Transcripts
1. Welcome!: Whether you are sitting on your bedroom floor
piecing together a quilt, or creating a couture gown
in oppression atelier, everyone starts with the basics. Hi, my name is Amy Plant and I'm a multi passionate creative
based in New England. If you're familiar
with my other classes, you may know me as a painter, but my other main passion
is working with fabric, sewing, dying, and
textile design. I started sewing on
a machine when I was a teenager and
eventually got my BFA in fashion design at Massachusetts College
of Art and Design. Since then, I've
been focusing on working with
sustainable materials, vintage fabrics, and plant
diet organic cotton. Before all that, before
the textile design, the fashion shows and
the bachelor's degree, I started with a humble pillow. My very first project and my very first sewing class in high school was as
simple pillowcase. Nothing fancy, three pattern pieces designed to be
removable and made in this really ugly
floral upholstery fabric that was given to
us by the teacher. Fifteen years later
and I find myself still going back to that
basic pillow design. But this time, I've
upgraded the design into something more stylish that
you'll actually want to keep. A pillow is an excellent project for beginners because
it teaches you basic skills that
will lead you to more advanced projects like quilting and sewing
your own clothes. It's a great way to get to know your sewing machine and feel
more confident using it. This particular
pillow design uses seven essential skills,
straight stitching, curve stitching,
gathering, topstitching, hemming, pivoting,
and seam finishing. These are all skills that have a wide range of applications
beyond pillow making, such as setting the sleeve of a shirt or creating your
own throat blanket. This course is perfect
for beginners who understand the basic
functions of their machine, but want to start building
the skills that will allow them to tackle a
wide array of projects. By the end of the lesson, you'll have both a
beautiful pillow and the fundamental knowledge to take your sewing
to the next level. If that sounds like your cup
of tea, let's get started.
2. Class Project: Class project. In this course, we'll sew an 18-inch square
color-blocked pillowcase. This case is designed
to be removable so you can clean it or change
out the pillow inside. You'll need a yard of a
plain weave cotton fabric, such as a coating cotton and two different colors
for this project, along with a few other
basic tools that are listed in the
downloadable PDF guide. Since you might have a different
sewing machine than me, I'm not going to get into the specifics of threading
or bobbin winding. To follow this lesson, you should have a
basic understanding of how to use your
particular machine. What we will cover
is how to practice seven different
essential skills using only the default stitch
setting on your machine. Those skills are straight
stitching, curves stitching, gathering,
topstitching, hemming, pivoting, and seam finishing. I'll also go over fabric types, pattern drafting and cutting, and best practices for working
with a sewing machine. The skills I will show
you are applicable no matter what brand of machine
you are working with. I love starting
beginner sewing classes with a pillow project because you can get
great results even if you don't have much
sewing experience. This project is endlessly
adaptable and referable. Once you learn the basic steps, you can create your own designs that reflect your
personal style. When you've completed
the project, please post a photo to
the project gallery, and as always,
post any questions you have to the class
discussion section, and I'll be happy
to answer them. Now, without further ado, let's dive into the essentials
of working with fabric.
