1 yard. 30 minutes. Skirt!

I haven't done much experimenting with jersey, but I think it's high time I started. I had some leftover jersey lying around, so I made a tube skirt out of it. Probably the quickest, easiest, and most wearable thing I've ever made. And it's sexy by suggestion, rather than by skin, which is my favorite kind of sexy.

All you need is one yard of a good, stretchy jersey, and 30 minutes of your time.

Cut 1 rectangle for the waistband, your waist measurement minus 5"x 8"
Cut 1 rectangle for the body of the skirt, your hip measurement minus 5" x your desired length plus 1".

Use a serger if you have one. On a regular home machine, use a stretch needle (it has a blunter tip than a regular needle to prevent it from attempting to puncture those crazy, spandex-y fibers) and the stretch stitch (pictured below), paired with a zig-zag on the edge to prevent it from rolling, which can add extra bulk to the seam.

Sew up the back seam of both waistband and skirt.

Fold the waistband in half, wrong side to the inside, and sew it to the top of the skirt, matching the back seams together.

Slap on the hem of your choosing, and you've got a skirt!

With love,

Melody

Basic Skills: Sewing on a Button

Last week I had a bit of a holiday freak-out. I had my blog schedule all planned out. I looked at my blog schedule, then I looked at my pile of Christmas gift making supplies, completely untouched. And I thought, "SHIT." The conundrum of my situation is of course, that I am making a whole bunch of stuff, but I can't share it with you until the gifts have been given! So things are going to slow down a bit around From Scratch, until the holidays are over.

But I do have a little basic sewing lesson to share today.

A couple weeks ago a button fell off my favorite coat. And you know what? I haven't sewn it back on yet. I also have a cardigan that I wear at least twice a week that lost a button LAST WINTER. It's pretty despicable. A seamstress walking around missing all sorts of important buttons missing! Then my roommate was like, "Hey, could you help me with this coat? It's missing all the buttons." ALL of them.  I don't even know how that happens...

I hear it all the time when I ask people about their past sewing experience, "I don't really know how to sew, but, you know, I can sew a button on." And I'm thinking, "Really? I'm not sure I believe you. There's more to know about sewing on a button than meets the eye. I've seen a lot of botched jobs."


So here I present Melody's Complete Guide to Sewing on a Button.

Common Mistake: Placing buttons in the center of a horizontal buttonhole. If you have vertically-oriented buttonholes, go ahead, place your button in the middle. But if you have horizontally-oriented buttonholes, consider this. When you put on a coat, and you button it up, the button doesn't float in the center of the hole, it slides to the end of the hole closest to the center front of the garment, against the tension of being wrapped around a body. (This is very important to remember, also, when making buttonholes!)

Begin by buttoning up your garment with the surrounding buttons. With a threaded and knotted sewing needle, send your needle down through the hole, 1/8" from the center edge of the buttonhole, as pictured in the placement guide above. Now that you've determined your placement, unbutton the garment for easy access to that spot. Your knot is now on top of garment, where it will hide neatly under your button.

Now, there are two basic kinds of buttons, shank and flat. 

But here's the thing, whether or not your button has a shank, your button needs a shank. 

#1 Most Common Mistake: Sewing buttons on too tight. A shank is a spacer. Because a button isn't just a little decorative doodad! It has a function. That function is to hold the other side of your garment, so a button needs some space to do its job. A button sewn on too tight, while it may still work, it won't look good. It will create ugly pulls and puckers and make you look frumpy. Don't fall victim. If your button doesn't have a shank, you need to make one out of thread when you sew it on.

The best thing to do is to use a spacer of some kind when sewing. The spacer you choose should speak to the weight of your garment. For coats and blazers, I use an awl. A chopstick or skewer could also work. For lightweight garments, a couple pins would suffice. 

1. Attach button loosely.

2. Place spacer under button and tighten.

3. Sew through button and fabric a few times to attach firmly. End between button and fabric.

4. Remove spacer and pull up on your button.

5. Wrap thread around the stitches between the button and fabric a few times.

6. Knot thread here, between button and fabric. Pass needle through garment, traveling between the body and the facing, and clip thread wherever the needle comes out, hiding the thread tail inside the garment.

Now that's all you need to know about sewing on buttons!

Dream Tote!

