Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello everybody. I am Valeria coming to you from Mexico City with another sewing class here on Skillshare. I got a lot of feedback from my sewing 101 asking for the next level. So I came up with this Sewing 102, which is a perfect follow-up for everything in the sewing 101 This class is packed with information, tips, tricks, demos, everything. I really want to set you up for success. At the end of this class, you'll walk away with two class projects. First, a zipper pouch, and then a handy apron for all your sewing or cooking shenanigans plus a sewing stitch guide and many samples of finishings you can apply to almost every project you can think of. Amongst the things we will learn. We've got mitred corners, how to modify, how to do simple modifications, to a sewing PDF pattern. How to sew a zipper and how to do French seams just to name a few - below in the class project description, you can see the whole list of all the things we will learn. So let's get to it.
2. Projects and Tools: The project and tools we need for this class are the following. Here is a list of everything I use in this class. You can see that some are highlighted and those are the ones we cannot do without, the others, If you don't have them yet, don't worry, you will just grow your toolbox in time. For all the stitching samples done throught this class we will need lots of scraps You will see me working in squares of five-by-five inches. But if you don't want to invest in fabric, for your samples, you can do all of them with scraps of different fabrics as long as they are woven. Here is a breakdown of all the fabric pieces I work with in case you want to do the exact same Now, about the project, in this class we'll be sewing two things 1 zipper pouch and an apron. I chose them because they need little to no adjustements and anyone can wear them. And, as you'll find in my inspirational Pinterest board, which I linked below, there are lots of different styles for both PLUS I wanted to start introducing garments and since we did the fabric bin in sewing 101 and the pouch isn’t really wearable, I though an apron would be cool AND I also have this theory that when you put on an apron, you get like you're crafters superpowers, even if that's sewing or cooking. You get all your craft superpowers so you can embody your craft and create great results. The apron is a one sized PDF pattern. We will learn to the alterations in case you want it bigger or smaller. All the elements are customizable. I'll be adding some to show you some techniques we, we reviewed to apply onto the garment but on the Pinterest board. You can also find many inspirational stuff that you can replicate with skills learned in this class. So gather your things and let's get started.
3. Fabric Grainline: On our first lesson, we will cover fabric. We will dive into grain direction to better understand how to place your pattern pieces and how to get the benefits of each. All right, so I have here my fabric and first and foremost, we need to identify the selvage. This one will have a width a bit more dense. Sometimes you can even feel it a little bit more rigid. And other times you'll be able to see these tiny holes, which are the punctures made by the loom's pins holding the fabric in place and giving it the right tension to weave it. In this case, these fabric also has a black contrasting heavier threat and these tiny hairy threads from the weft. For our first direction wise terms, we'll learn grain line, which runs parallel to the selvage, which is in the same direction than the warp. And for the second direction ww have cross grain, which runs perpendicular to the selvage in a 90-degree angle in the same direction than the weft. For the third direction, we have a bias cut at 45-degree angle to the selvage. Now you're probably asking yourself, why is this important fabric information? well, when we have it in a bias cut it stretches a bit. Even if it's woven, without being a knit or having any spandex contrary to grain line or cross grain where they don’t stretch at all This particular Fabric has no stretch in any direction. It simply stretches by the weave in the bias direction. This could be use for a drapey look or to give the garment a bit more give. The grainline or cross grain is typical for button up shirts, or anything that needs more structure. From now on in your sewing patterns, you'll know how to place your pattern pieces according to the instruction so the garment has the correct fit intended for the design. Now for a bit of context in the dangers of cutting without minding the direction, I want to show you this jumpsuit I made a while back. This is one of my first garments. It has absolutely no finished seams, from the outside looks good, but from the inside it's just a hot mess. We'll be learning about finishings later on in this class, just so you get like a clearer picture of how needed those are. Here For example, I had to ruffle these because I couldn't figure out how to finish the pointy ends for the straps. For these, I now know I could use a facing. So these are just to give context in how new I was to garment construction. In terms of grain line, this is the example of how mismatching grainlines can affect the end result. My left leg is the one that I cut correctly. It had a triangle to create a more flared look. And on my right, you can see the same triangle, a completely different color, because velvet has a hairy texture Light reflects differently depending on the direction. So just be careful in this arena to velvet, prints, stretch fabric, you really have to take into account how you are cutting every piece of the garment so everything aligns correctly. These is it for our grainline lesson, I'll leave you here with a few takeaways. And up next, we'll cover other machines and different stitches other than your regular straight stitch.
4. Overlock Machine: In this lesson, we'll do a quick review of another machine that is used in the industry to create neat finishings. The overlock Her job is to trim while enclosing the edge of the fabric at the same time. And contrary to our regular sewing machine, this has 4 spools I have three right now, and up here those threads are fed to the machine On her side, we have the same wheel to control the needle and the knobs to adjust width and length of the stitch. These other knobs control the tension in which each spool is fed to the machine independently. Since I only have three spools, my yellow knob is not being used right now, which feeds the left side needle. Let's take a closer look with only my right needle attached. These creates a narrow over lock stitch, by opening Here I get this diagram demonstrating how to thread it by color on each knob. If I open this other side, I get access to the knobs that control the blade and makes cleaning a lot easier. Because a lot of lint is created with the cutting up close, If I manually move my wheel, I get to see the 2 eyes from where each thread passes to loop the stitch. And here is my blade. Now let's see this beauty in action. This is the finished seam. It prevents the fabric from unraveling. It looks like a regular seam from the right side out. And this could be used as it is, or as my preference, to just treat this as our finishing and still sew with a straight stitch like you would normally, the overlook works as a finishing. Now let's move on to the next lesson to review the other various stitches we can do with only our regular sewing machine.
5. Beyond the Straight Stitch: In this lesson, I will guide you through the various stitches we can do with our regular sewing machine. And how can those stitches be used to create differing finishings We will create a sewing machine stitch guide to help our future selves on knowing which is which and how to sew them in our specific sewing machine. This will save you lots of time and effort. Instead of each time remembering again and again how to do it You'll just copy the settings from your stitch guide. You can find the sewing stitch guide below in the class project section in resources. And I am also adding one example of how I fill in mine. I liked to do little drawings and there's a space in there for it in the stitching guide. So you can draw how the, how this symbol of your machine is drawn for length and width. So you can replicate that. It helps me. So I hope it helps you. For this lesson, I'll be using a sewing machine. These presser feet that I'll explain in detail up next. Contrasting thread, pinking shears, pencil, ruler, our printed sewing machine stitch guide, and two pieces of fabric measuring 15x10 centimeters, which equals to 6x4 six inches. Alright, these 3 presser feet are the ones I most commonly use. the one in the middle is my go to presser foot, the one I always show in my classes and I really like it for this transparent window. The acrylic window retains fabric in its place while allowing me to see through and helps me to have a maximum control over seam allowances. For example, I know that once attached to the machine right on the edge, I have 3/8 of an inch. And at the very beginning of the window to the left, I have 1/4 of an inch. So I really like how easy this presser foot makes my life. Plus, this is the one that came as the basic foot in my machine so i’ve used it since forever. The second one we'll review is the zipper presser foot Usually this one comes with the basic kit every machine offers from the get-go. But if you don't have it yet, I highly recommend you get one because, like at first, I know sewing zippers seems intimidating But once you get a hold of it you’ll probably use it quite often because a lot of garments have zippers, So you don't have to keep yourself from that enjoyment. Later on we will learn why it has these two paths. Basically, so the zipper can easily pass through and the needle passes through here. But we'll see these in detail in the next lesson and how to work with them. And last but certainly not least, these presser foot on my sewing machine. It is called the invisible hemline presser foot but I use it as an overcast presser. The only difference is that the actual overcast presser has a tiny tab in the middle, right where the needle stitches to evenly feed the thread and prevent puckering. This is done by the needle sewing like skipping on top of that tab from one side to the other. So it won't pucker or wrinkle. And know this other, other tool, the white stopper that has a screw. Take a look at these, I can like unscrew it, gets a bit wider. Look how it is moving. And this is for me to adjust up to where I want my fabric to stop right here on this edge. And this way I'm screwing it and make it, making it a bit narrower. So I get a wider or narrower overcast stitch overall. And this is our third presser foot. For now, these are our basic presser feet for our sewing machine. Let's start with my favorite presser, with the tiny window. Get your piece of fabric ready. It should be 10x15 centimeters rectangle to create our samples for every stitch to go in our Sewing Machine Stitch Guide. At my machine, I'll snap on my presser foot, also with black thread, so it's more contrasting. I recommend you do the same So stitches can be clearly appreciated in our guide, unlike regular sewing where we use matching thread to the fabric colour. And since our space for samples at the stitching guide, is 