3. Fabric 101: Fabric 101. The type of fabric
you choose for your project is crucial to your success and your overall experience with your
sewing machine. Most fabrics fall into the categories of
woven or knitted. Woven fabrics you are likely familiar with are
quilting cotton, denim, suiting,
chiffon, and satin. Knitted fabrics include
t-shirt cotton, jersey, and spandex. For this project, it
is important that you use a lightweight
cotton fabric such as quilting cotton or another non-stretch plain weave
cotton for the best results. Our home sewers can do a lot, but certain fabrics are lot more difficult to
sew than others. Knitted fabrics tend to stretch and bunch up as you sew while slippery fabrics like satin or chiffon tend to be
hard to control. As a beginner,
woven cotton fabric is a great material
to practice with. The most important thing
to pay attention to when working with fabric
is the grain. If your final project
looks warped or misshapen, it may be because you didn't cut your pattern
pieces on grain. Grain refers to the
direction of the threads. When a fabric is cut on
the straight of grain, it's cut parallel to either the warp or weft
threads of the fabric. When a fabric is
cut on the bias, it's cut at a 45-degree angle
or diagonal to the threads. This way of cutting gives a
non-stretchy woven fabric more stretch and is commonly used on fitted gowns
and evening wear. If there is a curved edge
to your pattern piece, it will likely have
a stretch to it because of the angle it
is hitting the grain. When determining the
direction of the grain, we use the salvage of
the fabric as a guide. The salvage is the non-cut
edge of your fabric that runs along the top and bottom
in the warp direction. These edges are finished and often have a fringe of threats. Sometimes when you
buy your fabric, the person who cuts it off the bolt won't cut it
perfectly on grain, so it is best to always use
the salvage edge as a guide. We'll get more into cutting on the grain in the next lesson. One last thing, if you want to be able to
wash your pillowcase, I recommend you
pre-shrink your fabric by washing it before you cut
out your pattern pieces. This is an essential step
if you are sewing clothing or any other item that will
be washed after it is sewn. Let's recap the important
points of working with fabric. Most fabrics fall into the categories of
woven or knitted. For this project, it is
important that you use a woven lightweight cotton
for the best results. Always pay attention
to the grain of your fabric when
cutting and sewing. Pre-shrink your fabric by washing it before
you cut into it. Up next, I'll show you how to draft and cut the
patterns for your pillow.
4. Pattern Cutting: Pattern cutting. Typically, in a sewing project, you will use paper patterns to cut out the shapes you need. For this project, we'll only be working with circles
and rectangles. You can create your pattern
using simple tools. If you like, plot out your pattern on cardboard
or heavy card stock like oak tag so that you can reuse this pattern to
make more pillows. I've outlined all
the measurements and diagrams you'll need for this project in the
downloadable PDF that accompanies this class. Feel free to follow
along as I demonstrate. The patterns for this pillow
include three basic shapes; two rectangles,
and a semicircle. You'll cut two colors
out of each shape. I find the easiest way to
quickly draft a rectangle is to use a large L-square ruler
and my trusty clear ruler. As you get into
pattern drafting, you'll find that getting
the right tools will make everything easier
and more accurate. You can create your
rectangles with whatever ruler you have on hand, but it's important that
your corners are square. Otherwise, your project won't line upright when
you go to sell it. For the semicircle piece, you can trace a dinner plate or another round object that is
about 12 inches in diameter. That number of 12
inches isn't exact. Your final circle can be
a bit larger or smaller, but I think something close to 12 inches looks the best
on this size of pillow. Since this pattern piece will
factor in seam allowance, it won't be a
perfect half-circle. First, measure the exact
diameter of your plate, divide that measurement
by two to get the radius, then add a half-inch. Draw a line that is parallel to the edge of your card stock with a distance equal to the number you came up
with in the last step. Now put your plate
on the card stock, lining up the edge of the
plate with the line you drew. Trace the plate to
get your semicircle. Now you can decide if you want to make the
circle bigger or not. Keep in mind that this
pattern piece includes a half-inch seam
allowance on all sides, so your final circle
will be about an inch smaller in diameter. I decided that my circle wasn't as large as I would like, so I expanded the diameter out. This is where a clear ruler
comes in really handy. This is probably the tool I use the most when I'm drafting. You can line up the pencil
lines with the grid through the ruler and quickly change the dimensions
of your pattern piece. When you're doing this with
a grid, align the ruler, output the edge of
the curve and draw a short line in
small increments. This will allow you to
achieve a curved edge, even though you are
using a straight ruler. When you are done drafting
your shapes, cut them out. Let's cut our fabric. You may be familiar with the typical way of arranging
fabric for cutting, which is to fold it
selvedge to selvedge so that you can cut
two layers at once. But this project only needs
one piece in each color. To keep things simple
and economical, we're going to cut into the
fabric and fold it using the selvedge edge or finished edge as a guide for
cutting on grain. Before you cut, be sure
to iron your fabric. I know it's tedious to iron
a big piece of fabric, but if there are creases
