ASG Sewing Blog – Page 63

March 18, 2020

Make Lemonade

The threat of the Covid-19 Coronavirus has made a tremendous impact on most of our lives. My personal life went from run, run, run to near total isolation. While others are struggling with how to occupy their time at home, those of us in the sewing community have a different perspective. When given lemons, we make lemonade.

No, we are not in the kitchen!

We immediately turned to our sewing rooms. While others were scouring the stores for toilet paper, we sauntered into our sewing rooms to peruse our “stash” and plan which of those waiting projects would finally get our attention. We are not lazily wasting time watching TV reruns or movies for the umpteenth time. Instead, we are giving ourselves permission to use this self-imposed quarantine time to exercise our creativity, to enjoy our time, and SEW!

My usual schedule is to leave the house around 9 AM to go to my job teaching at the local college. When I leave mid-afternoon, I then go to a learning center where I tutor at-risk students until 7 PM. Somehow I also squeeze in three neighborhood groups, not to mention some community activities as well. Oh, and then there are the grandchildren just a few miles away. When do I have time to sew?

Thanks to Covid-19, the college has moved to online teaching, the tutoring center is closed, community activities are cancelled and the grands are staying at home with Dad. So my future for the next month looks like time for me. I’m supposed to stay at home. So I will.

Moving (a bit) out of the sewing room

Despite having a large sewing room, I decided to set up my embroidery machine on the dining room table. That way should I decide to cook, I can embroider and still listen for the microwave to ding. The rest of the time I plan to isolate myself in my sewing room and enjoy the freedom to create a new wardrobe with some of my favorite patterns.

If I decide to take a break from creating, I may just take the time to check out the educational programs available to ASG members. There were a few I started to watch on fitting and drafting changes that I never did get back to. This would be a great time to just sit back, enjoy and learn.

While my husband used to scoff at my fabric collection, I can now imply that it was simply planning ahead. I had the foresight to make all those purchases for just such a rainy day. And all those patterns, just perfect for a variety of new outfits. Who knows, I may even get around to making him that shirt I promised last summer.

So while we all deal with whatever is to come of this virus, I hope you all stay healthy and safe and enjoy your time doing what we love, SEWING.

~Rosemary Fajgier

March 17, 2020

Sewing with Vinyl

This quick video has 3 tips for sewing with vinyl.

March 12, 2020

Meet Patty Dunn with All Dunn Designs

This month we are pleased to turn the spotlight on a very special independent designer, Patty Dunn of All Dunn Designs and part of the Corpus Christi Chapter.

Many of you may already know the All Dunn Design line from ads in sewing magazines, from her nine years of sewing shows on PBS, or from her many classes she has taught at our ASG conferences. But did you know that it was just such a class that gave birth to the Corpus Christi Chapter 24 years ago? Patty taught a fitting and tailoring class at the local junior college and the students wanted to stay in contact and continue to see each other after the class. Patty explained, “So I agreed they could come to my house once a month. The group started with 9, and there were 20 in just a couple months. So we rented a space at the art center. It grew real fast. I had heard about ASG, presented it to the group, and we signed up. I think we had been going for about a year when we decided to join.”

It started with a Christmas gift

And how did Patty develop her interest in sewing? She credits it to the Christmas she turned 9 when her parents bought her a child’s, metal, hand cranked sewing machine. That started her sewing clothes for her bride doll that she still has today. By the time she was in 8th grade, she was making her own clothes with a little help from her Home Ec. Class.

Patty was also inspired by a friend of her mother’s who had a sewing room. She says, “When I saw everything she was creating and the machines all set up with fabric everywhere, I was amazed! I was probably around 7 years old, but it really impressed me.”

In the 1980’s, Patty became a certified mechanic for Bernina, Viking, and Janome sewing machines and was trained in sales for those machines. She continued her sewing education by taking classes at various conferences.

From dolls and bags to something more

When asked how she got started in her own business, Patty explained, “I began by selling dolls and bags at craft shows. Then people began to want me to sew for them. Many of my clients wanted me to copy something they loved or something they saw in a magazine. Many had unique fitting issues, so I began making a basic shell that fit them, and then I designed from that. In the late 1990’s, I began making patterns for clients to sew, and from there I began my own pattern line.”