I have a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. Especially in my closet. A year or so I had a revelation concerning all this stuff. A lot of it I rarely wear or use, but when I try to get rid of these things I can't. Why? Because they still serve a purpose or fill a hole. You need to fill that hole with one beautiful, well-made item so that you can get rid of a host of sub-par items that have been serving that purpose together.

For example, my tote bag situation. Sometimes you need a tote bag. For me, most often it's the days I don't work from home. In addition to the small items I usually stuff in a little handbag, I usually want to bring a lunch, a bottle of water, perhaps my knitting or reading, perhaps supplies for a class I'm teaching. So for this I have been relying on 3 dirty, ugly, ancient, a-little-too-small tote bags. None good enough to stand on its own.

So I made myself a damn beautiful tote bag. With all the bells and whistles.

You may recognize the fabric from last weeks apron DIY...

I just like it so much! And there's still plenty left. Who knows what else I'll use it for!?

A note about the Cut List: If your self fabric is directional, like mine, you'll want to cut two 16" x 19" pieces instead of one 16" x 38".

Left: Lining with Pocket; Right: Self with Pocket and Strap

The first step is to assemble all the bells and whistles. Sew on all your pockets and straps before we complicate things by sewing them together and making them not flat anymore.

You may also note that I matched my fabric for that front pocket. Because I love that kind of stuff. It's all in the details, my friends!

1. This is where you should be: front and back assembled with straps and pocket.
2. Topstitch bottom reinforcement pieces to the precise center of the body, and the bottom of the side pieces. The easiest way to do this is to press your raw edges in before sewing.
3. Sew your sides in. Be careful around those tricky corners! Repeat this step with your lining, but leaving a hole somewhere to flip your bag right-side-out through.
4. To attach lining: Place your right-side-out, fully assembled bag inside your inside-out lining and sew the top edges together.
5. Pull your bag through the hole you left in the lining and close up the hole with a topstitch. Push your lining its proper place inside your bag. Press and topstitch the top edge of your bag.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Wear Your Apron Low: Make an Apron You'll Love to Wear!

It's apron season! Love your apron! The best aprons are both practical for the kitchen and pretty enough to wear all night. So for Thanksgiving I've prepared you all a quick and simple apron DIY!

You can either trace an apron you already have that you like the fit of, or you can easily create your pattern directly on the backside of you fabric with a ruler, tape measure, tailor's chalk, and french curve.

With any symmetrical pattern, it is always best to draw out only half, then cut on the fold, you know it's perfectly symmetrical.

Start by standing in front of a mirror with a tape measure...

How wide do you want the bib to be?
How wide do you want the waist/body to be?
How long do you want the bib to be? (I always like to wear my aprons folded at the waist, so I added a few extra inches here)
How long do you want it to fall from the waist?

Using these measurements, draw out your apron pattern as in the above image, smoothing the corner between bib and waist to a curve with a french curve.

Fold at your center front line and cut.

Hem in all the edges around your apron.

Now for ties and pockets!

Ties can be made from twill strapping or a sturdy ribbon, if you have it, or you can make them from fabric. To make your ties, cut them to desired length + 4", and three times desired width. Iron and sew them as shown above, folded in half, with raw edges turned and sandwiched inside.

Cut pockets to desired width + 1" and desired height + 1 1/2". Fold and iron raw edges towards the inside on sides and bottom. Hem in top edge. Don't forget to sew the top edge (and only the top edge) before attaching the pocket to your apron.

Sew on ties with an X in a box!

Divide large pockets into sections to make them more useful!

Angle waist ties for a more flattering fit!

Ready for cooking!

Happy Turkey Day,

Blanket Sweater, Take 2

After I posted yesterday I was biking to work and had a brilliant idea! I wanted to give my blanket sweater another shot after I botched it the other day, and it occurred to me that I had a big, hole-y blanket slated for the trash. It's a comfy, white cotton blanket with a great drape.

So that's what I used for Take 2: Success!

If you didn't read about my inspiration and first attempt, find it here...!

Note: I originally put together this tutorial while making my first version, so the images a mash up of the two... I hope it isn't confusing!

A note about choosing a pattern: 

Perhaps you have a simple jacket pattern filed away somewhere with a one-piece sleeve. This is the ideal.

Perhaps you have a sloper. This is what I used, leaving an inch all the way around to account for comfy-fit ease and seam allowance. It worked like a charm.

