dress.

Helen: I mean, apparently your own spit gets out your own blood, so, if you prick your own finger, you should be okay.

Caroline: I still think I would just…

Helen: Cry?

Caroline: …completely spiral.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Helen: Do your own tears get out your own blood is the real question?

Caroline: Right? I’ll just cry onto the stain and hope for the best.

Helen: Um, my favourite part of this story is the jack knife cutting out of the wedding dress.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, that’s very dramatic and, like, kind of, hot.

Caroline: Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Wedding night, just… You’re not ripping the clothes off, you’re cutting them off.

Okay, our next story is from Anne in Germany. “In 2014, I got married and decided to sew my own wedding dress. Both me and my husband were still studying at university and money was tight. Furthermore, I wanted a really simple dress. Nothing too fancy. I had some experience in sewing, but mainly simple knit garments and bags. I hadn’t yet found the indie pattern community and was still figuring out how to use Burda patterns, the only online patterns I knew back then. So what did I do? I decided to freestyle the whole thing as I went along. Reasonable, right? I had a vision of a dress in my mind, just a simple high waisted maxi skirt and two long sashes that tied around the back. I think it‘s called an eternity dress. I don’t really remember why I didn’t use any pattern – but not only did I just draft everything myself as I went along, I also had never before sewn any type of lining or a zipper in anything other than a bag. And, of course, I had zero experience sewing with chiffon.

“First, it went quite well. After a long battle with my inherited overlocker I finally figured out how to make a rolled hem and how to handle this unspeakable fabric. The skirt was coming along nicely and I was happy.

“Times were busy. It was the Friday of the week before the wedding. I still had to insert the zipper and had planned to get a friend to mark the hemline afterwards. So zipper, hemming, done. Doable, right? I made a little mistake while inserting the zipper, used my seam ripper – and ripped a hole in the chiffon.

“It was right on my hip, very present and at a place with slight tension – there was NO WAY I would be able to mend it. Panic-struck, I put the skirt on to inspect the damage and could see the fabric fraying away on me. That’s when the tears came.

“How did it end? Well, after several HOURS of crying, my fiancé drove me to the fabric store (I was in no condition to drive), I bought new fabric and sewed for the whole weekend. At least I knew all the steps and tricks now. Sunday evening, my friend came over to mark the hemline and by the end of the weekend, I was finished.

“My husband used the whole episode in our wedding toast: ‘How do you know your marriage has the potential to get through everything life throws at you? Imagine your bride ripping a hole in her wedding dress the weekend before the wedding…’

“But you know what? In the end, all was good, I loved it and I am so proud to have sewn my own wedding dress. Twice.”

Helen: First one was a practice.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I mean, chiffon is a demon fabric in the first place, but having to deal with accidentally ripping a hole in it, that’s definitely horrifying. But Anne sent us a pic of the final dress, and it turned out amazing. She absolutely pulled it off. So again, go and check out our show notes.

Caroline: Okay. She, like, more than pulled it off. This dress is so chic. I have no idea how someone with little experience sewing chiffon managed to make this dress look so professional and beautiful. Like, honestly, I’m in awe.

Helen: It really is stunning. I really love this simple design, and yeah, that’s not something you hear very often. Like, oh yeah, I made a bag, and now, I’m gonna make a wedding dress.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. Sewists are brave and, like, is this a theme? I get busy, and then, I sew this dress a month before my wedding? Is this my fate?

Helen: You need to make a list of all the steps and make sure you’re, like, doing one every month.

Caroline: I need a schedule.

Helen: Yeah, you need to schedule it.

Caroline: I need a deadline. Oh, my gosh. My wedding’s a year away, and I’m, like, already nervous. Okay. You read this one, Helen.

Helen: Okay. Our last wedding horror story comes from Annabell – human Annabell, not doll Annabell! “Once upon a time there was a princess who decided to make her own wedding dress. She spent hours, days, weeks and months shrouded in tulle and duchess satin – embroidering hundreds of leaves in golden thread on her train and determined to use 100% silk including the thread and organza corset inside… the day was set and it was time for her to step into her magical moment. She looks down as her maids zip her in… and just like that… a kiss of pink lands right on the front of her irreplaceable gown. Luckily, the Princess was clever and calm and ready for disaster. The bardot neckline was rescued and the secret kiss hidden forever in the new folds of her sweetheart.”

Caroline: Oh. This is a sweet story.

Helen: I love this one.

Caroline: Also, kind of, a scary moment, like, you’ve spent months sewing and embroidering on this super, elaborate gown, and then, at the last moment, you get lipstick on it. I’m scared just thinking about it, much less living it, but I’m so glad you were able to get it out, and we need your stain removal tips, Annabell. The gown looks amazing. We’re gonna post a pic in the show notes, but yes, please do share your stain removal tips because if this happens to me, I’ll just, I’ll freak, freak out.

Helen: I was interpreting this, like, they changed the neckline from bardot to sweetheart, somehow, like…

Caroline: Oh!

Helen: …and, like, covered it maybe.

Caroline: Oh, okay.

Helen: Right? So, like, if the bardot neckline is straight across and then they got lipstick right on the front, maybe they, kind of, like, tucked it in to create that sweetheart dip?

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So you don’t even need to remove the stain. You just, like, cut it out.

Caroline: Yeah. Or, or, like, fold it in.

Helen: Fold it in. Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. No, it’s true. I’m looking at the picture now, and I can totally see that.

Helen: Yeah. Very calm, cool, and collected. Annabell, well done.

Caroline: I would never be that calm in a situation like that.

Helen: Again, tears. Caroline, maybe what you need to do is make, like, several wedding dresses so that you’ve got…

Caroline: Just take the pressure off.

Helen: …backups.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have thought about doing an outfit change, but…

Helen: Oh, yes!

Caroline: I don’t know. We’ll see.

Helen: Love an outfit change.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, for the dance party portion?

Caroline: Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Something more swingy or something. But…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I do love dancing.

Helen: My friend changed into a gold sequin jumpsuit for the dance portion of her wedding.

Caroline: Amazing.

Helen: When she walked out in it, like, I was floored. It was so incredible. And I really just, like, unforgettable moment. So, I don’t know, consider, like, metallic Zadie Jumpsuit perhaps.

Caroline: I do think a jumpsuit is so fun. Like, I’ve seen folks wear jumpsuits just, like, to their entire wedding, like, as their outfit.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And I’m like, I, I feel like that would be so cool. I don’t know if I’m, like, brave enough to make that decision, but maybe if it’s an outfit change.

Helen: I mean, I do think a wedding dress suits you because you do love a maxi dress.

Caroline: I love a dress. Yeah. Yeah, I do.

Helen: So I think it actually works well with your personal style.

Caroline: But I also love a jumpsuit, but then…

Helen: True.

Caroline: …I also, like, have to pee a lot when I drink wine. So as the evening progresses, if I’m wearing a jumpsuit, is it gonna be super annoying?

Helen: Uh, yes.

Caroline: Yes, yes, but also probably annoying regardless of what I’m wearing ‘cause all wedding attire is, kind of, annoying to go to the bathroom in. Yeah. Anyways, I’m still feeling good.

Helen: If anything, this is showing me, like, what, what are the worst things that could happen…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …on my wedding dress sewing journey, now I feel more prepared. I feel, like, desensitised.

Helen: Put the lipstick on after the dress.

Caroline: Put the lipstick on after. Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: Don’t make it out of chiffon.

Caroline: Yeah. Or don’t bleed. Or if you do, step away from the white dress.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Find yourself a hero dry cleaner that will open for you in the middle of the night.

Helen: And make sure Shea has a knife on him.

Caroline: Yes. Perfect. Just in case. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, wish me luck, Helen. I’ll keep everyone posted. Hopefully, it’s not gonna end up…

Helen: You don’t even need…

Caroline: …in our next…

Helen: …luck.

Caroline: horror episode.

Helen: It’s gonna be great.

Caroline: Our next horror stories episode won’t include my, my dress story, hopefully.

Helen: I think this spring, in our spring season, we should do a wedding dress episode and maybe we can get some more advice from folks who have, uh, gone through the process.

Caroline: Oh, I would love that ‘cause I think that’ll be when I really start getting into sewing my dress is, like, this spring and, and throughout the early summer hopefully, so…

Helen: Yeah, and I’d love to explore…

Caroline: That’d be perfect.

Helen: …other wedding attire options, too.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: So people who have made their own suits or, uh, alternate outfit choices for weddings.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: That would be fun.

Caroline: Yeah, we could even talk about wedding guest outfits ‘cause I absolutely love making dresses to wear to weddings as a guest, so…

Helen: Me, too. It’s such a good excuse to make those patterns that you’ve been hoarding but never making.

Alright. Our final story for today is from Lisa. “My partner and I got a fabulous deal on a cutie Victorian fixer-upper back in 2010. He and his dad worked super hard to repair crumbling plaster, replace and refinish flooring, and update the kitchen and bathroom. It was the first time we’ve had a second bedroom, so I was thrilled to set it up as a combo sewing space and office.

“I painted it a lovely lavender. I hung art prints on the walls, organised my sewing supplies in a chest of drawers, and stacked my fabric stash on shelves in a little closet. Well, the first time I went to sit down at my machine, I noticed that one of my pictures had fallen down. The frame didn’t break, thanks to the rug. But how could it have fallen off the wall? The nail was firmly secured to the stud, so that wasn’t the problem. We live in California, so maybe it was an earthquake? Yeah, an earthquake that budged absolutely nothing else. And we don’t even have pets or kids.

“It was puzzling, but I had sewing to do. So I just hung it back up, and I got started. It was so nice to stitch away and not have to worry about getting the dining table back in order afterward.

“You know how they say to have a sewing curfew? I wish I had heard about that before the next thing happened. A few weeks after I started using the sewing room, I was finishing up the hem on a gathered skirt. It was probably, like, 1 AM. You know how it is when you’re almost done – you have to keep going, even if the hem is like a mile long! I was stitching down the hem when I heard something fall to the ground behind me. My partner had been asleep for a while, so it was pretty spooky. Especially when I saw what had fallen – the same picture as before! I checked it and the nail – both were still intact. There was absolutely no reason why it should have fallen!

“I talked to my partner about it, but he had a million explanations for it – none of which made any sense. He just didn’t want to believe it. And I couldn’t really blame him – there’s nothing sinister about a painting of flowers falling down. And yet, I couldn’t really shake the feeling that something weird was going on.

“Weirder things continued to happen. It fell down several more times. I thought I could hear scratching from the wall behind it sometimes – maybe that was just the house settling?

“Finally, one night, I was sewing up some jersey hats for a friend’s new baby, when I swear I heard someone say ‘Here!’ I swivelled around so fast I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash. But there was no one there. Just the frame, lying face down on the floor.

“This time, I couldn’t let it go. I had to know once and for all what was back there. I went out and got a hammer and started pulling away the plaster. I don’t know what I expected to find, but it definitely wasn’t what was there.

“There was a tin box sitting on a block between the studs. It looked old. Super dusty. My heart was racing at this point. But I couldn’t NOT open it.

“It took some elbow grease, but I finally got the lid loose. The only thing in there was a folded-up piece of yellowed paper. I carefully unfolded it. And this is what it said:

Caroline: “‘We made this story up. Happy Halloween from Love to Sew!’”

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at spooky HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected]

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode – we have a lot of fun in these episodes – and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant, and the one who wrote that brilliant story at the end of today’s show. Thank you, Lisa. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week.

Caroline: Bbye.

Helen: Buh-bye.

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Home sewing patterns put knowledge and power in the hands of ordinary people, changing fashion forever. In this episode, we go back to the beginnings of sewing patterns in the mid-19th century (and a little bit earlier). We talk about the enormous shifts in technology and lifestyles through the nearly two centuries that followed – and we even predict the future of sewing patterns! Plus, a listener question about fashion school and life direction.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Images:

Books:

Articles and Blog Posts:

Other Resources:

Early Indie Pattern Companies:

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: the history of sewing patterns.

