Patterns, Techniques, Articles, Blogs, and other resources to learn how to sew
If you want to make a dress form that’s an exact copy of your own body, a duct tape dress form might be the way to go. They’re inexpensive to make and don’t require fussy measuring. Deby from So Sew Easy shows how she made a duct tape dress form of her own. Go to her blog for the tute.
[photo from So Sew Easy]
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]
I tried the it twice and both times I see the same thing that is happening in your picture. The bust on mine is not the same from side to side and the same is for the hips. Also, it’s impossible to work on and pin it because the glue gets stuck on the pins.
It’s really time consuming to make and mine didn’t work. I actually tried the dial dress forms to be able to match my measurements and shape, but again the my form expands evenly and creates holes as you expand it. I gain and lose weight all the time so I needed a dress form that would allow me to do that.
I looked into fabulous fit dress form and found out that they had a padding system that you can apply to your dress form. Their dress forms look great but I thought to just try the padding on my dial dress form first to save money, and to my surprise it worked like a charm.
I can pad up just a single area if gain weight in my stomach or all areas singularly. The fabulous fit padding system really works for me.