Sewing Wellness | Collette Costello

Category: Uncategorized

  • Top 10 Dressmaking Tips Learn to Sew On-line

    Top ten tips for beginner dressmakers. Learn to sew like a professional.

    1. Invest in quality threads: If you’re going to spend your time making clothes, make sure that you are stitching them together with quality threads.
    2. Have your iron available: When you are dressmaking, you should be ironing all the time. Ironing out your seams flat and other areas of the garment, so your iron should always be available.
    3. Use interfacing: You need to make sure that you are interfacing areas of the garment that need it. So areas such as the neckline, cuffs and collars.
    4. Iron seams flat: When you have stitched a seam, make sure that you are ironing out your seam flat so that when you stitch your garment together, it looks neater.
    5. Match seams: When you are joining two pieces of fabric together and the two pieces have seams on them, such as the waist of a dress. Make sure that you match the seams first and pin them together before pinning the rest of the side of the fabric together.
    6. Pin from the middle: If you have two pieces of fabric that need to be pinned together, such as the side of a skirt. Start from the middle, pin there and then work your way outwards.
    7. Match middle notches. As in tip six, you need to pin from the middle and work your way outwards. So do look out for any middle notches and make sure that the middle notches are matching. You may find a middle notch on the neckline of a dress and on the facing them. Two notches need to match up before you then pin the rest of the edge of the fabric.
    8. Stretch Fabric: If you are joining two pieces of fabric and you have pinned them together, but you find that one of the pieces is maybe slightly too small. What you can do is you can stretch the shorter fabric slightly as you are pinning and stitching. Note this only works for fabric that isn’t stretchy.
    9. Measure from Waist Down: If you are making any adjustments to the hem of a skirt or a dress or trousers, always measure down from the waist, measure from the waist downwards, and get your length and do that all the way across the bottom of the hem before cutting it off. Then you can be sure that it is straight.
    10. Top Stitch Neck Facing: To stop your neck facing moving around when you are wearing your dress. What you should do is you should top stitch the neck facing in place. This is to secure the facing.

  • Top tips using sewing machine, online videos

    Get top tips about how to use your sewing machine correctly, by watching the videos below.

    Learn how to thread-up your machine correctly and get quick fixes for when it won’t sew.

    Top 10 Machine Won’t Sew Fixes

    Best Sewing Machine for Beginners

    Which Sewing Machine Do I Need Beginners?

    Top 10 How to Thread Sewing Machine

    Top 8 Check Machine is Threaded Correctly

    How to Fit a Seam Guide

    What is Seam Allowance?

    Start and End Sewing Correctly

    Help! Fabric Jammed in Machine

  • How to Make Covered Button

    Join this session to learn how to make a covered button. Have fun learning how to make your own personalised buttons.

    To take part you will need:

    Pre-cut Kit Includes:

    • Covered Button Sets
    • Circles of Fabric

    Follow the step-by-step video below to learn how to make a covered button.

    How to Make a Covered Button

  • How to Make Peg Doll

    Join this session to learn how to make a Peg Doll. Have fun learning how to make a doll using just a peg and scrap of fabric.

    To take part you will need:

    We recommend that you purchase the following quality fabric glue: Hi Tack Fabric.

    Pre-cut Kit Includes:

    • Peg Doll
    • Pipe Cleaner
    • String

    Follow the step by step video below to learn how to make your peg doll.

    How to Make a Peg Doll

  • How to Stitch Suffolk Puff Brooch

    Join this session to learn how to stitch a Suffolk Puff Brooch, to help you practise sewing techniques and become more confident at sewing.

    sewing kits for adults uk

    To take part you will need:

    Pre-cut Kit Includes:

    • 1 x Fabric Circle
    • 1 x Small Fabric Circle
    • 1 x Brooch Fastening
    Suffolk puff sewing kits for adults

    You will need to be able to:

    • Hand-stitch Running Stitch
    • Knot Thread

    How to Sew a Suffolk Puff

    How to Sew a Brooch Fastening

    How to Hide Stitching Suffolk Puff

    Sewing Support Videos

    If, after watching the videos, you are struggling, see the sewing support section for extra help: Sewing Support

  • Help female carers, sewing for Success Crowd-funder

    Help female carers facing barriers to accessing ‘Sewing Success’ classes by donating even just £5, the price of a coffee.

    We aim to reach 50 females in 3 months by providing them with free sewing classes.

    We have worked and are also working with community groups that include:

    Our Crowdfunder is now open to raise money to fund free class places for female carers in need. You can support us by donating now!

    Support Crowdfunder

  • How to Thread a Sewing Machine Beginners

    Is Your Sewing Machine Thread Correctly? Handy Checklist

    Do the following checks before sewing, to ensure your machine is threaded properly and ready to start sewing:

    • Top thread between tension wheels.
    • Tension is set to approx 3 – 4.
    • Thread is tightly wound on spool/bobbin.

