Gypsy Thread Tutorial: Sew Simple Fabric Envelopes

On Saturday, April 6th I participated in a fabulously fun event, the Demolicious Birthday Bash, celebrating the combined anniversaries of Tampa Upcycle and the Tampa Bay Etsy Crew. A dozen or so artisans and crafters in the Tampa Bay, FL area gathered together to offer hands on demos to the general public. I was so honored to be part of this gathering. For my demonstration I offered a quick learn-to-sew project suitable for all ages and sewing skill levels which I'd love to share with you now.

Sew Simple: Fabric Envelope Tutorial

Materials:

~ Fabric scraps of any kind, at least 8" long and 3" wide
~ Buttons, 1/2" wide or larger are easiest to work with
~ Thread, in a coordinating or contrasting color
~ Pinking Shears (those zig-zag, alligator-teeth scissors)
~ Straight Pins
~ Hand Sewing Needle

Top 5 Favorite Sewing Tools

Skipping right over the obvious needle, thread, and sewing machine, here some of my absolute, must-have, how did I live without, essential sewing tools:

My First Flower

Big news for me. Possibly mediocre news at best for you.

I finally tried making a certain type of flower embellishment and succeeded on my first attempt! Yay me! So proud of myself. What do you think? Perhaps a pretty something for a new purse?

Why have I waited so long to try out making these simple, melted petal beauties?

This one was made with a poly satin, scraps that I just couldn’t seem to throw away. (Great, like I need another reason to hold onto small pieces of fabric.)

And how did I do it, some may ask? Easy peasy. Here were some of my tools.

I traced two different size circles onto my scrap fabric. In this case these circles came from the top and bottom of the same kids’ cup. Then I very informally doubled/tripled over the fabric and cut out the less than perfect shapes.

Here’s the tricky part. It involves fire! Holding the edge of the fabric circle close to the flame of a small candle (tea candle in this instance) I watched for the fabric to begin melting, curling, and/or changing shape. If you hold the fabric too close, it will catch on fire – FYI. You only need the heat, not the flame. I did cut some burnt edges off and then re-melt those areas, but some edges I kept “crispy” on this off-white color because I liked it.

Once you have a bunch of circles properly melted, a process that prevents fraying as well, stack the “petals” starting with the largest, flattest one as your base. Arrange with the smallest circle on top. To hold these petals together you can choose to glue them or put a simple stitch or two through the center of the stack. I went with the thread and needle method. Super easy.

Centers of the flowers can be anything. You could continue to cut smaller fabric pieces and crinkle to your heart’s delight. Perhaps you want to sew in some beads or sequins. For me, a vintage earring with the back removed (reason for the pliers) worked great… glued in with that heavy duty glue stuff.

There are lots of sites and blogs with more detailed directions, options, and ideas if you’re looking for more info. Feel free to check out any or all of these:

Make It and Love It

I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Sister)

Squiggly Twigs Designs

Off to make some more beauties!

~Carey

I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pattern!

That’s it. Start the day off with a lie. Great policy.  Well, this isn’t the true beginning of my day so perhaps I’m safe? No, a lie is a sin regardless of the time it was told. I must confess… I do sometimes use patterns.

Sewing or crafting patterns are incredibly useful tools. Contrary to the belief of certain individuals (like my Mom who tries to sew) patterns are must-haves for beginners. They teach you so much! I like to have basic shapes on hand for whatever project I’m working on, whether just to refer to if I’m stumped or as a refresher course if I haven’t sewn a particular item in a while. With complex items, for me that means super tailored clothing, I always use patterns.  (Disclaimer – most of the time I do end up making stuff up as I go along, for better or worse.)

Wednesday’s shopping excursion to my favorite fabric mills included a great score on some basic patterns for only $1.99 each. (We’re talking orig prices of over $10. Jealous?) I’ve mentioned previously that prep work is ESSENTIAL for sewing productively. Or, in my case, essential to being a creative sewer. When everything’s ready to go I am free to just create. Roadblocks stink.

This morning, after my usual routines of taking care of the dog, making coffee, checking email, etc, I decided to open my new stash of patterns get them ready for eventual projects. Of course that means turning my dining room, er, my SEWING room into something resembling this:

Is this normal? Or am I alone?

If you were a fly on my wall you may have heard phrases muttered such as, “Now why is the piece to the blouse on the page with the pants?”, “Where is 13C? I found 13A. And why is there no mention of 13B anywhere? Why skip B?”, “Did I lose that tiny facing piece already?”, and the inevitable “How the He!! do I fold all of these up?”

Seriously, unfolding those pieces of tissue are hard enough. Then you’re expected to cut them apart without tearing or cutting through anything. Um, yeah… realistic. Today I did manage to dismantle and reassemble 5 pattern sets in about 30 min without destroying anything. Yes, I’m impressed too.

After scratching my head a few times and trying to refold the various bits and pieces, this is how I like to store my tissue patterns… because we all know they’re never going t fold up nicely and fit inside that envelope… which probably got ripped anyway…

Resealable plastic bags are the BEST! Love!

(And why does “resealable” come up as misspelled in spell check? How am I supposed to spell it?)

