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My husband and I are travelling to New York City for a weekend getaway for our anniversary. Where should I go to shop for fabric? I mostly sew for my kids (ages 4 and 2, girl and boy) and (very rarely) for myself. I can’t spend too much time fabric shopping (though I would love to) so a nice “one stop shop” would be great, but not necessary.…[Read more]

Haha, a smart friend explained my own comment to me: I’d misinterpreted lawn meaning grass (needing to be mown) as lawn meaning cotton (needing to be trimmed of loose threads). Thank you Nicole! I’m glad I have friends smarter than me!

Ok, good to know. I’m sure there are some handy tips & tricks folks who have done this know from experience, I look forward to the tute.

When your 12 year old daughter comes in and shows you her new dress – that she handstitched herself, straps and all and asks you to help her “redo” it! I will after this week but not right now!

I’ve really enjoyed this thread, and everyone’s different approaches. It has also made me reflect on my husband’s hobbies!

In terms of too much ‘stuff’, before the creation has even started I collect patterns and fabric. I have spent years saying I will use it, but the reality is that I will never use all of the patterns (mostly vintage) and…[Read more]

What a thought provoking topic.

And timely as I’m looking to switch out my daughter’s closet and trying to figure out what she has and doesn’t have.

I’ve been very good about buying either sale or consignment ahead for her since she was first born, and she’s had a closet full of Tea, Hanna Andersson, GAP, etc. at a fraction of the price.…[Read more]

When your daughter rifles through catalogs and points to things and says, “you can make that for me?”

I’ve told myself I can’t get Parachute until I sew up the five cut-out and ready to sew items on my sewing pile. 🙂

Oh, the binding, of course. Yes, I can see how that would get bulky quickly. Again, I’m not trying minimize the difficulty of something I haven’t done, but just asking because I don’t know, is it different than making a mitered corner on a quilt binding? Perhaps because of the stretchiness of the knit?

If someone would like to write a tutorial on the chevron method (the V without the cross-over), I’d be so thrilled. It’s on my To Do list, but it’s not rising to the top anytime soon, I fear.

I don’t use the cross over method, too bulky. I cut a triangle out of each end and sew and turn. Perfect’V’.

Yay, maths! Geometry! Can we include some algebra too? 🙂 Just to work out correct angle to sew the band together 🙂

Yep, I’ve seen it done with one end crossing the other at the V point, but personally I think it looks better if the ends are joined at the correct angle to give a vertical seam in the neck binding at the V point.
Then there’s just the technical aspect of sewing an acute angled neckband into an obtused angled neckhole. Ha ha, look at me, now I’m…[Read more]

I have a Black & Decker Digital Advantage that I absolutely adore. Got it at BB&B for ~$35. It has a nice heft & is so easy to fill up with water!

The trick is in the neck binding. The join is sewn in a ‘V’ to give you the neat finish.

I buy Tefal, nice and hot and lots of steam.
Fairly tough too, my current one has survived being knocked over by a football in flight!

Good to know — my inherited Rowenta is hyperactive and has burned through more things than I care to think about. No wonder I inherited it. Definitely in the market for a hot, but not too hot, iron, sometime soon.