    How to Thread up Sewing Machine

    Domestic machines are usually threaded in a similar way. If you don’t thread your machine correctly, your threads may snap and become tangled in the machine.

    • When the top thread is threaded correctly, it is in the shape of the letter “N”.
    • Place bobbin in case so bottom thread unwinds anti-clockwise.

    Top Machine Threading Tips

    • Use top thread holding disc, to stop thread unwinding too quickly.
    • After threading machine, pull top and bottom thread out at least 10cm.

    What is Stopping my Machine Sewing?

    A sewing machine that is incorrectly threaded, can make the machine stop sewing. Use the check list below of common mistakes, to ensure your machine is threaded correctly.

    • Thread needs to be between tension wheels.
    • Cheap, thin thread will snap, change your thread.
    • Check bobbin winder is released, if your needle is not moving.

    Plastic or Metal Spool for Sewing Machine?

    Remember plastic to plastic, metal to metal!

    A spool also known as bobbin, is the small cylinder wheel that holds the bottom thread on a sewing machine.

    Which bobbin/ spool you use depends on the case, the spool is put in. Usually plastic spools drop into the top base of the machine. Metal spools are placed in a removable bobbin case, that fits in the side of the machine.

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  • How to Sew in a Zipper Beginners Guide

    Fitting zips can be tricky for for beginners. This post will show you how to fit a zip on a seam. Such as on the back seam of a dress, side of a skirt or on a zipped purse.

    Watch the video below for top tips on how to fit a zip. Including what sewing machine feet to use and how to secure your zip before stitching.

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  • When to Iron, Dressmaking Beginners Guide

    When sewing it is important to iron often. This will help clothes, cushions and bags look professional when finished.

    When to Iron Dressmaking?

    Below are areas that need to be ironed once stitched:

    • Seams after stitching, fold out and iron flat.
    • Facing once fitted, iron flat when turned right-way.
    • Iron corners and curves, after turning right-way round.
    • Hems can be ironed flat before stitching into place.
    • Iron on interfacing needs to be attached before sewing.

    How to Protect Fabric Ironing

    Always use a piece of cotton fabric to cover sewing before ironing. This stops fabric getting burned or marked. Teflon heat resistant sheets or baking paper work best and can be reused.

    Best Iron for Making Clothes

    When sewing it is helpful to keep the iron set-up and heated. I find the best irons are steam generator irons. They hold a lot of water, can be kept on and come with a stand for the iron.

    **Post contains Amazon affiliate links.

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  • How to Gather Fabric, Add Ease Dressmaking

    When fabric is gathered, this is sometimes known as adding ease.

    Gathers need to be added to certain pieces of fabric when dressmaking to help it curve. For example when sewing a curved hem or fitting the shoulder of a sleeve.

    How to Add Ease Gathering

    There are many ways to add ease into a fabric. Traditionally ease is added to fabric by changing the setting on the sewing machine. By following the steps below:

    Machine Settings to Add Ease

    • Change the stitch length to long, between 4 – 5 setting.
    • Reduce machine tension to loose, between 0 – 1 setting.
    • Two parallel lines then should then be stitched, with a gap of 0.5cms.
    • Stitch alongside the edge of the fabric that you wish to be gathered.
    • The lines should be stitched within the seam allowance area.
    • Tie the threads together at one end of the fabric.
    • Then at the other end, gentle tug the bottom two threads.
    • Fabric should then start to move along the threads and gather.

    All sewing machines are different, so you may need to experiment with the settings. If you find the stitching is too tight or too loose, to gather the fabric.

    How to add ease to Sleeve?

    Ease should be added to the top of a sleeve, before fitting it to a garment.

    • The top edge of the sleeve needs to be gathered before fitting to garment.
    • The ease should be between the single and double notch on the sleeve.
    • When the sleeve is pinned to the garment, the ease may need to be tightened or loosened.
    • To ensure the notches on the sleeve and garment match.
    • The ease should be even and the gathers evenly distributed.

    Adding Ease to Hems

    If ease is not added to skirts with curved hems before sewing the hem. The hem will become pleated in areas and not lie flat.

    • When a hem is slightly curved, ease needs to be added to the edge.
    • Once the ease is added, it need to be evenly distributed.
    • The hem can be folded over and ironed flat, ready for sewing.
    • If the hem is pleating in areas, more ease may need adding or taking away.

    Easy Way to Gather Fabric

    Fabric can be gathered without having to add ease stitching. Instead gathers can be added using special sewing machine feet. When fabric is gathered this way, the gathers cannot be adjusted, they are stitched in place.

    See sewing machine fabric gathering feet below:

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