Sew Like a Pro Tip: Don't Cut Your Patterns!

Here's a little known sewing tip that will save you tons of hassle.  Don't cut your patterns.

You know how you open up a pattern, especially a multi-sized one, and there are a bunch of different sizes all drawn on top of each other?  Don't cut out the one you want to use.  Trace it instead.  I use a roll of white kraft paper I got from some paper store online to copy my patterns.  If you live near civilization you could get some butcher paper from the local school supply store or paper store.  Maybe even a butcher shop would sell you some.  For small patterns I've traced the pattern pieces onto regular old white printer paper (sometimes I needed to tape two or more pieces of paper together).  Just lay your white paper on top of your pattern and it should be thin enough to see the pattern lines through it.  I've also used carbon paper under the pattern and traced onto tan kraft paper.  This was definitely more complicated--just go with the white paper.  I've also heard of people using non-woven interfacing for pattern tracing.  Very sturdy, a bit more expensive.

I usually just lay it all out on the floor.  If I had a fancy cutting table (like in my dreams) I'd lay it out there.  I've taped some to the window so I could use the light to see through and trace (must have been using a thicker tracing paper on those).

You can kind of see in the picture the original pattern is on the right, under the kraft paper.  A straightedge is usually handy when you're tracing patterns, and if you're using a paper roll you'll want something to keep the paper from rolling up while you're tracing.

Don't forget to mark what the piece is, how many to cut, grainlines, darts, and any other marks on the pattern piece.

Tracing your pattern serves a couple of purposes.  First, it makes it so you can adjust your pattern pieces to fit you without messing up the original pattern.  This is nice if you ever want to use that pattern to make something for someone else that's not quite your shape.  I also don't feel bad at all cutting chunks out of my copies, but I would about doing it to the original pattern.

Tracing your pattern also usually makes it so you're working with a more durable pattern.  Those tissue paper pattern pieces from patterns like Butterick and McCalls are especially obnoxious to work with.

And lastly, just because your kid is a size 4 now doesn't mean he'll always be a size 4!  Tracing your pattern preserves the other sizes the pattern offers so you can sew more another time.  Here's a pattern I got from my mom after she made a shirt for son when he was 4.

Of course she cut the pattern, crazy lady.  But guess what?  He's not 4 anymore.  I've used this same pattern in a size 6 and 8/10 and today I traced off a size 12.  Imagine what that pattern would look like if I tried to actually cut the pattern each time I wanted to make a different size!  Yipes!  I'd probably end up buying another pattern.  So if you get a pattern that has been cut by your crazy mother, don't dismay--there's always tape.

Tape the cut out pieces back into the pattern and trace off the size you want to use.  There's your first official sewing tip from me--Don't cut your patterns.  It really is worth the time to trace them.  :)

Some Thoughts on Learning to Sew

Learning basic sewing skills is never a bad thing.  Knowing how to patch a hole in a pair of pants or stitch up a tear in a sleeve are valuable skills, especially if there comes a time when clothes are not so plentiful and we need to repair what we have when they start showing some wear.  I'm kind of a sewing nut.  It is very therapeutic.  I enjoy the creation process.  I do not enjoy picking seams that were sewn wrong, but that's another story.  I enjoy sewing. 

I pick up fabric at fabric store sales, online, and from thrift stores and yard sales.  Because we do reenacting and make clothes for that, I try to stick to stocking fabric made from natural fibers--cotton, linen, silk, wool.  I stay away from polyester, rayon, etc.  One reason to stick to natural fibers besides being able to use them for our reenactment sewing is that if you're cooking over a fire and your clothes catch a spark, they won't melt and stick to your skin.  If you're a welder, you know what I'm talking about.

Sewing would be an invaluable skill in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  But it also could come in handy now.  Because I can sew, I've been able to make my own curtains, cute pillowcases, and custom fit clothes for reenacting.  I repair sweet husband's work jeans so he can keep working in them and snug up hand-me-down pants to fit my skinny kids.  I've made my own maternity Wrangler jeans, Halloween costumes, and cute, modest skirts and dresses for my girls.  Our sewing machine has paid for itself many times over.

Right now, it's generally cheaper and easier to just buy clothes from the store rather than buy fabric and make your own clothes.  That is, unless you're looking for something in a particular color or style that isn't "in" this season.  If you want to learn to sew, I'd suggest starting with a small project with straight edges--curtains or a pillowcase.  Maybe a hotpad.  If you don't have access to a sewing machine or want some hand stitching practice, hand stitch a patch on some old jeans or some embellishment on a handbag or jacket.  Then move up to something a little more complicated.  There are some very basic patterns out there for dresses, skirts, lounge pants, etc.  Yes, it may be a tad more expensive to buy the fabric and sew it yourself, but you're learning a skill AND you get to pick your fabric and make it just how you want it.