For .pdf pattern files downloaded from various sources I usually print and assemble the paper versions as templates, keeping them all in a manila file folder. Then (the redundant step) I trace tissue copies of each piece, cut those out, and store them in the same manila folder. Why? First, it’s easier to pin tissue than regular printer paper. Second, I like to be able to see fabric through the pattern pieces. You know, for lining up decorative stuff. Third, I’m just crazy like that.

How do you store your patterns?

Are you crazy like me dismantling ahead of time, or do you cut as needed?

Any tips or tricks for keeping tissue patterns for multiple uses, especially when working with different sizes of clothing?

I’d love to hear your crazy (or boring, sane) thoughts!

~ Carey

PS – Regarding free patterns you can find and download online, I know it’s very tempting to just use someone else’s pattern for resale purposes even if they have a posted disclaimer advising otherwise. Please remember that someone else used their time and energy to create these helpful tools for you. These same people then offered their knowledge to you for FREE! In most cases you can buy patterns with a license to sell on a small scale for under $10, or you can contact the designer directly to work out an individual plan. If you’re going to profit from someone else’s hard work, you can at least throw them a couple of bucks and mention their name, right? <stepping off my soapbox>

Back to the Basics

Years have gone by since I took my one and only sewing course. It was part of Mrs. Crabtree’s Jr High School Home Economics class. We also learned how to bake a cake and set a table. The basic living essentials, right? For extra credit I figured out how to trade chores with my classmates; I’d cook, they’d clean. Of course poor Mrs. Crabtree was mostly deaf and needed help picking out decorative pillows for her own home, but she made me her friend when trying to introduce the class to something “new”, brie. (Not new to my home at all. LOVE.)

Now that I’m making an attempt to sew or create or design almost every day, some of those basic fundamentals of sewing are fresh in my mind. For practical sewing purposes the list has been tweaked a bit for the purpose of sewing in my dining room vs. a public school setting. Luckily I haven’t had to re-learn any of these simple things, but reviewing a mental checklist regularly, to ensure these behaviors become habit, is a must.

Prep work is so important. From making sure you have all of your notions and fabrics matched up to pattern/fabric layout, the more you put into prepping your sewing creation the easier it’ll be to assemble. My soapboxes include:

 ~  Iron everything out. Washed, not washed, just iron before you cut. Please! If it’s a big piece of fabric, say 3+ yards of 60” wide stuff, you can get away with just ironing a little more than the portion you need. After cutting from a big piece, do consider giving the fabric a touch-up so that everything lies flat when you go to assemble. And when a pattern suggests that you iron a seam, just do it. Things look so much more professional and well made when pressed.

Because I work with lots of remnants and vintage pieces I’m often guessing what the fabric is made of. I really want those wrinkles out, but I don’t want to scorch (or worse, melt) anything. As long as you’re paying close attention to how your fabric is behaving with your iron you’ll be able to adjust your settings and get the results you need.

 ~ When in doubt, pin. Then pin some more. You really can’t pin too much. The fabric is going to shift. It will. Then you’ll be sorry. Especially pay attention to curves and special areas that need to be matched. Armholes and collars are so important. And pins are cheap! If you hate to pin, go ahead and splurge and buy yourself some fancy pins with colored and/or decorative heads. Make it fun. Those bright colors will help keep you from sewing over the top of them too.

~Then there’s organization. The “O” word is a big one, particularly for those who do not have a designated crafting, sewing, special place to leave their goodies in permanently. My work zone ends up occupying the entire dining room. Unless you have the funds to go out and spend money on cute, matching organizational sets, feel free to get creative. Some cosmetic supplies come in sturdy containers with lids. Plastic strawberry and/or mushroom containers make good drawer organizers (plus it’s a very Green option.) Decorate old shoe boxes if it’ll make you more likely to use them. Carts with wheels are great for moving your stash from room to room or closet.

 ~ If you’re unfamiliar with something, take the time to read about it, understand it. Whether it’s a new sewing machine or pattern you’ve never attempted before, understanding how it works will both ease any worries you may have and help correct any snafus that may (and often do) pop up. Who wants to continue to work on a project that frustrates them? That’s not fun, that’s a chore!

Don’t forget to give your sewing machine some TLC
… or at least remember the three C’s:
Clean the gunk out of the bobbin area under the plate regularly, especially during and after projects with fleece, fur, felt, and burlap.
Change the sewing needle regularly, especially when done with upholstery fabrics or before silks and chiffons. Some suggest changing the needle after every project. (I’m not that good.)
Cover your machine when not in use. If you have a storage cabinet to put it away in, great, but still use a cover to deter dust, hair, small children’s messes, animals, etc. from dirtying up your baby. It’ll save you precious prep time later.

With just a little bit of thought and planning the hassles of maintaining your creative environment become minimal. Well, that’s assuming you don’t have a toddler pulling items off of your table or a cat who likes to make a nest of your fabrics. Perhaps we can deal with live roadblocks in another blog.

I’d love to hear about your own basic Do’s and Don’ts. Maybe it’ll remind me of something I’m forgetting to do, or doing wrong.

~ Carey
Head Gypsy