Helen: Hi, Caroline.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: I beat you to it. I beat you to it.

Caroline: We’re both just too excited to talk about the history of sewing patterns.

Helen: I really am. This has been such an interesting journey, learning a little bit more about this, and we’re so excited to share everything that we’ve learned. But to kick us off, we have a really great question here from Rosie. Caroline, do you wanna read it?

Caroline: “I am conflicted about how sewing plays a role in my future. It’s not something I plan on giving up; it can always be a hobby, and I know it always will be. Then again, for so long I have dreamed of going to fashion school but never had the guts to look more into it. I think—as many people probably do—that it’s impossible to create something original in today’s world.

“Furthermore, I am worried about not being good enough. After listening to some old and new episodes, I learned that both of you went to school for fashion. I would love to hear more about your experiences and how it led you to where you are today. Would you do anything different? If so, what? Do you have any advice for someone like me who is stuck on what to do?

“One of my favourite subjects in school has always been math. When Helen mentioned in one episode (I believe the pattern drafting one) that pattern drafting is a lot of math, that honestly made me feel a little bit better. I have always been scared to try drafting my own patterns. Although, I think entering the world of fashion and leaving the comfort of my basement where my machine lives is always going to be a scary thought.

“If you have any advice for someone who is considering a career in fashion, I would love to hear more! Thank you so much for being a sewing support system for me! Sewing was a love I formed on my own—no family members were there to answer my questions or help me when I broke a needle the first time I sewed leather (there were many tears). Cannot wait for Monday (said no one ever…unless they are listeners to your podcast)!! Thank you so much! – Rosie, 19, from Chicago”

Helen: Ooh, thank you so much for this question, Rosie. I can relate to this so much. I mean, reading this email was like taking a trip back in time to when I was your age at 19 and struggling to decide what to do next. I really wanted to go to fashion school, but ultimately I ended up taking a general design program in college instead. It was more of a broad design education. And it covered things like interior design, graphic design, display, and more, but there was no fashion specifically.

And I chose this path because I was worried that I wouldn’t succeed in the fashion industry. And to be honest, I was afraid I wasn’t good enough at sewing or stylish enough to go into fashion. I can also relate to what you said about not creating anything original. That’s such a real feeling that you’re just not there, but that’s, kind of, the whole point of school. So I do want to encourage you to think of it that way, that you’re going to learn. You don’t already need to be good at things to go.

The other design program that I ended up taking felt like it offered a bit of a broader education that I could use to do lots of different things in the future and potentially move into different fields, and that worked out for me because I really enjoyed my path that got me where I am today. I learned a lot of really great graphic and web design skills that have served me very well. I had since gone back to school to take a web design specific program.

So I did uh, a couple of different programs in college, but I never did end up going to fashion school and I, kind of, wish I had, I even still think about potentially, like, just taking some time off and going to fashion school ‘cause it would be so much fun. I really think I would thrive in that environment. And looking back now, I can see that I definitely had, like, the passion and the excitement and the drive required, and that’s so much more important than having those sewing skills and the personal style or design chops that you feel like you need.

Because, as I said, after all, you’re going to school to learn those things and develop your skill as a designer. And it’s totally okay that you know you haven’t drafted patterns yet before because that’s what school is for, and they’re gonna teach you how to do that. And I guarantee you there will be other people in the program who know less about sewing than you do, and they’re going to succeed as well.

But it has been, like, quite a meandering path for me to get where I am. But I think the same can be said for pretty much everybody. I can remember, like, the immense pressure of that first step out of high school. That question of, like, what do you wanna do with your life? Or what do you wanna be when you grow up? It’s so daunting and in reality, you’re not going to choose the perfect direction and just walk in a straight line, like, that’s not how life works. You’re gonna build skills and learn new things about yourself that are gonna change your course, change direction, and following what’s interesting and rewarding for you is the key and that is gonna get you where you’re supposed to be.

So if fashion is what you’re most excited about right now, I think it’s definitely worth pursuing that. And you can always change your mind and pivot and go in another direction.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. You’re so young, Rosie, you have so many years ahead of you to go to school, go back to school, pivot. I love your response. Helen, thank you for sharing your journey a little bit ‘cause it is really inspiring and I don’t think I have all that much to add.

I think this was such a relatable email from Rosie, and I actually did go to fashion school and when I was getting ready to go to school and throughout my years in school, I always thought I would graduate and start working for a fashion designer or for a larger corporation in the design department, but that didn’t happen.

I ended up going directly into the textiles field and although, you know, it’s not fashion design, I’d say it’s adjacent. It’s still in the fashion industry, and I have no regrets about the path that I took. Obviously, it brought me to where I am today and thinking about fashion school, even though I didn’t necessarily use those drafting and design skills that I learned in my career afterwards, they were really amazing creative years.

I have such good memories from fashion school. I met so many cool people there. I had such a great experience and like I said, it brought me to where I am today and sewing. I use those skills in my sewing hobby all the time. So, yeah, it’s definitely something that I would recommend to anyone if that’s something that’s interesting to you, try it out. It’s, it’s a really fun thing to go to school for and who knows what’ll happen?

Helen: Right? Is it like, is it like Project Runway? Cause I really just wanna do that.

Caroline: Sometimes, like for me, I, you know me, I love, like, procrastination and working… I work really well under pressure at the last minute. So yeah, like, I definitely, you know, sewed school projects the night before they were due and pulled all-nighters and was really stressed in the workroom, and, you know, there, there, lots of things go down in fashion school, but it was all in good fun. And it was such a cool environment to be in. And we had really great teachers, and I don’t know, I, like I said, I would recommend it to anyone.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: If you have an interest in fashion, pursue that. It’s, it’s a very, very fun thing to study in school.

Helen: Yeah. Were there people in the class that were just as scared as you were?

Caroline: Yeah. I mean, yeah, those first day, first week, first month jitters are real. Like, I, and I mean, even in our first couple of sewing classes, like, we were just learning the, like, they, kind of, assumed you didn’t really know very much about sewing, so it’s okay to go in feeling unprepared because that’s what school is for, right?

Helen: Yeah, totally.

Caroline: And you’re learning among peers, so you’ll, you’ll get to commiserate with all of your classmates about how hard or, you know, scary things are.

Helen: Yeah. Well, Rosie, keep us posted. I wanna know what you decide.

Caroline: Yeah. Good luck, Rosie.

Helen: Check in in a year or so. Well, I wish we had a little Schoolhouse rock song to open this episode, like… Pattern histories. No mystery. From tailors to Simplicity.

Caroline: Woo. I love that. Helen, keep going.

Okay. I’m so excited about this episode, but before we get into it, we wanna do a little disclaimer. We are not historians, We don’t have the time or resources or training to dig through primary sources, read multiple books, and write up a mind-blowing book or paper. But with that said, we really tried to find sources written by historians and or published by universities so that we can get our facts right.

And in this episode we’re focusing mostly on what academics call “the West,” meaning the USA, Europe, and Oceania. Not a very accurate term, I know. The reason we focused on these areas is because most of the available writing in English is focused on them. So if you have information about the history of sewing patterns in other areas of the world, we would love to hear about it and share it with our listeners.

Helen: Yes, you can think of this episode as a couple of friends telling you stories about the history of sewing patterns. The purpose is to give you an overview and get you curious to learn more. And if you want more information, you can check out our show notes.

We’ll link some great resources there, including books, blog posts, even scholarly articles on JSTOR, which is the biggest digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. You can actually read up to a hundred articles a month if you sign up for a free account. It’s normally six, but they upped it to a hundred when the pandemic began, which is pretty cool, so… And we’re gonna link that all up for you there.

Caroline: Okay. Now let’s start our story once upon a time… Just kidding.

Helen: Our story starts in the mid-19th century. But to appreciate what happens then, we have to talk about what sewing was like before that. In the pre-industrial age, that is before the Industrial Revolution, sewing knowledge was treated differently.

Tailors were the professional pattern makers for all genders up until the 17th century when the guilds split into tailors, who specialised in men’s clothing, and mantua-makers makers, who specialised in women’s clothes. Pattern drafting knowledge was passed from person to person through apprenticeships. Tailors kept copies of patterns, but they were treated as trade secret and not shared or sold. They were so valuable that they were sometimes called “gods.”

Caroline: Clothes were much more expensive back then, too. Everything was more expensive. That’s one of the reasons that people didn’t have a lot of clothes. Most people would only have a few outfits. And for personal hygiene, as well as to protect their precious clothes from their body’s dirt and oils, they would have a higher number of linen undergarments that they could change out more frequently.

Helen: All sewing was done by hand at this time, and there was a second-hand clothing market, both in cities and by travelling merchants. Peasants mostly had to sew their own clothing. It took a long time to produce a garment, and for most people the goal was to make it last a long time as well. Hand me downs were a given.

One of the reasons that garments that survive to be in museum collections today are so small is that garments would be remade over and over, often becoming smaller the more they were altered. Well, that, and malnutrition.

Caroline: Of course, people of all classes have always wanted to look good, but the knowledge and labour required to create stylish clothing was just not available to most people. Okay, that’s the before.

Now, here’s what happens in the mid-19th century. Basically, the Industrial Revolution hits the textile industry. That’s not quite correct. The textile industry is one of the main drivers of the Industrial Revolution. Steel machinery, coal power, and cheap labour in the name of “efficiency” produces an explosion of textiles on the market for lower prices than ever. Later, in the “second Industrial Revolution,” advances in transportation, like train networks expand the availability of textiles.

Helen: The home sewing machine is growing in availability and popularity at this time, too. Hand crank machines are out. Treadle machines are in. With a hand crank machine, you had to use one hand to turn the crank while the other hand guided fabric through the sewing machine.

As you can imagine, it’s not the easiest task to learn, even if it is faster than hand sewing. Treadle machines have a, kind of, pedal that you move back and forth with your foot in a see-saw motion. It’s not as easy as today’s electric pedals, but it definitely is more doable than a hand crank.

The explosion of factory made goods during the Industrial Revolution means that by the end of the century, sewing machines would become affordable even for regular people. Sewing is happening more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

Caroline: And print media is also booming. There are more newspapers, magazines, books, and periodicals than ever before, and they’re more affordable than ever before. Trade publications for tailors and dressmakers begin to share more detailed information about the trade, including information about drafting systems, scaled-down patterns, and advertisement for full-size paper patterns.

Here’s something a bit juicy. Early pattern makers would sometimes secretly create fashion magazines specifically to drive people to their businesses and keep any connection between the two on the down low.

Helen: Whoa, That’s some marketing chops right there.

Caroline: Seriously.

Helen: Okay, so that’s what’s happening in the world when a couple big names come onto the scene. The first big name is Madame Demorest, of “Madame Demorest’s Emporium of Fashion!” Amazing name. No notes.

Caroline: No notes.

Helen: She was the wife of a wealthy New York merchant and the head of the first majorly successful tissue paper pattern company. At first, her patterns were not graded, so they had to be scaled up or down according to the size of the sewist. You could buy her patterns via mail order from magazines like Godey’s Lady Book, or her own magazine, The Mirror of Fashion. There’s that sneaky magazine trick we were just talking about. She also has a bunch of locations that grew in number over time. There were 300 locations by the 1870s, and by the 1880s, she retired from the pattern company game.

Caroline: Okay, the second big name is one you might recognize: Ebenezer Butterick! Best name ever. Although, although he wasn’t the first big name on the pattern scene, his company was the first to produce graded paper patterns in the 1860s. Because of this, his company quickly overtook Madam Demorest’s.

