#sewing tips

but you know what i *do* enjoy doing, *especially* if i don't fucking feel like making a single-fold bias tape?

fucking finishing the inside of sleeves with lace tape instead of bias tape.

so instead of having something like this on the inside of a sleeve

I take a lace tape that's as thin and flat as possible, like this

and i sew it to the right side, flip it inside, then sew it down.

this way, i get to enjoy collecting, touching, wearing, and loving lace, but it's just on the inside of my clothes.

Left - My drawing of (loosely) what I have in my head. This isn't a serious drawing it's just brainstorming and the most basic idea of what I want to do.

Right - A moodboard to better illustrate what vibe I have in mind. Again, basic concept. We're thinking Green Witch, Hippie, Y2K, Grunge, etc etc. You get it. The vision is there.

I want to re-post this post with any progress I make, plus, it will probably be on my TikTok; 0rphan-source. (It's a zero, not O. Zero-rphan. 0 not O. Sorry for being confusing ( ╥ ㅅ ╥ )) Yes, I will use my nuclear nick name everywhere I can. If you know, you know.

Sewing machine needles come in a variety of sizes and types and many of the problems I see online are caused by using the wrong needle type. 

Generally when you buy a machine it comes with universal needles in the box. Universal is a misnomer. They are very useful on a wide variety of woven fabrics. Universal needles in a size 12 are what I use for anything that is a medium weight woven. 

Jeans needles are for heavy fabrics like denim and canvas. Generally I go up to a 14 or 16 in a jeans needle. 

Microtex needles are super sharp. They are excellent for woven fabrics that are delicate, snag easily, or are tightly woven. I use them on silks, satin, and cotton poplins. When all else fails on a fabric, try a microtex. Microtex come in larger sizes and can be used on heavy fabrics. Microtex needles need replaced more frequently than other needle types. 

Ballpoint or Jersey needles are the same thing, usually they are labeled as ballpoint in the US and Jersey elsewhere. Ballpoint needles are appropriate for stable knits such as cotton jersey with no or minimal stretch fibers added. 

Stretch needles are similar to ballpoint needles in the sense that they are for knit fabrics. Stretch needles are intended for fabrics with a higher stretch fiber percentage and in addition to that they work well on more stable knits. They are what I keep in stock for working with the widest variety of knit fabrics. I usually buy 11 or 12 in stretch needles. 

Super stretch are for super stretchy problem child knits, I have not tried these as they are relatively new on the market but I will be picking up a pack before I make swimwear again. 

In addition to the types above there are a great many other needles with specific uses. Within each type there is a range of sizes and the needle size should be chosen to match your fabric and thread. 

Needles are consumables and will become gradually dull as you sew. The rule of thumb is that you need to replace after roughly 8 hours of run time. If you have been using a needle for a while and things start to go wrong or the machine sound changes, the first step on troubleshooting is a new needle. Old needles can damage your fabric and are more likely to break. 

I also want to advise against buying off brand needles and included in that category are Singer branded needles. I personally only buy schmetz and organ brand needles and I buy exclusively off wawak.com (US and Canada only). 

Schmetz has a good guide to machine needle types. https://www.schmetzneedles.com/pages/sewing-machine-needle-chart

Wawak also has a guide on matching thread tex size to needles

https://blog.wawak.com/post/sewing-machine-needle-and-thread-size-chart

If you do a lot of seam ripping, THIS GUY is a fuckin game changer. :O!!!

When you're quilting you often find that you need to get your fabrics really mixed up and many a quilter spends a lot of time really over thinking the process. I have a method for mixing things up into random or nearly random order that works well for me.

Step 1: get a basket, or bin, or box, even a big bowl. You need enough room you can get all your pieces in there and really shake them up. And shake them up is what you're going to do. Reach in and stir, fabric cut together likes to stick to itself so gently fluff it all. Don't stress too much over it at this point, this is only step 1.

Step 2: dump your pieces onto a table and start dealing them out like cards. The key here is having a number that doesn't match the number you cut in each fabric. For this quilt I have 6 of each of these pieces in each color. So I chose a number of piles that wasn't 6, OR divisible by 6.

Step 3: do it again but in a different number of piles. Keep repeating this process until things feel well mixed, at least twice. For this quilt it doesn't matter at this stage if I have two of the same color stacked on top of each other, in a quilt where I'm not combining with other blocks that will also be shuffled I might make sure that I don't set the same color on top of itself while I'm doing the process.

French seams are a way to make a fully enclosed seam on a woven fabric. They are especially good for fabrics that tend to fray and sheer fabrics. They do not work well on stretch fabrics, bulky fabrics, and tight corners and curves.

For this example my seam allowance is 5/8 inch (1.5cm). French seams are easy to do on this seam allowance and 1/2" (12mm), it is possible but fiddly on a 3/8" (10mm) seam allowance. For anything smaller I highly recommend adding more allowance to your pattern pieces.

Step 1 is to sew the seam WRONG SIDES TOGETHER at 3/8". Please ignore that my fabric is shifty and therefore this looks wonky. It is wonky, but that's because rayon sucks.

Step 2 trim down the allowance by roughly half. You need this to be less than the allowance for the next step. If you do not trim you will have bits sticking out of your final seam.

Step 3 is to press your seam flat, and then turn the fabric to be RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER and press again. I find I get the cleanest seam when I use my fingers to roll and smooth the seam to get that seamline right on the edge.

Step 4 is to sew a second seam 1/4" from the edge of the fabric, fully enclosing the raw edge inside the two seams.

The final step is to press your seam to one side. I usually press towards the back of the garment but if you are also using french seams for the side seams it is helpful to press the side seams to the back and the sleeves towards the back.