Patterns, Techniques, Articles, Blogs, and other resources to learn how to sew
With all of the gorgeous quilting cottons out there, it’s easy to forget that there are actually other types of fabric you might want to use for a sewing project. Particularly for garments, where weight and drape and feel are just as important as the color and design printed on them. Rae from Made By Rae tells her five favorite fabrics for sewing clothes – and not one of them is a quilting cotton. Go there to see what they are. What are your faves?
[photo from Made By Rae]
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]
Loved reading about the fabric choices for clothing. Never had I thought about the dbl gauze as anything other than “summer dress and window coverings”, before…but now, eyes wide open and will definitely take a look see next time I hit Fabricland. I am Canadian.
The voile and lawn fabrics have always been of interest to me and I used to love wearing rayon’s; just hated what happened to them after they were washed and became a ball of wrinkles. I’m sure new technologies and manufacturing has created better, wrinkle resistant beauties to try once again; just NOT ALL HAWAIIAN prints.