10 cm wide by 2 cm tall, I recommend you start and finish your stitch simples a bit far from the Edge I’ll place the right Edge of my fabric on my 3/8 seam allowance, and start my stitch about 1cm away from the top Edge. I’ll do my first couple of stitches manually, leave my needle down, see here I have my sean allowance matching my presser foot Edge so the stitch line is in the middle of the sample and cut it another cm towards the left. Remember to back tack at the beggining and end of each seam. So far We've got two different stitches, the straight stitch and the back tack. It's important to mention that these first stitch is with the default setting for width and length. Please do not modify your settings just yet. Alright, this is the first stitch sample for a straight stitch. I'll get rid of these hanging threads. Notice how much more dense the back tacking on the beginning and end looks. This is the right side and the wrong side. I would like you to measure your stitch length because most commonly the default setting has a length of 2.5 millimeters. So check yours out. Now we will do Little markings, one cm to the left side of the sean so we can cut our sample evenly I'll use my pinking shears for these. I truly don't give them much use. I think they are nice to have, but I wouldn't consider them as part of the beginner sewist kit, regardless, we will use them in a lesson later on to show you this too could work as a finishing of the seams. It is important to match each triangle to the last, so they look nice. We will do the exact same thing for every side of the sample and repeat each time for each stitch sample This is what all your samples will look like for your sewing stitching guide. Yay! First sample ready! Back at the machine, in my stitching settings I didn't modify anything for our first sample resulting in my 2.5mm length Now here I have these sliders to adjust my width and length for every stitch. These information is what we will add to this section of our stitching guide. In this case, I want to make my stitch longer, so I select the straight stitch. You can see the green lights are gone. We have it now in default. And we won't need any modification with width because we're doing just a straight stitch which has no width. I’ll slide the length setting to the right, with the bigger numbers to make it longer, this will be for our third stitch, the basting stitch. And what is a basting stitch you may ask? It basically holds a seam together temporarily I say temporarily because it is not the final stitch and it can be removed once the real one is done. since we have a longer stitch, unpicking it is easier, you can even do it manually if that’s your jam. Most of the time the basting will be hidden in the construction of the garment This is useful for difficult or slippery fabrics. So you make sure that everything is put together correctly before doing the actual stitching. These is an extra step, but it is sometimes worth it when working on more challenging garments. We can do the same exercise with the ruler and compare it with the first sample of 2.5 millimeter long stitch. And now we will do the exact sam, mark 1 centimeter to the left of the seam, cut with pinking shears or regular scissors and add it to our stitch guide. Now that we have our default straight stitch, our basting straight stitch and our back tack we’ll adjust the setting to do a smaller stitch, so we want each stitch to have les than 2.5mm in length. Remember to back tack every start and ending. This way you will have three straight stitch samples. The default one, a very long stitch and as smaller stitch, which is this one. And here we have our three samples. So far. We can compare their length. I went a bit overboard with how small my third sample is. It doesn't have to be this small but just make sure it is smaller than the default stitch On our USES lesson, we will review what can we use this smaller length for. - Back at the machine. we’ll start now with the zig zag stitches We will be able to select both width and length this time with the sliders as we did before. First we will do a sample with the default zig zag stitch and then we'll play with the settings. My machine tells me with this green or red light if my chosen settings are Good to go or if not the zig zag motion is from left to right. notice how in the middle a slight gutter is being puckered. Fresh off the machine, We can fully see that puckering action in the middle of the seam contrary to this other sample which I did with my setting preference on my machine, which you can see here. – I always use this configuration for all my lingerie, it has no wrinkly effect, no puckering and for me has a better aesthetic look This goes to show you can fix these kind of issues. with uneven stitches by adjusting your settings of length and width and even tension The purpose of this exercise and the stitching guide is is to know your machine by playing with it Mind that fabric, wether is light or heavy also influences the stitching. Add your default zigzag to the guide and do another sample playing with settings until you get an even stitch that you really like and remember to add the setting numbers onto your guide. And last, but not least, on our stitching guide, the overcast stitch. I’ll change presser feet onto the one we saw earlier, the invisible hemline presser foot, and pull your threads to the back. As we talked, the needle will puncture through this hole, and this White stopper will help the fabric in not going further onto the right than what we need it to You can make it as narrow or wide as you like. To know which stitch to use for these overcast. I consulted my beloved manual to see which stitches could do the job with a lot of trial and error. I decided on this one, the number eight, the over edge stitch. Sewing machines may offer different overcast stitch methods according to the make and model of these machine Some machines have special foot attachments to assist with these stitches. Look to see what your machine offers. I really, really want to reinforce the importance of making friends with your machine. Play with the various things your machine can do and refer to your manual as much as you can because all the basis to know your machine are there. First, I am doing a sample with default settings. Here you can really notice two things. First, how the white stopper from the presser foot is doing a great job at keeping fabric from going further to the right. And secondly, how much my machine and fabric are struggling to make even stitches. And as expected, this whole fold puckering thing happened. Do not get discouraged. This won't work for my taste, but we just need to figure out a setting configuration that will work for this stitch in this particular fabric. So we try again. I played around with length and width, to do another sample. Again, it is a failure. A lot of puckering. It is until I reach this configuration of length, width, And most importantly, adjusted tension that I get a better and even stitch. I wanted to show you this because sometimes we are presented with how-to that have perfectly neat stitches And in real life sometimes that is not the case. And having uneven stitches is not a deal breaker you just need to figure out sittings to help your machine I had a bit of puckering but lays mostly flat on both sides. So I'll go with this setting and add it to my stitching guide. For the last exercise in this lesson, we will dive into geometric shapes. I think one of the most underrated skills in sewing is pivoting stitches is something I wish I had learned sooner than later, and also doing seamless curves. So with your letter sized rectangle of fabric and a pen, draw similar shapes to mine Some must be completely angled and others in curves. We will sew on top of them to practice seams other than plain straight seams. Firstly we’ll practice the angled pivots, starting from the top, back tack and sew with your default straight stitch this will teach us to sew continuous stitches, even if we must change direction, removing the need to back tack, cut and start all over again each time. This comes in handy for exemple in shirt collars. So let's get a closer look to this pivoting trick. I stop where the direction will change. Put my needle down to secure my fabric. And I want the next stitch to start exactly where I left it I lift my presser to release the fabric and pivot. Then presser foot down again and stitch. Repeat, needle down, lift the presser foot pivot fabric, presser foot down and continue stitching. Do the same throughout the sample and give yourself a little pat on the back because you just conquered pivoting. And another thing we will practice, is sewing by watching the needle instead of the sean allowance. I know, I know your head is spinning because I've said before not to look at the needle. But this is actually a common practice in real life. I don't encourage learning that from the very beginning, but this is our Sewing 102, so we can handle it. The thing is, by following the sean allowance we get more practice on doing straight stitches, it is a bit harder to do a straight stitch when all you see around is fabric in this two pivots I reversed by turning the wheel away from me to fall in the exact pivot and created these loose loops contrary to the pivots were I anticipated where my needle would fall and created better pivots. Now for the curves, remember to back yack starting and ending. And my tip here is to Again, watch the needle and not the seam allowance, especially because we don't have one. And gently help your machine meet the curves from the fabric. Notice how I use both hands to make the fabric lay flat, while gently moving it. And up close, I'll just try to follow the lines. In this case, the curve is getting a bit steep. So I'll do as before put my needle down, Lift presser and readjust, this shift should be Slight. So we have seamless curves. Be careful not to wrinkle your fabric. Back tack at the end and do the same with the others. Look at this curve. It looks so neat Even if I like lifted my presser foot you can't notice on this curve that I did so, it just looks like super, super neat. Same goes with these spiral. Let's start from the very center. And as you can see, it IS hard. The curve shifts way faster than what the needle can cover. So not only is it crooked, i have to move the fabric quicker, and lift the presser foot, a lot more. Also, sewing manually with the wheel instead of the foot controller. In complete honesty, you must probably won't encounter spirals like these in garments. Although I think that quiltting does require these fine skills that I clearly don't have yet. But I've seen quiltters that do this super closed curves perfectly. Now, once the curve gets bigger, it gets easier. At least for me. At the end of the day What I am looking for in a curve is to maintain the line right in the middle of my presser foot. So it aligns with the needle and I get a more flowy curve. In this moment where I lost it in the middle, That's exactly my cue to lift presser foot while the needle is down and readjust the fabric This is my final sample with the pivots and the curves. I truly did a horrible job in this spiral at first but The other curves that are closer to what we will encounter in garment making are pretty good. This is it for our stitching lesson let's move on to the next.