underneath your pattern pieces, your project will
come out wonky. Our fabric is
ironed and laid out and we're ready to cut
out our templates. In a commercial pattern, there will be a line running
down the middle or edge of each pattern piece that lets you know how to arrange
your pattern piece, so it is aligned with
the grain of the fabric. Since this project is using
simple geometric shapes, we can just use the
straight edge of our pieces to line up with
the straight of grain. Try to be economical
with your fabric. I like to align
straight edges next to each other to maximize space. However, you arrange
your pieces, it is crucial that
a straight edge on each piece is parallel
to the selvedge. This will mean that your
pattern piece is on grain. Use a ruler to double-check
that each end of the straight edge is the same
distance to the selvedge. This is another instance where a clear ruler really
comes in handy. When you have them
arranged how you like, trace the pattern pieces
with tailor's chalk, a disappearing ink pen, or a pencil and cut them out. You'll do this process for
both colors of fabric. When you're done, you should
have six pieces total, two colors for each shape. Let's recap the basics of
pattern drafting and cutting. Using well-drawn pattern
pieces and cutting the fabric on the grain are essential to success
with your project. Using a clear ruler and
an L square will help you to achieve straight
lines and precise corners. Use the selvedge edges
as a guide to keep your pattern pieces on the
street of grain of the fabric. Try to be economical with your pattern placement to use
the least amount of fabric. Up next, I'll show you the seven essential
sewing machine skills as we work through sewing
this pillow step-by-step. First step is the
straight stitch.
5. Skill #1: Straight Stitching: Skill number 1,
straight stitching. Straight stitching is
the skill you'll use the most often when using
your sewing machine. But before we get into it, let's get our pattern
pieces ready to be sewn. First we are going to sew the two semi-circles together
to make a full circle, as well as sewing the 210
by 19 inch rectangles together along one side. Lay the two semi-circles
on top of each other with the right sides of the
fabric facing each other. If the front and back of your fabric looks
exactly the same, then you don't need
to worry about right sides and wrong sides. But one of my fabrics
has a pattern, so I'm going to be careful
about making sure that right side faces in
when I sew my seams. Pin the two pieces along
the straight edge. I always have my pins perpendicular to
the edge I'm sewing because I find that I can more easily pull them out as I sew, and there's less chance of me accidentally sewing into a pin. On the 210 by 19
inch rectangles, pin them together along
one of the long edges. Now we're ready to start sewing. On your sewing machine, you will probably
have some guide for lining up the edge of your fabric depending on the width of your
seam allowance. For the majority of our sewing, we will be using a
half-inch seam allowance. Look out for that half-inch
measurement on your machine. If you find this guide difficult
to see or keep track of, you can put a piece
of tape along the line for a more
obvious guide. Just be sure you line
up the tape straight. I am using a slide on table
attachment on my machine, which makes it easier to maintain control
over my stitching. If your sewing machine
has this option, I highly recommend it. For this project, your machine
should be threaded with a regular all-purpose thread
in the color of your choice. You will see the thread when
we get into top stitching. Keep that in mind when
selecting the color. For your needle,
a size 80 or 90, also known as a 12 or 14
respectively, is fine. This is likely the default size range your machine came
with when you bought it. Now that our machine is
threaded and ready to go, let's sew our first stitch line. Keeping the edge of the fabric aligned with our
half-inch guide, lower the presser foot
onto your fabric. It is important that you
always anchor your stitches at the beginning and at
the end by back stitching. Lightly press the foot pedal to take two or three stitches, then hold the back
stitch button on your machine to take two or
three stitches in reverse, let go of the button and begin
stitching forward again. With a straight stitch, it is important to remember
that the machine wants to push the fabric through
in a straight direction. You only need to gently
guide the fabric through, not push or pull it. I use my right hand to
make sure the edge of the fabric stays at
the half-inch mark, while my left hand is
preventing the weight of the fabric from
pulling it askew. Notice how I am
using a light touch. If you force your fabric through the front or pull
it from the back, you are risking damage
to your machine, not to mention making
your stitches irregular. When you get to the end
of the stitch line, backstitch just as you
did in the beginning. Repeat this process
to sew the seam on the rectangular pattern
pieces you pinned. Make sure you're pulling
your pins out as you go. If the needle hits a pin, it can break and fly up
and hit you in the face. Yes, that has happened
to me before, so please be careful. When you are finished, use an iron to press
open the seams. It is very important that you
iron your seams as you go, to get the most professional
look to your final product. Let's recap the important
points of straight stitching. Always backstitch
at the beginning and end of your seam
to anchor the thread. Use your hands to gently guide the fabric without
pushing or pulling it. Pull your pins out as you go
and never sew over a pin. Iron open your seams as you
go for a professional finish. In the next lesson,
we'll take it up a notch by stitching
along a curve.
