Make It Sew, Number One

I often find myself frustrated with the clothing that is available in stores. Much of it seems cheaply made and feels like it will fall apart after 1 or 2 washes. Sometimes I like the style, but not the fabric. Other times, it is the fit that is the problem.

For these reasons, I have resorted to sewing some of my own clothing.

If you have a sewing machine, and can read the instructions inside a pattern envelope, you can sew your own clothes. If you start simple, and focus on pieces with good "lines," you can avoid the "happy hands at home" look that keeps a lot of people from doing their own sewing.

If you haven't tried sewing clothing before, a great place to start is knits (jersey, poly-lycras, pique). The fabric is very forgiving, and you rarely have to change the fit. But, may people shy away from knits, thinking they are difficult to sew, all the seams pucker, and if you don't have a serger it is no use to even try.

I used to avoid sewing with knits, too because I didn't have a serger. But, I have learned some techniques that will allow you to have nice, finished seams that don't pucker. And best of all, you don't need a lot of specialized equipment. All you need are three things:

1. A sewing machine that can sew a zig-zag stitch, and has an adjustable stitch length. Pretty much every machine has this. In fact, you would have to work really hard to find a machine that does not.
2. A good pair of scissors.
3. An iron and ironing board.
   

Since I have discovered this, I have made a lot of clothing items using knits, and they don't look "homemade":

There are a copule of important things to address before you embark on your first project:

1. Measure yourself and buy the pattern according to your measurements, not your "size." In ready-to-wear, I wear a size 10 or 12. Depending on the manufacturer, I will use patterns sized anywhere from 16 to 20.
   
2. Acutally MEASURE yourself. If you wear a 36D bra like I do, that does not mean your bust measurement is 36. In fact, my bust measurement is 40. It is my rib cage that measures 36.
   
3. The most important measurements to take are your bust, your waist and your hips.
4. Also, use a pattern from one of the "big three," Simplicity, McCalls, or Butterick. Pick one that is rated "easy." Don't use Vogue! The Vogue definition of easy is not the same. Also, avoid Burda, they have cute clothes, but the instructions are translated from German. You can try Vogue and Burda later. Not for your first project.
   

Once you have settled on a pattern, select your fabric. I tend to not buy fabric that is more than $10.00 per yard. Once you get to the point where you are spending more than $30.00 to $40.00 for the materials for an item of clothing, it is no longer cost-effective. You could just buy a finished item in the store. Make sure you also get interfacing if the pattern calls for it. Purchase a relatively thin and flexible fusible interfacing. The ladies at the fabric store can help you if you ask.

Once you have your fabric and your pattern, you are ready to cut out your pattern pieces. If your fabric has an obvious vertical or horizontal pattern on it, make sure when you lay your pieces out, the pattern is going the same direction on all the pieces. Here is an example:


Also, make sure you line up your pattern pieces so the pattern is distributed evenly across the piece:


Go ahead and cut the fabric and begin assembling your project. Patterns have 1 or 2 sheets inside that have all the instructions that you will need. Follow their instructions for the order of assembly, but you will not sew them using a straight stitch and pressing open the seam allowances. Instead, you will sew everything using a zig-zag stitch, the secret to flat, unpuckered, professional-looking seams without any special equipment.

First, set your machine for a zig-zag stitch of medium width, and set your stitch length at 1 mm. This is what the settings look like on my machine. See, it's just a simple Singer. No special equipment! I promise!


As you sew your seams, place one finger in front of the presser foot, and one finger behind. Stretch your fabric slightly as you feed it through the machine. With such a short stitch length, it's not going to move very fast, so don't worry, you won't sew your finger to it:


This is what the seam will look like:


After you complete your seam, trim away the seam allowance rather than pressing it open. Cut very close to the points of the zig-zag stitch:


As you can see, the seam does not pucker. Also, unlike a straight stitch, this seam will stretch. Then press your seam. Always press your seams, and do it as you are assembling the garment, don't wait until you are done:


In some places you don't want your seam to stretch, for example, around the neck and at the shoulder seams. But you also don't want a giant seam allowance flopping around in there making things look messy. So what you will use is a technique called "nailing down" the seams. You will start by making a straight seam with a 5/8 inch seam allowance. Then, move your presser foot to the right and make another seam 1/4 inch away, in the seam allowance. How do you know you are 1/4 inch away? You line up your first seam with the left side of the presser foot. Like this:


When you finish your second seam, cut away the seam allowance, as close to the second seam as possible. Remember, always press your seams! That way they won't pucker:


Here is a completed garment (inside out) to show you what the zig-zag construction looks like:


And here is the finished garment, all hanging properly, no puckers:


Now go try it yourself! It is easy, I promise!

When it Rains, it Pours

Especially when it is raining in your basement.

The other day, I was running a load of wash and as the washer was spinning, I heard water running...I immediately ran into the laundry room to see what had come undone, but as I skidded to a stop on the tile, I could already tell...completely dry there.

But I could still hear the water, so I steeled myself and headed for the basement. Jackpot...there was the puddle. But I couldn't tell where it was coming from, so I settled down to wait until the washer began draining a second time.

As I was perched on the toolbench, I heard the washer switch cycles above my head and listened as the water poured down the pipe and into the stack. And then the fountain started. Water shooting six feet into the air and out into the center of the basement. I ran up the stairs to find my phone and call Dad.