Her patterns are simple, easy to make designs that differ from the big four. She explains, “I use a more realistic base pattern that starts narrower at the shoulders and gives more room in the hips. My patterns are not for the models on the New York runway, but then, who really looks like that? Our bodies have changed to much fuller proportions.”

Patty offers a 15% discount to all ASG members. See the Special Offers page in the ASG members area for more information.

Patty credits her inspiration for her designs from clothing in stores, catalogs with creative clothing, and internet browsing. She says, “You never know where you might find inspiration. There is a shop in the Houston airport I always love to go in when I’m there. It might be the embroidery or the color combinations, sleeves, or collar. Just one thing can be incorporated into something I might try. Designing is my favorite aspect of sewing, but teaching is also a favorite. I’m thrilled when I can help someone be successful in what they create. And I love to problem solve, just NOT with math.”

Like most of us who sew, Patty laments the changes in local fabric stores with so many of them going out of business. “The fabric stores change with the trends, now believing that people aren’t sewing clothing anymore. I hate the concept that people don’t sew because it is cheaper to buy clothes already made. Although this is now true, it is discouraging. Thread can cost as much or more than we used to pay for a yard of fabric.”

An eye to the future

Looking to the future she says, “At some point, and I already see it changing, people will respect you if you are able to sew. We have become a society of ‘get everything quick and easy.’ Knowing a skill like sewing will be valuable because EVERYONE wears clothing and no matter where they get it from, someone ran a sewing machine through the fabric. I believe someday there will be more recognition for the value in knowing how to put a garment together from beginning to end and people will pay well for that service. More independent designers have become respected for their expertise.” She went on to praise the blogs and sharing that are so popular on the internet and noted the fabulous new machines and sewing tools that have made it more convenient to sew.

We are pleased to have Patty as a part and know she has much more to contribute to her craft, for after all, she is not “done” yet. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

To see Patty’s designs and to get fitting and sewing information, she provides two links:

Patterns: www.alldunndesigns.com/
Fitting and sewing: www.patternmd.com

Patty offers a 15% discount to all ASG members. See the Special Offers page in the ASG members area for more information.

~ Rosemary Fajgier

The American Sewing Guild is truly fortunate to be able to count many gifted sewing designers and instructors among our friends, members, and supporters. Throughout this coming year we will be featuring some of them in our Notions Blog. We hope you will enjoy reading about them and take the opportunity to get to know them better and explore their many talents by visiting their websites, taking their classes, and discovering the wide variety of designs they bring to the home sewing market.

March 6, 2020

Oh, the Places Our Sewing Will Go

When my 40-something son, Todd, invited me to join him on a Mount Kilimanjaro climb, I thought about it, laughed, and then declined. I am too much of a risk, even though others my age and older have done it. When he said he would like a banner of some kind to wave when he reached the summit, I knew I had a job!

Climbing for a purpose

Todd was training and climbing for a purpose… suicide prevention. And yes, he had recently lost a high school classmate. He would pay all his expenses himself and was hoping he could raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It took me a while to realize that their logo is a life preserver. I found the logo on the ASFP web page and copied, enlarged and printed it, and used Steam-a- Seam to trace it and iron it to a piece of nylon ripstop. I wanted it to be lightweight, yet big enough to be a banner. Sewing down the letters was a bit tedious, but he was really excited about it, so that gave me energy. In the meantime, I also sent the ASFP logo to a digitizer and was able to embroider out a couple of patches, which he could put on his jacket, as did his hiking partner. He had invited several people to train with him.

“Since he was raising money for a worthy cause, I started thinking about what else I could do with my trusty sewing machine and years of sewing guild meetings, where we share skills and ideas.”

Aha! Pocket Tissue covers! I have great fun making these and giving them out! I printed out the AFSP logo, using the mailing label size, and June Tailor Colorfast Sew-In Fabric Sheets for Ink Jet Printers. Now I had the logos on cloth! So, I cut them apart and added dark blue batiks around them, in order to make pocket tissue holders (definitely from a Neighborhood Group meeting!!).

