With another sunny day in London I cracked on with my next sewing project and am well pleased with my progress... I'll blog on this soon but as it is a gift for a good friend it'll have to be kept under wraps for a little while longer!
In my last bloggie I got to the point of pinning the pattern to the fabric. So, armed with fabric scissors I snipped out the pattern - slowly and carefully to make sure it was as accurate as possible. With the pattern still attached the fabric the darts needed to the drawn on. As I wanted a more vintage skirt, I put all the darts on the skirt - this gives it more shape and shows off those dangerous curves. This part is a little fiddly and takes patience - the best way to do this is to put a pin through the dart pattern (where the little circles are) all the way through to the pattern from the wrong side of the fabric. By putting the pin through you will be able to see where the dart goes and be able to mark with tailors chalk on the wrong side of the fabric. Once marked, remove the pins and join the tailors chalk together to make a 'V' shape. A great link to show this is called Accurate Darts without Permanent Mark posted on Thread Magazine website - link below. Do this for all darts.
Trying on for size |
Marking with chalk |
Overlocking bliss! |
Again, I learnt so much in a short amount of time. From cutting the fabric, marking darts, using overlockers and again that patience is crucial when learning something new. Next time I will look at sewing, facings and invisible zips!
Top tips:
- Equipment: Pattern, dress makers ruler (or a long ruler), hemming ruler, tape measure, scissors, tailors chalk, pins, overlocker (or a zig zag stitch) and a mirror to look at your garment under construction.
- Before going on, do try on what you have pinned. Be careful not to stab yourself when doing this but this will help to see how the skirt will fit and check the length
- If any alterations are made at this stage it is good to pin the pattern back on the fabric when cutting out the alterations. This will save time when you make the skirt next time as the measurements will all ready have been done!
- If you don't have an overlocker another way to tidy the edges is with a zig-zag stitch. Let on stitch go in the fabric and the other fall out of it so it catches the loose threads. This is good but won't work on all fabrics, so please check before trying!
- Patience!!!!!!!!!!
Useful websites/ blogs:
- Thread Magazine website - http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4513/video-accurate-darts-without-permanent-marks
- Tilly and the Buttons - http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2013/01/marking-cutting-fabric.html
Happy Overlocking x
Hey Amy, because I love your blog I have nominated you for a Liebster Award - go to my blog to find out what it is. xx
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