The legend goes that he came up with the idea for the company after his wife talked to him about how hard it was to use a non-graded pattern to make clothes for their son. I totally understand – I’d be complaining from the rooftops if I could only get non-graded patterns. Butterick also had their own sneaky magazines – Delineator for women and The Tailor’s Review for men.

To give you an idea of how successful Butterwick was, in 1903, the company moved into a new headquarters in New York City decorated by Tiffany.

Helen: Whoa, that’s fancy.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I’m not gonna lie, I can only picture Ebenezer Scrooge this whole time, so I’m just assuming that’s what he looks like.

Caroline: Do you think the name Ebenezer is gonna come back into fashion?

Helen: Oh, absolutely. There’s probably like little babies right now by the name Ebenezer.

I mean the whole non-graded pattern things. How does that even work? Like what size, what size are they? I don’t understand.

Caroline: I know, I was, I was wondering that, too, like, because you have to scale it up or down. But, like, are you scaling it up or down? Or are they, like, you tell them your size and then they scale it up? But maybe because it’s not graded using, like, proper grading techniques, it’s, like, not gonna have the right proportions or something?

Helen: I think it’s probably up to the sewist to do it. And so that would be, like, a whole other skillset that you would need to have.

Caroline: How do you do that without, like, a copy machine or something? I don’t understand.

Helen: By hand!

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: Well, the availability of paper patterns, affordable fabric, and fashion media changed home sewing forever. By the 1920s, the average person could make clothes inspired by their favourite film stars. Only 80 years earlier, the technical knowledge, materials, and leisure time would’ve been unavailable except by a very select few people.

Caroline: And by the 1950s, the “Big 4” were dominating the pattern game. You might have heard people refer to the big four pattern companies before. Those four are Butterwick, Vogue, Simplicity, and McCall’s. McCall’s was started by Scottish tailor James McCall. They started printing patterns in 1919. Fun fact: they used to print instructions directly on the pattern pieces rather than having a separate booklet.

Helen: Oh, I, kind of, love that idea.

Caroline: Yeah! Saves paper.

Helen: Vogue Pattern Service started in 1919 as a tie-in with Vogue Magazine. Condé Nast bought Vogue Magazine in 1909, changing the pattern division to Vogue Patterns in 1914. They are known for having more complex patterns and for selling the patterns of high end designers.

Caroline: Simplicity started selling patterns in 1927, and they filled a niche of easy-to-use, cheaper patterns.

Helen: There wasn’t just the Big 4, though. Burda was a publishing house for over 50 years before they started publishing patterns in 1949. Aenne Burda, daughter-in-law of the founder, owned this arm of the company. Burda Moden pulled the company out of debt and grew it into a powerful player in the economic recovery of the country after World War II. Burda, now called Burda Style, remains a popular pattern company for sewists in Europe and all over the world.

Caroline: There were other more short-lived pattern companies that were, nevertheless, popular in their day. For example, Hollywood Patterns owned by Condé Nast started in the thirties and printed Hollywood stars on their envelope covers. You can imagine this made them super popular, but they stopped printing patterns at the end of World War II.

Helen: In 2001, more recent history, McCall’s bought Butterick and Vogue. Then, in 2016, a company called CSS bought McCall’s, which, of course, came with Butterick and Vogue. And in 2017, CSS bought Simplicity. So since then, it’s actually not the “Big 4”, it’s more the “Big 1.” The most recent development is that in 2020, IG Design Group bought CSS.

Now, of course, all these pattern companies still operate under their own labels, so it’s still the Big 4, but I mean, it’s fun to know that technically they’re all owned by the same company.

Caroline: Mhm. And for the majority of the 20th century, people were able to sew fashionable clothing using patterns from the Big 4 (and more). And it was almost always more affordable than buying those styles off the rack. In addition, they had more creative control over the pieces they made. They could fit them just how they liked, and they could make them to a higher standard of quality. These last few reasons will sound familiar to today’s sewists.

Helen: Yeah, maybe not the cheaper part though.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. This brings us almost to today, but not quite. Let’s start with a little context. Towards the end of the 20th century, home sewing, especially garment making, had declined as clothing prices lowered. With increased globalisation and unethically cheap outsourced labour, it was no longer more affordable to make your own clothes. Sewing became more of a hobby than a practical skill, and sewing was taught less often in schools.

Caroline: This sewing revival that has been going on since the early 2000s is linked to the rise of the internet. Although the digital revolution, also known as the “third industrial revolution” started in the mid 20th century. Home computers didn’t become common until the 1990s, and access to the internet didn’t become common until the early 2000s. As more and more people got online, they discovered the potential of the internet for connecting with people all over the world who have common interests, for sharing information, and for e-commerce.

Helen: And the Maker Movement, also known as the DIY Movement, that started to bloom in the early 2000s and is still going on today, is at least in part, a reaction to globalisation and that digital revolution.

Many makers are opposed to the working conditions and factories that are located in the Global South and East for the very reason of lower pay for workers and few regulations. They also want to make sure that handmade physical objects are valued in a world that is increasingly digital.

Caroline: However, digital products and content are a major way that the Maker Movement has functioned since the beginning. Sewing blogs and social media sites, like Craftsy, were an early way for sewists to connect, share knowledge, and show off their makes. Now, we not only have a plethora of sewing content on YouTube, social media, blogs, and podcasts to keep us inspired in learning, we also have unprecedented access to sewing patterns online. You can buy Big 4 patterns online, either in paper or pdf, but there was another major development in sewing patterns in the past 20 years: the rise of indie patterns.

Helen: Ooh, this is where I come into play, guys, indie patterns.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Indie patterns have revolutionised sewing. And it’s not that there weren’t indie patterns before, there totally were. But they were harder to find, and the companies were much less successful. But because of the internet, indie sewing companies are able to sell to a much smaller niche and still find that success, find their customers. So much easier than it used to be.

Caroline: It’s so true, and PDF patterns have now become standard with indie pattern companies. The companies don’t need to spend a lot of money to print patterns before they know they’ll be successful, and customers all over can access them without paying shipping costs. Some sewists don’t love printing their patterns at home, while others like the instant gratification of buying a pattern and printing it the same day. For the customers who don’t love printing their own large-format pattern, printing services have started to pop up.

Helen: Yes! I can remember when PDF patterns really weren’t that common. Some companies didn’t even have them.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. I know. We should talk about, like, what the sewing, indie pattern world was like when we started sewing

Helen: Yes! I can remember I started in 2014 I wanna say. I can remember going to my local fabric store, quilting fabric mostly, uh, store, but they did have indie patterns there. And I bought one Sewaholic, one Deer and Doe, one Grainine, one Sew Liberated, and I think, uh, Wiksten and that was the, and a Colette. Those were the only brands they had in stock, but I bought one of each ‘cause I wanted to try them all.

But those were the ones that they had at my local store, and I think those were, kind of, the major players at the time, especially Colette, um, now Seamwork, still a huge major player in the industry. They were super popular at the time and along with that came the style, that, like, vintage, retro, fit and flare more, um, kind of, dressy, frilly look was definitely more popular in the indie sewing world. There was a lot of pattern companies going for that look.

And then there was the occasional company going for more of a modern look, like Grainline Studio, for example, that had some more, um, just everyday, wearable pieces.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Totally. I started getting into, like, this online sewing community, indie sewing world back in 2010, 2011. And at the time, there were even fewer companies. I remember almost all companies were paper patterns. It was really hard to find PDF patterns online. And I got introduced to the indie sewing world through our friend Tasia, who at the time owned Sewaholic Patterns, so she was doing paper patterns. Colette was doing paper patterns.

And honestly, I don’t remember that many other companies that I was able to find paper patterns for in, like, my local fabric shop. But PDF patterns were also just starting. Like, I remember seeing Grainline Studio selling their PDF patterns for just $5 each. And it was just this, like, revelation, like, I was, like, how does this even work? Print it at home? What?

Um, and it’s funny that you mention that retro style ‘cause I totally remember when I got into sewing more as a hobby and sewing my own clothes around that time. Like, so many of the patterns were that sort of vintage-y-inspired, fit and flare, retro style.

And I even sewed myself a few things in that style, which was, like, so not me. But I just felt like I wanted to and needed to ‘cause that was what I was exposed to at the time, and I definitely never wore any of those dresses that I made.

Helen: Oh, no.

Caroline: But it does, like, just remind me of those early days of the indie sewing world, and I feel like the style has evolved a lot, and obviously, just the availability of patterns. There’s just so many more companies. And everybody has transitioned to making their patterns available as digital downloads, which I think is a really, really cool evolution of the indie pattern world ‘cause it just makes them more accessible, more available, more of that instant gratification. And you know, I’m team, I’m team PDF pattern.

Helen: I think it’s fascinating. It’s such a recent history, uh, that PDF patterns have really not been around for that long. And you talking about, you know, these companies going into PDF when now it’s the opposite and companies are trying to decide whether they should go into paper, right?

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Is it worth it to go into paper patterns and versus is it worth it to go into pdf? And I just think that’s so funny. And you were telling me before we started recording that Shea actually played an interesting role in this development.

Caroline: Yeah, so, like, back in 2011, 2012, I was working for a fashion textile company, and I was working part-time for Sewaholic sewing samples and writing posts on her blog. Some of our long-time listeners would remember when I used to blog on Sewaholic.

And at the time, Tasia was only doing paper patterns, and I remember us talking about, like, should, should you do PDFs? And you know, she was a little bit reluctant, but everyone was starting to transition to offering PDF downloads, but she didn’t really know how to go about it.

And because Shea is, kind of, like, a Photoshop whiz – um, he, he works more in the art world, I guess – he was like, oh yeah, I think I can figure out how to do that. So Shea actually digitised and tiled and created the PDF patterns for all of the Sewaholic patterns back in – I don’t know, it was probably, like, 2013, 2014 when that happened.

But yeah, I always thought that was really funny that Shea played a part in that back then. Back before there were tons of tutorials online on how to tile and how to create PDF patterns. I feel like there are way more resources now than there were back then. So he had to, kind of, just figure out how to do it on his own.

Helen: Yeah, I mean, even when I started my pattern company, there really wasn’t a lot of information online about how to go about doing all these things. Now there’s a lot more available. Pattern Workshop was the course I took, and that is still going strong.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helne: You can still take that course and learn lots of skills from Lauren Dahl. It’s a good course. But yeah, it was a challenge to figure out how to do things and also just a really interesting peek into a whole other world. And I started digging a bit deeper in discovering all of these different designers from other countries and what everybody was up to and trying to get the lay of the land of how their businesses are structured and, and how often they’re putting out designs and all these different things. It was so interesting, such a niche industry. I mean, when I tell people that I designed sewing patterns, like, they’re usually just like, wait, what? Like…

Caroline: Still, right?

Helen: Yeah. What, how, how is that a thing? Like, people wanna sell their own clo-, like, it’s just fascinating. And then you tell them about this whole corner of the internet that you’re obsessed with and they’re like, oh, I had no idea that was there.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Totally. We have folks in our neighbourhood, in East Van where our warehouse is, that will just, sort of, like, they’ll see, you know, they’ll be walking down the alleyway and see into our warehouse and then come over and be like, what do you guys do? Do you make clothes?

And when I try to explain like, no, we’re a fabric store. They’re like, wait. Like, why do you have a ware-, how do you have a warehouse? Like, what, how are you a fab-, like, fabric stores? What? And I’m like, when you’re not plugged into that world, I think you don’t realise just how, like, rich and full it is. There’s just, like, so many people that sew that, but it’s, it feels like a, a world that’s almost, like, sectioned off and not everyone knows about.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. And like it has grown so much in the last 10 years since you got into the industry and, and so much since I got in. And I think it will continue to grow. And part of the reason that indie sewing pattern companies started to come to the forefront and become really popular was in a, a bit of a response to the Big 4 and a response to what customers, kind of, said they wanted outta their pattern.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helne: So, for example, indie patterns often go up to larger sizes than Big 4 patterns. There are even some companies that are just for plus sizes now, which is amazing. Finding sewing patterns at all, much less fashionable ones, was really difficult before indie patterns became a big thing.

