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Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear
V-fold? Vat does this meeeean? (seriously, I'm bad at knowing real sewing terms)

I sewed it on the right-side edge, then flopped it over and tucked it under on the inside of the rim and slip-stitched it. So it's folded under on both sides?

It's a bulky trim though, dunno if you want that effect.

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Cuddlebottom
Feb 17, 2004

Butt dance.
I'm working on sewing a pair of men's gloves (using information mostly from http://www.vintagesewing.info/1950s/50-hmg/hmg-toc.html), but I'm not sure what do pick for fabric once I have a working pattern. I imagine the best option would be leather, but while I can sew decently, I've heard leather is a nightmare and should be avoided unless you're more of an expert. What other nice fabrics could I use for a project like this - maybe something weather proof? :confused: Or should I suck it up and buy some leather?

4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....

Cuddlebottom posted:

I'm working on sewing a pair of men's gloves (using information mostly from http://www.vintagesewing.info/1950s/50-hmg/hmg-toc.html), but I'm not sure what do pick for fabric once I have a working pattern. I imagine the best option would be leather, but while I can sew decently, I've heard leather is a nightmare and should be avoided unless you're more of an expert. What other nice fabrics could I use for a project like this - maybe something weather proof? :confused: Or should I suck it up and buy some leather?

leather isn't that hard to sew, you just need to make sure you have a leather needle in your machine and a teflon foot

Cuddlebottom
Feb 17, 2004

Butt dance.

4R7 THi3F posted:

leather isn't that hard to sew, you just need to make sure you have a leather needle in your machine and a teflon foot
I'm working by hand since it's going to be so small and fiddly; will I need to pick up a special needle for that?

Dr Hemulen
Jan 25, 2003

Does anybody know of a good pattern for men's cargo/combat pants? I'm getting a small home machine and want a good project to start on :)
Also, some kind of dictionary of sewing terms? Right now, I know a mishmash of Danish and English terms that may and may not overlap, and it's really confusing :(

DawntoDust
Dec 11, 2006

Glory is Fleeting,
Obscurity is Forever

Cuddlebottom posted:

I'm working by hand since it's going to be so small and fiddly; will I need to pick up a special needle for that?

There's actually "glover's needles" which are handy cause they have long thread loops so you can use sinew or waxed leather-working thread for making the gloves look old and hand-made in a good way. Tandy's Leather Company (if there's one nearby you) sells little packs with like 5 different hand-sewing needles, plus like everything else for leather-working you can imagine.

If you're just going to do regular nylon/whatever thread by hand, all you need is the sharpest needle you've got, and a willingness to sacrifice it to the leather.

Good luck.

Cuddlebottom
Feb 17, 2004

Butt dance.

DawntoDust posted:

There's actually "glover's needles" which are handy cause they have long thread loops so you can use sinew or waxed leather-working thread for making the gloves look old and hand-made in a good way. Tandy's Leather Company (if there's one nearby you) sells little packs with like 5 different hand-sewing needles, plus like everything else for leather-working you can imagine.

If you're just going to do regular nylon/whatever thread by hand, all you need is the sharpest needle you've got, and a willingness to sacrifice it to the leather.

Good luck.
Thank you for the good suggestion - I'll try and hunt down a Danby's... If this weird custom glove pattern system works, I'll post it. :)

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
I finally finished something (well, almost - it's not bound yet). Made for someone else who has much different taste in colors than I do. First attempt at using a longarm quilting machine.





4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....

handbags at dawn posted:

I finally finished something (well, almost - it's not bound yet). Made for someone else who has much different taste in colors than I do. First attempt at using a longarm quilting machine.







beautiful!

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
Thank you, I liked the effect of the pattern but not a fan of that color scheme. Might do it again with bright batiks. :)

stars
Jun 11, 2008
I have sewn a buttload of clothes lately. I am putting myself on probation- no clothes for me until I'm done all the Christmas crafting. Well. I might make myself a Christmas dress, but that's it! (My hosting!)
Blue silk satin dress with peacock feather print silk brocade, made for a friend's wedding.


Teal silk blouse with peakcock brocade trim. I bought the brocade in Chinatown- 1/2 a yard for 30.00, yikes!

[imghttp://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss247/greenswizzle/IMG_6326.jpg[/img]
Silk twill gray skirt, worn with modified tees. I dyed this one blue (it was pink) and added a freezer paper stencil. Then, I painted some more with freezer paper backing. The rest were done the same way.

Owl top, with circular knit skirt made of medium grey cotton jersey:

Black brocade with a self fabric belt from a 1950's pattern. Wore this to the theater with a purple scarf I dyed.


I look pissed off in most of these photos- I have a lovely camera, and had the hardest time getting halfway decent photos.

stars fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Nov 14, 2009

Ma_NiC
Mar 6, 2004
That blue silk dress is absolutely gorgeous! Man, I really need to learn how to use my sewing machine for something other than pillows and curtains.

nolen
Apr 4, 2004

butts.
I finished my second-ever sewing project.