Perhaps you have a pattern of some other kind with a one-piece sleeve. This shouldn't be a problem, just take the fit of the pattern into consideration and cut it bigger if appropriate to allow for a loose fit.

Perhaps you only have patterns for sleeves with cuffs or short sleeves. I wouldn't recommend this unless you know what you're doing, but you could perhaps use the cap and extend the sleeve length.

You will also need the front and back bodice pieces from the same pattern to create your armhole.

The Basic Measurements:

Obviously, these are up for interpretation if you aren't a size 8 or want it to fit differently than mine.



To begin, cut and finish any raw edges on your main rectangle.

To Assemble Your Sleeves:

***With fabrics that have indistinguishable front and back sides, be sure you sew them opposite, so you have one left and one right sleeve!



Now this here is a make-it-or-break-it (as I learned)...

1. Fold your main rectangle in half lengthwise.

2. Measure down 11" from the top, and over 9" from the fold. This is the top center of your armhole.

3. Using the front and back bodice pattern pieces from the same pattern you snatched your sleeve from, place the back bodice piece parallel to your center fold with the top corner of the armhole at the point you've measured, 11" down and 9" over.

4. Place the front bodice piece so that together they create a nice armhole shape. (Mine are so far apart because I added ease to my sleeves when I cut them out).

5. Mark this shape with tailors chalk, rounding out any harsh corners.

6. Cut along your chalked line, through both sides.



Sleeve Set:

1. Check for where you marked your sleeve cap. One notch means it goes towards the front, two means it goes towards the back. Make sure you have left and right sleeves on the appropriate sides.

2. With your sweater body inside out, and your sleeve right side out, match the sleeve to the armhole, underarm down, sleeve cap up.

3. Start pinning at the underarm. Pin the sleeve flat to the body in the underarm. Pin from inside the sleeve to the body, so that you can easily remove the pins as you sew.

4. If your sleeve cap is bigger than your armhole, this is okay! This is called ease. Ease should be evenly distributed between your front and back notches.

As an old teacher of mine used to say, sew as if your presser foot is a hamster and your armhole is a wheel. This is to avoid accidents like puckers and catching other parts of your sweater in the seam.




Congratulations! You're finished!

With love,

Blanket = Sweater

So I have this funny little blanket. It's a nice, red wool tartan, but it's so strangely tiny it's hardly useful as a blanket. And then I was thinking...

ASOS Blanket Cardigan

Quiksilver Snow Blanket Cardigan

Kensie Nomad Blanket Sweater

Old Navy Printed Blanket Sweater

... just add sleeves!

I'll admit, it wasn't a roaring success. I didn't get the sleeve placement quite right, so it fits a little funny. But you've got to crack a few eggs, right?

But just think, had it turned out correctly, what a great little project! So quick, so easy! I had such a lovely little tutorial for you, dag-nabbit! Maybe I'll try it again sometime.

With love,

Update: See my second try here... Success + Tutorial!

Class this Saturday

Don't forget to sign up for my upcoming classes! 

You can always find out about my upcoming classes on the right sidebar.

Learn the basics of fitting and alteration this Saturday from noon to 2PM.

Call (347) 534 - 3088 or email killdevilhill@gmail.com to reserve you spot.

Witchy Woman: The Hat

What You'll Need

Fabric

Fusible Interfacing

Binding or Grosgrain Ribbon

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Thread

Pins

Iron

Wire (optional)

Using the pattern you made back here, cut your fabric as indicated, and fuse your hat and one of your brim pieces with interfacing. You will have something like this:

With right sides facing, sew the outer edge of your brims together, at 1/4". Clip your seam allowance as shown below (this makes for a nice smooth edge once you flip it right-side out).

Flip right-side out and give a good press.

Fold your hat piece in half and sew at 1/2" to make a cone.

Clip your seam allowance to taper off at the pinnacle to avoid Lumpy Point Syndrome.

Flip right side out. Set your cone into your brim, pin and sew the cone to only the top layer of the brim.

Pin and sew your binding or grosgrain ribbon around the inside of the bottom layer of your brim.

At this point, if you so desire, insert a ring of wire into your brim. It should sit inside the very outer edge of the brim, and will keep your brim from flopping.

Clip the seam allowance behind the binding, so that it has room to stretch. Pin the upper edge of your binding to the inside of the cone and sew with a blind hem stitch.

Finé!

Brou-ha-ha!