Caroline: Yeah, and indie pattern companies often have a focus on education. They publish tutorials, sew-alongs, technique demonstrations. And some pattern companies have a reputation for detailed clear pattern instructions as well. I would say Helen’s Closet has that reputation. You have amazing instructions that totally teach sewing alongside just the pattern instructions, so…

Helen: That was my favourite thing when I got into sewing again and I found these pattern companies and the booklets that went along with the patterns, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. All these tips and tricks and diagrams, and I just loved every, every bit of it.

Another differentiating factor is that indie pattern designers usually do a better job of featuring a diverse range of models, and this is often in response to urging from the sewing community, which is another positive for indie sewing companies. They’re much more connected to their customers than was ever possible for companies before the internet.

And because we’re on a smaller scale, we are always listening, and I think growing and changing, and we’re gonna talk about maybe the future of sewing patterns in a minute here. But I do think that there has been so much positive change in the community, and that’s definitely thanks to the customers speaking out about what they actually want. And then the companies are able to listen to that and make those changes.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And it’s now even easier than ever for more people to get quality patterns in the styles that they want. Um, so there’s just more indie pattern companies popping up all the time. And even thinking back to recent years, it makes me think, like, there’s still so much evolution happening.

Like copy shop patterns, a zero format, where you can send it off to print and get it shipped to your house – that’s only something that has popped up in recent years. And we offer that service now at Blackbird, and it is super popular. People love not having to tape their patterns together, so you get that digital product, that availability of just, like, more options, but you can just print it and get it shipped to your house.

Helen: Yeah. It’s amazing. Especially if you can get it printed and shipped along with your fabric…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and, like, other things you’re ordering. It’s such a great service, and I haven’t taped together a pattern in a while, I will admit.

Caroline: Me neither.

Helen: Huge copy shop print fan over here.

Caroline: Yes. Absolutely. Okay, so that brings us up to the present, but, like Helen said, we’re not done yet. We wanna talk about where we think sewing patterns will go in the future. We definitely have some ideas.

Helen: Yes. As we’ve seen in this short history, sewing patterns have kept pace with the technological innovations of every age. So looking at some of the modern technology that we have now, we just have to imagine taking it to the next level.

Caroline: Yeah, we already have sewists who use projectors mounted above their cutting tables to project images of pattern pieces onto their fabric. Then, they cut the pieces out without needing to use any paper at all.

So we can see augmented reality patterns happening in the near-ish future. Augmented reality is when you can view digital images overlaid on top of real world images. One example of AR we’re all familiar with is the filters you can use on social media that give you a mask or makeup or a lamb standing on your head.

Imagine being able to use your phone or put on a pair of glasses and see the lines of your pattern pieces on top of your fabric. This technology will probably become more refined over time so you could have the correct scale and not worry about distorting. I personally love this idea, feels very futuristic, but also within reach.

Helen: It does feel within reach. Another possible thing that we could use this for is to mock it up on our bodies. You know, like Sam was telling me that he was shopping for glasses on Clearly Contacts, and he was like, the trying on glasses feature is amazing now. Like, even a few years ago it was really not that good, and now you just turn on your webcam and you can try on all these glasses and they look like they’re on your face. Like, imagine if you could do that with patterns. You just turn it on and see exactly what the Gilbert Top looks like on you.

Caroline: Mhm. So cool.

Helen: Yeah. Okay. There’s also virtual reality, also known as VR. That’s another technology that we currently have that will probably become more refined and accessible over time. It’s already made major strides in the last just five years, and I can imagine VR sewing tutorials, like, where you could actually virtually walk around the table where the demonstration is happening. You could zoom in. You could look above and below the person’s hands and see it from different angles. How cool would that be?

Caroline: So, so cool. And VR pattern envelopes would be amazing. You could see the fabric move in real time. Maybe you could even have a digital double of yourself and be able to try on the garment before you decide to buy, kind of, like that Clearly Contacts example you just gave.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: Whoa! Imagine if you were shopping in a fabric store and you could turn on your webcam and then, like, overlay the fabric on top of your body to see the scale of it. Oh, my gosh.

Helen: That would be so cool. Like, uh, if on the Blackbird Fabrics website you could, like, I don’t know, turn on your VR, like, put on your Oculus Rift and, like, use the gloves to, like, touch the fabric and really, like, see how it drapes and, like, drape it on your body, look in a mirror.

Caroline: Twenty years from now, that’s what it’s gonna be. I predict two, two years from now.

Helen: Oh, two. Oh, my god. Okay. We haven’t even talked about, like, just virtually sewing, like you’re in the Sims or something, and you’re just like, you’re not actually making it.

Caroline: Oh, not sewing IRL.

Yes, you’re just sewing virtually. You could have, we could have, like, a Love to Sew virtual sewing meetup where we all hang out in a virtual, like, stadium and sew virtual clothes.

Caroline: That would be really cool. That would be so cool. And also just, a sewing-themed video game.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: It would be really cool.

Helen: The stakes are so much lower.

Caroline: Yeah. You could learn to sew in that format. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Helen: Ooh, yeah. Imagine learning to sew in VR or, like, just using it to practice techniques before you do it on your actual fabric.

Caroline: Yeah. And then you don’t have to worry about sewing through your finger.

Helen: You still, you still have to worry about that. Always be worried.

Okay. Another technological advancement is digital printing. This has only been around since the eighties, and it has gotten better and better over time. I could see pattern companies or fabric companies offering digital printing services like digital printing files for their customers. The customers can then upload to a printing service and lay over the print and fabric that they want.

I think Spoonflower actually offered this service. Maybe they still offer this service where you can like upload? No, not anymore.

Caroline: No. I think it was, like, a up a couple of years they did it, and then they just continued it. I’m not too sure why, but I remember thinking it was really cool. You could upload a sewing pattern in that would, sort of, print the outlines on top of the fabric print so that you could just, like, get it and cut out your project.

But I remember thinking, like, well, what if you have to grade between sizes or what if you wanna make adjustments to the pattern? So I feel like there’s still some innovation that might need to happen there, but it’s such a cool concept, right? It would take the pinning and tracing or projecting element completely out of the equation, and you can just get right into cutting out your fabric.

Or imagine if you could, like, buy fabric or upload…

Helen: Already cut out?

Caroline: Exactly. And, like, upload the pattern and then it, like, a machine would just cut out all your pieces for you, and then you just get all the pieces shipped to you, and you just have to sew it up.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. Imagine if you could, like, just buy a finished garment and then wouldn’t even need to sew it.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh, Helen, what an amazing business idea.

Helen: Seriously, though, like, how many steps do we want done for us? No, the cutting out is legit though. That would be really cool. I mean, there’s the Cricut machines that cut out…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, that cut out things, small things, and I want, like, a giant one.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything else you can see in your crystal ball for the future of sewing patterns?

Helen: I mean, as we said, there’s a lot of new designers coming onto the market all the time. There’s all these amazing people putting their work out there, and there’s so many more choices now, and I think, as sewists, people are getting more and more interested in design and drafting. I’ve seen more resources pop up for people to learn how to do drafting, um, and to flex those design skills. A lot of self-drafting happening in the sewing community.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Pattern hacking. I think people are generally just getting more confident.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And I think that’s amazing, and I could totally see more sewists going in the direction of drafting their own patterns or learning how to do that so that they can make their own designs and more resources and educational tools for them to be able to do that.

Caroline: I love that idea. Yeah, and if we’re thinking about, like, innovations in technology, I could also envision a world where there are more accessible programs that you can maybe download online and put in your measurements and be able to design something and then have it just drafted for you or have some, kind of, aid in, in throughout that process so that you don’t have to have, like, the full pattern drafting skills, but you can have the idea and then be able to have a program that helps you to execute it. I know there are a couple of pattern websites, um, out there, I think Free Sewing… Is FreeSewing.org one of them where…?

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: They have different, uh, pattern options and you can put in your measurements, and it’ll, sort of, like, draft it exactly to your body. But I could see that even being taken to the next level where you are coming up with the designs.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Or just some more companies offering that service I think would be really interesting.

Caroline: Yeah. The future’s bright. I feel like there are so many ways that this, you know, indie sewing pattern world can be innovated and developed and evolve, and I’m just really excited to see what happens in the next 10 years. Like, think about the last 10 years. How much has changed?

Helen: I know. I know. It really is gonna be so much fun to see, and I think there’s a world where, you know, patterns and drafting and self drafting, things like that can coexist because people are always gonna want to click the button and download the already pre-drafted thing, um, and sometimes you’re gonna wanna do your own. And I think that both those things can be true for people. So, yeah, I think it’s exciting. I don’t wanna deter anyone from going into pattern drafting.

Caroline: No.

Helen: Thinking everyone’s gonna be drafting their own patterns in 10 years. Don’t worry.

Caroline: No, I don’t think everyone will. I think it might just be like more of an available option.

Helen: Exactly.

Caroline: Or, or something that people feel more confident or inspired to get into. But I think there will be a need for pattern designers, and I think the indie pattern world has a really bright future, so…

Helen: Mhm. Yeah. One thing that I could potentially see, and people have tried to do this over the years is creating, like, a sewing-specific social platform or place where sewists can share their makes because there’s been so many changes in Instagram in the past, like, year or two, and it’s not necessarily a place where everybody wants to spend time anymore.

Like, imagine if we had that space that was just sewing-specific where people could share their makes, and it wasn’t traditional or a, you know, a trendy social media platform. I think that would be really cool. I would love if it, it existed.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: But it’s really hard to imagine building something like that.

Caroline: Yeah. Even just, like, more apps and tools and digital products to help us on our sewing journey would be really cool.

Helen: Yeah, that’s true.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. Well, we’ve been on a long journey in this episode. We started in the mid-19th century, well, we actually went before that, and we ended up nearly 200 years later. Commercial sewing patterns have been an important part of sewists’ lives for generations, and we can see them sticking around for generations to come.

If you have any interesting resources or historical tidbits to share about sewing patterns, we would love to hear from you. Or if you have a good guess on where sewing patterns are going next, we’d love to hear that, too.

Helen: Yes, you can check out my new website where you can buy pre-made garments, Helen’s Closet, not patterns, dot com.

That’s it for today’s episode of Love To Sew. You can find me Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at [email protected].

Helen: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For just $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and the researcher and writer extraordinaire for this episode. Jordan Moore is our editor. Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. See you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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This episode is all about making cozy cool quilted garments! We talk you through every step: choosing fabric, making patchwork, quilting, assembling, and finishing. We also review batting options, give seam finishing tips specifically for those bulky quilt seams, and chat about inspiring quilted garments we love. In our listener question section, we recommend A-line skirt patterns in plus sizes and name a source of nickel-free jeans buttons and rivets.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

From the Listener Questions Section:

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Our Quilted Me-Mades:

Quilted Garment Inspo:

A post shared by TABITHA SEWER (@tabithasewer)

Resources:

Patterns:

Tools and Fabrics:

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: Sewing Quilted Garments.

Helen: It’s another quilting episode. Oh, yeah!

Caroline: Someone’s excited.

Helen: Oh, I’m so excited. Hello, Caroline.

Caroline: Hello, Helen. How are you?

Helen: I’m doing well. How are you?

Caroline: I’m really good. I’m so good. Happy to see you. It’s sunny. It’s fall.