6. Topstitch, Understitch and Staystitch: In this lesson, I wanted to show you some other uses that straight stitch has beyond just joining two pieces of fabric which are topstitch, under stitch and stay stitch. We will also get to play with the length of the stitches and these exercises will prepare us for our next lesson, where we will review the finishings we can create with our regular sewing machine. For this lesson, we will need the following material. The 3 pieces that are here by centimeter or inches are pieces of fabric. So how have those ready And our first stop at uses will be top stitching. For this, we need two of our 5x5 inch squares, right sides together. And sew a straight line with straight stitch right here. We'd have 5/8 of an inch, seam allowance We will do this quite often in this lesson and the next, I recommend doing everything in contrasting thread by the way. From the wrong side, here is a the right side and from the wrong side, the seam allowances lay we will open the seams and iron them. finger press your seams to make it as flat as possible and with a really hot iron start pressing. Now, let's just get like momentarily geeked out on how paramount pressing is to garment making. I truly believe it is a make it or break it for a lot of successful garments It is an extra step and some folks choose or need to skip it. But if you can do it, I've seen that for me, it pays off a lot. I also tend to pull my fabric away from the seam so it opens a bit more and I get a flatter more crisp seam. And most importantly, do so from both sides! In the case of our topstitch sample, additional to opening the seams, fold the sample in half so the seam lays right in the middle. This is the look from the right side, and the inside. We will sew another passing of straight stitch on top, close to the first seam to create the topstitch. And what is a top stitch? It can hold facings, keep wrong sides from turning the right way out. Looks decorative, strengthens seams, holds seam in place So they sit flatter and, your pattern may specify otherwise, but it generally is done around 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch from the edge of the folded seam. In my machine, I can place it right here where the window starts. So it is at 1/4 of an inch and move my needle with my width slider to create a narrower or wider top stitch from the edge. We will sew this with the default straight stitch setting. So it's 2.5 millimeters long. Done. This is our top stitch sample from both sides. I got a little loop here, and let me show you how it would prevent one side from peeking onto the other. Let's move to the next use - For the Understitch, we will use one piece of 5x5 inches and the other piece of 5x3 inches. Since understitch is used a lot to keep facings in place we will pretend the shorter fabric is the facing piece that goes hidden inside the garment. Again, right sides together and let's sew a straight line at 5/8 of an inch with default length. The seam allowance used could change depending on the pattern I am not doing this at 5/8 of an inch because that's a hard and fast rule. understitch can be done with any width of sean allowance, which would be the one indicated on each pattern. From the inside, finger press open your seam allowances to iron them flat, both from right and wrong side Then we will push both seam allowances towards the facing, in this case the shorter fabric. And we will sew another straight line with straight stitch at 1/8 or ¼ of an inch from the original seam, just like in the topstitch, only this time we will be joining together both sean allowances with the facing fabric – leaving the main larger fabric without another seam. in the machine with my straight stitch selected, I will sew a straight line at 1/4 of an inch from the original black seam. with this green thread to know the difference. I will guide myself with this black thread seam and the left side of my transparent window. Remember to back tack beginning and end & start your first two stitches manually. And we will have something like this. the black sean is the original one, the green one is the understitch and from the right side I did yellow thread, we can see the fold from the original seam and let me do a quick press with the iron. Ready! so from the wrong side I secured the facing to the sean allowance so it stays hidden, and from the right side we have no additional stitch, And the facing won't do any peekaboo to the right side. Unlike the top stitch, we have both of them facing right sides up and there is no visible stitch on the one to my right. And from the wrong side we see both stitch lines. Let's have a look from the inside of the understitch. So we can better understand how it is like seeing from the inside and the outside. Since the seam allowances are going to be hidden on the inside, you can leave them raw or trim them. And there you have it, the under stitch. Lastly, for this lesson we have the Stay stitch, super common for necklines, and facings two. So here we have our mock neckline shape. and the trick for an awesome staystitch is not doing it continiously throught the whole neckline, but dividing it into two sections, from one corner to the center and back tack, and again from the other corner to the center, resulting in two different passes of stitches, both with the same length, same seam allowance, and shape in two separate motions. Again, right sides together. this staystitch will help us in maintining the necklines shape so it won’t elongate or deform from the sewing, for this, we will use the shorter length of the straight stitch We reviewed a few steps back, this is for the seam to be a Little more tight and firm so it maintains its shape and won’t get any bigger. Let’s sew this at the machine, we will practice our shorter length stitch, sewing with a curve and remember to back tack beginning and end. For the exact middle, fold your pieces in half and put a pin right there to mark the middle And we are now ready to sew the curves. This is because we need to mark the middle to stop one motion. And then the other. To stop right here in the middle. I've selected settings from my shorter stitch, and here is my tip for you on how to place your fabric to sew a curve I wouldn’t place the top of my fabric completely perpendicular to the direction of the straight stitch, because the curve will begin immediately forcing me to shift directions too quickly, So I would start matching the curve. So it directly starts sewing in a more flowing motion with the curve. Look how gently I am moving the fabric with my fingers. Once I reach the pin indicating the middle, I very carefully back tack without sewing on top of my pin to release it. This is the first side of our fantastic mock neckline. The stitch is super short. And for the other side remember to start the stitches keeping the curve in mind to make it more flowy And remember to back tack beginning and end. This is the neckline with stay stitch on both sides. Let me show you from the right sides removing my pin and opening the seam. This would remain on the inside hidden and this stay stitch would be inside of the seam allowance If let's say, we were using 5/8 of an inch as an original seam allowance this would be sewn at a 3/8 from the edge, so this won't even be visible. this just Works to strengthen the stitch and prevent the shapes from over stretching one your are doing the actual stitch. Let’s move onto our next lesson, to learn all about Edge finishes,. - There we will also learn the rest of the steps on finishing this neckline.
7. Finishing Seams pt. 1: On this lesson, we will learn all the finishings we can do with our regular sewing machine using the same stitches we just reviewed. And some other tools. As we learned from my utterly unfinished jumpsuit, finishings ARE important. In my opinion they elevate things from "yes I kinda sew" to "Whoa, that really looks store-bought!" At least for me, it wasn't natural doing good finishes. I had all these big ideas of color, shapes, design But at the end they kind of looked raw because they were not properly finished. From the inside, Items would fray, or unravle and sometimes they won't even do that They looked good on the outside - But from the inside, I knew that they were not done properly or like at an expert sewist level. So I think they really, really are going to level up your game and also save you from a lot of heart ache because there's nothing more sad than working on a garment to then have it like fray or unravel or completely unstitch, just because we didn't finish property. So all that work will be worth it at the end for you to have beautiful Super well done garments. So let's get to it. First up we will do trimming and grading. We will sew around three sides of this rectangle with the default straight stitch at 5/8 of an inch seam allowance. Also with both with right sides together. We will also get to practice pivoting our stitches in this sample. So, just sew this straight line and remember, needle down. Lift your presser foot and pivot. As you can see, I completely messed up here by placing my seam allowance in the 3/8 of an inch instead of the 5/8. But not to worry, it won't be detrimental to our result and continue stitching in this direction. same pivoting at this corner. Notice here how I went passed the seam allowance so I backed, just once stitch to still be at the 3/8 of an inch seam allowance And then remember to back tack at the end. While I remove the remaining threads, let me tell you that this would be like a common shape of a collar or let's say pocket. And when we turn it inside out, we have the enclosed corners from the inside. And just let me turn it.. And they are not properly squared or pointy They actually looks kind of sloppy. So what do we do in this situation? We trim, we remove the excess fabric with scissors. So what I'm gonna do is grab the corner of both seams, of both seam allowances and trim them, trim them diagonally to free our beautiful pointy corner. Careful not to clip the corner stitch and doing the same on the other side. These will allow my pointy ends to reach the corner with no excess fabric stopping it from doing so. So this is the pointy coroner. An additional thing we will do to reduce bulk even more is grading. In this technique, I will only choose one between the two seam allowances to cut a bit shorter So they remain different widths Preferably leave your main exterior fabric the longest. The idea is to stagger all seam allowances to have a smooth transition while removing the bulk. I’ll leave my graded sean allowance just 1/8 wide. So this is trimming and grading. Let's see how this look from the right sides out. I'll leave the other one with all its bulkiness So you can really appreciate the difference. This is my trimmed and graded side. I'll use the clippers to turn my points. But you could also use a Bamboo Point Turner & Creaser which is a wooden tool to achieve these exact same thing. And as you can see, this is already so much more neat and crisp Than the other side we didn't trim. Then press both corners with a hot iron. Again, with my pointy tool I'll get the seams to reach the middle of the fold So they lay super flat Take a look at how uncanny that difference is. Because it has so much fabric in here, it is very hard for the point the corner to reach the outer site. You can leave this open so you can come back to it and review what was done to create this super crisp corner. So this was trimming and grading, the quickest and easiest way to elevate your projects without any fancy tools. It's almost like, I can't believe how easy this is. Now, let's learn how to finish raw edges with pinking shears to prevent it