Most of my clothes sewing is for our reenactment hobby.  Most of the patterns I own are for that also.  This is one area it is almost always less expensive to sew your own than to buy pre-made outfits.  And I guess if the world ends and clothes get hard to find, we can always dress colonial. ;)

So give it some thought.  Pick up some needles and thread, borrow a machine from a friend, maybe get some advice from a mentor and try your hand at sewing something. :)

Building a Wonderbox Style Insulated Cooking Box

This post has moved to my new blog location.  Click here to go to Building a Wonderbox.

Knitted Swiffer Cover

Well, look at what my crafty mom has been up to! I cannot crochet more than a chain stitch which gets me nothing but a long fat piece of yarn, and knitting needles would be more useful to me as chopsticks, but my mom is so talented (and frugal), she knitted herself a swiffer broom cover that can be washed instead of buying the refills which earns her an A+ on frugality! I personally have never bought into the swiffers because I think they are a scam to get you to keep purchasing their refill do-hickeys. Maybe I'd change my tune if my crafty mom made me a couple of covers. This is for the dry swiffer, not the wet one. She got her pattern from this book:
Mason-Dixon knitting outside the lines : patterns, stories, pictures, true confessions, tricky bits, whole new worlds, and familiar ones, too / Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne ; photography by Gale Zucker.

Then she found this website that has 15 different patterns for the same thing! Amazing! Who would have thought?

We were on the phone together when she swept up with it (after sweeping and mopping that morning) and she said, "you would not believe how much dirt this just picked up!" and sends me this picture of the dirt pile and the bottom of the swiffer:

And I say, That's it??? That's all the dirt you had on your floor 5 hours after mopping???? Oh yeah, she has no kids or dogs at home . . .

Embroidery for Generations

Embroidery has been around for ages. Really. Have you seen some of the fancy stitching on clothing from the 1700's? What? You haven't? That's only my favorite clothing era, so okay, I'll show you some. Click here for one example, and here for an amazing embroidered wedding gown. And embroidery was around before that as well. Samples can be found from Ancient Egypt, China, Persia, India and England. And it's been around in my family for almost that long . . . I think. Well, at least my mom knows how to do it and her mom taught her, and she learned from her mom. So I'm assuming it's been around a while. My mom taught me some basics, but I never did much with it. Time to repent.

I was talking with my mom a week or so ago and she said that when she and her brothers were sick, her mom would draw them a cartoon character on a piece of material and let them embroider. Yep, her and her brothers. In fact, when my uncle joined the service he was handed his uniform, patches, and a needle and thread and made money off the other servicemen by sewing their patches on for them.

Well, long story short, my kids needed something to do the other day, and being inspired by my conversation with my mom, I dug out my embroidery floss, needles, and little hoops. Found some muslin and after a quick tutorial, got the girls started in on their first embroidery project. We're just doing the backstitch--real simple--like this:

My son was almost interested. Maybe another day. Youngest worked on it for a while with mom's help, but lost interest pretty quick--she's only 4. My older daughter really took to it. She's had a great time picking out floss colors and stitching away. I'm still tying knots for her, but we'll get there.She took it with her in the car, and to school today. And she said, "I can teach this to my kids and they can teach their kids and it can go on for gena . . la . . yens . . or something."

There you have it, well on her way to embroidering a fancy schmancy wedding dress. But not too soon . . . :)

Crazy Week

I cannot believe it is Friday already again! This week has been a bit crazy with home and mom duties. I have been gathering stuff for my emergency notebooks and almost have all the originals I need in one place. Had to order my youngest's birth certificate and got that now so I think it's just my husband's stuff we need to add to the pile. Still working on insurance policies--I figured I'd just catch them as they arrived in the mail this month and have the latest copies for my notebook (hopefully won't be needing it in the meantime!).

Did a little "self reliance" sewing yesterday and this morning for my husband. He had a heavy cotton duck (like canvas) vest with fleece lining, and the fleece had relaxed and stretched (like fleece does over time), but of course the outer material hadn't stretched with it so the bottom of the vest was flipping up and bugging him. So I cut the fleece at the bottom and reattached it (of course, like all my honeydo's this took about 3 weeks to get around to doing it and about 10 minutes to get done). Also had to adjust the waistband on all 700 pairs of his thermal bottoms (okay 8 pair) as the rise was too tall on them (think grandpa pants). So I cut the waistband off and reattached it to the thermals with a stretch stitch about 1 1/2 inches lower. This took a bit more time to get done than the vest project. Now if I can just find all those shirts he has that need a button sewn on . . . maybe I'll get around to those in a couple of weeks . . . :)

Update at 5:02 pm Just when I thought I had all the alterations done, I found another pair of his thermals in the laundry! GRRRR. Kind of like finding a dirty plate in the living room when you're finished washing dishes! Oh well. Bustin' out the sewing machine again . . .