Sewing Tip - Cutting Slippery Fabrics

A few tips on cutting fabric...

When cutting fabric, don't close your scissors all the way to the tips. You will be more likely to get jags and pulls in the fabric if you do. Close them about 90 percent of the way, open, slide forward and keep going without closing all the way to the tips.

Cutting fabric in a straight line isn't as easy as you might think.

• Try marking a line on your fabric using a fabric marker and a yard stick.
• For loosely woven fabrics, try pulling a thread out of the fabric with a pin. When it's out, it will leave you a visible line that you can use as a guide for cutting.
• For tightly woven fabrics, make a small cut in the selvage of the fabric. Tear the fabric, then clean up the line buy cutting a half-inch to an inch away from the torn edge. If the fabric doesn't want to tear, don't force it. You may damage the fabric or destroy its grain.

Cutting slippery, slithery fabric such as rayon challis or silk georgette can be a big challenge. Try sandwiching your fabric between tissue paper and the pattern pieces. Pin through all layers, then cut your fabric. Leave the fabric sandwiched between the layers until you're ready to sew.

Another method for cutting slippery fabrics is to iron the fabric to the waxy side of freezer paper before cutting. Experiment with scraps first to make sure the wax won't damage the fabric. Slippery fabrics are often made with synthetic fibers that will melt if ironed at a high temperature.

If only sewing slippery fabrics were that easy!

No Stretch Spaghetti Straps!

Spaghetti straps that stretch out can be a serious (and seriously embarrassing) problem. To keep the straps on your new summer creation from stretching out, use this simple technique...

Create your straps the way you normally would. Before you attach them to the dress, feed a length of nylon drapery cording or other thin nylon cord through the strap. Make a few stitches at each end of the strap to keep the cording in place. Stitch the straps in place on your garment.

It's that easy. You'll never have to worry about stretched out straps again! This method also makes your straps very strong.

Tips:

• Be sure to use nylon cording or cording made from some other synthetic material. Cording made out of a natural fiber like cotton could stretch when worn or shrink when washed. Drapery cording is a great choice.

• We've all encountered annoying straps that constantly slide down our shoulders. When attaching the straps to your garment, make sure that the straps are closer to each other in the back than they are in the front. If the space between them is the same as the space in the front, they will be more likely to slide. Criss-crossing the straps in back is an even better choice and can add a charming detail to your creation!

• Use a loop turner to feed the cording through your strap. A blunt plastic needle works great too. You can usually find them in the knitting department of a craft store.

Sewing Tip - Make Your Thread Rack Work Overtime!

So I bought a thread rack one day, with dreams of organized perfection. I envisioned all of my thread spools lined up so neatly, laid out with all of the colors in rainbow order. I thought of all of my poor little spools, stuffed in boxes and bags, all tangled up together. I was so excited about getting them all organized. I was so happy that I'd never have to search through all of those boxes and bags to find just the right color. I'd never have to search for that color, only to realize I didn't actually have it, ever again.

I grabbed my hammer as soon as I got home and hung my fabulous new rack on the wall. I grabbed all of my boxes and bags of tangled up spools and started sorting my colors. It was then that I realized my mistake... My fabulous new rack only held fifty spools! I looked at all of my spools and realized I had a least five times that amount. I'd need a wall of racks to accommodate them. In my little apartment, a wall of racks was impossible. I was so disappointed!

I was having lunch with a friend the next day when the solution came to me. I looked at the straw in my glass and got a great idea. If the dowel rods on my thread rack were longer, I could fit more spools on them!

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home and bought a box of straws. I cut them down to six-inch lengths and put them over the rods on my new thread rack. I tried placing some spools on them. I could put two or three spools on each dowel with their matching bobbins between them. I took the spools back off and the straw came with it. Oh no! I whipped out my handy glue gun and glued the ends of the straws down to the bottom of the dowel rods. Problem solved!

I still had a few spools left over, but most of my supply fit on the rack. The rack didn't quite match the vision of perfection I had when I bought it, but it's close enough for me!

Sewing Tip - Clear Tubing Bobbin Wraps

If you throw you bobbins into your sewing basket, eventually they become a tangled mess. To keep your bobbins from unwinding, do what I do... wrap your bobbins in slices of clear tubing!

The tubing I use can be purchased from any hardware store or home improvement center. One foot of 5/8" size tubing will be enough to wrap more than 40 bobbins. Measure the space between the top and bottom discs of your bobbin to determine how thick to cut the slices. My bobbins are less than a quarter inch wide. Slice the tubing open lengthwise. Then take a sharp pair of scissors and cut slices off of the end of tubing. You'll wind up with C-shaped slices of tubing that you can wrap around your bobbins. Other kinds of tubing will work, but I prefer clear because it allows me to see what color thread is on the bobbin.

These bobbin wraps are inexpensive, easy to make and will keep you bobbins neat and tidy. No more tangled mess!

New Blog!!!

So I started a thread on ETSY last night and everyone who contributed to the thread encouraged me to write a blog! I shared a lot of tips and tricks for sewing and gave advice on other ETSY member's sewing problems. I hope to share many more tips and project ideas in the future.

I also hope to have some guests here. I'd love to have my customers write tutorials about projects they made using items they bought in my store.

So please bear with me. I'm new to blogging and don't really know what I'm doing yet. I just hope I can come up with something useful and entertaining for my followers to read!

In the meantime, please check out my ETSY shop, Lillian Olive, for vintage buttons, jewelry supplies and lots of other crafting goodies!