Brilliant Sewing Tips

[hsifeng]

As someone who has only been lurking on the Yahoo ‘h-cost’ list for a little bit; I am constantly amazed by the brilliant sewing tips that pop up there. For example, this little gem:

“A note on fitting corset muslins:

“A hint I got several years ago - don't remember from where - was to create two strips out of heavy material - old jeans will do in a pinch. Make them at least double thickness, and put a narrow bone of some sort along the edge fold. Then put in grommets about every inch. Make them longer than you think you'll need for any possible corset style you might ever make. These can then be basted into a muslin so you can lace it up properly to check the fit, without having to put in grommets, try to pin it to fit (not happening), or making slits that then rip out after one fitting. Once you have the fit, remove them and use them for the next corset muslin.

“These have made corset making much easier!!

“Sandy”



*boggles* OMG. Why didn’t I think of that?!?

*beats head against desk for the years of ‘pin hell’ she has subjected herself and others to*


On another note, here’s one I picked up from a friend ages ago.

Get a length of ‘swing set’ weight chain (ie. the weight you find on children’s outdoor gym equipment, not the kind you’d lock your bike up with), about 6 yards long. Longer if you’d like.

Using old fabric of a medium weight, make yourself a length of bias tape, where the finished tape (when folded in half to make a casing) is about 2” wide.

Sew one ‘end’ of the tape shut, sewing in a sturdy cord or ribbon.

Tie the cord or ribbon to the last link in your chain.

Carefully sew the chain into the tape, enclosing the entire length of the chain in the casing. There should be enough room to easily sew the tape closed, this will be important later. Sew another ribbon/cord into the open end of the tape, type other end of chain to this.

Now, you should have a very long, weighted ‘chain snake’ covered in a medium weight fabric with the chain tied securely into each end of the casing.

What to do with this item, you ask?

This clever little bit will help you hang the bias stretch out of your fabrics for skirts, skirting, cloaks, etc.

Simply cut your pattern out, then sew the panels/pieces together which need to be stretched. In other words, if you are stretching a cloak, sew together the pieces of the body, but don’t worry about the pieces in the hood (unless they need separate stretching, for some reason). Then sew the ‘chain snake’ to your mocked up garment’s lower hem.

Finally, secure your mocked up garment’s upper hem to a sturdy dowel which you can hang over hooks in a location that can get wet. I have a couple of old ‘bike hanging’ hooks secured to rafter ends in my back yard in a shady location. Once your garment is hanging, with the weight at the lower end, wet it.

Between the water and the weight, your bias stretch will hang itself out relatively quickly (I normally do this with wool, and depending on fabric’s weight it takes 2-3 days and 2-3 wettings to get all the bias stretched out).

Once the fabric has stretched, you will need to re-cut your lower hem to level it.

But at least you won’t end up with ‘short and long’ bits on your garment as time stretches the bias on a finished piece!



Anyone else have some tricks-o-the-trade ore “homemade sewing tools” to share?

Comments

[vanagnessayem.livejournal.com]

I use a zipper basted into corset muslins or gothic fitted dress fronts when trying to do a fitting. Basting means I can get it out and in quickly. A zipper means I make sure it is even top to bottom and quicker to get into and out of.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

A zipper means I make sure it is even top to bottom and quicker to get into and out of.

Also brilliant! Do you know if this also works for doing fittings for garments that involve compression (like Victorian corsetry)?

[vanagnessayem.livejournal.com]

I don't see why not, a metal zipper would work best, you could always apply it to a heavy twill that bastes on as wide as the gap you want... my last victorian corset was about 12 years ago, I didn't think of zippers at that time...

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

mmcnealy points out some interesting things below (including the need for a busk to get a 'truer' mock up).

*filing this all away for various uses in future*

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't use a zipper for a Vic corset, the stiffness of the busk impacts the fit of the front of the corset. A lot of folks have a busk strip and lacing strip made up that they baste in for corset fittings, it saves a lot of time.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

A lacing and a busk strip? Brilliantly brilliant!

BTW - I am assuming you've also heard about doing mock-ups of 'payres of bodies’ in cardboard? I swear, no matter how long I have been sewing I keep learning new tricks!

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Re: Cardboard

I haven't read anything on it, but I wonder at the potential bias stretch in fabric that couldn't be accounted for by cardboard. Probably close enough though.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

In an attempt to locate the original post wherein the cardboard corset information was listed, I seem to have hit a snag.

It’s not on LJ. That is to say, I seem to recall that this information was in a blog format (there were certainly photos in with the narrative content) but having reviewed over two weeks of LJ entries on my friends page (that is over 500 post, so you know I love you and *tried*) I cannot find the damn thing.

*kicks desk, grumbles and finally pouts*

I have sent a shout-out over to the Yahoo h-cost list (in case I saw the link to the blog there, and simply forgot to bookmark the content, because I am an idiot). I will keep my fingers crossed and repost here if someone takes pity on me and provides the information in question.

*crosses fingers*

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Was it this one?

http://minkipool.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/the-cardboard-corset-done/

Google Fu, I haz it.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I love your Googlefu! (and the cardboard corset it leads to). But sadly, this isn't the site I was thinking of. The lady at the minkipool link is AWESOME in that she made an actual, functioning corset, and not just a pattern.

The one I was looking for was simply a method for creating a cardboard corset pattern using old boxes and duct tape. It was specifically a later 16th C corset style. Man, I could *kick* myself for not saving that link....