Sewing the collar and collar band can be intimidating, but it’s easier than you might thing. The most important is the topstitching, this is what makes your shirt or shirtdress look expensive. Watch the video below for a quick preview of sewing the collar.
Here is the blog schedule for the season long sew-along with links to the tutorials and live Q&A on my blog (each link will open on the date listed). Season 14 of It’s Sew Easy had begun airing on PBS and Create TV; you will be able to watch each episode there first (depending on when your specific station begins airing the show).
Part 1: Announcing the Shirt Dress Sewalong with Angela Wolf on It’s Sew Easy
Behind the Scenes with Angela wolf VLOG 220 is the fourth in a series of sew-a-longs featuring the Rachel Twin Set. Today we start cutting out the tank top!
Embroidery 102 How to Embroider Small Letters with Angela Wolf and Cindy Hogan Learn how to embroider small letters on a thin kitchen towel and fine cotton or linen - perfect for napkins! Learn the best stabilizers, thread, and hooping techniques. Cindy's digitized...
In this tutorial you will learn how to drape a square sweater jacket with Angela Wolf. Fabrics, techniques, and measurements will be taught in this lesson.
Learn How to Use the Coverstitch Machine Do you find yourself sewing a lot of knits? If so, you will eventually want to add a coverstitch machine to your sewing room. Hemming knits has never been easier! But the Coverstitch is not just for knits, you can also do a...
SERGER 102: Creative Serging! Now that you know the basics of using your serger, let's check out some of the decorative stitches. Join Angela Wolf for a 90 minute virtual class and learn how to use your serger for a few creative stitches and serger a...
Pressing fusible interfacing to the fabric is easy if you follow these tips:
Use a press cloth underneath the garment to prevent the fusible from ruining the ironing board cover
Use a press cloth between the garment to save your iron and prevent burning the fabric
When pressing the interfacing into place, lift and hold the iron – DO NOT SLIDE IRON
Press and hold the iron for a few seconds and press firmly to prevent the fusible from coming unattached later on
Pressing Cloth
You can use various fabrics for a press cloth. I tend to use a lightweight cotton or muslin fabric because that is what I typically have on hand. Cheese cloth is another option and Silk organza is another favorite.
Tips for Topstitching
Stitch from the right side of the fabric
Use cotton or silk thread for touch of style
The triple stitch with a stitch length of 3.5 to 4.0 resembles ready-to-wear
Lengthen the stitch length and test on a scrap of fabric to see which looks the best
Here are some of the supplies I used in this episode:
Have you thought of sewing this shirtdress with a different fabric than the traditional cotton? This week’s episode of Behind the Scenes showed some fabric ideas for the sewalong including silk, velvet burnout, and more!
Here is the blog schedule for the season long sew-along with links to the tutorials and live Q&A on my blog (each link will open on the date listed). Season 14 of It’s Sew Easy had begun airing on PBS and Create TV; you will be able to watch each episode there first (depending on when your specific station begins airing the show).
Join us! A new video will upload on YouTube every Saturday. Sign up here and never miss a blog post and join the fun on facebook, instagram, twitter, and pinterest . We will share photos on the social side using hashtags #angleawolf #itseweasy #shirtdresssewalong
Can’t wait to see what you sew up! Leave your comments & questions below …
Behind the Scenes with Angela wolf VLOG 220 is the fourth in a series of sew-a-longs featuring the Rachel Twin Set. Today we start cutting out the tank top!
Embroidery 102 How to Embroider Small Letters with Angela Wolf and Cindy Hogan Learn how to embroider small letters on a thin kitchen towel and fine cotton or linen - perfect for napkins! Learn the best stabilizers, thread, and hooping techniques. Cindy's digitized...
In this tutorial you will learn how to drape a square sweater jacket with Angela Wolf. Fabrics, techniques, and measurements will be taught in this lesson.
Learn How to Use the Coverstitch Machine Do you find yourself sewing a lot of knits? If so, you will eventually want to add a coverstitch machine to your sewing room. Hemming knits has never been easier! But the Coverstitch is not just for knits, you can also do a...
SERGER 102: Creative Serging! Now that you know the basics of using your serger, let's check out some of the decorative stitches. Join Angela Wolf for a 90 minute virtual class and learn how to use your serger for a few creative stitches and serger a...
Step 1: On the wrong side of the fabric, mark the center of the pant leg (could be front or back, wherever you want the zipper).
