My Singer Sew Very Easy House Party

I’m a little obsessed with sewing. Given the smallest break in the conversation, I’ll talk your ear off about this style of little girl dress or that shape of a neckline, bias tape and foldover elastic, exposed zippers, and… Well, you get the point.

So when I was presented with an opportunity to host a Singer Sew Very Easy House Party and share my hobby with my friends, I jumped at the chance. These parties took place in houses all over the United States last weekend (May 6,7, and 8). The folks at Singer lent us a Confidence Stylist sewing machine for the night, as well as all the fabric we needed to make a simple project. How cool is that!

Everyone had a chance to sit down at the sewing machine and use it to create a roll-up organizer. Even though we all started with the same fabric and the same dimensions, everyone customized their organizers by changing up the pocket sizes. We made organiers for crochet hooks, crayons, notepads, you name it. Instead of using a ribbon to tie the organizers shut, we opted for a small loop of foldover elastic. (You knew I couldn’t make a project without working in some foldover elastic…)

Many of my guests hadn’t sewn since 7th grade Home Economics class. (Rarely is that a positive experience with sewing!) Others had learned to sew on their mother’s machine, but hadn’t sewn stitch in years. One of my guests was my 14-year-old niece.

I gave each person a quick run-through of how the machine worked, including this little pearl of wisdom, “It’s like a stapler, but with thread.” (I’m eloquent like that.)

After condensing everything they needed to know about a sewing machine in a 30 second introduction, we put the needle down into the fabric and started sewing. I watched as apprehension turned to confidence in just a matter of a few inches of stitches. At one point I was so busy helping with different projects at varying stages of completion that one of the guests started giving the machine explanations for me. Awesome!

I’d like to think that all of this confidence was the result of my superior teaching ability, but frankly I think the machine had a lot to do with it. The Singer Confidence Stylist stitched beautifully. It was easy to control and keep the seams straight. Stitches were consistent (no skips or tangles). “Wow!” I heard one friend say, “They’ve made huge improvements in the sewing machines! This is much nicer than my mom’s old machine!”

Guests left with a stack of goodies, including a couple of sewing patterns, some thread, a measurement card, and coupons for JoAnn fabric so they could stock up on the supplies for their new hobby. And of course everyone had a new handmade project to show off to their friends the next day. I have a feeling that there was more than one proud, “I made this!” uttered the next day.

Next Pattern:

I’m always tempted by the pretty velvets at the fabric store. So much texture! And the way the fibers catch the light! But sewing on velvet is trickier than you’d think. That nap that lends beautiful texture also likes to slip and crawl. That nap can also spell disaster if you cut a piece the wrong direction. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use buy that velvet and sew it into something gorgeous, you just need to go into your velvet sewing project prepared. And Melissa at Melly Sews has a post that takes you step by step through sewing on velvet.

Velvet is such a luscious fabric, especially for winter sewing projects. Of course there are velvet Christmas sewing projects – stockings, tree skirts, santa hats – but velvet is beautiful for all winter. Think of all the gorgeous velvet dresses, evening bags, hair accessories, even pillows and other home décor that you see all winter long.

Melly Sews’ post gives you the tips and tricks you need to know in order for your velvet sewing project to end up a success. There are types of projects better suited for velvets, and kinds of projects to avoid. She describes the different types of velvet available. And she also tells the best way to lay out and cut your pattern pieces from velvet fabric. Her tutorial also covers marking, pressing, and of course sewing that beautiful fabric. There’s also a video included in case that’s your preferred method for learning.

Head over to Melly Sews to learn how to sew on velvet fabric.

And if you want to learn more about that lovely blue velvet dress shown, she has a post that tells more about it including 2 ways to style it depending on if you want to be more dressy or more casual.

[photo credit: Melly Sews]

Next Pattern:

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