Todd Spinney (right) and Judy’s banner at the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro

I also started obsessing about a picture of the mountain… so once again I went to the computer and printed an image out on cloth, added some more grass and some sky from my stash, and made it an outside pocket on a bag which would be big enough to hold the banner.

I made about a dozen tissue holders and mailed them and the new bag to Todd in Massachusetts so he could give them to friends and co-workers who made donations to AFSP.

Time to climb

In the meantime, he was training. Every weekend was devoted to climbing somewhere, and every bite of food was recorded on an app on his phone. He used a special mask that helped him prepare for the altitude sickness that interferes with many climbers. He got his shots. He made his reservations. He chose a plan that took eight days and used a team of guides and porters, who carried the tents and food, prepared the meals and took care of the details. Todd and his partners carried their personal gear. One of his partners made a valiant try at the climb, but when they reached the high altitudes, her asthma made continuing impossible and she turned back (with one of the porters as a guide). Todd texted and even called during the climb (of course at odd hours…) and had brought along a solar-powered charger for his phone. We were able to follow along, and knew which day he would summit (who knew summit is a verb?).

He has since put together a slide show and showed it to us at a celebration party after his return. Lots of pictures of the banner! I’m so glad it is over. And so proud!

~ Judy Spinney, North Jersey Chapter

February 28, 2020

Ending it All (serger stitching, that is)

We all love sergers for stitching and finishing our seams all in one operation. Those loopers and needles just seem to zing along the edges, but what happens at the ends is something to note. You can’t backstitch with a serger like a conventional machine. Do you just cut off the threads and hope for the best, or do you plan a neat finish for the threads that would make your home ec teacher proud?

There are several options for finishing the ends of serger seams, depending on the location and actual type of seam you’re using.

The easiest way to anchor serger threads is to cross them with another line of stitching. For example, if you’ve serged seams in a skirt, you’ll be crossing them with a waistband or facing and a hem finish. The perpendicular stitching is enough to hold the serger threads in place and keep them from raveling.

Another way to finish serger seams is to apply seam sealant to the threads, let it dry, then trim the threads close to the fabric. This is a great option for rolled hems or places where you don’t want other visible fastening of the threads. The down side of this method is that seam sealant can make the threads a bit stiff (depending on the product brand), it can be a bit messy to apply so best to do so with a pin to avoid getting it on the adjacent fabric, and you have to wait for it to dry before moving on in the construction process. (You can speed up the drying process by sandwiching the area between paper towels and pressing.)

How about knotting the threads? Good idea, and it can be done two ways. First, simply tie the serger chain in a loose overhand knot, use a pin to push it down to the fabric edge and tighten the knot to secure. Cut off the thread ends close to the knot. Depending on the thread and location, this can make a highly visible fastening. Another knotting option is to separate the threads from the serger chain so that you have them paired—one looper and one needle together, and tie a small knot with the two close to the fabric, then clip the ends. This makes a more discreet knot than the overhand version, and is great for decorative threads or outside stitching.

Yet another option is to thread the serger chain ends back through the serger stitch itself. You can use a tapestry needle or loop puller to slide the chain ends back about an inch through the looper stitches before trimming the ends. A needle threader can be helpful for getting the chain into the needle eye and corralling multiple threads together. {photo}

As you begin to sew a line of serger stitches, it’s easy to secure the tail at the same time, by simply lifting the presser foot and bringing it around to the top surface of the fabric. Lay it on the fabric where the looper stitches will encase it as you serge the seam. It’s important that the chain lies between the needle and the blade to avoid cutting it.

Wrapping it up

Choosing the right method for ending it all depends primarily on the location of the area you’re securing. For outside and decorative stitching, choose a method that’s as unobtrusive as possible. Inside, select a method that gives a secure finish without too much bulk for your project.

~Linda Griepentrog
Linda is the owner of G Wiz Creative Services and she does writing, editing and designing for companies in the sewing, crafting and quilting industries. In addition, she escorts fabric shopping tours to Hong Kong. She lives at the Oregon Coast with her husband Keith, and two dogs, Yohnuh and Abby. Contact her at .