Tangled Thread

July 4th, 2008

the reveal - the new short-cuts shirt

As, promised - here’s the new shirt I just finished for my DH:

I don’t think that the extra seam on the front facing is going to be missed… and the button holes look pretty good too (okay, so I should have ironed it again)!

Noreen left an excellent comment, reminding me of another favorite short-cut. […]

By Chloe -- 2 comments

July 3rd, 2008

tip of the day - marking button placement on shirts

I’ve finished my DH’s new shirt (you’ll see it tomorrow) and wanted to share another tip that helps me when I’m sewing shirts with lots of buttons (like men’s dress shirts).
I’ve sewn the button holes, opened them up (I like to use a stitch ripper to open button holes).  I’ve laid the shirt over my […]

By Chloe -- 9 comments

June 30th, 2008

great websites - this to that

Have you ever needed to glue, oh say - a chunk of leather to… let’s say a ceramic vase - and then had no clue what to use to accomplish your task?
Okay, so I haven’t actually needed to do that - but if I did…
Well, I just discovered this cool website called “This To That” […]

By Chloe -- 1 comment

June 26th, 2008

tip of the day - short cuts for sewing shirts

I will freely admit to being an impatient seamstress - I won’t cut corners if it’s going to negatively affect the finished piece… However - tips & tricks that save a little time - are just fine with me :-)
I’ve sewn quite a few men’s shirts over the years, and generally the patterns call […]

By Chloe -- 11 comments

June 24th, 2008

tip of the day - dealing with a too-short cutting table

Okay, this is the most obvious solution to my problems… and I should have come up with it years ago.
Oh well, better late than never!
Seeing as a new cutting table isn’t in the budget (and I have very limited studio space) and my current cutting table is short enough that I get back spasms when […]

By Chloe -- 0 comments

June 2nd, 2008

the finished wasp nest decoys

I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and actually make the wasp nest decoys:

The gray fabrics were all 4 inches wide, by 45 long - so I cut them in half, widthwise (so they were 2″ wide) and then sewed them together.  The nests have been stuffed with plastic bags - hopefully they won’t […]

By Chloe -- 1 comment

April 21st, 2008

tip of the day - sewing with velvet

I’ve done quite a bit of sewing in my life… I’ve sewn everything from horse blankets to my duppioni silk wedding.  I can make a tailored men’s dress shirt or a bed-size quilt.  There are still fabrics that challenge me…  I’ve come close to crying when I was sewing a faux-patent leather jacket (hint - […]

By Chloe -- 0 comments

April 15th, 2008

organzing your sewing room

Keeping my fabric and notions organized seems to take constant effort for me - I usually store everything in large, clear plastic tubs or storage towers with drawers. My thread is stored in drawers on top of my sewing table and I keep things like elastic and trims in another tall set of drawers […]

By Chloe -- 3 comments

March 26th, 2008

tip of the day - sharpening scissors

I have to admit, I’m pretty obsessive about my good scissors - I even have my DH trained… If the scissors have my name on them, don’t touch!
But even the most meticulous care won’t keep your fabric scissors from going dull eventually (especially if you’re cutting polar fleece!)  Do you trust your lovely scissors to […]

By Chloe -- 8 comments

March 24th, 2008

tip of the day - keeping track of pattern alterations

I like to alter patterns quite a bit - but I don’t always remake the tissue pattern pieces.  Sometimes I just use the pattern as a starting point and cut the fabric differently (ei: I have a proportionally long waist and need to add 2″ or so to shirt patterns).
But what happens if you forget […]

By Chloe -- 1 comment