It's an owl pillow for the lady, who conveniently LOVES owls. I can't wait to surprise her with it tomorrow.


After hand stitching two projects now, I think I'm going to invest in a machine. It definitely would have made this guy go much much much faster.

Viet Timh
Apr 16, 2009

HardCoil posted:

Does anybody know of a good pattern for men's cargo/combat pants? I'm getting a small home machine and want a good project to start on :)
Also, some kind of dictionary of sewing terms? Right now, I know a mishmash of Danish and English terms that may and may not overlap, and it's really confusing :(

I'd give you mine, but it's just a pair of old cargo pants I really liked that I took apart to use as a pattern. So I don't think that will help. But the first pair of cargo pants I ever made were from, I believe, a Simplicity patten. They're usually pretty easy, though I'm not sure if Simplicity is available in Denmark (I'm assuming from your post that's where you are). Either way you can order them from their website.

I do suggest instead of throwing garments out when they get worn out, pull out the stitching and you've got yourself a pattern. Sometimes you may have to adjust for stretching in the fabric, but they last longer than paper patterns.

As for terminology, I wish I could help, but I've been sowing for almost twenty years and still have no idea what half the terms mean.

combee
Nov 17, 2007

it's the combee's knees!
..

combee fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jul 23, 2013

Jumpsuit
Jan 1, 2007

I made one earlier this year - you do need a ton of tulle, several metres at least, and a few metres of white feather boa. I just sewed everything onto a wide elastic waistband and cut the tulle into varying lengths and widths so it'd puff out nicely. I wore a white singlet underneath and made the swan head/neck out of a stuffed white stocking. Fairly ghetto, but it looked OK in the end.

This may be a long shot, but I want to attempt making one of these:


Yep, a Beyonce robot hand. I have absolutely no experience with metalwork and no idea where to start - can anyone think of any easy/dodgy ways to make a vague lookalike?

Dr Hemulen
Jan 25, 2003

Viet Timh posted:

I'm not sure if Simplicity is available in Denmark (I'm assuming from your post that's where you are). Either way you can order them from their website.

Cool, thanks!

Jumpsuit
Jan 1, 2007

Cardboard and sticky tape ftw:

Relativistic
Mar 26, 2003

by Y Kant Ozma Post
Does anyone know the best place the get fabric fur in various colors online? I need to make a stuffed penguin and a frog. I was going to mostly wing it by making a lot of mock-ups, but if anyone knows of any good resources about drafting your own stuffed animal patterns, that would be great, too.

nolen
Apr 4, 2004

butts.

Relativistic posted:

Does anyone know the best place the get fabric fur in various colors online? I need to make a stuffed penguin and a frog. I was going to mostly wing it by making a lot of mock-ups, but if anyone knows of any good resources about drafting your own stuffed animal patterns, that would be great, too.

I made my patterns for the squid (posted on the last page) and the owl (posted above) out on paper first and faux-assembled the paper cutouts to get a rough idea of the shape. The squid is only made from three pieces.

Any papercraft websites could give you some starting places though, depending on the complexity.

Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear
I love that gauntlet, Jumpsuit! I wanna make one...in leatha. Or wool maybe!

Workin' on some more shoes. Except I did it mostly right, this time, despite not owning any of the tools that you really ought to. Tried a Norwegian welt, so I didn't have to go through another layer of leather.


My pieces and assortment of terrible tools. I already carved out the sole at this point.

Two carved and hole-punched soles. Do not use floor-tile hardness leather for soles, and don't try and carve it with an X-acto. Learn from my pain.

Also, you should probably have a shoe last, but I didn't, so I did the best I could without.


Getting the upper on the innersole.


Sewing the 'welt' (actually part of the upper, turned out) to the outer sole.
Trying it on as I was sewing the welt.


Since then, I've attached the bottom sole, trimmed it up, and dyed it black...on one foot, still working on the other! Here, have this awful iPhoto shot of it now:

Please note that 'double flannel' is only being worn today to show that I am 'double lazy.' Also check out my studio mate and her fat-person-coke-bottle.

seriouslywtf
Jul 10, 2003

Seriously. WTF?

combee posted:

I want to make the infamous Bjork swan dress for a party:


Click here for the full 453x604 image.

That is the cutest loving thing I have ever seen.

Nettles Coterie
Dec 24, 2008

Play in the Dark, lest the Heat catch you standing still

Goldaline posted:

Shoes

Aw hell, that is so cool! God dammit stop making me jealous, I can't afford to take up any more crafty hobbies. I love shoes so much, though...

Anyways, I got some new knits and it's my day off so I've decided I'm gonna sit around sewing all loving day instead of going to see my boyfriend. I'm not sure if that's awesome or just sad.