Helen: Yes. What more can you ask for?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. Before we get into all the quilty goodness, we have a question from a listener. We got this one from Claudia. “Hello from Argentina! I love your show, and again, I am coming to you for an indie pattern recommendation. I want to sew an A-line skirt for me. I am a plus size woman; I generally sew between the sizes 24 to 34 depending on the brand. I have been looking with no happy results. Can you help me find the pattern I need? Thank you in advance! -Your most fervent listener from Argentina”

Caroline: Aw. Thanks for emailing us, Claudia. We love a fervent listener. A-line skirts are such a wardrobe staple. They don’t take a huge amount of fabric, and they look great dressed up or down. So we do have some indie patterns for A-line skirts that go into plus sizes that we’re gonna round up.

The Barkly Skirt by In the Folds is a great, simple A-line skirt. It has a panelled design and a choice of two lengths. There is a choice between pork chop pockets and slash pockets. And it goes up to a 72.5″ hip!

Helen: Yes, great size range from In the Folds. The Reed Skirt from Grainline Studio is a panelled A-line skirt with an optional button front. There are also options for patch pockets or slash pockets. And that one goes up to a 59″ hip.

Caroline: The Salida Skirt by True Bias is, kind of, a cross between A-line and trumpet. Uh, it flares out a bit at the knee. And it has a really cute yoke! And it goes up to a 61.5″ hip.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s been on my make list for ages. So cute. I love it.

Caroline: It is so cute.

Helen: Another option is the Upton Dress & Skirt plus Expansion Pack – that’s a mouthful – by Cashmerette. The skirt option is simpler than the other options we’ve mentioned, but this pattern also has a bunch of mix and match options that make a ton of different dresses and skirts. So if you’re interested in some of those, it would be a great choice. Make sure to buy the full pattern option if you don’t already have the Upton Pattern. This one goes up to a 62 inch hip. Great value for money with this pack that they sell.

Caroline: Hope that helps, Claudia. We also have a quick question from Jan. “Hi gals, I’m a new listener and just listened to your pants pod. Does anyone have a metal button back that is hypoallergenic?”

Helen: Ooh. Thank you for asking this question, Jan. We hadn’t thought of this before, but of course, metal buttons and rivets touch your skin. We have found some buttons and rivets by the brand, Nickel Smart, on the website NoNickel.com, and we’ll link that up in our show notes for our metal sensitive listeners.

Caroline: Love it. Okay. Helen, are you excited for this topic?

Helen: Yes! I mean, garment sewing and quilting, like, what more can you ask for? As many of our listeners know, I’ve really fallen head over heels for quilting in the past year or so. So marrying two of my favourite things in an episode. Muah.

Caroline: Chef’s Kiss.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Tell me about your quilting experiences and, sort of, sewing quilted garments experiences specifically.

Helen: Yes. I mean, I’ve sewn a few quilted garments. I’ve made the Tamarack Jacket. Who hasn’t?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And I’ve also made a quilted vest that I used a Cascade, uh, Jacket pattern and, kind of, hacked it into a vest. We can link those two up in the show notes. I mean, quilted garments aren’t something that generally sewists make a ton of unless you’re really, really into it. Um, or you’re selling those or something like that.

It’s, kind of, one of those things you make one or two of, maybe you have your one quilted jacket or you have a couple quilted jackets. But we’re gonna get into today, like, all the other garments that you make with quilted material, and I think it’s so inspiring and so cool.

And I’m actually working on a quilted jacket and vest pattern for Helen’s Closet right now. I am so pumped to share more. I’m obsessed with the construction that we’ve chosen for this jacket, and, of course, the quilting and all of the patchwork opportunities. I mean, just so pumped.

Caroline: Yay. I am so excited for this pattern, too. I already have fabrics earmarked for it.

Helen: Ooh, that’s exciting. I love to hear that. It’s probably gonna come out early new year, so like Jan/Feb. So not super soon. I apologise, but it’s coming your way.

Caroline: Oh, it’ll be worth the wait.

Helen: How about you? I know you love a good quilted garment.

Caroline: I do. It’s a love/hate relationship. I have a Tamarack Jacket, and I have a half of Muna and Broad Granger Coat that I…

Helen: A half.

Caroline: Yeah, have not finished. I love to wear quilted garments, hate to sew them.

Helen: Mm.

Caroline: So I will say the payoff is worth it, and, uh, I already am planning my next one, but I find it, kind of, a slog.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Like, it just takes a really long time. The seams are bulky. It never looks quite as clean as I want it to look and polished, and I, I don’t know why I get frustrated by quilted garment projects.

Helen: We need our hot tips.

Caroline: I need our hot tips today. I think that this episode is gonna inspire me to pick up that coat again that I’m working on, which has been sitting in my work in progress pile for maybe a year.

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: So the time is right. I mean, we’re going into fall and winter.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Now is when I’m gonna wanna wear it. It’s almost there. I just have to, like, bind my seams and put snaps on it and add some patch pockets.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I’m close. I’m excited. We’re gonna get there, right?

Helen: I have known this about you for a while because one of the first times we ever hung out and got together to sew, you were making the Tamarack Jacket and you were so mad the whole time. You’re like, why is it, why is it like this? I don’t understand what’s happening.

Caroline: Y’all know I like a quick project, okay? The long slog projects just I, I have a short attention span or something, and I just wanna wear the thing, so… But I love that Tamarack Jacket. I still have it. I still wear it.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: So it’s worth it.

Helen: They are a, kind of, investment pieces because they do last for a really long time and they only get softer and cosier with wear.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Which is one of the beautiful things about them. It is an undertaking to make a quilted garment, but part of the fun of it is, sort of, revelling in the process. And I think that’s part of the fun of quilting in general. Like, you have to embrace every step. It takes longer to cut things out, and then you have to sew all those lines of stitching, and then, typically, you have to do a lot of binding on something like a quilted jacket. So you’re not gonna finish this project in a day.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Unless, maybe, you’re using a pre-quilted fabric.

Helen: That’s true. Yes.

Caroline: Which we’re gonna talk about a little bit later.

Helen: Okay. Now that we shared our personal experiences, let’s clear up some basic questions about making quilted garments. First of all, do you need to be a quilter to sew a quilted garment?

Caroline: Absolutely not. I would venture to say you don’t need to be a quilter to sew a quilt cause anyone can be a quilter.

Helen: That’s true. You have to start somewhere.

Caroline: Exactly. You can totally do this. Quilted garment patterns are actually usually pretty simple by design. You can keep them super simple by buying pre-quilted fabric, or you can add as much complexity as you’d like by doing the quilting yourself and even designing your own patchwork.

Helen: Yes, not all quilted garments have patchwork. Often, it’s just, like, solid fabric, which is pretty easy peasy, and if you’ve sewn garments before, many of your skills are transferable to quilting and patchwork. We’ll definitely talk more about those techniques in this episode. But you can also check out our Quilting 101 episode with Bhiravi from Strawberry Creek Quilts for more details and resources about quilting, if you wanna come join the quilting club.

Caroline: Okay, Helen, how warm are quilted garments? Like, what season or climate are they good for?

Helen: Well, quilt coats can work for a range of temperatures. Your batting and fabric choices are going to determine how warm your finished garment is. The lightest quilt coat you can make would be just two layers of cotton fabric with no batting. That’s about as warm as a flannel shirt.

And then the warmest quilt coat you could make with wool batting and thinsulate would be just a step or two down from a parka, especially if you’re using, like, a really warm outer fabric, too, like a flannel or even a wool. You can, kind of, go all the way and make something really, really warm. But something to consider is that quilt coats are not great to wear in the wet weather.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: I know this from experience. They soak up water rather than shedding it off. It’s not a raincoat. If you do use a thin, waterproof layer for the outer portion of your jacket, uh, the quilting stitches can still let the water in. And if you have a big enough raincoat, you could layer it over the top, but that can get, kind of, bulky and uncomfortable. So something to consider. I mean, we live in a very rainy climate. Like, very rainy here in BC.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: And I still wear my quilted jacket all the time, and, you know, as long as it’s not pouring, as long as it’s not a deluge…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …it’s fine cause it’s nice and thick, so it, kind of, keeps the water off, and it’s very washable. Like, I throw my quilted jacket in the wash all the time to clean it, and it’s super easy to clean versus some other jackets and coats are not so easy to clean. So I think that works in its favour, too.

Caroline: It almost gets better with washing cause it gets that, sort of, patina that a quilt gets where…

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: …the fabrics almost gets a little bit crinkly and feels more lived in, and it’ll just soften. I also wanted to mention, like, quilt coats, as we will talk about soon, are not the only kind of quilted garments you can have.

Helen: True.

Caroline: So you don’t have to wear them outside. You can have a vest, or you can have a pair of pants or even a dress, and it’ll be really, like, high fashion. Not necessarily, like, you know, a coat that you have to wear outside to keep you warm, so…

Helen: It’s definitely not your grandma’s fashion anymore. This is high fashion.

Caroline: This is high fashion.

Helen: This is trendy, so, you know, hop on board.

Caroline: Well, let’s talk about that. What kinds of garments work well with quilted fabric?

Helen: Well, number one of course is jackets. They’re everywhere now. There are cute little cropped ones. There are crossover ones. There are ones with buttons down the front. You can do long coat length ones. One of our favourite quilt jacket makers is Natalie Ebaugh. Her use of colour is so inspiring. And Psychic Outlaw is an indie brand that always has amazing, inspiring quilt jackets. So we’re gonna link both of them up in the show notes for the inspo. Gorge.

Caroline: Mhm. And vests are another garment that work great with quilted fabric. Sarah, who is @Sarah_Seams on Instagram, hacked an Ashton Top into a cropped vest and layered it over a dress. A thicker, sort of, gilet style vest over long sleeves would also be so cute.

Helen: Yes! I love a quilted vest. Tops can also be really great with quilted fabric. Alex, who’s @HastyStitches on Instagram, has made a couple of wonderful quilted bibs that she layers over tops and dresses. They’re, like, really short smocks, and they pull over the head and then tie up at the sides.

Also, the designer Cecilie Bahnsen makes amazing tops out of quilted fabric – I’m looking at one right now that’s an empire-waist spaghetti strap top with gathering under the bust. She also designs amazing quilted skirts and dresses – definitely check out her work for inspiration. You can, of course, also hack a woven pullover top into a quilted top – but you might want to size up in this case just to make sure you have enough ease and to make room for the thickness of the quilted fabric and anything you’re planning to layer under it as well.

Caroline: Okay. Can we circle back to the bibs for a second?

Helen: Yes. I love the bibs.

Caroline: I think they’re so cool. Like, not only do they look really cool and fashionable, but, like, function is high as well. Yeah. Like, I’m a person who always stains the front of my garments. So am I allowed to use the quilted bib as an actual bib?

Helen: Like, an actual dinner bib?

Caroline: Asking for myself.

Helen: Yeah. You could have some hanging in your dining room that you could give to guests, if they want.

Caroline: Is that acceptable?

Helen: I mean, if they look as good as these ones do, definitely.

Caroline: Okay, great. I need to coordinate my bibs with my outfits.

Helen: I love their use of, like, quilted details, appliqué, binding, the ties.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I mean all of it is, is phenomenal. Well done.

Caroline: It’s so cool. Okay. Quilted pants are maybe a little less common, but there are still some really cool and inspiring makes out there. Anna, from @Tartan_Tarlatan on Instagram, made a pair of gathered waist pants out of a pink and white patchwork Target quilt that she got second hand. They look super comfy. No wonder she wore them several times throughout Me Made May. Um, I was telling Helen before the show, they, kind of, look like lounge snow pants or like inside snow pants.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: I’m really into them.

Helen: I love them! And using a pre-quilted fabric or quilt is a great way to, to save some time on the project.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: These look so comfy. Imagine, it’s like wearing a, like, bed quilt all the time. Like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It doesn’t get more comfortable than that.

Caroline: I would love to take a nap in those.

Helen: Yes. Okay. Quilted skirts and dresses are another really cool option. Again, Cecilie Bahnsen does gathered skirts with edges that look like little lace cutouts. I think her batting must be very thin in order to gather it this way. Um, that’s something you have to, kind of, consider when you’re making these garments is how bulky is it gonna get.

