I made a set of cloth linen napkins in 2012. We used them every day and washed them every week. The linen became softer, the color mellowed evenly and so I never thought I would have to make cloth napkins again. Until Atlas joined our family. Atlas is our new Rottweiler pup. He’s a wonderful […] Read more…
How to Mark Your Fabric for Sewing
A pattern piece has a lot of information on it as discussed in a previous post/video “How to Read a Pattern”. You need that information when you are sewing all the pieces together, but you want to transfer that information, from pattern to fabric, at the beginning while the fabric is still on the cutting […] Read more…
How to Cut a Sewing Pattern and Fabric
A sewing friend recently joked that sewing was actually only 50% sewing and 50% cutting, pressing, and fussing. She’s pretty accurate. But let’s not let that stop us from sewing. We’ll just accept it as part of the process. This post and video are all about the process of laying out your pattern pieces and […] Read more…
How to Hem Dress Pants
Hemming men’s trousers was my first side hustle. It’s a pretty common task and one you can do with professional results even if you don’t have much sewing experience. You just need to follow a couple of easy tips. Note: you will need someone to do the initial pinning if you’re hemming your own trousers. […] Read more…
The Stay Stitch, the Under Stitch & the Basting Stitch Explained
The stay stitch, the understitch, and the basting stitch are techniques you will come across frequently when sewing garments. This short video will explain what, why, and how of all three. Or read on. Stay Stitch The stay stitch is a straight stitch of normal length sewn on a single layer of fabric ⅛” from […] Read more…
How to Sew a Beautiful Dart
If you’re sewing clothes for women you’re going to be sewing darts. As simple as they seem to construct there are nuances to getting a good-looking dart – and by that, I mean one that isn’t noticeable. What are darts, exactly? Darts are what bring fullness and fit to the flat 2-dimensional fabric. Darts point […] Read more…
What Worked & What Didin’t; Five Ways to Invisibly Patch Knits
Little holes appear in my knit tops too frequently and I want to be able to patch the holes without the mend being obvious. I know how to patch woven garments so the repair is almost invisible but I didn’t know what would work on knit fabrics. So I did some research, bought three different […] Read more…
4 Positioning Points for Perfect Button Placement
People say, “I can’t even sew on a button.” to mean they don’t know how to sew at all as if sewing on a button is the easiest thing in the world. And, yeah, it might not be hard to sew on a button but there’s a lot more to it than you may realize. […] Read more…
8 Ways to Darn & Mend a Sweater
Finding a hole in your sweater doesn’t mean the end of your sweater. Taking just a few minutes to mend that hole will let you continue to wear your sweater for years to come. Those few minutes will save you the money and time it takes to replace the sweater and the more years you […] Read more…
April’s Newsletter
Did you miss April’s Awesome newsletter? It’s all about Knits; My best tips and some other tips too 😉 You can view it here Read more…