CutiePie
Apr 29, 2009
I'm thinking of picking up sewing and making my own clothes.

I have no idea what sewing machine to buy. I'm thinking of getting singer 8280 or one of the brother for similar prices. I have never use a sewing machine before but I'm going to plan to make dresses all day long once I have started. I have quite a few patterns I would like to try.

Is reverse stitch essential? or Can I just turn the fabric round and sew and then turn it again in the other direction?

I have a fetish for Singer because my grandmother has one. The type where you have to manually use the pedal. But I'm not sure if the machines now are made as good as they used to.

Antis0ciald0rk
Nov 30, 2002
wtf is this?

CutiePie posted:

I have no idea what sewing machine to buy. I'm thinking of getting singer 8280 or one of the brother for similar prices. I have never use a sewing machine before but I'm going to plan to make dresses all day long once I have started. I have quite a few patterns I would like to try.

Is reverse stitch essential? or Can I just turn the fabric round and sew and then turn it again in the other direction?

I had a Singer 8280 and I kind of thought it was a piece of garbage. The bobbin was difficult to load and the bobbin thread jammed up a lot which just added to my frustration with bobbin loading. It also had a lot of difficulty going through thick fabric or more than 2-3 layers of normal fabric. I think it was a $90-100 machine when I bought it.

My mom has one of the cheaper Brother machines and she doesn't really complain about it, but she also rarely uses it. I've only heard her say that she misses the old Pfaff machine she had for 20 years.

I think these days if you want quality without the price you have to go with a used machine. Pre-1965 Singers are usually pretty good. I don't know a lot about other manufacturers. I paid $75 and $50 for my two Singer 401's and they're quite possibly the nicest machines I've ever used.

madlilnerd
Jan 4, 2009

a bush with baggage

CutiePie posted:


Is reverse stitch essential? or Can I just turn the fabric round and sew and then turn it again in the other direction?


Reverse makes starting and finishing so much easier. It would be a huge hassel to turn something large (e.g a dress) around every time you needed to do a seam.

Ashcans
Jan 2, 2006

Let's do the space-time warp again!

Can you even get a machine without reverse stitching anymore? It seems like even $99 machines (which I don't actually advise buying) have three times the functions of my current, third-hand machine.

CutiePie
Apr 29, 2009
Well, they didn't list down reverse stitch in the specifications.

And Antis0ciald0rk told me that the machine I chose is crap. I have been interested in getting an antique singer but I'm worried about having to fix it up. I don't sew, how would I know that there's something wrong with the machine. And I think having the manual would help me a lot.

Should I just increase my budget for the sewing machine?

nolen
Apr 4, 2004

butts.

CutiePie posted:

Well, they didn't list down reverse stitch in the specifications.

And Antis0ciald0rk told me that the machine I chose is crap. I have been interested in getting an antique singer but I'm worried about having to fix it up. I don't sew, how would I know that there's something wrong with the machine. And I think having the manual would help me a lot.

Should I just increase my budget for the sewing machine?

Search craigslist, thrift stores, and antique shops. Hell, even ask a relative if they have an old machine they wouldn't mind offloading.

I asked my grandmother and she came back with three Singers. One from the 70's, 50's, and 30's. I took the Featherweight 221 off her hands and had a local repair shop give it a once-over.

Failing that, ask your friends or friends of your parents. It can't hurt.

Antis0ciald0rk
Nov 30, 2002
wtf is this?
I've had to fix up both of my old Singers and I knew absolutely nothing about how to do it when I brought home the first one. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to clean them up and fix/replace parts. If you join the wefixit or singerslantsewing yahoo groups you can get access to all kinds of pdf manuals, diagrams and instructions for a lot of the popular old machines, and of course post all your questions.

If you do buy used, manuals are pretty readily available. You can still buy hard copies of the manuals for many of Singer's old machines on their website. One of the 401's I bought actually still had the original manual with it.

I also didn't mean to imply that the 8280 was total crap, it's just not something I would recommend using for anything more than small crafts and minor repairs. If you're a total beginner, the bobbin frustrations might be enough to drive you away from sewing completely. It worked OK when I was hemming some lightweight drapes, but I was trying to make a pair of pants with medium weight fabric and when I got to a part where I needed to sew through 4 layers I wanted to smash it. Those pants are still unfinished to this day because I was so unbelievably frustrated with that machine--all the visible stitching looks awful and will have to be taken out and redone if I ever want to finish it.

I got my old machines off craigslist and in a thrift store, but if you live in/near a big city check to see if you have sewing machine shops or places that do repairs. I've seen some nice old machines for sale in a repair shop.

CutiePie
Apr 29, 2009
Thanks, I think I'm going to have to stop planning on my desk and just go out and see the machines for myself. Going to look at those 2nd hand shops as soon as I'm done with exam. I'm so excited!