After a long conversation with Dad about things like "head pressure" (I still feel a little dirty), I headed out to the hardware store. $22.00 lighter, I came back with my prizes and got to work. Here is a photo blog so you can fix your pipes, too.

This little cap was the problem. If you look at the top, you can actually see where it is bent. Finally, the sillicone caulk that the assholes that renovated my house had covered it with gave out, and the geyser erupted into my basement:


Step One, you have to get the cap off. Since its an old house, and the pipes are cast iron, there is always a chance that they may be rusted and you will need a BIG WRENCH to do this:


Then you have to clean the sealant out of the threads so that you can make a new seal. Make sure you brush in the direction of the threads, not cross-thread, especially if you use a wire brush. No, that's not Jeremy's toothbrush!


Eeeeewwww...this is where the poop goes!!!


Once the threads are clean, you need to make sure the new cap will make a seal.


Brush the joint compound over the freshly cleaned threads.


Then insert the new cap. Be careful, make sure it is completely straight, and that it is threading properly. Then tighten it with your brand new monkey wrench. But not too tight, it's plastic, and not as sturdy as the brass one that you just threw away.


And that, boys and girls, is how to keep it from raining in your basement.

I suggest you get your own monkey wrench and joint compound and fix something at your house, too!!

Why Blog?

I'll share a little secret with you...I'm not that talented. I'm also not exceptionally smart. I know a lot of people smarter and more talented than me. I'm not wealthy and I don't have exceptional taste. But there are a couple of things I am. I am cheap. I am exceptionally picky. I am determined. This combination of traits gets me in trouble sometimes. Mainly it means that I can be in a store and upon seeing something that I want I immediately think "I wouldn't pay that for that!!" And that thought is almost immediately followed by "I could totally make that/build that/fix that myself." This usually ends well, but not before I have discovered that I have neither the skills, the tools, nor the knowledge necessary to build/make/fix what it is I am trying to do. Eventually, however, I figure it out and in most cases I still save money and don't hurt myself too badly.

For example, I wanted curtains for my house that coordinated not only with one another, but all the upholstered furniture in the house. I scoured home stores, I even priced custom curtains (I won't even write down the number I was quoted, since it hurts my head to see that many zeros). But in the end, I could not find anything I would deign to have in my house, much less pay the ridiculous price they were asking. My solution? Buy 75 yards of fabric, steal my mother's sewing machine and my dad's power tools and voila! Curtains for 32 windows. I also bruised my tailbone falling off the ladder, and melted the carpet trying to iron curtains on the floor, because the weight of them made my ironing board fall over.

I also wanted a dining room table. I wanted it to be black, and I wanted it to be very large scale, since I live in an old house with a huge formal dining room. BUT...I wanted it to be stained black, not painted. AND...I wanted to pay no more than two thousand dollars for the table and chairs. So, you can see where I might run into problems, trying to find a very large, very specific piece of furniture, with an extremely limited budget. My solution? I'll buy a table and chairs at an unfinished furniture store ($800.00 for the table, $120.00 apiece for the arm chairs, $90.00 for the side chairs, within my budget), then I'll refinish them myself! A perfect solution! Because they wouldn't sell all that stain and stuff if just anybody couldn't do it, right? It became clear that I was in over my head from the minute the delivery men left.

But did I learn my lesson? No, of course not. A mere 6 months after finishing my table and chairs, I could be found at the hardware store purchasing $2400.00 worth of lumber because I wanted to build a fence. Because they wouldn't rent gas-powered post-hole diggers if you needed any skill to use them, right? Two pulled muscles, multiple trips to the chiropractor, many many bruises, scrapes and cuts, and two months later I had a fence. I had also managed to completely alienate my younger brother, my neighbors on both sides, and destroyed a friend's reciprocating saw.

I also sew my own clothing because I don't like anything in the stores. Occasionally I have disastrous failures that I sneak into the trash after dark so no one else can see what it is I have done. But more often I get a custom-fit garment that garners plenty of compliments. And the best part? I don't have any special equipment. I have my grandmother's singer sewing machine and an iron. No steam table. No serger. No blindstitch machine. Just a regular old run-of-the-mill Singer sewing machine that you can pick up at any fabric store for under $300.00. In fact, every sewing accessory I have can be purchased at your local fabric store. If it was meant for me to have a serger, they wouldn't have put the one reputable store that sells them 23 miles from my house. I'm not going to the 'burbs for anything, especially a $1200.00 sewing machine.

So, back to my original point. I'm not that special. But, through trial and error I have learned how to do an incredible variety of things around the house that most normal people would hire someone to do. While putting myself through my self-imposed crash course in home renovation, repair, minor construction, home decor, sewing, and tailoring I have gained some skills. I have also saved an ass-load of money by doing things myself. But, I have also learned the wrong way to do some things, as well as recovered and done things the right way and that is the reason for this blog.

If I can do it, anyone can do it. Seriously. I am the prissiest, fussiest, hate-to-get-dirty girl in the world. This, combined with extreme clumsiness would seem to indicate that I have no business being around power tools, or even anything that heats up or is sharp. But I can do it. And you can, too! And I'll show you how. And you can laugh at my mistakes, and snicker when it looks like I'm in over my head, but in the end, if I can pull it off, so can you!