Sewing Lessons & FAQ

[glamgirl]

I just bought my first sewing machine.

I'm so excited. I just bought my first sewing machine last night on Ebay. It's a Brother (not sure if that's just an AS company or not), it's brand new, 37 stitches, one step button holing, etc etc etc. I don't have it yet but I've already bought some patterns for a couple of great little vintage-inspired outfits. This is so exciting. Mum was thrilled when I told her. We used to do a lot of sewing together when I still lived at home. Now I just have to try and remember it all. I found a really good book that goes through all the basics too which will be so helpful. Only cost $10 and I figure that's $10 very well spent. Should get my machine mid next week. Sooooo exciting !!!

 

[Spinkitten]

I'm so excited. I just bought my first sewing machine last night on Ebay. It's a Brother (not sure if that's just an AS company or not), it's brand new, 37 stitches, one step button holing, etc etc etc. I don't have it yet but I've already bought some patterns for a couple of great little vintage-inspired outfits. This is so exciting. Mum was thrilled when I told her. We used to do a lot of sewing together when I still lived at home. Now I just have to try and remember it all. I found a really good book that goes through all the basics too which will be so helpful. Only cost $10 and I figure that's $10 very well spent. Should get my machine mid next week. Sooooo exciting !!!

Thats great Glamgirl,

keep an eye on ebay as there are some great vintage patterns on there, I am useless behind the sewing machine but I cannot help collect patterns lol

 

[glamgirl]

haven't yet looked for patterns but I'll definitely keep an eye out for them now. Thanks. So is sewing something you're interested in but just can't do? I know a lot of the ladies on this site have talked about sewing lessons and our Spotlight stores (and I think Lincraft and a whole lot of others) offer sewing lessons. I'm lucky in that I get free lessons by purchasing my machine (if I want them). I think I'm right with the basics but then it will be lots of posts here and phone calls to Mum for help when I get stuck

 

[Lady Day]

I'm so excited. I just bought my first sewing machine last night on Ebay. It's a Brother (not sure if that's just an AS company or not), it's brand new, 37 stitches, one step button holing, etc etc etc. I don't have it yet but I've already bought some patterns for a couple of great little vintage-inspired outfits. This is so exciting. Mum was thrilled when I told her. We used to do a lot of sewing together when I still lived at home. Now I just have to try and remember it all. I found a really good book that goes through all the basics too which will be so helpful. Only cost $10 and I figure that's $10 very well spent. Should get my machine mid next week. Sooooo exciting !!!

Brother is a real good machine. My mother was a professional seamstress and she had a Brother machine for years. So good call.

Congrads, and now you will be a sewin fanatic!
Later,

LD

 

[glamgirl]

thanks Lady Day. Can't wait to show you all my sewing efforts once they get underway. So much fun. Brother do make good machines. My mum has had hers for well over 30 years and there's nothing ever gone wrong with it.

 

[BettyValentine]

Out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about dress forms with legs? I've only ever used them to paint on stretchy things and have never tried to drape on one before.

Is there any reason I could not just use a dress form with legs in place of a standard form with a cage bottom? Or is there any reason I would need both?

Also, I have kind of an odd question. If I were to want to build a strapless bathing suit out of a non-stretchy material, how would I go about draping that? I am thinking of something like Linda Carter's costume in Wonder Woman, or an old Playboy Bunny uniform. It's like an overbust corset with cups, but it is a one-piece with the underpants. Corsets I can handle, but the one-piece just intimidates the bejeezus out of me.

They are clearly boned in the top part, but I don't know how to manage that when it is to go directly into a crotch seam. Should I make the whole thing over a coutil shell, or should I only use that for the part from the waist up and use something else for the bottom?

BV

 

[Lauren]

Oh wow- you've got me- never done anything like that before. If it was me I'd buy an existing pattern and alter it to fit your needs. In the legs you'll probably need some form of elastic, but not neccesarily.

The dress forms with legs are mostly used for draping pants. We did this a bit in school but I'd say 99% of the time we were using regular Wolf dress forms. The advantage of the regular form is the ablity to drape a skirt down center front- because of the opening for the legs on the pant form you wouldn't get an accurate drape at center front for dresses and skirts. If you really want to drape your own things for legs (for lack of a better word) and still do dresses you're probably better off with two forms.

