Hints & Tips

Archive for the ‘School Uniform’ Category

Some schools require all garments to be labelled, and even if they don’t it is worth while.  Clothing is expensive, and if someone decides they do like your childs clothes more than their own, it might just deter them from taking them if they are labelled.  Students that attend a boarding school must have their clothes labelled for laundrying purposes.

The labels can be purchased online and are cloth labels.  Use a white thread on the top and the colour of the garment on the bobbin.  For example the socks on the right are white, so I had a white thread in the bobbin.  Place the label up and down, rather than across the sock else it will stretch it.

The shorts on the left are actually French Navy so I had that colour in the bobbin.  Try and place labels so that they will not be annoying to the person wearing them, but visible to someone who may want to steal it.

Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

School blazers, golf club jackets, cricket club jackets and other sporting clubs may need pockets replaced on lined jackets.  The usual reason is that someone has been promoted to Captain or some other type of promotion.  It looks more difficult than it is.  You can sew around the outside, which will save you a lot of angst, however most jackets are sewn around the inside of the pocket.  Don’t sew over the lining.  Get into the jacket and sew only onto the outer fabric.  For both ladies and men’s jackets you can do this by unpicking the seam closed to the pocket for easy access.  If there is an inside pocket on the lining, open the seam between the inside facing and the lining.  Closing will be different for both ladies and men

 Unpick the old pocket.  If the new pocket has not been stitched around the outside or ironed flat then do this.  The seam allowance is about ½” or 1 cm.  Stitch in just under the seam allowance (not close to the edge)  If the pocket is curved at the corners do a gathering stitch and curve the corners, clipping up to the stitching so that they will sit properly.

 Iron the pocket seam allowances back.  Place the pocket in the correct position and draw around the pocket EXACTLY as it will sit.  The drawn line must be exactly where it is to be stitched.  Use a tailors pencil that will wipe off when you are finished.

 I start sewing at the top left hand side of the pocket (as I am looking at the pocket).  The pocket will be right side to the jacket and the seam will be lying so that your stitch line is over the ½” or 1 cm point and EXACTLY over the drawn line.  As you sew around the inside of the pocket you will have to fiddle with it, so that you can sew, but it’s really not that hard to do.

 DO NOT SEW IN TINY STITCHES.  Use a reasonable stitch length just under gather, because if you make a mistake you can unpick easily, and the pocket does not have to be on tight.

 The only thing you have to watch is that the tops are even.  Practice makes perfect they say, so if you want to practice use an old jacket and take the pocket off and put it back on again.  This will give you the idea of what needs to be done.

 When you have the pocket on, you need to stitch over the top of the pocket on the two top corners, so it doesn’t come undone.   I find an upside down triangle works well.  Sew across the top for about 3 stitches then turn and sew back to the side of the pocket then up to the top.

 Now you need to make it look like you were never there.  For ladies jackets unpick the opening in the lining of the sleeve.  It will more than likely be the left sleeve at the inside arm seam.  Pull the section that you opened near the pocket through this opening and sew together.  Then resew the lining opening at the inside arm of the sleeve.  For men, pull the lining out from the breast pocket.  Unpick the seam at the very bottom of the lining. Do not unpick the sides, just the bottom section.  Pull the section that is open where you sewed the pocket on through this opening.  Sew the section together.  Push back into the jacket and sew the bottom of the pocket together.  Just topstitch, it doesn’t need to be invisible, because no one looks inside their pocket.

 If there is no breast pocket in the lining, unpick a small section at the bottom of the jacket hem.  Pull the section through that you need to sew together, then hand stitch the lining back to the jacket at the hem.

  Happy sewing

 Judith aka genie

When it comes to shortening a young girls’ school uniform, most mums are nervous.  A lot of schools have length standards on their school uniforms.  To determine the correct length, kneel with spine straight.  Pin the uniform so it is just resting on the floor.   However there are also a lot of schools that do not have standards and any thing goes.  In this case it seems the shorter the better.

 If the uniform is going to be short, then make sure you check the length at the back of the skirt as well as the front.  Most girls will fold the hem up to the length they want (very short), at the front.  The problem is that their bottoms may be showing.

 Once the length is determined, measure from the floor up to the new finished length.  Move around to the back and measure up from the floor to the new finished length and fold the fabric up to this length and pin it in place.  Then follow the same procedure at each side seam.  Now stand in front of a full length mirror and have a look at the back as well as the front.