6. Skill #2: Curve Stitching: Skill number two,
curve stitching. Stitching along a curve can be a lot more challenging
than straight stitching. But all it takes is practice. Now that we've sewn
our circle together, we will turn it into
an applique that can be sewn on the
front of our pillow. To get a nice clean
finished edge. We will be using a technique
that involves gathering the raw edge so it
naturally folds inward. To do this, we will need to sell a basting stitch
around the curve. A basting stitch is a longer less tight stitch that is designed to
be either easily removed or pulled tight to form a gather and can be either hand sewn or a machine stitched. To sew a gathering
stitch on your machine increase the stitch length
to its maximum length. This setting may be a
dial on your machine. For me, it's a button
with a digital display, but you should follow
the instructions for your particular model. Something to keep in mind is that the longer
your stitch length, the faster the machine is going to feed the
fabric through. You may need to sew
slower than you normally would to maintain
control of your fabric. With this gathering stitch, we're going to sew with a
3/8 inch seam allowance. This is where our stitch
line will be hidden when we fold it under the
fabric by a half-inch. If you don't have a 3/8 inch
mark on your sewing machine. Move your tape over by an
1/8 of an inch as a guide. To start this gathering stitch, we will not be backstitching. This is because we
want the threads to be loose so we can pull
the gathers later. Go ahead and start
stitching, going slowly. Whereas the straight stitch didn't need a lot of
guiding on our part, the curve stitch requires
constant adjustment. Go as slow as you need to. If you watch my left hand, I'm using it to slowly turn the fabric in between stitches. Again, you don't want
to force the fabric, just gently guide it, keeping the edge
of the fabric in line with the 3/8 inch mark. Something to keep in mind
when sewing a curve is that a curved edge will
have some stretch to it. It's especially
important that you don't target the fabric
because it could warp. When you've made it
around the whole circle, stop right before you reach your starting point and cut
your thread with extra tail. Be sure to adjust your stitch
length back to the default setting as we will be using a normal stitch length for
the rest of the project. Before we move on
to the next step, let's quickly recap the tips
for stitching along a curve. Go as slow as you need to maintain control of your fabric. Use your left hand to slowly turn the fabric
with every stitch. Remember that curved edges have stretched to
them and can warp. Next, I'll show you how to
gather a longer stitch line.
7. Skill #3: Gathering: Skill number three, Gathering. Now it's time to
gather our raw edge using the basting
stitches we just sewed. To form a gather, you'll pull two of
the thread tails at the ends of our stitch line. Now, you can either pull the
two threads on the front of the circle or the two threads
on the back of the circle, but you can't do
one on each side or you won't be able to move
your gathered folds. I'm choosing to
pull the threads on the front of the fabric because it will be easier once the edge starts to fold over
onto the back. Start with one of these
threads and pull it. As you pull, move
the gathers that are forming to distribute them
evenly around the circle. Be aware of the
other thread tail because if you pull too much, eventually you will just
pull all the stitches out. As you are creating
your gathers, you should notice that your
raw edge is tightening and forming a natural fold along
the edge of the circle. Our goal is for the fabric
to fold at half an inch. You will likely have to loosen the gathers to get a clean fold. I find it easier to start with more gathers and
gradually ease them out. The gathers should
be contained within the fold line so they can't
be seen from the other side. When you are happy
with your fold, give it a press with an iron
to create a crisp edge. Flip the circle over to the front side and press
it again to lay flat. To recap, only pull the threats from one
side of the fabric, either the front or backside. Gather gradually and move the folds along the
perimeter of the circle. Pay attention to
your thread ends so you don't pull all
your stitches out. Iron your fold when you're
done to get a crisp edge. Next, I'll show you how to topstitch the applique
onto the pillow.