 

[Honey Doll]

I'm so excited. I just bought my first sewing machine last night on Ebay. It's a Brother (not sure if that's just an AS company or not), it's brand new, 37 stitches, one step button holing, etc etc etc. I don't have it yet but I've already bought some patterns for a couple of great little vintage-inspired outfits. This is so exciting. Mum was thrilled when I told her. We used to do a lot of sewing together when I still lived at home. Now I just have to try and remember it all. I found a really good book that goes through all the basics too which will be so helpful. Only cost $10 and I figure that's $10 very well spent. Should get my machine mid next week. Sooooo exciting !!!

Congrats!! I love, love, love my brother machine.

Honey Doll

 

[Snookie]

BV -- I made a swimsuit like the one you're describing a few years ago, for a vintage bathing suit competition (so it was more like a costume, not exactly functional). But I took a strapless evening dress pattern from the late 40's and left extra fabric at the bottom when I cut it out, and draped the legs on myself. I used elastic on the legholes and at the top, and I think I just wore a strapless bra (like I said, not very functional!).

If you want boning in yours, I'd build a separate shell for the boning like you describe, but if you just need support, not compression, you probably don't need coutil (that stuff's so expensive!). Just use some basic twill. You could hide the boning in the lining or make it separate. Are you using darts to shape the suit, or princess seams, or what?

RE: forms with legs -- Besides draping pants, I've seen them used for making dance costumes (modern dance, mostly). If I only had one I'd rather have a form with a cage, b/c skirts need to be draped more than pants.

 

[RetroMom]

I really need advice on this one...

Today I bought a vintage white chenille bedspread at a church bazzar. It had no tags and I had no idea of the size, but I was hoping it was at least a full size which would cover my queen size bed.

Alas, after I washed it and put it on, I discovered it was smaller and must be a twin size. It has a beautiful very large raised design in the center, so I hate to get rid of it, but what would could I do about the short length? I was thinking of either buying a pretty patterned dust ruffle or maybe sew on some type of dust ruffle. If I sew one on, should I use chenille or what type of fabric would be right? If all else fails, any ideas of what else make out of this bedspread?

 

[BonnieJean]

Bedspread suggestions

How about some pretty pillows? Or could you make it all into a throw? It would look nice draped over the end of a bed. I've seen some beautiful pillows made with chenille in magazines. Give me some more time and I might come up with some other ideas....

 

[humblestumble]

Today I bought a vintage white chenille bedspread at a church bazzar. It had no tags and I had no idea of the size, but I was hoping it was at least a full size which would cover my queen size bed.

Alas, after I washed it and put it on, I discovered it was smaller and must be a twin size. It has a beautiful very large raised design in the center, so I hate to get rid of it, but what would could I do about the short length? I was thinking of either buying a pretty patterned dust ruffle or maybe sew on some type of dust ruffle. If I sew one on, should I use chenille or what type of fabric would be right? If all else fails, any ideas of what else make out of this bedspread?

You could also try finding some coordinating fabric and adding to the borders, mitering the fabric at the corners so that the original bedspread is in the center.

 

[RetroMom]

Thanks ladies for the suggestions.

 

[glamgirl]

Congrats!! I love, love, love my brother machine.

Honey Doll

They are so popular. I picked my machine up from the post office today!! That was super fast. So I'm reading through the instruction manual to familiarise myself with it and I realise exactly how much I've forgotten about sewing. Tension, stitch length and width, which threads and stitches to use for what and with which fabric. Wow. It has been a long time. I'm lucky enough to have free sewing lessons but it's a bit of distance to travel to do them. But with all the expert help here plus my mum I'll get by just fine.

 

[ShrinkingViolet]

Shoulder pads?

Hi, this is my first post
I've recently started making clothes from vintage 40s patterns and I was wondering how you girls go about shoulder pads?
I do think the padded shoulders are necessary in order to get the authentic look, and I do like the 'grotesqueness' of the 40s silhouette, but I'm a bit hesitant about using the big 80s reminiscent foam shoulder pads you can get in fabric shops!
In the original pattern instructions the pads are made of 'cotton batting' but I'm not quite sure what that is.. judging from the illustrations it looks like some kind of pillow filling...
I'm curious to know what you all do with dresses that need shoulder pads! Thanks

 

[Honey Doll]