If marking an existing pair of jeans, rip out the hem at least 5″ from each side of new mark. Press the fusible interfacing along the newly marked center line.
Step 2: Mark the hem, hem allowance, and the length of the zipper opening down center of the pant leg.
Step 3: Determine the width of the zipper opening (depends on the width of the zipper teeth). Draw in opening, top edge, and then add a triangle from the center cut line to each corner (as shown above).
Step 4: Cut along center marking. Cut each triangle point (if you are worried about the fabric fraying, add Fray Check to the top corners)
Step 5: Press the seam allowances back and press triangle tip up.
Step 6: Line up the zipper with the metal teeth in the center of the opening. Check the placement of the zipper stop and zipper tab.
Step 7: Fold back the zipper tape and press in place at the hemline.
Step 8: Pin zipper in place.
Step 9: In this example, I am using standard polyester thread, cotton or silk thread would work too. Set the sewing machine to a triple stitch and lengthen the stitch length to 4.0. (Note: if you don’t have this feature, use denim thread, straight stitch, stitch length 4.0)
Step 10: Stitch along the edge of the zipper. Open and close the zipper as needed in order to get the foot by the zipper tab. Step 11: Notice how I have lined up the edge of the zipper foot with the metal teeth, a very easy to get a straight stitch … or this would be a great time to utilize the laser vision guidefeature on your machine! 🙂
Step 12: Press up the hem with the tailor’s clapper for a crisp crease. By the way, did I mention WAWAK Sewing is now carrying my tailor’s clapper! Yeah!
Step 13: Hem the jeans and move onto the other leg.
That’s it! Now this is just one quick, easy way to install a hidden zipper. I will give you some more ideas next time.
Sewing jeans are really easy once you get the hang of the process, but fitting the pattern can be challenging. The next few posts are going to deal with exactly that, fitting various body shapes. This pattern alteration is needed if you have a fuller stomach, in the old days referred to as an apple shape. Although, I am not sure where the fruit terms originated from, I really don’t like them. I would rather be a glass! Wine glass, red wine glass, martini glass, goblet, water-glass, I think you get the idea. It just sounds a little more glamorous than an apple or pear 🙂 Anyway, if you made up a jean muslin and the pattern fit great in the legs, hips, and tush, but you just can’t get that center front closed … here you go:
Fitting a Jean Pattern for a Round Stomach
1. Tape the front pocket in place. Start by drawing lines on your pattern (don’t cut yet):
Draw a line (green) across the hip and up to the tip of the side seam.
Draw 2 lines (purple) perpendicular to the green line,
2. Cut along the green line, cutting up to the side seam put NOT through the edge.
3. Slide the pattern open. Look what happens, you just gave a little more room in the front tummy area in the width and height of the pattern.
4. The upper waist curve is too extreme if left like this. Cut each purple line, down to the green line, but NOT through it. Slide each line open until the waist curve angles down more like the original pattern.
5. Redraw a new waistline and center front crotch curve (red line).
If you are having difficulty redrawing the front crotch curve, slide the pattern back together. Mark the bottom edge of the facing area and trim off the front fly facing. Follow all the steps and then tape the front facing back in place once the new center front is drawn in, lining up the facing with the marking on the pattern. Draw a line extending the facing up to the waistline ( I used this pattern piece, because I knew someone would ask about that).
Here is your new front pattern piece, use this for the front and left, of course one will have a front facing section and the other will not. This is the same alteration for any pant style when you need a little more room in the tummy area.
How are your jeans coming along for March’s wardrobe challenge? The judges are almost finished with February’s winners, hope to announce them this weekend.
Looking to stock up on jean sewing supplies – zippers, jean thread, jean buttons … WAWAK Sewing is offering $10 off the next order of $80 or more! This offer is good until March 31st, use PROMO CODE: WAGW314 when checking out. What a great treat for the jean challenge! Thanks WAWAK! 🙂
That’s all for today 🙂 Sun is shining and snow is melting, thank goodness!!!!
When I asked what part of sewing jackets you find the most intimidating to sew, many of you left a comment about the collar and lapel. I must have had a premonition, as this week’s episode of It’s Sew Easy gives you a few tips for success. You are right, the collar and lapel is what really makes your jacket stand out … and the good news … it’s easier to sew than you think. In fact, sewing is only a minute part involved in tailoring a collar. The most time-consuming part involves preparing the center front jacket, upper collar, and under collar pattern pieces with interfacing and twill tape, not to mention pad stitching if you are going the traditional tailoring route. The weight of the interfacing will determine the thickness and stability of your lapel and collar, so be sure to test a sample first. My two favorites for jackets are armo-weft fusible interfacing (shown here) and horse hair canvas (perfect if you plan on pad stitching – which I will show in a later blog post). Fusible interfacing can be added in layers if you need more structure at the end of the lapel, keep that in mind if you interfacing supply is limited.
