If you are having to create buttonholes on a garment be sure you know the correct direction they should ‘lie’. You should consider where the greatest point of stress on the button is going to be. This means the buttonholes will need to be made parallel (vertically) to the edge on the front of a…
Read more
Ever had this problem? The thread is pulling and you can’t remove your fabric from the machine…..there seems to be extra threads pulling from the bottom too? Don’t get yourself into an unnecessary muddle on your machine. When you have finished a line of stitching make sure your turn the balance wheel towards you…
Read more
I’m off on my holiday’s very soon and inevitably my mind turns to packing and ironing and WHAM!, it hit me. My next top tip. Have you had the dilemma of having to squash your precious patterns back into the envelope – trying to avoid damaging the pattern as well as the envelope!? Well, this…
Read more
Mrs Bowden’s top tip – button through As you may know from my post of last week I promised I would show you how to create a ‘button-through’ version of the Simplicity 1459. The original design had a buttoned bodice and then a zip inserted into the side seam. The buttons were adding a stylish…
Read more
Mrs Bowden’s top tip – adding a pocket Having made Simplicity’s 1459 peachy little 1950’s repro dress a number of times, I thought I would shake things up a bit. You may know that I have a penchant for collecting vintage haberdashery as well as absolutely adoring HRH The Queen. I recently celebrated a birthday…
Read more
One of the advantages of making your own clothes is you can avoid pet ‘hates’ and things that generally get on your pip about rtw (ready to wear) clothing – I recently spotted this very cute playsuit and was then disappointed to see the mismatching of the central motif down the front of the garment…
Read more
Ziip length When you are buying a zip for a garment or maybe you have one in your haberdashery stash that you wish to use, knowing the length of the zip is critical. A zip length is determined by the length of the teeth of the zip NOT the length of the tape. To find…
Read more
Mrs Bowden’s top tip – hanging a skirt or how to avoid wobbly hem syndrome Many skirt and dress patterns are cut with a very full skirt which means the grainline changes around the hem. Sometimes the hemline can ‘drop’ on a skirt – particularly at the point where the hem is on the bias…
Read more
![Felixstowe Sewing School](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="960" height="150"><rect width="100%" height="100%"><animate attributeName="fill" values="rgba(153,153,153,0.5);rgba(153,153,153,0.1);rgba(153,153,153,0.5)" dur="2s" repeatCount="indefinite" /></rect></svg>)
Recent Comments