Hints & Tips

Archive for the ‘Hints Tips and Ideas’ Category

Altering clothes takes time, and one of the more frustrating aspects can be unpicking seams.  But there is an easy way to unpick and a hard way.  I have created a video on unpicking the four most common seams for clothing alterations.

1. Blind hem – How often do these hems fall down when you don’t want them to, but when it comes to unpicking one they seem to lock up!  If trousers are going up one hem or less  the hem needs to be dropped, which means unpicking the existing hem.  Learn how to unpick the blind hem in a snap!
2. Chain stitch – Can be found on most garments, particularly jeans.  If the centre back of jeans if being taken in, and the centre back is a flat felt seam or french seam, it should be converted to a normal stitch and overlock, but that means the chain stitch should be unpicked.  There is a right way and a wrong way to unravel the chain stitch
3. Coverstitch – There are a few varieties of coverstitch.  I have shown you the standard two stitch one.  Like the chain stitch there is a right way and a wrong way to unravel the coverstitch.
4. Overlocking – Depending on the fabric overlocking can be easy to unpick or a challenge.  In this video I have shown how to unpick so that the overlock pulls away without leaving any mess behind.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Happy altering

Judith aka genie

There are ways to sew a button on by hand using a needle and thread, but the other method is to use your machine.  I remember the first time I tried.  I had made a lot of shirts for a client and had so many buttons to sew on, that I thought “why not use the machine”.  So there was a bit of trial and error, but the biggest help was the sewing machine foot I used.  Now I know that I am getting on in years, and maybe there is a better way, but initially I used my Silver standard sewing machine foot, and the button slipped, so I thought why not use my button hole foot.  I did not have a button foot at the time, and still do not have one (if there is such a beast for my machine).  Anyway this foot held the button in place and worked a treat.

Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

Ironing is a major part of any clothing alteration, because when you take in the sides, you will want the seam to sit flat, and because you have been handling the garment it can get creased.  Sometimes when you steam a garment the creases don’t come out.  The reason is usually because you are continually steaming.  Try this exercise –

1.  Iron in a forward motion with the steam button pressed so you are steaming the garment.

2.  Stop ironing forward and steaming, and just move the iron back over the area you just steamed.  There must be no steam.

Conclusion – The fabric should be crease free

Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

There is a product on the market called Dust Away. It is flammable gas in a can and has a long plastic tube which is inserted into the noozle.  Its great for getting into areas of your sewing machine that you cant get into, like under the bobbin.  Cleaning your Over locker will be so easy using this stuff.  I am going to give you the website and you can have a look at where your nearest distributor is – www.helmar.com.au and go to  Products then at the bottom is “Where to get our products”.  I buy mine at a computer shop, because its used to get into nooks and crannies in computers.

Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

Any form of sewing requires a lot of ironing.  There are some great irons out there, but they will all need cleaning at some point.  Even if you use a shield to protect the fabric, the holes in the base of the iron will become plugged with residential minerals from the water you use.

Cleaning these holes can be difficult, but I found that ear buds worked the best.  You can buy an iron cleaner at most supermarkets or fabric stores, and all you do it pop a small amount on the bud and twirl it in the holes at the base of the iron.
 
Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

I was talking to a lady the other day and she told me about how her mum did sewing at home to provide a home and food for her children in the Great Depression.  Sewing for a living can be tough if you work in a factory environment.  These days you don’t have to go to those lengths.  Starting up a small clothing alteration shop can be very rewarding, or doing some extra sewing at home for people can help give you a little extra income.

 It’s honest work, and can be very rewarding if you are a professional and provide quality workmanship.

 The beauty about doing clothing alterations for a living is that it is in demand whether there are good times or bad.  It does not matter whether we are in a recession, depression or boom times, people need to buy clothes, and they need to have them shortened, taken in, let out and/or any other number of things.  Also a lot of people will hold on to their clothes and if they need repairing they will take them to someone who does clothing alterations.

 Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie

I think one of the reasons some clothing alterations look bad is because the person was in a hurry and didn’t take time to make sure they did the clothing alteration with care.  Time is very important, because if you are running your own business you need to work on an hourly rate, and that means you have to work to a time frame.  For example if you quote a person $10.00 to do a repair and that repair takes you one hour to do, then you are earning $10 per hour, which in my opinion is not a good rate.  Having said that, you must always try and do your clothing alterations in a professional manner and don’t sacrifice quality workmanship for speed.  There is a balance.  As you perform more alterations your speed will improve.

 Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie

Whether you are doing clothing alterations for just yourself and family or whether you are doing clothing alterations as a business, always save your off cuts.  Place them in a container or a plastic bag and store them.  If you are doing it as a business, place them in a plastic bag on a regular basis and write the date on the outside of the plastic bag.  I used to place my off cuts into a plastic bag each week and put “weekending …/…./…. (day/month/year) on the bag.  Then pop the bag away.  There are a number of reasons to do this.

1.  If you make a mistake on cutting something too short you can use the off cut as a false hem
2. You may have someone who wants a false hem and you can use the off cuts for that
3. You may need some fabric for a repair and you may find something in your off cuts.

 Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie

If you are a master of button holes you will understand what I am saying, but for those of you who are scared of the dreaded button hole please read on.  Most modern sewing machines have an automatic button holer, (I don’t think there’s a real word for button holer!!!) but the old machines don’t.  The trick with button holes is practice, practice, practice.

 No other words for it.  A couple of tips though.  Keep the zig zag open, not tight.  Set the straight stitch dial between .5 and 1 on most machines.  I a not talking about the zig zag width I am talking about the openness of the zig zag between each zig and zag.  The zig zag width will be determined by the size of the button.  A standard size would be around 4 on the zig zag

 It you are using a stretch fabric, stabilize the buttonhole using interfacing in between the fabric.

 Just practice, and if you have the button hole with the above details, even if you make a mistake you can unpick the button hole easily.  If you have the button hole very tight it will be hard to unpick and that is where you run into problems. 

 Until you cut the button hole you can unpick it as many times as you like.  Always unpick from the wrong side, so if you do slip and cut the fabric, (which you won’t of course) then you have not done any major damage.

 Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie

There will be times when you can’t find something in the normal haberdashery shops.  When this happens, go visit your local second hand shops.  For example, I had a gentleman come in with a dinner jacket and he had lost some of the buttons.  It was an old jacket, and he wanted the old shank buttons on it.  I went to the local second hand shop and purchased a dinner jacket for $5.00.  It had exactly the type of buttons he wanted.

 Another time, I had to replace a zipper in a jacket, and I couldn’t find one from my local supplier.  I found the perfect zipper from a garment in the second hand shop. 

 Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie