Blog

Mrs Bowden’s top tip – scissors v rotary cutter I cannot emphasise the importance of accurate and tidy cutting.  Some of you may already be fluent in ‘scissor’ and/or ‘rotary’ cutting but they have advantages and disadvantages! Above all, make sure you look after equipment – the biggest no, no, is using your fabric shears…
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Mrs Bowden’s top tip – WALE The weather appears to have taken a turn towards Autumn and I am already planning various warm winter garments for the coming season.  When I think of clothes for the chilly weather I veer towards corduroys, wool and flannelette.  This week’s top tip is a little guide to corduroy…
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          A commercial dressmaking pattern will sometimes mention WITH OR WITHOUT NAP in the layout diagrams.  The layout diagram tells you how to place the paper pattern on the fabric in order to cut it out correctly and within the amount of fabric that has been recommended to buy for the…
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How to clean your iron   Keeping your iron clean is essential for sewists.  Not only does it prevent dirty marks being transferred it also helps the iron glide over the fabric so it can be used to press accurately.  The feeling of dread one can experience when interfacing curls and sticks to the plate…
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Shelf Bust dress – creating the pleated bust Occasionally you can come across different sized circles on a commercial pattern to differentiate areas on the garment being made.  You will often see this when pleats or tucks are being created.  I am presently working on Butterick 5882 by Gertie, a reproduction pattern inspired by 1950’s ‘Shelf…
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Mrs Bowden’s top tip – constructing a dart Part 3 – pressing This is the third part of the dart construction story and this deals with pressing of the dart once it has been sewn and the end tied off. Quite often in commercial patterns you will be told which direction to press the dart. …
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This is the second part of the dart construction story and this deals with the sewing and tying off of the dart. Once you have prepared the dart by marking it, pinning and/or tacking you are ready to sew.  Remove the tailor’s tacks at this point.  It is very important to start at the widest…
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This is a stitch used to transfer information from a paper pattern to the fabric. On a commercial pattern you will see little circles within the pattern piece. These mark where a tailor tack should be made. You can use tailor tacks as a temporary way of marking fabric to show dart positions, pleats, pocket…
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Constructing a dart Part 1   Constructing a dart is a wonderful, useful and dare I say, essential, technique to master.  Many garments will feature some form of fitting and darts, as well as pleats, tucks, seam shaping and gathering are used to create shapes.  There are a few tricks I can impart to make…
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Mrs Bowden’s top tip – removing tailor tacks I am just off on a short break to the Latitude Festival and have been busy making plenty of lovely vintage style dresses for myself and friends.  I have been inspired to write this week’s top tip as have spent considerable time removing the dredges of tailor…
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