from fraying or unraveling We'll use 2 pieces of fabric measuring 3x5 inches. Starting, with my sample already sewn at 5/8 right sides together and the seam allowance pressed open with the iron. I will cut my raw edges with my pinking shears, which are these scissors with a notched blade. Shears are scissors that are more than six inches long. The main difference though, between scissors and shears is that a shear has a larger handle on one side to accommodate more fingers into it and apply more force, or in the case of fabric to have more precision. The main thing here is in matching each notch, with the next two have even triangles. Now, let me save you from the sheer sorrow of watching me struggle by cutting this because I have no clue why I didn't just folded the fabric to have better access into the seam allowance. But this is how you're supposed to do it. And evenly matched notches. Take a look on how these won't fray easily. Although I wouldn't recommend this finishing for clothing because in my experience, this helps the fray but won't entirely prevent it or stop it. So for things like clothes that will endure more washes or wearing strain, I don't find them ideal. For cushions, pouches, accessories, things you won't to use or wash as much I think these works great. Cut your remaining raw edge and add this to your sample bunch. For the zig zag finishing, let's grab 2 pieces of3x5 inches, starting with right sides sewn together in a 5/8 seam allowance, we will sew a straight line of zig zag stitch at 1/4 of an inch from the raw edge. I will do so with my lingerie setting I showed you earlier in my stitching guide, because for me that's the prettiest. So, sewing closer to the edge and then we will trim the excess fabric. At my sewing machine, I have selected my stitch and its settings and pull my threads to the back as always. Pay close attention not to pass your fabric as this. Because this way we would be sewing the zig zag all the way to the main fabric and show on the right side. And you only want to catch the seam allowance get the main fabric out of the way. And leave only the seam allowance. In order to have my stitch at 1/4 from the edge I'll position my fabric at the beginning of the transparent window. Oops. My fabric got stuck, but I pulled it out just in time. This is why I always reinforce the idea of doing the first stitches manually and pulling your threads to the back. That helps me a lot in preventing this from happening. Not to worry, just start again If that happens to you. And the exact same goes for the other side his is our sample, since we only saw the seam allowances We have no additional stitches from the right side. Otherwise, we would see the zig zag stitch over here. Trim the excess fabric, careful not to trim any triangle from the zig zag and getting as close as you can to it. I don't use this one either for clothing that much. I find this one to suit me better for cushions or things that won't get into the washer as much. But if you trim it neatly, these will work perfectly to help with the fraying. So it won't completely unravel, although it might get tiny threads loose. Here is a closer look and see how it is not easy to fray. I'm just like trying to get a few threads out Okay. On this side I could. It stops from unraveling but not completely. You will kind of have, you could have these loose threads, but it won't like unravel your whole piece Okay, so this was finishing with zig zags Alright, so those were the super quick and easy finishing styles let's step up our game just a tiny bit for the next finishings. Starting with the French Seam.
8. Finishing Seams pt. 2: For French Seams we will use two pieces of 5x5 squares. This finishing leaves the raw edges on the inside totally encased in an extra row of stitching. So before joining our fabric, there is some important math we need to do for the French Seams. We will complete the finishing in two parts. The first one is joining pieces, wrong sides together, and then right sides together. So if our product requires, let's say, 5/8 of an inch seam allowance, we need to divide that seam allowance to cover both motions if we were to sew the first part with the 5/8, then for the second passing, we would be already inside the garment space because we've already used up the whole seam allowance. To better show you these, I am going to mark one of my fabrics on the right side with the total seam allowancd of 5/8. You don't have to do this each time. I am just doing so to illustrate my point. Usually the first passing of stitches is done 1/4 smaller than the original seam allowance required for the pattern. In the case of a having a seam allowance of 5/8 your first passing should be done at 3/8 If your original seam allowance is half an inch, then the first passing is done at one quarter. If your seam allowance is smaller than half an inch, then you might want to add a few eights so you can complete the two motions without stealing space from the actual garment. Now that we've got our maths clear, place the fabric wrong sides together And sew a straight line with straight stitch at 3/8 of an inch from the raw edge, because our original seam allowance for this sample is 5/8. So we should be inside of the seam allowance to the right of this lines we just marked I know here that I am standing at the 3/8 because I am matching the edge of the fabric to the edge of my presser foot. Remember to back tack beginning and end. From our 5/8 seam allowance We've already used 3/8 with this seam And we have one quarter of an inch remaining. Okay. If we were to sew like these from the right sides together with the 1 fourth, we still have left. We would be able to see the raw edge of the fabric that is intended to be enclosed. Just like this. To solve these, we will trim the seam allowance down to 1/8 so it is smaller than what we still have for the seam allowance which is the 1/4 of an inch, trim the excess fabric from both seam allowances. Minding you are only cutting those AND NOT the main fabric. And remember to do it 1/8 of an inch or as close as you can get. And the same with the other seam allowance. Let's give it a quick pressing with the iron to open the seams. Then folding it so the seam seats right in the middle of the fold, laying super flat for us to then Sew on top of the final seam that will enclose everything Match right sides together, and roll the fabric to finger press the seem right in the middle of the folded edge. It is time to do our final passing in the machine right here. At 1/4 of an inch, we would complete the required seam allowance of 5/8 for a great fitting garment. So it is 1/4 from the folded edge towards the main fabric. In the machine, I know my 1/4 is at the beginning over the window. So I will guide myself with this. Remember to back tack at the beginning and end. once sewn open it. And let's notice here two things. The first one is that I have like one millimeter here, which is less than 1/8, unused space here. So we can see my original line that I showed you for the 5/8 of an inch like original seam allowance. But actually I'm not gonna get hung up on it because it's not relevant to the fit in an actual garment. It's just too little. But see how I got the 5/8 marking I did first super close to our seam. This is the inside and most importantly, look how in the middle of the seam there is no raw edge showing. This is exactly what you are looking for. That is completely inside - because we can't open this seam, We will press it with the iron towards the back side. Something like these super neat from the front French seams are ideal for sewing clothing since all raw edges are enclose This handles a lot of washes and actually has more strength because it has a double seam. It is also perfect for schiffon or satin or any delicate lightweight fabric because no thread can be seen through. Plus it is as attractive on the inside as it is on the outside. Now you can enjoy your French Seams. For the flat Felled Seam, I like starting wrong sites together. Some folks start right sides together and either will work. It's just a matter of personal preference. At the end of this sample, you'll see why. So starting wrong sides together, let's sew a straight line of straight stitches at the seam allowance indicated by the pattern. In this case it will be 5/8. Then finger press open the seams. And we will trim only one of them down in half. I'll choose the right side. We will then iron press. So the trim allowance lays under the untrimmed allowance. Remember to iron from both sides for unbelievable flatness. Next, we will fold the untrimmed allowance on top of the smaller one to sort of wrap the bigger one around it. We will finger press as we iron to keep these wrap thing going. So it is really, really flat and then we will top stitch to secure the finishing. Let's move to the ironing board for super even flat felled seams. The first step is to fold the raw edge of the untrimmed allowance towards this seam. So it is folded right in the middle. Finger press and iron press. Then the smaller one goes inside of the folded allowance. Let me make this a bit more even so it is the same width. So finger press it inside of the untrimmed and folded seam allowance. So all raw edges are inside of the fold. And press again, the most important thing is to keep this super, even, straight and neat because we will have a visible top stitch to flatten the seam on both sides. We want this to be as straight as can be. We will top stitch right here at the machine. Remember to back tack beginning and end. with my presser foot I am guiding myself with two things at the same time. The black stitching on my left and the folded edge on my right. Both underneath, like, from the starting and ending of the window. Like on the edge of the window. I wanted to keep both aligned to that window on the presser foot So I know that top stitch is even on distance regarding black stitch and folded edge At the same time. And this is where this finishing gets its name, the Flat Felled Seam. The left side is the first passing of stitches we did to join both pieces of fabrics together and the one on the right is the top stitch We finished This is the right side, what the world can see and the wrong side is this, if you want only to show one top stitch on the right side, you have to start the other way around with right sides together. That way this would be the right side and this would be the wrong side. I like this side is better for the exterior because it gives it a more utilitarian look kinda vibe. But that is up to you. So let's move on to the next finishing, which is a shortcut to this exact same flat felled. - Let's join together the two pieces with a 5/8 seam allowance. This time starting right sides together because faux flat felled seams have only one correct side. Once they are sewn we will finish the raw edges of both seam allowances together with either overlock machine or overcast or over edge stitch. Remember to only sew the seam allowances by getting, by getting the main fabric out of the way. I will overcast closer to the edge. And notice how I am not using the invisible hemline presser foot Because I want you to know that if you're on a budget and won't be able to get any other presser. You can overcast by being a little more precise with your sewing and then trim whatever excess fabric remains from the raw edge. Here I am just making sure that this stitch is close to the edge. I also trimmed the excess and we'll proceed to iron The now joined seam allowances towards what would be the backside of the garment and by back I don't mean the wrong side, but the actual back of your body, which in this case would be the right side I am seeing at my