Also, former guest Tabitha Sewer made an amazing mini skirt out of a thrifted, uh, quilted pillow case, uh, which we’ll link up in the show notes, too. So cute.

Caroline: Awesome. And quilted bags are always a great idea. They don’t usually need to be interfaced because quilt fabric already holds its shape well. And ready to wear and couture designers like Vera Bradley and Chanel have been doing quilted bags for ages, and I’m sure they go even further back than that.

Helen: Yes, I do love how it holds its shape for a bag, like even a nice tote bag is so nice when it has a bit of structure to it, and it doesn’t just collapse.

Caroline: Yes! Oh, yeah. I’ve seen some really cool, like, quilted, sort of, simple structured tote bags with, like, parallel lines of stitching in, like, a floral fabric.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I think it looks so chic. So cute.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Okay. Let’s talk about the process of making a quilted garment. Before we start, I wanna clear something up about terminology. Quilting and patchwork are different things, So these terms are used interchangeably sometimes. But in this episode, we’re gonna be making a distinction between them.

Patchwork or piecing is connecting small pieces of fabric together to make a bigger piece of fabric. And quilting is when you make a sandwich of two fabrics, usually with some sort of batting in between, and then stitch them all together.

Helen: Yes, and when you quilt fabrics without doing any piecing, this is called whole cloth quilting. It’s the most common technique for quilted garments out there. Um, whole cloth quilts on a solid colour fabric really show off those stitching lines. They get that lovely crinkly look to them. Super pretty. Whole cloth quilt pieces are often a lot less work than patchwork quilt pieces for obvious reasons. And you can even buy pre-quilted fabric that’s, uh, like whole cloth, but has been quilted and really cut down your work.

Patchwork is kind of an optional step that you can take to level up your quilted garment. You can make an incredibly unique garment this way. You can combine lots of colours and prints, which is really fun, but it is more of an undertaking and definitely something that’s more geared towards intermediate sewists.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. And if you decide to do patchwork, your first step is gonna be piecing. You wanna make one patchwork piece for each pattern piece. And each patchwork piece should be about an inch bigger all around than each pattern piece. This is gonna leave room for shrinkage when you quilt, and you’ll trim it down to the exact pattern piece size later.

Full disclosure: I’ve definitely made this mistake and not read the instructions and then just cut out the pattern piece to size, and then I ended up with a smaller quilted piece, and it sucked. Don’t do what I did.

Helen: Yeah, that is like a, that’s disheartening for sure when you realise you’re like, wait, I was supposed to cut it bigger. Oh no!

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I mean, often there is quite a bit of ease in quilted garment patterns, so it’s probably still gonna fit. Don’t panic. Just might be a little bit more snug.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s, it does still fit. It’s fine, but…

Helen: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Caroline: …just not as oversized as I had, uh, intended. But yeah, don’t make the same mistake that I made. Read the instructions.

Helen: Okay. And additionally, when you’re piecing, you’re gonna wanna make sure to follow the grain lines of the pattern. If a pattern piece is tilted, don’t tilt the patchwork to match it. You wanna make sure that grain line matches the grain of your patchwork piece. This might mean that you have to add some extra pieces to one side of your patchwork or not the other.

You, kind of, need to, like, make your beautiful piece, and then maybe add some pieces around the exterior to make it big enough to cut the piece out of. And that’s okay. You’re gonna be like a little off script here if you’re doing this. And you’re gonna have to get creative, and it’s gonna be fun.

Caroline: Yeah, and you have so many options for what kind of patchwork to do. You can use traditional blocks, you can buy patterns from quilt designers, or you can design your own. And if you’re not sure where to start, we recommend a bunch of resources and modern quilt designers on our Quilting 101 episode.

Helen: Yes! And to get a visual for how your patchwork will look, you can lay your pieces out on a table and arrange them. This works best for pieces like equal squares or triangles that are really easy to rearrange and get into, like, a pleasing formation.

Another option is to colour in a mockup of your patchwork design with colored pencils or make a mockup in a photo editing program. I think, like, just squares or rectangles or half square triangles can be so beautiful, so simple, and you can use all your fabric scraps for this, too, which I think is just a really fun way to make a quilted garment.

Caroline: Mhm. And there are a couple of things to keep in mind if you’ve never done patchwork before. So first, quilt patterns and instructions use a quarter inch seam allowance instead of the standard five-eighths of an inch that garment patterns use. Helen, this is counterintuitive. And did it take awhile to get used to when you got into quilting?

Helen: It did. I had to work on my quarter inch seam, and that’s something that quilters talk about a lot is like getting that quarter inch seam, like, nail-, really nailing it, getting super comfortable with it. And then there’s also something called a scant quarter inch seam, where, like, once you, kind of, nail your quarter inch, then you’re like, okay, now I’m gonna work on nailing my scant quarter inch because you lose a little bit of fabric in the pressing and turning over. So, like, having that scant quarter inch will actually give you a more accurate finished piece. So, yes, it’s a whole, it’s a thing.

Caroline: Wow, okay.

Helen: Yeah. But it’s not hard to do. And if you sew garments regularly, you’re already pretty good at watching your seam allowances. Um, so you know exactly what that means and how, like, integral it is to the process, so you got this. Uh, it’s just a much smaller seam allowance, but hey, less trimming.

Caroline: Yeah, true.

Helen: The second thing to keep in mind is that most geometric quilt patterns do expect a high degree of accuracy. So you can often fudge things with garment sewing. We do have those larger seam allowances that we can, like, let out. Quilt blocks are meant to come out exactly the same, and accuracy really is key. So you’re gonna wanna get out your seam gauge or quilting ruler. You’re not gonna wanna skip the pressing, and there’s also a lot of trimming and sewing after you make shapes. You’re gonna wanna take them to your cutting table and make sure they’re actually squared up and the exact size that they’re supposed to be before you assemble them.

Caroline: Mhm. And quilters often use a smaller stitch length than garment sewers when they’re piecing. So two millimetres is a good length for piecing versus the two and a half to three millimetres we would usually use for garment sewing.

Helen: Yes, this is true, although I never do that. I try to avoid changing my stitch length because then I forget and I don’t change it back.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. There’s nothing worse than realising you, like, sewed a whole, I don’t know, long seam with a three and a half or four millimetre…

Helen: Right?

Caroline: …stitch length from when you were gathering or something.

Helen: It’s not the end of the world, too. It’s, like, you can just sew over it, but you’re like, oh, come on.

Caroline: Yeah. Come on.

Helen: Okay. And if you’re not doing any patchwork, the first step in your quilting garment process is going to be to cut out your pieces. You’re still gonna wanna cut them about an inch larger all the way around than the pattern pieces, and it does depend on the pattern. So read the instructions and see what they say to do, but it’s likely you’re gonna wanna add that extra bit around. And again, this is because when you quilt it, you’re adding all of those lines of quilting, and you’re slowly gonna shrink up the size of your fabric by doing so.

It also protects you from having to redo the quilting if your layers shift. So around the edges, you might notice that the batting and the top and the bottom are getting, kind of, shifted outta place. Doesn’t matter because you’re gonna trim it up to size in the end so you don’t have to worry about that.

So for each pattern piece, you’re gonna need to cut three pieces. You’re gonna have your top, your batting, and your backing. And those three together are called the quilt sandwich. Yum.

Caroline: Mm. But before you make your quilt sandwich, you’re gonna need to get a piece of pizza. No, I’m kidding. But before you make your quilt sandwich, you’re gonna need to mark your quilting lines. So we won’t go into specifics of the pros and cons of each marking tool here, but check out our Marking Tools episode if you want the scoop.

The general rule with quilting lines is to make them no more than four inches apart. Apart from that, there’s so much scope for imagination. You can do narrow matchstick quilting, which is a bunch of parallel lines. You can make diamond shapes, you can get a free motion foot and quilt beautiful, intricate curves and squiggles. There’s so many possibilities.

Helen: Yes, the world is truly your oyster here. And keep in mind that the closer your quilting lines are, the stiffer your finished pieces are gonna be and stiffer your finished garment is going to be. Further apart lines will make a more flexible piece. I learned this the hard way making a quilted vest. And I really love the way crosshatch quilting looks, you know, when you have the, uh, diagonal lines going in both directions, and you get those beautiful diamond shapes. And I did it, I think, like, five-eighths of an inch across the whole garment.

Caroline: Whoa.

Helen: And it’s beautiful. It looks so good, but it is so stiff, like, and I’ve watched it several times, and it’s just not softening in the same way that my, like horizontal lines quilted, Tamarack is softening, right? And this goes for quilts, too. People talk about whether you’re gonna quilt your, uh, finished quilt with, like, display quilting, which is beautiful, intricate, free motion gorgeousness or, like, practical quilting which is, like, a few lines here and there, just to hold it together, and then you’re actually gonna sleep with it.

Caroline: Mhm. Mhm.

Helen: And they’re different.

Caroline: Yeah. I got it. A quilting ruler is super helpful for spacing your quilting lines. You can line it up over the previous lines you’ve drawn to get the exact distance you want. A 6 x 24 inch ruler is a versatile size to start with.

Helen: Yes, get yourself at least one of these bad boys. And if you’re planning to stitch in the ditch, you don’t need to mark your lines. This is when you’re just gonna be quilting inside the seams of your patchwork. Um, and that can be a really nice way to preserve the appearance of your patchwork without having any additional lines. Looks really good. Little bit more challenging though. I really like just a simple horizontal or vertical line.

Caroline: Nice.

Helen: Simple is best, you know.

Caroline: Okay, so your next step is gonna be to baste your layers together. So pin basting is a popular method. Straight pins might work fine for small pieces, but for bigger pieces, safety pins will work a lot better, and you’re probably gonna be manoeuvring your pieces around a lot, turning them this way and that, rolling them up so that you can fit them into the crook of your machine. Straight pins fall out pretty easily when you’re doing that. Many quilters like curved safety pins because they’re easier to stick into the quilt sandwich and back out.

Helen: Yes. Love a curve safety pin. And the goal when you’re basting is to pin your quilt sandwich together without wrinkling or shifting your pieces so that everything stays in place. Be sure to press your fabrics first. Make sure everything’s really nice and flat.

Many pin basters will tape their backing fabric right side down to a flat surface, making sure it’s taut, not stretched. Then, they layer on the batting, smooth it out, and then, layer on the top right side up, and then, you have the sandwich set up and smooth, and you can begin to pin base from the centre, radiating out so you’re not getting any wrinkles. Make sure everything is flat. And then, you know, put a pin every two to four inches or so.

It can take a while, but, I mean, you’re not doing a full blanket. We’re doing, like, a jacket front or a pants back, so it’s not quite as intensive as doing a queen size quilt. And you’re probably gonna wanna put something down on your whatever cutting surface to protect it, unless it’s a work table that you don’t care about, because you don’t wanna be damaging the surface underneath with your pins and have that disheartening moment when you lift up your project and there’s a bunch of scratches in your hardwood table.

Caroline: Mhm. Totally. Yeah. I’ve pinned on the floor before, but it was, like, carpet, and then, I, like, realised that I pinned into my carpet.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: You wanna be mindful of the surface that you’re pinning on.

Helen: Yes. Well, that’s funny. It’s like you were making a rug instead of a quilt.

Caroline: Uh, yeah. Um, spray basting is another method to get your quilt sandwich together. Oh, my gosh. I’m getting hungry talking about sandwiches. There, there are commercial basing sprays you can buy, and we did find a recipe for a homemade basting spray by String and Story that looks interesting. We’ll link it up in the show notes.

The general process for spray basting is: lay your batting down first, then smooth your backing fabric over the top of. Lift up half your backing fabric and spray both the batting and the backing generously. Smooth the backing down over the batting. Repeat with the other half of the backing. Let it dry, flip it over, and repeat the steps with the top.