 Usually I find the front has to be lowered a little so that the bottom is covered.

 The other problem with going too short is the fact that it is difficult to put a 3” or 7.5 cm hem allowance for growth. 

 With the longer length uniform, you can easily put a larger hem allowance for growth.  Once you have cut off the excess, over lock the edge or sew ribbon over the cut edge of the hem allowance, and turn the garment inside out.

 Place it over the ironing board (inside out) and fold up the hem allowance and iron into place, pinning as you go.  Always line up the seams, and iron a tuck in the hem between seams.  Pin the hem.  Hand stitch, machine stitch or put a blind hem on the uniform to finish

 Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

This technique should be used on all trousers; however I am going to just cover large hems on children’s clothes, although the same principle applies when doing smaller hems…….

 Children have growth spurts, which mean putting a large hem on all their clothes makes a lot of sense.  School clothes in particular cost a lot of money, so it makes a lot of sense to leave a large hem.  The only problem our children have with large hems is that the other children can ridicule them because they have all this puckering happening around the hem line because the excessive hem allowance does not fit up into the trouser leg.  I am sure you have seen what I am talking about on children’s trousers, and also on adult’s trousers.   It looks unprofessional, and it is certainly not a great fashion statement.

So how do we leave a large hem without it looking puckered and ugly?

 Technique – I usually leave a 4” (10 cm) hem allowance.  By the time kids have grown 3” (1” for hem allowance) they have probably grown out of the waist anyway.  Pin the trousers on your child and fold the excess fabric up inside the trouser.  Place a double pin at the outside seam, on the outside of the trousers.  When you are preparing the trousers, measure the amount folded under from the original hem to the new folded hem (this is the amount folded under) Take the pins out and place the trouser legs side by side to make sure the manufacturer hasn’t given you a pair of trousers with one leg longer than the other.

 This is why I ALWAYS pin the right leg only. That way I know that the right leg is the correct length that I pinned.

 Using your chalk mark up the amount pinned under, then measure DOWN from that point by 4” (10cm) for the hem allowance.  Place three chalk marks at the front of the trousers (side,centre,side) and three at the back of the trousers.  DO NOT CUT UP TO THIS MARK.  Place a nick in the fabric on the BOTTOM chalk mark.  Cut all the way around.  This way if you want to add the fabric back on at a later date you can because it is still in one piece.

 Fold the hem allowance up on the outside to see how much needs to be opened in the seams for the hem allowance to sit flat on the inside.  Begin sewing on the inside from the new hem line (4” up from the cut edge) and sew out gradually to the over locking so that by the time you are at the cut edge, you are all the way out to the over locking.  Unpick the original seam.  Repeat on the opposite side if you need more fabric to be open. Fold the hem allowance up on the outside to see if it will fit into the trouser leg.

 If you find that it does not fit, you can do a little cheat.  But first if you have an over locker (serge) then now is the time to over lock.  If you don’t own an over locker, then sew some ribbon over the top of the cut edge so that the ribbon is overlapping only. 

 Turn the trousers inside out and pin the hem allowance up making sure to line up the outside and inside seams.  If you find that it is still not fitting, begin your hand stitching ½” or 1 cm from the FRONT CENTRE FOLD.  By this I mean you have a crease in the front and back of the trousers.  Sew all the way around to ½” or 1 cm from the FRONT CENTRE FOLD.  When you turn the trousers inside out, the front centre fold will still be there, but you will have a little gap on the inside.

 By sewing the trousers this way, your child will not feel silly with a big hem, because it should not pucker and look unfashionable.

 Happy sewing

Judith aka genie

I recently let down the hem on a pair of school pants.  When the pants were taken up originally, the mother pinned them on the child, and the child wanted them long, so she pinnd to the ground.  She took them to someone and asked for a large hem.  Which they did.  A 4″ hem to be precise.  The problem I encountered with the pants was that the bottom of the pant had dragged on the ground, so the fold of the hem was tattered and frayed.  So whilst there was a 4″ hem to let down, I had to bond and darn the tattered section of the pant. 

So the moral to this story is, always have the pant hem just off the ground so that when the large hem is let down as the child grows, the pants will not be frayed.

Happy Sewing

Judith aka genie