right. Remember to flatten your seams by pulling away from the seam a tiny bit and also do so from the right side, you see what happened here. This is what I am trying to prevent by pulling the fabric away from the seam, these little folds. Now for our final top stitch since This is the wrong side and the right side will only have one top stitch visible. There are two options here. First, just have the right side with one visible top stitch, which goes through here on the wrong side. or option 2, do another top stitch close to the seam to get that same utilitarian double top stitch vibe from the outside, like in the original flat felled seams The first top stitch I'll do is with yellow thread close to the edge so it won't end up being flappy. Align my needle to be closer to the edge and do my passing of top stitch. Here it is from the inside - the original seam and the yellow top stitch, which from the right side looks like this. I'd rather have the double top stitch closer to the seam, so I am going to add it. And if you would like to have less space between the top stitch and the original seam, you could just trim down your seam allowance to be a bit smaller, tean overcast, top stitch closer to the edge and it will end up just being narrower by trimming the seam allowance from the right side that will show as a topstitch moved closer to the seam. And here we have the double top stitch from right side and from the wrong side. Now congrats, you just mastered the art of Flat Felled Seams both real and faux. Comparing the two, you can see the original has a bit more bulk because of the folds and the faux flat is flatter. That's from the right side because from the wrong side it is quite obvious, but I can also feel the difference by touch. So just consider that for your projects. Alright, I know you're ready to turn the volume up a little bit more. So let's start with our final finishings, starting with the Hong Kong Seam. -
9. Finishing Seams pt. 3: I already have my fabric squares sewn with right sides together at 5/8 and another strip of fabric to work as my bias strip. This too can be done with actual bias tape But I find that when I do Hong Kong seams I rather have beautiful contrasting details. So fabric works best, remember to cut this on the bias direction, which is at a 45 degree angle from the selvage place your bias strip right sides together on top of the seam allowance I am matching the raw edges from the left side. And by only catching seam allowance and bias strip pin together. I'll do my corners first and then fill in the middle. We will do a straight line of straight stitch. Passing this way through the machine with a 1/4 seam allowance from this raw edge on my right. In my machine, my 1/4 of an inch starts at the beginning of the window on the right side. So I'll place my fabric here. Remember to back tack and remove your pins as you go so you won't Sew on top of them. We will get something like this. The bias tape sewb with the right side of the seam allowance What we'll do next is iron. So both right sides are facing up. And then we will fold towards the back for the bias strip to wrap around the original seam allowance. We will then top stitch and trim the excess So from the right side we end up with a finishing looking like this. So I am just going to give it a quick pressing so it lays flat and it is easier for me to fold and wrap the raw edge over the seam allowance. Now for the fun part, we will learn another type of stitch, called Stitch in the Ditch, which is exactly what his name says about it. Paying close attention to the needle falling inside the ditch created by the right sides of the seams Careful to only sew bias strip and seam allowance, not the main fabric. From the wrong side, we will have a stitch joining the bias strip to the seam allowance. And then we will trim the excess fabric. We have been building up knowledge all these time for this precise moment. Just like we practiced sewing the pivots and curves by following the lines with the needle instead of the seam allowances, follow the line created by the seam on the right side view to stitch in the ditch. I know you've got this. This is the right side of the seam allowance And this is the wrong side. In here, I used yellow thread for it to be a bit more visible. In reality, I would have used white thread, but here I am using contrast, so you'll be able to see it. And there is no stitch on the seam allowance side or on the pilka dots. Now we will trim the excess fabric from the wrong side of the seam allowance And how come this won't fray if we are leaving it with a raw edge, you might ask? Great question! because when we cut on a 45-degree angle, fabric won't fray. Yay! That's just like the theory of bias tape So also, you could do this with a strip cut on the grain line, but know that the bias tape, we'll stop it from fraying. That's another fun property of bias aside from the extra stretchiness and give. you have now mastered the art of Hong Kong seams Let's have a look from both sides. This is one of my favorite finishes. It makes garments look amazing even from the inside, and it is fairly simple. Now, moving on to the next. Now, if you want to do something similar, but don't wish to cut your own bias tape and would like to use a ready-made bias tape from the store, this one's for you. I've made my own bias tape for this but let's talk about store-bought bias for a bit. For starters, there are two main types of bias tape, single and double fold. Single fold bias has two folds, while double fold bias has three. I know. It seems like it makes absolutely no sense, but here's how I think about it. Single fold can only be seen from one single side. While double fold can be seen from two sides. Regarding use, single fold bias is used as a narrow facing which can only be seen from the wrong side of the garment. While double fold bias is generally used to bind an edge and is visible from the right side and the wrong side. In the images the peach color is the bias tape, while the light gray is the right side, and a darker gray is the wrong side of the fabric. For a similar look to the Hong Kong seam, we will learn and work with double folded bias tape. Since the Hong Kong seam to my left is custom made. You can edit how wide you want it. And this one would be ready-made with a standard size that might be wider than the Hong Kong seam. To sew this one, we start with wrong side of the seam allowance with one of the folds matching to the raw edges of both pieces and pin. Remember first the corners and then fill in the middle. With the main fabric out of our way, And by only catching the pinned fab,ric stitch through this fold with straight stitch. In my machine, it almost matches the 3/8 seam allowance. But I will guide myself by watching the needle fall into the fold right here. And remember to remove your pins as you go so you won't. Sew on top of your pins, here we have our seam that we will then cover with the fold on top. This makes all raw edges get enclosed by the bias binding. By folding we will top stitch with this right side of the seam allowance facing up. So we have a beautiful inside finish and we secure all raw edges in their place. This topstitch will be visible from this view and from the wrong side of the seam allowance. Before sewing, I will give it a quick pressing with the iron just to make sure it is laying perfectly flat. Once ironed I will place it with my main fabric out of the way. So I am only sewing the bias tape and seam allowance and will guide the fabric from the left edge of the bias tape so the needle catches the needle stitches as close as I can do it This way - These are our bias binding finishes. The top stitch from the regular bias tape on my right is visible but neither can be seen from the right side of the garment. Only from the seam allowances. Give yourself a good old pat in the back, because now you can create bias binding finishes, two different ways. Let's move to the last finishing in this lesson. For this finishing, we are bringing back our mock neckline sample. In this one, we will also practice trimming, grading and curves. Starting by grading the facing seam allowance Remember to leave the main fabric from the right side the longest. Grade, all around the neckline. While I cut, I would like to talk about some other scissors called the duck-billed scissors, which some sewists swear by to trim and grade. But I don't own one of those because I've tried them and they don't work as great for me. They are a bit expensive. But if you're looking for something to help keeping fabric away from the blade to only cut one layer at a time, Know that there are some tools out there exactly for it. So if you feel like the duck bill scissors, work for, you, go for it. I find that these tiny scissors with super pointy edges, work perfectly for me. Once graded, let's trim, making little snippets very carefully not to reach the seam throughout the whole curve of the neckline. This helps the fabric in being less bulky when we turn like the whole garment right sides out. Now we will give it a pressing with a very hot iron so the neckline keeps its round shape. I'll also use my pointy tool to reach the exact middle of the fold by pushing them to reach, the really reached out there. This is the result, you are looking for a flat circle. I've found that with necklines the trimming & pressing with the super hot iron works wonders. Even if it's a knit fabric, it always helps me to achieve a better look. I am now going to trim one of the fabrics to create the illusion of a neckline facing. If this is a facing, this would be the main bodice that goes way larger. So I'm going to do a cut right here to better illustrate my point. About half an inch. So we know which is the facing and which would be like the main fabric for the actual garment. In a garment, there are 3 options to finish the facing. Since this the a right side that we show to the world and here our neck comes out You could have a visible top stitch from here close to the edge - or from the inside, only using understitch to keep the facing in place. Or third option, overcast the raw edge just to finish the facing and you're facing will remain like hidden on the inside. And last but certainly not least, the overcast stitch, starting with two squares of five-by-five inches sewn together with 5/8 of an inch This time, I am not going to press the seams open, but I am going to press them together to the back of the body in our sewing machine, get rid of the main fabric So you are only stitching the two seam allowances together. It is important to notice how the needle needs to be on the very edge of the same Allowance, helped by our white stopper as we saw before, complete the whole row of stitching to end up with something like this. I didn't trim these one. This was purely achieved with my white stopper from the presser foot and it won't unravel. Now you can have these same finishing, either with the two seams together like in this one or press open to have independent, seam allowances both Finished with the overcast. Before wrapping up this lesson, make sure to label all your samples, add the name of the sample. And I would also suggest to add the date, which machine you used to each sample and the stitching sittings. I am also giving you a sample guide template here in the class project resources. So you can print the pdf as many times as you like, and then you can save them altogether in a binder a box or a bag So you can easily refer back to them for any project that you need. For our next lesson, we will sew our zipper pouch and I know that learning how to sew a zipper will level up your sewing game very, very much. So, See you there.