Shoulder pads

Hi, this is my first post
I've recently started making clothes from vintage 40s patterns and I was wondering how you girls go about shoulder pads?
I do think the padded shoulders are necessary in order to get the authentic look, and I do like the 'grotesqueness' of the 40s silhouette, but I'm a bit hesitant about using the big 80s reminiscent foam shoulder pads you can get in fabric shops!
In the original pattern instructions the pads are made of 'cotton batting' but I'm not quite sure what that is.. judging from the illustrations it looks like some kind of pillow filling...
I'm curious to know what you all do with dresses that need shoulder pads! Thanks

I cut out (2) 6 inch squares of fabric and (1) 6 inch square of batting. Sandwich so --fabric, batting fabric (good sides out). Then zig zag edges together and fold one point over to the opposing side on a diagonal (looks them like a triangle)-- zig zag two edges.

I got these instructions in a 40s pattern. Others may do it differently.

Honey Doll

 

[Lady Day]

Hi, this is my first post
I've recently started making clothes from vintage 40s patterns and I was wondering how you girls go about shoulder pads?
I do think the padded shoulders are necessary in order to get the authentic look, and I do like the 'grotesqueness' of the 40s silhouette, but I'm a bit hesitant about using the big 80s reminiscent foam shoulder pads you can get in fabric shops!
In the original pattern instructions the pads are made of 'cotton batting' but I'm not quite sure what that is.. judging from the illustrations it looks like some kind of pillow filling...
I'm curious to know what you all do with dresses that need shoulder pads! Thanks

Welcome SV!

I am very anti shoulder pad (bad experience ) so I tend to forgo the entire step of getting them. But you can, as I have often find in many of my older clothes take scraps and fold them over and sew them to 'puff' the sleeve up, rather than an entire pad. OR you can go to a thrist store and pay $1 for an old coat/ blouse etc and swipe the pads from there.

LD

 

[Rosie]

I'm in the planning stages of a swing coat I'm going to make. My mom says I HAVE to have a lining. I have NO idea how to do that. I've read a few how tos online but, I'm stupid. I'm sure some of you ladies have done this. Am I basically making a smaller version of the coat and then sewing it in? Looking at bought items, the lining seems tucked into the garment, do I fold over my seams and sew the lining in? How do I keep it from bunching up when doing this? I'm lost. Any tips are much appreciated.

 

[CherryRed]

I'm in the planning stages of a swing coat I'm going to make. My mom says I HAVE to have a lining. I have NO idea how to do that. I've read a few how tos online but, I'm stupid. I'm sure some of you ladies have done this. Am I basically making a smaller version of the coat and then sewing it in? Looking at bought items, the lining seems tucked into the garment, do I fold over my seams and sew the lining in? How do I keep it from bunching up when doing this? I'm lost. Any tips are much appreciated.

Well, I haven't done this on a human scale but I have lined a dolls jacket when the pattern didn't call for it. I just made an exact copy of the coat in the lining fabric. Sew the sleeves in as you would on the coat, then to put it together turn the coat inside out and put the lining on it wrong sides together. When you pin it on you just have to tuck the edeges inward. Since I did it on a small scale, I hand sew it in with invisible stitching on the cuff edge. Also on the cuff, the hem of the coat fabric will come down farther than the lining. If you look at how a coat is put together, you will see what I mean. It is hard for me to put it into words with out showing it. The bottom hem does not have to be attached, so you can just hem that under. The neckline area could be machine stiched if you cover it with a collar or bias tape. Again it's hard to get this to make sence.
I'm sure the ladies who have done this on a normal scale will have more tips for you.

 

[Lady Day]

I'm in the planning stages of a swing coat I'm going to make. My mom says I HAVE to have a lining. I have NO idea how to do that. I've read a few how tos online but, I'm stupid. I'm sure some of you ladies have done this. Am I basically making a smaller version of the coat and then sewing it in? Looking at bought items, the lining seems tucked into the garment, do I fold over my seams and sew the lining in? How do I keep it from bunching up when doing this? I'm lost. Any tips are much appreciated.

Yeah, you need a lining. On most patterns, linings ARE the actual pattern for the shell of the coat. SO yes, you do cut a second 'coat' out and turn it inside out for the lining. I tend to sew the lining seperate from the shell and then join them together at the collar, the shoulder sceams, and such. I always leave a bit of extra when hemming the sleves so I dont get pull. Also dont attatch the bottom of the lining to the bottom of the coat, you tend (or at least I do) to get bunching and it may not lay flat.

Good luck

LD