Spray basting takes a lot less effort than pin basing, but some quilters find it too messy. I could totally see that. You’re spraying, like, glue all over the place. How will you make sure you don’t get it everywhere?

Helen: Yes. I’ve tried both methods, and I think it is key to lay down some newsprint around your project. Like, take the precautions, wear an apron. You know, you just don’t wanna get this spray basting glue all over yourself and your work surface. It’s such a pain. But if you do take those precautions, it is a lot faster. And then it’s all sandwiched together, and there’s no pins everywhere. So it’s just easier to actually do your quilting lines, too, because there’s nothing in the way.

Now you can also hand baste your quilt. You can make that quilt sandwich the same way you do with the pin basing, and then you’re gonna sew through the layers with long stitches, like an inch long. You just need something to kind of tack it into place. You’re probably gonna wanna put something down again to protect your surface, and you can put a knot in one end of your thread so you don’t end up pulling your thread through. Like, imagine you start at one side and you just keep going. You’re pulling your thread out as you’re putting more stitches in.

Take the precautions. And this is a great time to use your leftover thread from other projects. The end of spool threads that you have lying around. im, a good use for those. And a four by four inch grid of basing stitches will keep everything in place. Hand basting is the most time consuming method, but it works really great. You don’t need any special equipment. And you’re doing these really long stitches. You don’t need to be precise. It’s actually very relaxing, so give it a try.

Caroline: Yes. Okay, so you’ve got your quilt sandwich marked and basted together, and now it is time to quilt.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: Most of us. Yay. Most of us will want to quilt by machine, so we’ll start with info on that. A regular point needle will work well for quilting. The exception is if you’re using a knit fabric, like if you’re making something out of old t-shirts, for example. In that case, you’ll want a ballpoint needle so that you don’t split the yarns and snag the fabric. Apart from that, match the needle size to your thread. If you’re using a bold machine quilting thread as your top thread, you’re gonna need a larger than usual needle. And a size 90 needle is a good size for 50 weight quilting thread like Aurifil.

Helen: Yes. And speaking of Aurifil, it’s a favourite thread brand for quilters. This is a hundred percent cotton thread. It has a really nice, lovely sheen. It comes in great colours. We recommend using a thread made for machine quilting if you’re gonna do your quilting lines in a contrasting colour. It will be bold enough to see it this way. It’s gonna stand out a bit more. Uh, with that said, you don’t need special thread for quilting. All purpose thread will work fine and you will still be able to see the shapes that the stitches make. I often just use all purpose polyester thread for quilting garments and quilts, and it works great.

Caroline: Awesome. And adding a walking foot to your machine is a good idea when you’re quilting. This foot adds a set of feed dogs to the top of your machine so that the top and bottom of the quilt sandwich feed through at the same rate. It reduces shifting and wrinkling. Walking feet come in two varieties: high shank and low shank. So check which one your machine is before you buy one.

Helen: And your stitch length for quilting should be a little longer than for piecing. You can do that two and a half to three millimetres for the top stitching, and it looks really nice. The other thing we wanna talk about is where you start your quilting process and what direction you go in. So, generally, you wanna start quilting in the middle of your piece and then radiate out.

Starting from the centre and working out towards the edge keeps any fabric from being caught in the middle. It also keeps everything smooth and makes sure that shifting goes towards the edges of the piece. And here’s how I would do straight line quilting. I would start with a line in the centre, lock your stitching at the beginning and end, and clip your thread. Then, you go back to the end you started with, and do the line to the left of that one.

In other words, you’re stitching in the same direction as the first line. You can continue sewing the lines to the left of the last line you sewed until you have the first half of your project done. Then, you return to the centre, and you start quilting the lines to the right of the centre line again in the same direction.

The same direction thing is key because if you go in alternate directions, you can end up with roping of your fabric, those diagonal, kind of, drag lines cause you’re sewing in one way and then you’re sewing the other way. And in between those stitching lines, you start to get a little bit of torque in the fabric, and you get a little bit of those diagonal lines.

It is recommended, in some tutorials and patterns, to do the alternate lines, and it is more efficient because, of course, you get to the end of the line, you can just spin your piece around and you go right back and you’re kind of doing a zigzag, so it’s faster. There are some quilters who prefer stitching directions back and forth.

It’s up to the individual, and also, if you have a good machine, a good walking foot, all that kind of good stuff, you might not end up with any of those roping lines, so you might be fine. It’s up to the individual, of course, but we do find that switching directions creates those diagonal lines. So I like to stitch in one direction and generally you end up avoiding those lines.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. Great tip. And usually, you’ll start and stop your quilting lines inside the seam allowance. In that case, you don’t need to do anything special when you start and stop. And if you’re starting and or stopping a quilting line on the visible part of the garment, you might wanna adjust your technique.

Leah Day of the Free Motion Quilting Project has a good tutorial for how to do this. Basically, you stitch normally, but after you’re done with a line, you pull the top thread to the back, knot them, and bury the ends in the quilt. To bury them, you thread them through a needle, enter the fabric close to the knot, and pull it back a couple of inches away so that the ends are in the middle of the quilt sandwich, and then you clip the ends close to where you brought them back up.

Helen: Yeah, you can even, like once you tie a knot, you can, like, kind of, give it a tug and pop it into the inside of the fabric.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And just popping it through the hole that you’ve created basically, so you can fully hide everything. It’s a bit time consuming, but yeah, in the case where you are outside the seam allowance, this is great. I do love that when you’re quilting you don’t have to back stitch.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Something really satisfying about it makes me feel like such a rebel. I’m like, I’m just gonna start, and I’m just gonna go, and then, I’m just gonna take it off the machine.

Caroline: I love that.

Helen: Okay, coming back to hand quilting, another really great method of quilting your quilt sandwich. As you can imagine, it does take longer than machine quilting, but you can’t get that beautiful organic look any other way. Bhiravi from Strawberry Creek Quilts prefers embroidery needles for hand quilting. We’ve also heard good things about needles called Quilting Betweens. Uh, you’ll probably want a thicker thread, like a size eight to 12, so you can see the stitching well. And, of course, this is the time to learn to use a thimble. It’s really gonna save your little fingies. You can use a hoop or frame to keep your fabric taut and in place as you stitch, or you can go without.

You’ll figure out your preferences as you work. Uh, we’ll link up a hand quilting tutorial from Bhiravi herself in our show notes. This is one of those situations, too, where I’ve heard people, you know, sitting on their couch or their, you know, their comfy chair, whatever, with, like, a pillow and hand stitching and you can accidentally hand stitch your quilt to your pillow, to your pants. Like, be cautious here when you’re going around the backside. But it is very relaxing, and it truly does look amazing. There’s a lot of great examples of hand quilting on Tamarack Jackets, if you follow that hashtag.

Caroline: Yeah. I love the idea of having, like, a quilt that I’m hand quilting while I’m, like, watching TV in the evenings, and, like, it sounds really idyllic and lovely and relaxing and meditative, but that would be great until I quilt it to the pants that I’m wearing.

Helen: Yeah. Truly.

Caroline: And then I will be cursing the quilt.

Helen: Oh, my gosh.

Caroline: Um, but I’ve seen some really beautiful hand quilted garments, um, too, that I feel like that’s such a nice look, and it’s, like, a smaller project than a whole big quilt, so…

Helen: Yeah, it does feel very doable. I don’t think it takes quite as long as we probably think it does, once you get going, get in a rhythm, you know.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. So, it’s finally time to construct your garment. If you bought quilted fabric or a cutter quilt, you can skip right to this step. Hey, we never said quilting your own jacket was gonna be fast and easy, but it can be incredibly cool and gratifying. So first, you need to trim down your pieces. Once again, make sure the grain line matches the markings on the pattern pieces. For a really exact cut on a bulky quilting fabric, either use a rotary cutter or mark the outlines of the pieces before you cut with your scissors.

Helen: Yes, and quilted seams can get pretty bulky when you start assembling this beast. So trimming the seams to be a quarter inch before you finish them will help. Uh, this is one time where you can cut off a dart triangle after you sew it, for example, to reduce some bulk. Cut about a quarter inch away from the stitching and finish those raw edges. Basically, anywhere where you can get rid of bulk, you’re gonna wanna do that.

Caroline: Mhm. And for hems, you can either finish the edge and do a single fold hem, or you can just finish the edge with bias binding and be done with it.

Helen: And quilted garments relax and soften over time. So don’t worry too much if your seams seem really stiff and bulky at first. That’s natural. You know, you start getting your quilted garment together, you put it on and you’re, kind of, standing there like a paper doll because everything is a bit stiff, and you’re like, I don’t know about this. Don’t panic. It’s like making jeans out of raw denim. Like, this is not how it’s gonna be forever. You’re gonna get through this. You need to wash this garment.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. Okay. And for seam finishes, you have several options. Bias bound seams are common. You can even make them lie flat on the inside of your garment. To do this, you sew one fold to the seam allowance, close to the seam, trim the seam down to a quarter inch, fold the rest of the bias tape around it, and pin it down flat to one side, and then, you just stitch along the edge of the bias tape to hold it down. We’re gonna link an article from the House Lars Built, so you can see how this looks.

Helen: Yeah, it’s, kind of, like a flat felled seam but with binding.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Hong Kong seams are another technique that works really well for quilted garments. For this one, you’re not gonna trim the seam allowance down that much. Each edge of the seam allowance is finished with bias tape, and then, that seam is pressed open. This is such a nice way to finish seams that might show, like the sleeve seam because then when you turn up the cuff of your jacket, for example, you can see those two lines of bias binding on the seam finish. Looks so good.

Caroline: Yeah, and I find it’s, like, slightly less bulky cause it, sort of, distributes that bulk into a wider area versus…

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: …taking the seam allowance and pressing it to one side. You can also just serge or do a narrow zigzag over the seam allowances, and if you’re using a jacket or coat pattern that isn’t designed for quilted fabric, it might be easier to do a separate lining than to redesign the garment to go without.

So Suzy of SuzyQuilts has done this with some of her quilted coats. In this case, you could make your quilted pieces with just batting and quilt top, and then, sew the lining in according to the directions of the pattern.

Helen: Ooh, that’s a nice way to get one of those, like, slippery bemberg linings inside a quilted coat.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay, Caroline, I’m ready to talk about fabric.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what fabrics work really well for quilted garments.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. I mean, you have a lot of options. Obviously, quilting cotton is great for quilt tops, and there are so many colours and designs available that you can probably find exactly what you want. And this is where you can use a quilting cotton for your garment sewing.

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: So anyone who bought those when you were a beginner sewist, or maybe you just love quilting cottons, this is where you can use them. I think lighter weight cottons like cotton lawns or batistes work really well, too. Cotton shirting, anything that’s really light and airy.

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: Linen quilts are so gorgeous. So this might be your opportunity to put scraps to use. Just keep in mind that linen is more shifty than quilting cotton. So if you’re planning to do patchwork, and you’re a beginner quilter, I would maybe try cotton over linen for your first project. But yeah, a quilted linen garment is Chef’s kiss.

Helen: Yes. It’s so true. I love that with quilted garments and jackets, in particular, people do tend to go for fun prints, a little bit bolder look, and you don’t have to do that on the exterior. If you want a classic jacket, you can do that nice solid colour on the exterior, and then, on the inside you get to have all the fun. I love when people choose, like, a bold quilting cotton, a fun print for the interior of the jacket.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Um, just gonna make you smile, and there’s so many choices here.

Caroline: Yes! Oh, my gosh. So the fabric that I have earmarked for your future pattern is from our new block print, hand block printed collection.

Helen: Oh!