10. Zipper Theory: For zippers, we first need to understand the different types the there are. Let's start with the first and most obvious distinction. zippers that separate when open, most commonly found in jackets and coats, and zippers that stay together at one end named closed bottom that have a bar at one end keeping the zipper together. In a quick anatomy lesson, here are the main parts of a zipper. In both closed bottom and separating zipper, they have the same parts except the bottom stop. In the case of the separating zipper, we have our retainer stop that allows the zipperto part ways when needed, but also to keei4p it in place when closed. Let's move to the different type of zippers regarding the teeth and chain style. First up, This is a nylon coiled. The chain is made of coiled nylon monofilament woven into the tape. The way it is constructed makes it very flexible and usually chain and tape have the exact same color. This is a super popular lightweight zipper ideal for lightweight projects, like satin, a flowy dress or for some place where you don't want your zipper to be that noticeable. And as you can see from the back, it has no teeth showing. In the same coiled family. We have the invisible zipper. From the right side, it has no teeth, but from the wrong side it does. To know which side is right or wrong. Just look at the slider. This zipper is commonly used to remain hidden from the right side of the garment. That's why we call it invisible zipper. used in skirts or nightgowns, it is very discrete. Then we have the metal chain. The metal teeth here are pressed onto the zipper tape. They are perfect for heavy duty projects, leather handbags, all that. They are also way heavier than the nylon coiled. Keep that in mind for your projects. Most probably if you use a metal chain in a satindress, it is going to pull the fabric down causing it to like, pucker or just pull the fabric and even tear the fabric. And lastly we have the plastic molded zipper. Here, the teeth are directly molded onto the tape. They have the same shape. So the slider can run on both directions to fasten the zipper. I find that these usually also comes in the same color from the teeth to tape. They are also a bit less flexible and noticeable from the bulkiness ideal for other heavy projects. And the last consideration is chain size. You will find zippers varying in length from, let's say, six inches up to 24 inches long in average. But chain size is also important. This corresponds to the distance between both outer edges of the chain, ranging from three to ten millimeters wide. In the picture, the beige zipper to the left is smaller than the Black zipper to the right. Alright, now that we are all on the same page with zipper theory, let's jump writing into sewing a zipper.
11. Zipper Sewing: For our first class project, we will learn how to sew a handy zipper pouch. We will get to attach a zipper, practice our finishings. And we will just get at quick sewing fix from these super-fast project. These are the supplies we will use. So have those ready and let's do it. This is my main fabric, a pink coiled being zipper and what will be my fabric stoppers. And I also have here my scissors and ruler because I will show you how to modify a zipper's length. This is at 24 into long zipper. You will find that sometimes you'll need to shorten your zippers to perfectly fit our garment. Let's say I wanted my zipper pouch to measure ten by ten inches. So in my zipper, that would be just ten inches in length for the top bar. So I will have tape at the ten inches measurement, like wrapping around the zipper, just do mark my ten inches from the edge of the zipper down to the ten inches here I am doing my tape marking and got right in the middle. So that bit of tape remains on both sides of my cut And remember to have separate scissors for fabric and for these other kind of things. The remaining length of the zipper will be lost. I am cutting this much because I accidentally bought two of the same size and color zippers. But the remaining length won't always be this much. So let's move this aside. Now. For example, let's say you need a 15 inch long zipper, but the standard lengths are just 12 or 18. So you will get the 18 inches and cut it down to 15 inches. So it perfectly fits your needs. Let me show you the zipper stopper with tape. And to cover that, And protect our zipper We will create a pair of zipper stoppers from these other fabric squares measuring two-by-two inches. Once we sew those to the zipper, considering our actual zipper length, we will do the corresponding math to cut our main fabric pieces. Let's go to the ironing board to get these zipper stoppers going. Fold each fabric square in half, and iron. Then open them and make each side of these like tiny book match the fold in half. I am only ironing One side to keep my iron fold in the middle intact because we will be using it. So after ironing one side, I'll fold it over and press the whole thing together until we get to pieces looking like this. Now, to add the zipper , place it inside the fold. In my case, I am going to trim the tape at the top, so the zipper stopper lays right where the slider starts. Otherwise, I get these tiny gap I dislike. So if I trim a bit of the top length of the zipper, I'll just remove that gap. Let me do it too. So I can show you. This way. It is resting right on top of the former metal stopper, and secure with pins so we can attach it at the sewing machine. Same goes to the other side. And here on the other side I could remove the tape, but I'm actually going to go over it just to make sure like, I won't lose that stopper. But you could remove the tape if you'd like and same, Just attach it to like fabric to the zipper with your sewing pins. In the sewing machine we will sew a straight stitch line close to the edge of the stopper that is facing the entire zipper. Remember to back tack and careful to. Sew both sides of the zipper stopper. I am going to sew with a yellow thread on top and white at the bottom. So you can really appreciate the stitches, but you can use matching thread for your own zipper pouch. - What I am looking for is to sew close to the edge of the stopper, which in this case is to my left. So with my machine sliders, I'll place a needle right in the edge and with my needle down to secure the fabric, remove my first pin, needle down to secure the fabric and then remove my pin. I already have on my left hand, the threads in case I need to help my machine by pulling a bit to the back. Remove the other pin and mind the zipper teeth. Be gentle with your machine as she sews through the bulk from the teeth. Take your time and do these passing very slowly to help with the zipper teeth. Here we have both sides, yellow on top and white on the bottom. I'll just remove the excess fabric from both sides and do the exact same thing with the other zipper stopper. This is my completed zipper with stoppers at both ends. Just like this, I'll measure again so I can figure out the measurements from the main fabric for the zipper pouch. And I have almost ten inches. I am only missing 1/8, so I'll just round up to ten inches, . To finish the seems I would like to add french seams to my zipper pouch. So let's do a quick math here - from our previous sample, we practiced doing a French seam with 578 seam allowance, and we need that seam allowance for both sides. And at the bottom too - but at the zipper, I won't be doing our French seam. I will only have it at the sides and the bottom. And at the top, next to the zipper I will only trim. So on top of the zipper, we only need 3/8 of an inch seam allowance So if I have my math correctly, we need 11 and a quarter inches wide by 11 inches tall. Here I have mine. And my zipper will be placed at the top part, which is the longer side, the 11 1/4 To place the zipper correctly, fold your main fabric in half and mark it. I am going, I am doing so with a regular pen because my tailor's chalk is white and won't be even be visible. I'll mark both pieces of fabric and my zipper. Everything from the wrong side. Now, right sides together. place the zipper on top of the main fabric at the longest side and match the marking with it in the middle at both pieces. Pin in place. I like to start from the middle matching that mark and then match either sites. This way the seam will be hidden in the insides of our pouch. Let's take this to the sewing machine. Removing the regular presser foot, attach the zipper presser foot. The edge of this will work as a stopper for the right side of the zipper teeth, preventing it from moving further to the right. So we never stitch on top of the teeth. before starting, Notice how the zipper slider is wider than the teeth so it will either clash against the presser foot or act as a wider stopper and create crooked seams over there. What we'll do is open the zipper, so the needle starts sewing right where the zipper stopper begins. Make sure to get the whole thing. Pull your threads to the back, needle down and remove your pin Remember to always do so for your own safety and the safety of your machine too. And actually I think I'll start a bit more from behind because I am not catching the whole like polka dot zipper stopper From the very beginning. I want the first stitch to be like catching the zipper stopper and I'll continue stitching. Always make sure both zipper tape and fabric edge are aligned properly. Take a closer look at how the zipper teeth from the right side is being kept in place by the foot presser. So we sew a straight line next to the teeth and never on top of it. And for the fun part before reaching to the slider and making sure you have enough space at the back for it. Put your needle down to secure fabric, lift your presser foot and close the zipper, sending the slider to the back where we already stitched, pivot your fabric as needed to get that slider moving. Remember that your fabric is kept in place by the needle. It's a bit of a struggle. Be gentle with your machine and pieces but firm. Show them who the boss is. and continue stitching periodically stopping to check that fabric and tape are still aligned. I did a bit of a jump there because a tiny piece of the fabric from this stopper was getting caught in the presser foot. So don't force it, just help her get through our first pass of stitches., Yellow from the top and white from the bottom baboon. And this is how it will look from the right side. We will iron so the fabric lays perfectly flat on opposite direction to the zipper. And if you want, you could add an extra passing of top stitch by also opening the zipper and then closing it just like we did to remove the bulk from this lighter From the equation just before - I won't to the top stitch, I think that just by pressing it will look good. Anyway, before pressing, let's stitch to the other side with the main fabric. This is our marking right in the middle and again, right sides together. zipper with main fabric. Also matching the markings. And aligning both sides seams of the pouch pin everything in place, making sure to only catch the zipper tape and the unstitched fabric side. Let's go to the sewing machine. Because I, again, want to do my passing this way I won't be modifying my presser foot. But if I were to do my stitches in this direction, I could do so. The presser foot will also stop the piece from moving further