Patchwork Underground

You should NEVER do these things.

Here are five former bad habits of mine, for the world to see, in no particular order:

1. Not pinning.

Just like, not at all. Ever. Why?  Because pinning is for wussies. If things didn’t match up, it was because I wasn’t trying hard enough. (Never mind paying attention to the direction of my pins in relation to the seam - Pins? What pins?) When I started “experimenting” with pins, whole new worlds opened up to me.

I try to just laugh about this now.

2.  Winding more than one kind of thread onto a single bobbin.

I know, you only have so many bobbins. But when you do this – and you already know who you are – eventually you get to the break in the bobbin thread and it WILL snag and you WILL regret it. You’ll curse yourself for doing this to yourself (again) but then you’ll go ahead and do it about 100 more times before you finally knock it off. No one knows why.

3.  Smacking the presser foot down HARD.

It does make a satisfying noise. And you look like a badass to the uninitiated when you do this. However, the first time I did this in a professional sewing space I was almost crucified. Smacking the presser foot down is hell on the machine and wears out the lever mechanism faster. Doing this on someone elses’ machine is like flipping them the bird. Doing it to your own machine is suicide.  Don’t do it.  *Gently* and gracefully guide the presser foot lever to the down position.

4.  Never changing the needle

You only need to change it when it breaks, right?

5.  Trusting commercial patterns.

Pattern paranoia is healthy.  When I first started sewing, I blindly followed the instructions that came with commercial patterns. It said press, I pressed. It said baste, I basted. It said spin around 5 times and…you get the idea. I think it was Kathleen Fasanella at Fashion Incubator that said that sewing instructions for the big three – McCalls, Simplicity and Vogue – are written by sadists. I couldn’t agree more. Read their instructions if you want to know the least efficient, most painful way to possibly sew your pattern together.

Same goes with the sizing and the cover photo on commercial patterns. Every time, I wondered why my finished product didn’t look as cute as it did in the picture and why it was always too big on me even when it was the “right” size according to the pattern. When I first started sewing, I didn’t even know what a muslin was. Now I make a muslin of my pattern before I cut into my fashion fabric every time – and I always end up making significant alterations at that important stage. Imagine that!

If you sew or press your clothes a lot then eventually you’ll need to clean your iron. Why? The tap water you use in your steam water reservoir starts to calcify and/or oxidize and you start getting whitish and/or reddish crud in your steam water - and it will leave a giant stain on whatever it is you’re ironing. If you’re like me, first you will cry. Then you will consider replacing your iron. Then you will turn to the internet to figure out what to do.

Turns out all you just need to clean your iron.

First, buy a big bottle of bottom shelf white vinegar, like this one:

Fill your reservoir with it and turn the iron on. Steam the heck out of a fluffy towel or rag until there is no vinegar left in your reservoir. Then do it again or until you feel confident that no more whitish/reddish crud is coming out of your iron. Then flush it with water a few times to get the vinegar smell out. Done!

Note: Open a window because it is going to be FOUL in there while you’re steaming all your vinegar out. I’m pretty sure it isn’t bad for you but it is very unpleasant smelling and feels really weird to inhale. Not recommended.

OMG! Hat Making - where have you been my whole life!?

This hat is insane and I love it!  The back story: I was bumping Lady Gaga in my sewing room and testing out a traditional Dresden plate pattern that I found on the internet. When it was done I was like, “OK, so, this is cute and would make a nice pillow or whatever - but seriously now - what would it look like on my head?”

BANG!

I used super stiff iron-on interfacing as the body for the brim, ironed it onto the Dresden plate, hand stitched a rad fake fur lining onto the other side and stitched a doily center onto the middle to form the crown.  I hid the unfinished bit where the brim meets the crown with matching lace so that it just looks like an extension of the doily.  I also hand-stitched wire into the brim so that I can move it all around and change its shape however I want to.  I used tiny stitches everywhere so that the whole thing is REVERSABLE.

Plans for the next hat are already in the making.  This time, I want to actually wet felt a vintage-looking hat together….with feathers and rhinestones and fake foliage, of course.  I already put a couple different millinery books on hold at the library and they should be shipping to the North Portland library for me soon.  There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this thing and I’d like to actually learn how to do it for reals.  Yay!

I’m so excited to share my new tutorial with you guys! It just might be my favorite so far. This vintage-inspired project is wonderful for using up those little scraps of fabric, batting and ric-rac you already have laying around the house. Throw an orphaned vintage button on top and you have a seriously cute pin cushion that looks good enough to eat!