Despite adding interfacing, extra measures need to be taken to prevent the neckline and center front of the jacket from stretching out. Twill tape is the perfect solution! Look closely and you can see hand stitching attaching the 1/4″ wide cotton twill tape to the front edge of the jacket. As I am hand stitching, I am holding the twill tape tight and allowing the jacket fabric to ease in. Not too much easing though! Make sure the jacket doesn’t change shape or become skewed.
What about that perfect roll on the lapel? Again, twill tape is hand stitched to the roll line (the roll line should be printed on your jacket pattern)
When hand stitching the twill tape to the roll line, keep the twill tape tight (tighter than when we added twill tape to the center front and neckline). Again, easing in the fashion fabric. I use a pin to hold one end of the twill tape and start stitching from the other end. You can see below how much I am easing!
Here I started hand stitching the twill tape in place, the main part of the stitch is on the twill tape and I am just picking a short fiber in the fashion fabric, then back through the twill tape. You can barely see the stitching from the right side of the fabric. When you are finished steam press the lapel roll using a seam roll. Again, for more details see this weeks episode of It’s Sew Easy, scroll to the bottom of their page and click on the video.
Another Giveaway, this one is for my online class: Sewing a Designer Unlined Jacket on PatternReveiw.com. Does your favorite jacket style close in the center front or asymmetrically? Just tell us your preference to enter the jacket class giveaway. (A random winner will be drawn next Monday) Congratulations to last weeks winner JRP53 who will be joining me in the Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Jackets on PatternReview! Good luck on your jackets!
When I asked what part of sewing jackets you find the most intimidating to sew, many of you left a comment about the collar and lapel. I must have had a premonition, as this week’s episode of It’s Sew Easy gives you a few tips for success. You are right, the collar and lapel is what really makes your jacket stand out … and the good news … it’s easier to sew than you think. In fact, sewing is only a minute part involved in tailoring a collar. The most time-consuming part involves preparing the center front jacket, upper collar, and under collar pattern pieces with interfacing and twill tape, not to mention pad stitching if you are going the traditional tailoring route. The weight of the interfacing will determine the thickness and stability of your lapel and collar, so be sure to test a sample first. My two favorites for jackets are armo-weft fusible interfacing (shown here) and horse hair canvas (perfect if you plan on pad stitching – which I will show in a later blog post). Fusible interfacing can be added in layers if you need more structure at the end of the lapel, keep that in mind if you interfacing supply is limited.
Despite adding interfacing, extra measures need to be taken to prevent the neckline and center front of the jacket from stretching out. Twill tape is the perfect solution! Look closely and you can see hand stitching attaching the 1/4″ wide cotton twill tape to the front edge of the jacket. As I am hand stitching, I am holding the twill tape tight and allowing the jacket fabric to ease in. Not too much easing though! Make sure the jacket doesn’t change shape or become skewed.
What about that perfect roll on the lapel? Again, twill tape is hand stitched to the roll line (the roll line should be printed on your jacket pattern)
When hand stitching the twill tape to the roll line, keep the twill tape tight (tighter than when we added twill tape to the center front and neckline). Again, easing in the fashion fabric. I use a pin to hold one end of the twill tape and start stitching from the other end. You can see below how much I am easing!
Here I started hand stitching the twill tape in place, the main part of the stitch is on the twill tape and I am just picking a short fiber in the fashion fabric, then back through the twill tape. You can barely see the stitching from the right side of the fabric. When you are finished steam press the lapel roll using a seam roll. Again, for more details see this weeks episode of It’s Sew Easy, scroll to the bottom of their page and click on the video.
Another Giveaway, this one is for my online class: Sewing a Designer Unlined Jacket on PatternReveiw.com. Does your favorite jacket style close in the center front or asymmetrically? Just tell us your preference to enter the jacket class giveaway. (A random winner will be drawn next Monday) Congratulations to last weeks winner JRP53 who will be joining me in the Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Jackets on PatternReview! Good luck on your jackets!
2. Cut along the green line, cutting up to the side seam put NOT through the edge.