onto the left as before, but for the needle, even if I push my slider all the way to the right The needle won't be able to go past the middle tab. But if I change my presser foot to the other side, I can work just as we did before, but on this other side with the needle falling directly onto the right hole in here. So know that you can use either side of the presser foot. Just be mindful of the needle position. I'll snap mine back to where it was and start again. Threads to the back. Remove pin and start swing from the very beginning of the fabric stopper - Gently pulling to the back to help my fabric flow. Whatever happens, This part of the presser foot won't allow the zipper teeth to move from their place. I am pushing the whole piece upbeat to the right. So again, so close to the teeth. But I am confident that the, that the presser foot will help me in not moving the fabric too much. Lastly, as we get closer to the slider, put your needle down remove pin and lift presser foot to release the fabric and then pivot. So you're able to open the zipper and get the slider out of the way towards the back to finish stitching, both tape and fabric are aligned and finish stitching. Here, you can see that it is getting a bit of like stuck in here. We do as before, by lifting presser foot and adjusting the fabric, remember to gently help your machine as much as you can. This is teamwork. Now take a look at our pouch from the right side, we will iron. So they lay flat and it opens easily. From the inside. I will trim the excess of the seam allowances with my pinking shears, but only the fabric layer, I will leave the zipper just as it is - and with both sides trimmed I'll give it a quick press to open this seams just like this. Now quick pressing, done. And for the rest of the sides because we are doing French Seams, we will start from, you guessed it, wrong sides together first, matching side seams and making sure that the top edge of both pieces aligned. It'll be a bit tricky because of the bulk created by the zipper. But just make sure both, both top edges are aligned perfectly and align all sides around the whole piece. Like the two sides seems and the bottom. We'll do our sewing with straight stitch at 3/8 of an inch all around, pivoting at the corners and back tack beginning and end. at our machine, we will just quickly snap on our regular presser foot instead of the zipper presser foot. And the same as always, needle down threads to the back and removing pin before starting. Constantly make sure that both your fabrics are aligned. And before getting to these corner, make sure you are matching both layers right at the corner. So you can be correctly catching both layers and continue stitching. Once done like we did before, trim this seam allowances down to 1/8 from all sides of the pouch and grade your corners for an extra pointy finish. Turned inside out so we can iron it to really get those stitches right in the middle of the fold, get the corners out there too. And then the final stitch for our French Seam. Help yourself with your pointy tool and roll the fabric with your fingers in order to have the sems just like this, right in the middle. Now that it is beautifully ironed, let's do the last passing of stitches with the wrong side facing out at 1 /4 of an inch. All around. Also pivoting the corners and the back tack beginning and end. Here I already have mine Take a look at these Beautiful corner. It's super crisp and flat. And the same goes for our corners next to the zipper. And look at these, make sure not to catch the zipper stopper while you sew this last stitching at 1/4of an inch from the edge, let's turn this baby right-side out. We will do just one last press again from the right side to remove these wrinkles. But most importantly, look at our precious zipper stoppers at the corner on top. I love these finishing. You can have lots of fun with color and contrast, and they are absolutely functional. And from the inside. We can see the first markings we did and here with pinking shears right here on both sides. And also the enclosed French seem that always looks extra fancy. And a complete functional zipper. Now that you are the proud maker of a zipper pouch, bask in Your glory. And let's continue on moving onto the next lesson, which will be our next class project. And we will put all the knowledge we've gathered so far to the test, see you there!
12. Apron Theory: For our apron, The very first thing to do is measure ourselves with measuring tape. Draw a straight line across your chest as you want your apron to fit Repeat at the waistline. And for the length, take note of your measurements because we will work with them up next – mine are as shown. Now for the PDF sewing pattern, you can find it in the class project section below the green button. To create a project, you can print either the A4 print at home, which comes in litter sites to assemble, or the copy shop, which can be printed with a plotter measuring 100 centimeters by 60 centimeters, which equals to 40 by 24 inches. Before jumping right into sewing. Let's talk about pattern alterations in order to make this explanation easier, I traced these smaller pattern pieces. These are at 25% smaller from the original PDF pattern provided. And what I wanted to do is show you how to do simple modifications to these patterns so you can apply the same techniques to other PDFs patterns. Okay, so we already measured ourselves, let's say that my chest, is 36, that I want the apron to be 36 cm, which equals 14 inches on my chest. The current pattern measures 33 centimeters, which equals to 13 inches. And so we want to make the apron bigger. Now, it would seem that one inch is not that much and that we can skip the modification But we would be missing one important contributing factor to the final garment measurement, and that is seam allowances. When measuring yourself, you are not taking seam allowances into account. You are simply positioning the measuring tape exactly where you would like your apron to end. At the same time when measuring your pattern onto, into paper PDF. In real life, you are not removing the seam allowances you are just measuring as it is. So truly, you don't know the final garment measurement. Note that the PDF pattern has 5/8 of an inch seam allowance which equals to 1.5 centimeters. In this case, if I want my apron to be finished to be 36 centimeters wide at the chest, which equals 14 inches. Then the pattern piece needs to be 39 centimeters wide of the chest, which equals to 15 and a quarter inches. That is six centimeters or two and a quarter inches difference from the original PDF pattern provided. So yes, we do need to make modifications. Always keeping in mind that, that seam allowances contribute to the final measurement of the garment in the paper. So any modifications you do, you have to keep in mind that you also have to modify seam allowances so you can properly sew your garment and have a correct fit I'll do three demos to visually let that sink in. And I'll make the apron bigger or smaller lengthwise and width wise. So you can see, and for the third demo I am going to modify only one measurement while keeping the other one intact. In case You need that too - First, let's take into account. That the PDF pattern is folded in half. So you're only visualising one half of the full pattern in your PDF paper pattern - And, that We already have the seam allowance included. And we also took our whole measurements like fully across without seam allowances taken into account. So we need to level the playing field. That means in order to modify the pattern successfully, we have to work with the PDF pattern and our own measurements in the same conditions, both in half or full measurements and both with or without seam allowances. So I did this chart for you, so it is visually easier for you to understand. What do we do next We have the PDF measurements first in half, just like you have them in paper. Below, the space to the measurements you just took fully across and to the right an other space to add seam allowances. Do those measurements, you took fully across. So we work everything wtih seam allowances already included. And then to the far right, those same measurements broken down in half. So we figure out everything with seam allowance included and in halfs, just like a regular pattern. Notice how in red the length measurements didn't change because the pattern is not divided in half lengthwise. So we need that one in full - to calculate the measurement with seam allowances to your full measurements, just add three centimeters or 1 fourth of an inch into each measurement. So what we need to add to the pattern are the numbers in blue. Let's watch carefully with my half size pattern pieces. Alright, with my half size pattern pieces. I'll grow both length and width as we calculated in the apron guide. First, here's the chest which measures 16.5 centimeters in the real size pattern. So if I wanted it to measure 19.5 cm I have two options. My first option is to extend the chest line by three centimeters away from the center front and do the same down here at the waist by also adding three centimeters opposite to the, to the center front and also moving this side seam. Now, I would have to draw a curve right here. But making sure the new curve lands in the same spot where the waistline is because I am not looking to add extra height to where the waistline currently stands. I would have to draw a line following these space. For this, I would need to have either a french curve or a ruler like this to redraw the curve while adding the three centimeters by placing one of the lines, one of the red lines from the ruler on top of the curve, traced from my pattern. And add the three centimeters with this edge. But if you don't have any of those tools and don't want to risk doing it freehand. I can offer you another way to leave the curve intact by creating other lines to modify the pattern. In this first example, we're going to, we are going to grow the pattern both in chest and waistline, the same amount of centimeters, which calls for an even growth. So I'll trace a straight line parallel to the center. Oh, but I don't I don't want it to cut into the number, so I'll move it a bit towards the side seam and retrace again. Then we will cut this line and add an extension of paper to grow these pattern piece without altering or retracing the curve. Same applies for the length, which I'll think I'll modify first because it's easier to understand, I believe. Okay. So I have these already separated because I traced it on separate pieces of paper. So I'll separate them and keep aside for a moment the bottom part of the pattern and add another piece of paper for the add-on. Making sure to match this edge of the new paper piece to this line in the pattern and secure with tape. Then I'll add ten centimeters according to our measurement guide. Of course that right now I'll add just five centimeters because I am working at 50% of the real size. So from the line, I'll measure five centimeters towards the bottom and draw another line. And to place my original bottom correctly I'll extend the center front line towards the bottom of the new paper add-on so I know exactly where to place the original bottom pattern , matching every line. And then paste together. I don't have to add any new seam allowance because I am