8. Skill #4: Topstitching: Skill number four, topstitching. With our circle
pressed and finished, we're ready to attach it to
the front of our pillow. I'm going to show
you how to attach the circle using a method
called topstitching. Topstitching is a type of stitch that is meant to show
on the final piece. It can be decorative,
functional or both. Before we sew, we need to pin the two fabric
pieces together. Place the circle face up on the right side side the fabric
square you sewed earlier. The circle should be orientated so that the center seams are aligned and the colors that are stacked are the opposite
of one another. Use a ruler to center the
circle among the center seam. For an applique such as this, I like to use pins that I
will take out as I sew, as well as pins that are
far enough away from the stitch line that
I can leave them in until I've sewn
the entire applique. For this circle, I'll put a row of pins along
the perimeter, as well as a second row away from the stitch line
that I'll leave in. You can also hand sew some basting stitches to keep the applique in place
if you'd prefer. The point is to keep the
fabrics flat and flush, so the base fabric doesn't bunch up beneath the
applique as you stitch. Now we are ready to topstitch. For this applique attachment, we will topstitch an eighth of an inch away from the fold. Because this measurement
is so narrow, you probably won't be able to use a guideline on your machine. I used the inside notch
of my presser foot as a guide for where to aim
the edge of the fabric. You may have to do some
measuring and practicing with your own presser foot to figure out where an eighth
of an inch is. Just as we did with the
straight stitching, be sure to backstitch
to anchor your thread. You'll notice as you sew along the curve that you
have more control with turning your fabric
than you did when you were sewing the
basting stitches. This is because the
shorter stitch length makes the fabric feed
through the machine slower, giving you more time
to change the angle. Sew around the entire circle
then backstitch to finish. Let's go over the tips
for topstitching. Topstitching can be decorative,
functional or both. Unlike a basting stitch, topstitching should be
anchored with back stitching. Use your presser foot as a measurement reference when
sewing narrower widths. Topstitch an eighth
of an inch away from a fold line or a seam
for a classic look. The hardest part of selling
this pillow is over. Now let's move on to hemming.
9. Skill #5: Hemming: Skill number five, hemming. Hemming is a very useful
skill to learn and is a way of finishing a raw edge that will be seen from the outside. You're probably
familiar with hemming in regards to pants or skirts. Even though we are making a
pillow and not a garment, we'll be using a hemming
technique to create clean finished edges on the back of the pillow
where it opens. This type of hem is a simple half-inch double fold
hem, topstitched in place. This hem doesn't work
well on curved edges, but is perfect for
the straight edges of the pillow opening. We will be working
with the two larger rectangular pattern pieces
for this technique. First, let's draw a line on the wrong side of the fabric, one inch away from
the long edge. Use something that won't show
through to the other side. I'm using tailor's chalk. Next, turn the edge
of the fabric so it meets the line and
forms a half-inch fold, pressing with an iron as you go. Now fold this over
one more time, a half of an inch and iron flat. Pin your fold to
keep it in place. Sew the fold with
a straight stitch, either an eighth of an inch from the right of the inner fold or three-eighths of an inch from the left of the outer fold, whichever is easier
for you visually. Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and end
as we have been doing. Repeat the same process
with your other rectangle. Here are a couple of things
to remember with hemming. This technique is
best for finishing raw edges that will show on
the outside of your piece. A double folded hem is best for straight edges and doesn't
work well with curves. Use the iron before you sew
to create creased folds. Now let's learn about straight stitching's companion, pivoting.
