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Finally, A Show About Garment Sewing! Sandra Betzina is the Best!

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Create Your Own Sweatshirt or Tee Shirt Designs

Sewing Projects - Sweatshirts - Tees

Sewing Friends:

Someone asked where I've been. I haven't posted in a while. What with the holidays, traveling, sickness and working, there just aren't enough hours in a day to do everything. But, I do want to tell you about a fun sewing project that you might want to try.

Deconstructing a plain old sweatshirt or tee shirt and making it over into a fashionable garment is one of my most popular sewing classes. Why is it the most popular? Because it is simply fun!

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or an advanced sewist, young, old, teen or college student, makeover sweatshirts and tees is the easiest, quickest way to express your creativity and have a sense of accomplishment.

Make sweatshirt jackets or designer tees for yourself, family, friends and kids of all ages any time of year.

In my classes, students get simple guidelines to get started, but they are the designers of these one-of-a-kind creations. No one is concerned about fitting. The jacket will fit someone. And, there are never any errors. The "mistakes" are opportunities to be more creative. This "design as you go" process leads to some of the most spectacular garments.

The supplies are also simple. All you need is a sweatshirt, a bit of fabric and whatever trim you want to use. You don't even have to sew it if you don't want to. Just use some fusible web tape like Steam-A-Seam. Slit the front open or not. Add a zipper or buttons or a hood or not. Lengthen or shorten sleeves or not. Add ruffles or lace or denim or corduroy or whatever. You are the designer.

A sweatshirt or a tee shirt is a great canvas to practice your sewing and designing skills.

Whether than making samples of embroidery, applique, decorative stitches, heirloom stitches or techniques, fabric manipulation, felting, couching, bobbinwork, sashiko, ruching , quilting techniques, painting, stenciling, stamping or whatever it is that you want to try, I encourage you to do it on a sweatshirt or tee shirt so it becomes a wearable work of art. This is so much more rewarding than a pile of samples in a drawer.

How about making a sweatshirt with decorative zippers or different pockets. I'm considering doing my future demo pieces on sweatshirts. It seems that would be far more interesting than little square samples.

There are a lot of free sweatshirt and tee shirt ideas on line to inspire you. There are also a lot of books, and software available that give you step-by-step instructions on how to create a specific design. There are some wonderful makeover sweatshirt artists like Mary Mulari and Londa Rohling that offer superb instructions and infinite designs. Check out some sewing books.

I suggest that you get together with some friends or a sewing class and let your imagination take over to create your unique designs. You will be surprised how easy it is! The ideas flow in a group.

And, remember that if the makeover sweatshirt fails for some reason, you can always turn it into a bag!

Don't you just love sewing?

To Your Sewing Success,

Marian

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Finally, A Show About Garment Sewing! Sandra Betzina is the Best!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Home Sewing Association Closing Its Doors!

Sewing News

Sewing Friends:

I am posting this to my sewing blogs because it is important news to the sewing world.

I just received a letter stating that the Home Sewing Association will be closing their doors at the end of the year. It is hard to believe that they will be gone. I have referred so many to them over the years. They will be truly missed.

Here is the letter:

"We regret to advise you that after 80+ years of service to the sewing industry, the Home Sewing Association will officially close its doors at the end of the year.

As your elected representatives, we have endeavored to keep the Association operating to fulfill its mission to "Get People Sewing!" Recent marketing programs - including Sew Trendy, Trained Sewing Educator and the Girl Scout kit promotion have shown great promise. In addition, members and sewers alike have benefited from our informative newsletters and website, together with our range of industry and consumer services.

However, we have not been able to absorb the costs - and potential liabilities - of a wrongful termination lawsuit which was filed against the Home Sewing Association in 1996. The lawsuit was tried before a jury in the state of New York in October 2006 and an unfavorable verdict was rendered against HSA.

The Board has engaged in a year-long assessment of the options available to deal with this unfavorable judgment and the additional cost of an award for plaintiff's attorney's fees in the case. It is our determination that the Association can no longer provide a viable level of industry service given this enormous financial burden.

Therefore, the Board of Directors of the Home Sewing Association has made the difficult decision to cease operations as of December 31, 2007. The dissolution of the Association and its remaining assets, such as the National Sewing Show, will be managed under the guidance of a chapter 7 bankruptcy of the Court of New York. Updates will be provided when information becomes available from the Trustee on the disposition of assets. We will be filing a bankruptcy petition for HSA in that court shortly.

We wish to thank you for your membership support and wish you continued success in your sewing industry endeavors in the years ahead."

The letter was signed by the Board of Directors

I feel like I've lost an old friend. If you want to print out their Sewing Guidelines for future use, I suggest that you do that now and put them into a sewing notebook. There is so much good information there. Also, be sure to check out the sewing projects while you can. These links will soon be gone. How sad for all of us!

To Your Sewing Success,
Marian

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

How To Sew Corduroy

Sewing Tips for Sewing Corduroy

Sewing Friends:

"Do you have any tips for sewing corduroy?" was a recent question I received.

Corduroy garments and fabrics are popular once again. Corduroy isn't difficult to sew, but there are a few tips that will help you achieve greater sewing success.

There are some articles online that address sewing corduroy. I will highlight a few of them here for you to check out. You may find some of the suggestions contradictory. My answer to that is always test on fabric scraps before you decide on a technique. Go with the one that gives you the results you want. Sometimes you just need to use your common sense.

See Threads Magazine article called, "Corduroy" by Andrea Moore. I think Andrea did a very good job of explaining how to sew corduroy. Many of the techniques she covered can also be used in other garment sewing as well. This how to sew corduroy article is a good one to keep in your sewing notebook.

The Home Sewing Organization offers Sewing Guidelines for Napped Fabrics and Working With Napped Fabrics

Shannon Gifford shares her knowledge on sewing corduroy and stretch corduroy in her Sewing Guides found at EmmaOneSock

Sewing Tip

One tip that I would add is about pressing. I have found not only with corduroy, but with many other types of fabrics as well, the absolutely best pressing cloth is a scrap of the fabric itself. It doesn't need to be any larger than the soleplate of your iron as you pick it up and move it to press.

With nap fabrics, be careful to place the "pressing cloth" the same grain and nap direction as the garment with right sides together when you press. Mark the direction of the nap on the back or wrong side of the press cloth. Place a small piece of medical paper tape at the top of piece of fabric and draw an arrow on it to indicate the nap and grain.

You don't want to press the corduroy with the wales on your press cloth going the opposite direction of your garment or you may end up with a waffle effect.

Quality Corduroy Fabrics

There really is a big difference between a good quality corduroy and what is generally available to us. Of course, that is true with all fabrics.

Check out New York Fashion Center Fabrics for some 45 inch wide 100% cotton corduroy at $17.95 per yard. Yes, it costs more, but good fabric is well worth the price for your good clothes. I wouldn't spend this on fabric for a growing child.

Fabric Sewing Books

Here are some excellent guide books by Sandra Betzina and Claire Shaeffer to help you achieve sewing success with all types of fabrics:

More Fabric Savvy: A Quick Resource Guide to Selecting and Sewing Fabric Completely Revised and Updated

Claire Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide (Creative Machine Arts)

Sew Any Fabric: A Quick Reference Guide to Fabrics from A to Z

The following basic sewing book from Threads covers layout of napped fabrics and much more:

Sew Basic: 34 Essential Skills for Sewing with Confidence

With all of this information, sewing corduroy and other napped fabrics will no longer be a challenge for you to achieve successful results.

Try it! It just makes sense!

To Your Sewing Success,
Marian

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