Sewing Tips

Tip #1:

One of my biggest gripes is puckery seams, you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones that show up after you wash a garment the first time. Whether it's "ready to wear" or a handmade beauty. Here's a tip that will help stop the puckers.

Prewash your fabric. Don't you just hate being told that all the time? Well ladies there's a reason to be told all the time...we don't do it. Even if the counter clerk assures you "this piece will never shrink"...prewash anyway.

As soon as you come home with your fabric goodies..don't put them in your sewing area...no, no, no, put them in your laundry room. Keeps you from cutting it up right away and gets it washed real fast. Open your fabric all the way up, get rid of that fold line. I even prewash my trims...just be sure and anchor them some way. Sometimes I put them in the lingerie bag.

Tip #2:

Another thing I don't like is giving up all my beautiful fabric color to the washing machine. So, I add the fabric towards the end of the wash cycle. See all that fuzz in your lint trap? That's your garment or fabric being torn apart one fiber at a time. Dry with the very minimum amount of time. Most of the time I put my handmade garments on a hanger and smooth them out with my hands. This saves ironing and keeps the dryer from eating my clothes.

Tip #3:

Here is one of my favorite "fixes". You dried your pants too long, and now they are too short. Groan. But don't despair, lots of that length can be brought back. Here's what you do. Wash or get wet, smooth out pants and stretch back the length. I usually stand on the hems and pull upward. Do not redry in the dryer. Keep pulling (but not to the point of snapping the seam threads). Pull at an angle, back and forth, side to side. If it means the difference between keeping them or giving them to the second hand store... pull like crazy. Let dry upside down...from the hems. Pin to a hanger.