10. Skill #6: Pivoting: Skill number six, pivoting. Pivoting is an
extremely simple skill that is an essential
part of sewing seams. But before we get into that, it's time to unite the front
and back of our pillow. Lay the front of
your pillow with the right side facing up. Lay one of the rectangle
box with the right side facing down so the raw edges
line up with the front. I'm choosing to have
my pillow opening be perpendicular to the
front center seam. But you can definitely
arrange the pieces so the opening is parallel
instead, if you prefer. Pin this piece along
the raw edges. Begin sewing a straight stitch with a half inch seam allowance. When you get near the corner
of the pillow, slow down. Our goal is to find
the pivot point that is a half-inch
from the right edge of the fabric and a half-inch
from the front edge facing us. I will often use the
hand-crank to take a stitch at a time
when I get close. When you think you've found it, use the hand crank
to drop the needle down so it pierces the fabric. With the needle still down, lift up the presser
foot and pivot your fabric so the front
edge is now the right edge. If you find that you've
miscalculated and your new edge is more than a half inch away
from the needle, you can pivot back to the
original fabric orientation. Take another stitch
and pivot again. You'll need to pivot twice
before you finish this seam, back stitch when you reach the folded edge of
the back panel. Now repeat the process
with the last back panel. When you pin the other panel, make sure all your fabric
is laying flat and smooth. Pin and stitch as
you did before. So when you're
pivoting, remember, slow down and use the hand crank on your machine to
find the pivot point. Make sure your needle
is in the down position before lifting up
the presser foot. You can always pivot back and
take another stitch if you find you are in the right spot after you've turned the fabric. So now your pillow is done, but I have one more
bonus skill to show you, seam finishing.
11. Skill #7: Seam Finishing: Skill number seven,
seam finishing. Now that you've completed
your pillow you can decide whether you want to finish
the edges on your seams. With something like
an item of clothing, it's important that you
finish the seams in some way as they will go through friction and
stress over time, and also because you'll be able to see them
from the inside. With something like
a pillow, however, where the seams won't be
visible when it's being used you can decide
to skip this step. But I encourage you
to give it a go as it is a great chance to
practice this technique. Now there are many
different ways to tidy up the raw
edges of your seams. The one I'm going
to show you today is called a mock French seam. In a regular French seam, the raw edges are hidden
within the seam itself, producing a clean-looking
fold on the inside. But the process
is time-consuming and can be a little confusing. A mock French seam is a cheap
way to get a similar look. It starts with ironing
your seams open flat, then each raw edge
is folded to meet in the middle along the
seam and ironed again. Then finally, each side is
brought together to hide the raw edges and the whole
thing is topstitch close. I only put pins
around the corners, but you can definitely
pin all the way around if you need to. Just as we did when we
topstitched the circle we will be sewing an eighth of an inch in from the edge of our
mock French seam. You can use this type of seam finishing for most
straight seams. But similarly to a
double folded hem, it does not work
well around curves. However, for a simple square like this, it works nicely. When you're finished you will have a
professional-looking edge. Some key points to remember, seam finishing cleans
up raw edges and gives longevity and
strength to your seams. Seam finishing is essential for garments and items where
the inside will be visible. Mock French seams are
great for finishing straight seams but don't
work well around curves. We've finished our pillow. You can now fill it with an 18-inch pillow
insert of your choice. Please post a photo
of your pillow to the project gallery
when you're finished. I'd love to see what color
combinations you chose. If you have any
questions or run into any challenges, reach out in the class discussion and
I'd be happy to help.
12. Beyond Pillow Making: You've made this fabulous
pillow. Now what? The sky's the limit. The seven skills I've shown
you can be applied to so many other more
advanced projects. Now that you've mastered
straight stitching, pivoting, and hemming, you can make curtains, tablecloths, throw
blankets, and aprons. With your new skills in
gathering, curve stitching, and seam finishing, you can
tackle a long sleeve shirts, gathered skirts, and ruffles. With the basics of top
stitching under your belt, you can move on to machine
embroidery, quilting, and give a pair
of handmade jeans a truly professional finish. I hope you feel
empowered to take these simple skills and apply them to more ambitious projects. Remember that every new craft takes lots of
practice to master. Make more pillows and
give them as gifts to friends and family
and in the process, you'll be steadily mastering
seven essential skills. If you post your
project on Instagram, please tag me @art.witch_. I would love to see
what you create. Until then, keep in
touch and happy sewing.
