We dined at Swift’s Attic recently. The host/partner, CK Chin, nattily dressed as always, had tied his tie with a knot that I have never seen before: A quick Google’ing shows that this is either an “Atlantic” knot or a “Bosphorus” knot. The same Google results also open up a whole new world of tie more…. »
A friend recently asked me about sewing leather. Since I had recently sewn a leather jacket for an acquaintance’s client, I said I would jot down some notes. For the most part, sewing garment leather is similar to sewing a heavyweight denim, which is about 14 ozs or heavier. (Joann Fabrics’ denims are mostly 12 more…. »
I made these from a pants pattern that I drafted myself and refined over time. This is about the third iteration of the pattern. The major design element is a broad “stripe” slanting from top center front to the side down to center back. The stripe idea came from our “Penitentiary Prada” Halloween costumes. My more…. »
I browsed through the Screen Actors Guild photos on style.com with low expectation that the men would acquit themselves well sartorially. I was not disappointed. Sheesh, gentlemen, get thee a decent tailor! Of the nine photos that include men, six of them were wearing pants that fit atrociously. They were all far too long, bunching more…. »
It’s beginning to look a lot like a “booties” Christmas! I’m making a gaggle of booties as presents this year, eight pairs in all. (Last year it was home-made scarves and spiced rum fruitcake.) I’m using McCall’s M6449 booties/slippers pattern. The pattern is fairly straightforward. However, one of the pattern pieces has a bit of more…. »
An email from patternreview.com has an ad for this extremely clever gizmo: a magnetic seam allowance guide that sticks to the side of your scissors’ blade. You can adjust its width guide depending on the required seam allowance. So clever!
My Singer Fashion Mate Model 248 weighs 30 lbs. [Insert Tim Allen grunt here.]
My local meetup.com group, “sewingwithstyle”, recently had a meet-up on working with fluid/sheer fabrics. Here is the information from my research as well as from the meet-up: Cutting There are several methods to stabilize sheer/fluid fabrics. Each is suitable for different requirements. For fabrics that are washable, a good method is to saturate the fabric more…. »
I came across this blog post on storing and keeping track of sewing machine needles. It prompts me to also share my method: I pin used needles to a piece of paper and note the size/type of the needle (“universal 80/12″, (“ball point 70/10″, etc.), the date I first used the needle, and what I more…. »
Press cloths pick up sticky residue from fusible interfacing. Always having the same side of a press cloth towards the interfacing ensures that your iron’s sole plate won’t pick up any of that gunk. I sew the word “UP” into my press cloths to mark the top side. “UP” is only two-letter long whereas “TOP” more…. »
File this under “Who knew?!” My friend Amy recently posted pics of messenger bags that she made for her daughter. The bags look really great! Here is a pic:
It just occurred to me that I have not told you about my pattern drafting page. The page is not hidden, but it’s not well-linked to from here either. The page lists pattern drafts that I had collected through the years. Some date from long ago, but all are still useful. Indeed, I use the more…. »
I was making a shirt. For the first time (probably) since I started sewing thirty years ago (!), I actually finished thread ends the couture way: pull both thread ends to wrong side and tie a knot. Then thread the thread ends through a needle, insert needle near the knot and run needle into between more…. »
I’m here to tell you that thirty-plus years of tailoring experience does not inoculate one from occasional goof-ups of Titanic scale. I am making a shirt from some nice white crisp bamboo-based fabric. The shirt has nice subtle design touches: inner collar stand and inner back yoke of a black/gray/white brocade. I line the cuffs more…. »
I just read somewhere recently of a tip to quickly trim any seam allowances where you don’t need to “grade” the seam allowances: run it through a threadless serger. The serger’s knife makes quick and accurate work of trimming!
I use a square of magnetic sheet as a needles holder in my toolbox. The needles, being steel, stay put on it. I wind the needles’ thread tails, if any, around the square and secure them in notches along the edges. As a bonus, the cheapie needle threader also sticks to the pad. (Magnetic sheet more…. »
Finally got around to taking a few pics of a shirt that I made a long time ago…
My favorite pins used to be ones from shirts from the Italian shirts and ties store where my wife worked a long time ago. They appear to be between 2/128″ (.01562″, 0.4 mm) and 3/128″ (.02343″, 0.6 mm) in diameter and 1 1/16″ (30 mm) in length. I love these pins because of the fine more…. »
This past Saturday, one of my meetup.com meet-up groups had a meet-up where we sewed children clothes for Haiti earthquake victims. We met in one of the beautiful rooms of the Austin History Center. (A bonus was that the room hosts photos of early Asian residents of Austin.) One of the attendees’ Significant Other took more…. »
I made this post into a “page” under “Tailoring how-tos”.