Caroline: There’s two that work together really well. So I wanna do, like, one side cause, you know, I can make it, maybe make it reversal, I wanna do one side with one of the block prints and then, the other side with a different one. So it’ll be reversible, and we just had an open shopping day at Blackbird and somebody showed up in a quilted Tamarack Jacket out of one of our block prints, and it was stunning. Like, those block prints are made for quilted garments.

Helen: How did they already do that? Was it a block print from previous?

Caroline: It was from a previous collection. Yeah. Like, what? Or else I would’ve been like, how do you do it so quickly? Because, yeah, it takes me a year.

Helen: Uh, I’m obsessed with your new block print. They’re so good.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. We’ve got some really good ones. Yeah. Okay. So satin, satine, or velour could give your quilt coat a really luxurious look, so that is an option, too. I would say overall, the fabrics for your quilt top and backing should be light to medium weight. Any heavier, and they could make the finished quilt too difficult to handle and wear. Tightly woven fabrics will also make things easier since loosely woven fabrics can shift around a lot and make neat patchwork difficult.

Helen: Yes, I’ve made that error as well with quilted garments, choosing something really thick, uh, for the exterior and interior. I did a wool and cotton twill sandwiched garment, and it was just too much. Like, it ended up way too stiff to be comfortable. The batting is what’s gonna add that warmth there, so you don’t actually need to go to heavy with the interior and exterior fabrics. It’s a lot nicer to just use a cotton or linen and have it be nice and soft and cosy and warm.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Okay. For backing fabrics, the obvious choice is to use another light to medium weight cotton. As I said, I love a bold print here, so please choose one. It makes me happy, and then, for warmth and softness, a flannel is a nice choice as well. You can also, um, use a smooth lining, like a bemberg rayon. This would make it easy to slip it on over long sleeves, and of course, if you’re doing a separate lining, a smooth lining fabric would be the best choice, as we said previously, so… For more on lining fabrics, you can check out our Lining episode.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. We have a Lining episode. That’s awesome. Okay. The batting you choose will determine how warm your garment is, so you could just sew two lightweight fabrics together for a super light jacket that’s more like a flannel shirt. For something a little bit warmer, use flannel for your batting. There are polyester, cotton, and wool battings you can buy in all kinds of lofts. Loft means thickness.

So polyester will be the least warm, but the lightest in weight of all the battings. It dries more quickly than cotton or wool as well. A low loft poly batting is a good choice for a thinner quilted garment, like a gathered skirt. Cotton batting is popular among quilters. It’s warm and breathable with a nice weight, and it’s easy to wash and dry.

Helen: And then wool will be your warmest option. Keep in mind that it’s spot clean or hand wash only, so it can change, kind of, the wearability of your garment on the day to day if you wanna be able to throw it in the wash. And there’s blends out there, too. You can get lots of battings that are 80% cotton, 20% polyester that give you some other benefits as well. So do some research and pick something that’s gonna work for you.

And if you wanna make your quilted garments super warm, you can also add a layer of Thinsulate. This is a polyester quilted batting created specifically for adding warmth to outerwear and sleeping bags. You can sandwich it in between your batting and your backing fabric. Heather Lou from Closet Core has a great article about working with Thinsulate. Um, we’re gonna link that up in the show notes. Spoiler alert: don’t iron it… cause it melts.

Caroline: Nice. And the thicker you’re batting, the more your garment will close in on you. So if your pattern is designed for quilted fabric, there will be ease built into account for that. And if the batting you’re using is a lot thicker than the recommended batting, though, you might wanna size up to make room for it. And you also may wanna size up if you’re making a garment that isn’t designed for quilted fabric.

Helen: Yes. And you can also buy pre-quilted fabric. You can sometimes buy these by the yard at fabric stores. There’s some really nice looking ones out there. You could also use an already made quilt to make your quilted garments. And we do wanna mention that there is debate in the quilting and sewing world about quilts being cut up to be sewn into garments. There’s strong feelings on both sides of this. I mean, on the one hand, it is sad to see pristine quilts that people have put so much love and effort into just being cut up to make garments that maybe won’t fit or won’t last for a long time.

But on the other hand, sometimes the quilts that people use aren’t pristine. Maybe they have stains or holes or other damage, or they’ve been sitting in a thrift store waiting for somebody to come along and love them and be like, I’m gonna turn you into something beautiful and amazing. Um, transforming them into a garment is actually bringing them back into circulation and showing them that love and respect.

So, on the one hand, quilters do spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and love creating a quilt. And then, on the other hand, not everything can make its way into an archive or a museum, and quilts are made to be used. So I think if you don’t like the idea of cutting into a homemade quilt, that’s totally fair. You can consider upcycling new or second secondhand quilts that are made for the mass market. Or, of course, you can make your own quilted patchwork and use that for your project.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah. And I wanna, kind of, circle back to the fabrics that are sold by the yard that are already pre-quilted for you. Sometimes they’re whole cloth, kind of, full width fabrics. Um, these are really cool. Like, there’s some really, really awesome options out there. Merchant and Mills, in particular, has a few really, really great options, and I wanted to give a little shout out to Maya.

Hi, Maya. Maya came to our open shopping day last week at Blackbird. And Maya was wearing an amazing Tamarack Jacket in a Merchant and Mills pre-quilted fabric, and she looked so good, and it looked, the garment itself looked so professional, and I was so impressed. It was one of the first times I’d seen that fabric in person. The quality is so nice, and I just think it’s a way to get that quilted garment look with maybe a little bit less time spent on the project and, um, the results are just totally ace. So Maya, you looked awesome, and I was very inspired by your make.

Helen: I loved hearing the story you told me about meeting Maya because she’s a listener of our show and a big fan and uh, I just love when young sewists approach us and let us know they listen to the show. It makes me so happy to know that there are younger folks out there getting into sewing. The best.

Caroline: Me, too. It totally made my day. Okay, let’s talk about pattern recommendations cause there are quite a few inspiring patterns out there that you can make a quilted garment from. So we’re gonna kick it off with quilt coat master Natalie Ebaugh is half of Daisy Chain Patterns, along with cool sewist Liz Ford.

They have two quilt coat patterns out! The first one is the Ara Quilted Overcoat. This is a thigh-length overcoat with large elbow-length grown-on sleeves. It would look amazing over a turtleneck and jeans. And heir second one is the Liz Quilted Liner Jacket. It’s their take on a vintage military liner jacket. It has simple lines and giant pockets, which of course we love!

I absolutely love the sample for the Liz Quilted Liner Jacket that’s in their product listing. It’s so cool and chic, and, like, it looks so soft and pillowy, and I just, like, want that exact jacket.

Helen: I love it, too. And, see, by the way, they’ve turned up the cuffs on it that they chose a bold fabric for the lining

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: It looks so good.

Caroline: And the big pockets are everything.

Helen: Everything.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s, they’re excessive. They’re, like, I mean, the York Pinafore pockets are, like, some of the biggest. These are, like, I don’t know, twice the size. Like, how did they do this?

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. They take up the whole front of the jacket.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Basically.

Helen: It’s incredible.

Caroline: Um, I, I love that. I, I, you could put so much in those pockets.

Helen: It’s like having two, like, tote bags, like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …attached to your jacket.

Caroline: I love it.

Helen: Okay, Megan Nielsen Patterns has the Hovea Jacket and Coat, which has a bunch of really cool options! There’s cropped, jacket, or coat length, bias bound or banded edges. You could do a tie or belt with this. And it has really cute diagonal-shaped pockets! Uh, definitely check that one out.

Caroline: Patchwork and Poodles has the Patchwork Chore Coat. This is a simply cut chore coat with a choice of a collar or hood, and it buttons down the front and has big patch pockets.

Helen: The Tamarack Jacket by Grainline Studio is a classic in the sewing community. It’s been beloved by many of us for years. This is a simple, collarless quilt jacket with fitted sleeves.

Caroline: Yes! And Helen’s Closet is coming out with a quilted jacket and vest soon, everybody.

Helen: Thank you.

Caroline: Hold on for that one.

Helen: Hold onto your hat, folks. It’s coming your way. There’s also the First Frost Vest by Mad About Patchwork. It’s a really nice basic quilted vest with big slant pockets.

Caroline: And the Everyday Waistcoat from the New Craft House. This one is a simple quilted vest with patch pockets. The women’s version has optional front ties, and the men’s version is designed to be longer with front buttons and loop closures. I’m pretty sure they’re interchangeable.

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: So if you like the details of one, you can probably, you know, take those and put them on the other. But yeah, it’s a really cool, simple vest that I think works really well with a lot of fabrics.

Helen: Yeah. We didn’t get into the nitty gritty of closures on quilted jackets, but there are lots of options. Snaps look great. Um, you can do hook and eye. That’s what I did on my Tamarack because I like how invisible it is.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: You can’t even tell there’s anything there. Um, you can do buttons, and then, I love the front ties. I think the front ties are so whimsical and cute, so that’s a great option as well.

Caroline: Yeah, me too.

Helen: Muna and Broad’s Grainger Coat has drop sleeves and pork chop pockets. You can make it short or long, and it closes with snaps. It doesn’t take a year to sew.

Caroline: No.

Helen: Don’t worry…

Caroline: That’s just me, y’all.

Helen: That’s just Caroline.

Caroline: I think I’m gonna have to finish that for this episode.

Helen: You should. Let it motivate you.

Caroline: And then everyone can celebrate with me.

Helen: It’s so autumnal, too. It’s, like, a beautiful orangey red colour.

Caroline: I know, I know, I know. Okay. The All Well Cardigan Coat has long grown-on sleeves, a crossover option, and several closure choices. This one’s been around for a while. I’ve seen a lot of really cool versions, and the samples in this product listing also include a lot of, like, vintage quilts that I think look super, super cool, sewn up. So if you’re looking for inspo there, check out the All Well Cardigan.

Helen: Yes, YouTuber @WithWendy made a Cecilie Bahnsen-inspired quilt coat complete with a tutorial! It has a crossover front with a tie, puff sleeves, a gathered “skirt.” She made it out of a satin quilt she thrifted for $13! And it looks incredible.

Caroline: Mhm. SuzyQuilts has a free tutorial for a quilted tote bag with her modern fans block. It’s gorgeous and roomy!

Helen: Of course, there are limited amounts of patterns that are designed specifically for quilted fabrics, but you can always adapt woven patterns to work for quilted garments. The ones that work best have very simple lines. Of course, you can make thin quilted fabric. You’re gonna have more flexibility, uh, literally and figuratively, with what patterns you can use. But basic top patterns can be turned into great bibs and basic jacket patterns can be turned into quilted jacket patterns.

Caroline: Yes! I love the idea of just hacking a pattern to make it quilted.

Helen: Mhm.

Caroline: Just size it up, quilt it up, bing, bang, boom. It’s perfect.

Helen: Yeah. It’s so easy. That’s my takeaway from this episode. Okay, check in on me this time next year, I’m gonna have a whole quilted wardrobe. I’m gonna be wearing nothing but quilts. I’m gonna be that person in my town, quilted pants, top, jacket, underwear. Okay, maybe not underwear, but I’m definitely inspired to make more quilted garments and quilts for that matter. And if you have any quilted garment tips or stories to share, maybe you can relate to our experiences. It takes a while to sew a quilted garment. Uh, do let us know. Tag us on Instagram. We love hearing from you. Uh, thanks for listening.

Caroline: Yes, thank you. I’m gonna go work on my Grainger Coat.

Helen: Yay.

Caroline: Bye.

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording today in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with all the beautiful, quilted garments we mentioned this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode – we have a lot of fun in these episodes – and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off discount codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content for y’all. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

This works best for pizza. Pizzas. This works best for pizzas.

Caroline: Pizza. Piecing quilts. Love it.

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From laundering to mending, this episode is all about caring for your precious me-made garments! We cover pre-washing, sewing tips to make your clothes last, stain removal, storage, and more. Plus, a listener letter about swim trunks notions!

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