Ever since I found this vintage yo-yo-faced pillow at the bins, I’ve been itching to try my hand at yo-yos. When one of my best friends, Lara, told me she was buying an AMAZING 1920’s farm house outside of Eugene, OR I decided to make her something to celebrate. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to make but she was moving in with her husband and her 6-year-old twins this month so the pressure was on. After some tinkering, I settled on a pin cushion…with yo-yos on it, of course! Here’s hoping it’ll warm her new home some.

~~~~*The Tutorial*~~~~~

Materials

• One 12” x 12” scrap of light blue fabric (or enough in any shape to make six 3.25”-diameter circles)
• Two 6” diameter circles of yellow fabric
• One 3.25” diameter circle of yellow fabric
• 12” of matching light blue ric-rac
• 2 buttons (one for the top, one for the bottom)
• Matching thread
• Pencil or fabric marker

Instructions
1 – Cut out six 3.25” diameter circles from your light blue fabric and one 3.25”-diameter circle from your yellow fabric.

I used the mouth of a Ball canning jar as my template for the yo-yos and just traced the shape with a regular pencil. You can use a fabric marker or chalk for this, too.

2 – Cut out the two 6” diameter circles from your yellow fabric. I just marked a center point for my circle, lined it up with the 3.25” mark on my ruler and spun the ruler around that center point, marking out the circumference of the circle as a I went.

3- Fold a ¼” seam allowance in towards the center of your yo-yos, pressing them flat as you go. Don’t stress about perfection here, any imperfections will be hidden in the gathers.

4- With a hand sewing needle and knotted thread, sew a running stitch all the way around the circumference of your yo-yo. Pull the string taut and make a few back stitches to secure the gathers.

5 - Flatten out the yo-yo, even out the gathers and press with steam. Repeat this process for all 7 yo-yos.

6 – Attach all of the yo-yos together using small whip stitches. I used one long piece of thread for this purpose and just hid the “jumps” on the reverse side of the yo-yos. (See picture) Remember to put the yellow one in the center!

7 – Attach the ric-rac to the right side of one of the large yellow circles before you join the top piece of the pincushion to the bottom piece. To do this, I lined the edge of the ric-rac up with the very edge of the yellow circle and stitched around the circle using a 1/4” seam allowance. In doing so, I only caught one side of the ric-rac in my seam, generating the “petal” effect you see in the finished pictures. When you’re sewing the ric-rac down, arrange the ends of the ric-rac so that the tails will be tucked inside the pincushion when it’s turned inside out. (See the second image below.)

8 – With right sides facing, sew the two large yellow circles together, using a 1/4” seam allowance again. For extra accuracy, I stitched directly into the line of stitching I created in step 6 when I attached the ric-rac. When you’re joining the top piece of the pin cushion to the bottom piece, make sure to leave an opening so that you can turn it right side out when you’re done.

9 - Turn the pin cushion right side out and stuff it with polyfil or cut up chunks of quilt batting. Whip stitch the opening closed with matching thread.

10 – Center the mandala of yo-yos you created in step 5 on the stuffed pin cushion. Pin it in place and tack it down using a hand sewing needle.

11 – Attach the buttons. To do this, I knotted a thread around a plain button and passed the thread through the bottom of the pincushion to the top so that the plain button was on the bottom of the pin cushion.

There, I passed the thread through my vintage button and back down through the center of the pincushion and through the bottom button again.

I went back through the bottom button one more time, pulled the thread taut so that I created a dimple in the pincushion and then wrapped the thread around the shank of that bottom button a few times, knotting it as I went.

(Note: You may be asking yourself, “Why two buttons?” Well, my inclusion of the bottom button is designed to take the pressure of the “pinch” off the fabric - otherwise, the knot would eventually pull through the fabric, undo the “pinch” and leave a nasty hole in the bottom of the pin cushion.)

12. Trim off any excess thread and you’re done!

Quick post today but I just wanted to share this with ya’ll…..

Did I hear somebody say duct tape dress forms?!?!

Yes. DIY duct tape dress forms! Threads magazine has a great feature on several different dress form methods here.

I’ve always wanted/needed a dress form. (For some reason real human people just don’t stand still long enough to endure all that pinning!!) If you’ve ever looked at commercial dress forms in sewing shops, you know why I don’t have one: they’re so expensive! And frankly, the dress forms marketed to home sewers seem real twinky for something that costs so much.

Now I just need somebody to sign on as my partner in crime duct taping.