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
The machine specs usually say "backstitch" instead of "reverse stitch," that may help you when looking. Post pictures of what you get! :)

4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....
i'm spending my spanksgiving in the fashion studio working on my muslins for my senior thesis

i'm pretty happy my design is turning out the way i had envisioned:



it's going to be a bustier dress. there's going to be one more diagonal tier of squares, and the rest of the dress is going to be beaded with swarovski crystals for the actual garment. also there's going to be an upper silk organza yoke.

eta:


still needs a mock turtle neck and sleeves....and....a back lol

4R7 THi3F fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Nov 27, 2009

Bolivia_is_Good
Jul 7, 2007
I just got my first sewing machine! My grandma bought it for me for my birthday from the Habitat for Humanity store that she works at. When my boyfriend heard I was getting sewing machine, he went out and bought me the most kick-rear end sewing table ever! Posted here (hopefully; I've never posted a picture before...) are the pictures of the desk and machine. Ignore the cats, they wouldn't stay off the desk because it was a new thing for them lay on. It was very difficult to put together with them in the room......



Click here for the full 2048x1536 image.



Click here for the full 2048x1536 image.



Click here for the full 2048x1536 image.


Also, yesterday was black Friday so I rushed out to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a crap ton of patterns because they were 99 cents each! When I create my first ever horrible bit of clothing, I'll post so everybody can laugh at them....

Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear

4R7 THi3F posted:

i'm spending my spanksgiving in the fashion studio working on my muslins for my senior thesis

i'm pretty happy my design is turning out the way i had envisioned:



it's going to be a bustier dress. there's going to be one more diagonal tier of squares, and the rest of the dress is going to be beaded with swarovski crystals for the actual garment. also there's going to be an upper silk organza yoke.

eta:


still needs a mock turtle neck and sleeves....and....a back lol

Ooh-I like the sheer yoke. What're the squares made of? And is it black or navy? Can't tell from the picture.

4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....

Goldaline posted:

Ooh-I like the sheer yoke. What're the squares made of? And is it black or navy? Can't tell from the picture.

it's a black cotton twill with an organza yoke. the actual garment will be the same thing. i hate doing muslins, because i usually just end up throwing out the first garment after i do my fitting.

eta: finished the muslin

4R7 THi3F fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Nov 30, 2009

Cross_
Aug 22, 2008
I finally finished a fall/winter dress for my wife which looks something like this :

Poor photo though, in reality it's a lot more form-fitting and shimmering. The fabric is 95% rayon plus spandex- wonderful soft feel and a pain to sew.

This leads me to my question: are there any good temporary stabilizers for stretchy fabrics ? I've tried cut-aways which tear out my stitches when I try to pull off the paper. With water-soluble fiber stabilizer I have lots of fuzzy fibers stuck under the seams that require tweezers to remove.

Oh and one more: I am trying to make a stiff shirt collar out of lightweight fabric. Any recommendations for a sturdy interfacing to use ?

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
No help on the interfacing, but did want to say that if that is her in the dress, that is the perfect color and very flattering to her, job well done!

4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....

Cross_ posted:

I finally finished a fall/winter dress for my wife which looks something like this :

Poor photo though, in reality it's a lot more form-fitting and shimmering. The fabric is 95% rayon plus spandex- wonderful soft feel and a pain to sew.

This leads me to my question: are there any good temporary stabilizers for stretchy fabrics ? I've tried cut-aways which tear out my stitches when I try to pull off the paper. With water-soluble fiber stabilizer I have lots of fuzzy fibers stuck under the seams that require tweezers to remove.

Oh and one more: I am trying to make a stiff shirt collar out of lightweight fabric. Any recommendations for a sturdy interfacing to use ?

what kind of problems are you having? does the fabric shift as you try to sew it? what happens? i've never sewn knits using a stabilizer. at my last internship, we usually laid out more finnicky stretch fabrics on a cutting table for 24 hours before cutting and then pinned the seam allowance A LOT before sewing. some stretch fabrics are easier to sew than others. you kind of have to practice on a few different kinds of fabrics before you realize what's better to work with. i like working with spandex that's a bit heavier.

if you want the collar to be stiff, just interface both sides. i use the same kind of interfacing for basically everything. (suitmaker's interfacing) but sometimes i just use whatever's available. tricot is nice.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

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Cross_
Aug 22, 2008

4R7 THi3F posted:

what kind of problems are you having? does the fabric shift as you try to sew it?
There were two problems with that fabric; because it's so stretchy it would frequently get pulled through the throatplate and then get stuck there. I had to set the maximum stitch length (an embarassing 3mm) in order to get stitches that were more like 1mm long. Using the stabilizer solved both problems easily- no puckered fabric and stitches that matched the setting, but then getting rid of the stabilizer became the new challenge.

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