going to cut this onto the fabric just like this with the add-on for the extra space, this will be a whole piece to got onto the fabric. This is how to lengthen the pattern piece length wise. In case of wanting to shorten, we would have to take into account the pattern as it was from the start. And shorten it by moving it upwards from the same line we cut before, so we can shorten Usually patterns have a horizontal line that says shorten or lengthen here. To do this kind of modification. Other modifications for width are different because those usually grow with the progression of the sizing. But in the case of length, it is more common to see modifications lengthwise. Because maybe let's take a jumpsuit for example. If two persons were to make the same jumpsuit that it's drafted for a person who measures. One and a hundred, 1.80 centimeters in height, but one has more leg length and the other more torso length. Let's say we would have to lengthen one trouser and shorting the other, even if they are the same height, they are distributed differently. - that happens to me quite often because I really like independent pattern companies. One is, for example, from Sweden. And they draft their patterns for Swedish women who like on average have a height of 180cm And for example, I am 160 centimeters tall. So those 20 centimeters, even if I am measuring myself correctly for my, let's say in my hip, for the width of a jumpsuit, I am, I have a different height, so most probably I have too shorten the torso and the length, even if I am the same size around. So just keep that in mind because width usually changes with the progression of the sizing, but for length, if you have those kind of modifications, it's a super easy and common alteration for the modifications in length Let me paste the pattern so it's, it is, it's original shape and cut the first line we did at the beginning. Same logic applies, matching both vertical edges of the paper, and in this case also the horizontal edge at the chest to extend that chest line. And then place the rest of the pattern piece. We would cut these paper excess because we want to keep the shape of the curve as we did before, We can shorten the width of the garment by moving the pattern piece towards the center front. Just like this. We would also have to remove these excess paper. In these two examples, we are growing or shrinking the width evenly. But what happens when I want to modify the chestline but keep the waist width? Like adding here the 3 cm and leaving the waist alone. I will create a new horizontal line above the waist line to cut the pattern piece. Right over here, closer to the chestline So I'll cut my pattern in my recently drawn line. And I am only looking to move the curved edge. So I will be pasting again, the side closer to the center front, so it remains in its place. And I'll move the curve by, let's say the same three centimeters we've been working. And from these line mark three centimeters towards the curved edge, extending my chest line on top as well. And from originally having my base over here matching this curve, as you can see, I will move it towards my right, matching the chest line up to the new line I created three centimeters away from its original place. Let me get rid of the excess paper. And now we clearly have a lengthened chestline, but we still have to fill in the curve. so it meets the unmodified waistline Otherwise, we would be adding height to the waistline. To achieve this, we just need to paste another paper add on, and free handedly create a curve if you feel confident doing so, create a new curve. If you don't want to do it free handedly, you can use a ruler to create this new curve. this way I am modifying the chest without modifying the waist. We have this new curve and this line will cease to exist. And we will take this as our new curved edge. Most importantly here, always match your pieces. Anything you modify at the front piece, make sure too match it at the back piece. And with any other pieces that are sewn together. I actually think I'm going to quickly refine this curve a bit more because it is removing the initial, the initial curve I liked better. I rather change these kind of things free handedly because I think they end up having a more natural flow - to continue with how we need to met to matched pieces once we do a modification to one of them Let's take the example of the pattern piece number two, the facing - it no longer matches. We need to modify this facing piece. I have here matched my notches. And you could think that we just need to cut the piece and paste another paper. add on, just like we did before. But as you can see, even by doing that, it no longer matches. This is because we created another curve when we fill in, remember? So cutting and pasting won't be enough. What I would do here is retrace and new facing. Let me paste this so I can show you and keep this piece intact. So this is the original one. And let's trace and new one from the original facing. Let's take the measurement of how wide the facing is. In this case, we have one inch. Since we are working at 55% of the original size in real life it would be two inches. But for this, We'll do one inch all along. And with either ruler or free handedly or even your measuring tape. Trace one inch from the edge all around where the facing is going to be placed. And retrace the new facing line. Once we have this, i'd like to retrace with tissue paper, my new facing piece, so I can have it separate from the main pattern piece. So I can retrace it like as a separate piece onto the fabric without cutting or doing anything to this main piece. So retrace yours so you can have your main front piece and your facing. Now for us to get our pattern pieces onto fabric. I did these even smaller pattern pieces at 25% of the original size. To show you how to do it. First, we have to identify the selvage of your fabric so we can please the pp4attern pieces according to the needs of the product. Look here how it indicates to place on fold, and over hereto follow the grainline. So we place the pieces making sure to follow those instructions Pieces parallel to the grainline, and on fold. Do the same with the rest of the pattern pieces following the instructions on each, and once you have all of them cut we can proceed to assemble the apron. And here let me give you a quick visual representation of the wonders of ironing before cutting. I know it is an extra step, but if you can do it, I am sure it will help you with the even cutting of all your pieces. This is it for our apron theory. Let's move on to the next lesson to start sewing.
13. Apron Asssembly: I have all my pieces ready. And we'll start by ironing Everything that needs to be ironed for the construction of the garment, which are both pockets, straps loops and straps. Let's fold with wrong sides together Both lengthwise edges at 3/8 of an inch towards the wrong side and then fold the whole thing in half, also lengthwise with wrong sides together. We'll do the exact same with the Loops. And for the pockets, we will fold at the fold marked by these notches on your pattern. To evenly fold the seam allowances for the straps, I have a quick trick. And that is to trace from the wrong side the lines that will be folded from the edge towards the center, at 3/8 and then from that pencil line towards the center, again trace 3/8 resulting in this two lines parallel to the Edge now match the edge to the second line. And that gives you a perfectly even 3/8 of an inch fold. Do the exact same thing with the other edge and press both sides with the iron. Help yourself by finger pressing before iron pressing. Once you have this seam allowances, press towards the wrong side, fold one of the shorter edges towards the wrong side too, and press while folding the corners to the inside. Leaving these diagonal corners. I do this to have a cleaner fold. Otherwise I feel like it is too bulky and the folds peek outside. So folding the corners is a great way to have cleaner finishes. Then fold in half lengthwise to match the folded edge of the seam allowances and press again. Now you'll have both straps ready to sew. I added the pins to keep my folding in place while I press the rest of the pieces. Same as we did with the straps, will do the loops. 3/8 of an inch seam allowance on each side, fold in half, and both shorter sides can be left raw because those will be hidden inside the facing. So no need to finish those. I have them here ready also pinned to keep the folding in place while we do the pockets. And for those, they have these notches here on top to know where to fold. the side that will be open for us to work as pockets. For the raw edge on top, we have two options Do as I will, which is finishing them with overcast stitch on top and pinking shears for the remaining sides, or you could do any other finish we reviewd before - either way all this edges will remain hidden from inside. So just take that into account for which finishing you choose. For the tiny pocket, I want to show you another option that I just thought about that would be a regular hemline by first doing the 3/8 of an inch fold, and then fold again towards the wrong side of the notches. So we're hiding the raw edge inside of this folds. And then we're going to top stitch close to these folded edge. So this would be the look from the inside and from the outside we would only have the visible topstitch. And lastly, we will iron press the side seam of the apron. At the edge of the curve, we have two notches, one at 3/8 of an inch from the edge, and the second at 2 inches from the same edge, we will fold the edge towards the wrong side with the first notch. So we end up with a seam allowance of 3/8 to press. And we do too the other side seam. Once pressed, secure with pins. Now we are ready to move on to the sewing machine, but don't let your iron get cold. Keep it on because we will be using it again. At the machine, We will start by sewing the straps, topstitching the open edge of both of them, starting from the folded edge right here. Back tack at the beginning, pivoting and continuing the straight line until the other raw Edge which we won't pivot because it will go inside the facing, hidden. Remember the topstitch catching both layers of fabric and sew at 1/8 from the edge. Same with both straps and also with the loops. We only need to topstitch the folded edge at loops, both raw edges from the sides go hidden inside the facing and for the pockets top stitch to secure the folding onto the wrong side, remember to finish the raw edge of the top. I will do so with overcast stitch. I will sew these with contrasting black thread so you can easily see the stitches. Remember, all of your teachings so far. Threads to the back so you can pull if the fabric needs help, needle down and first couple of stitches manually back tack beginning an end and topstitch at 11/8 of an inch and pivot in the corner. Here, I got a tiny knot of threats, but not to worry, we can just cut it. I'll keep sewing to top stitch all the pieces and see you back at the table. We have ready all the top stitched pieces. So let's start assembling our apron. I did my facing with another fabric So you could notice which is which - the facing will be placed right sides together to the main apron piece. And we still need to finish the visible edge of the facing that is right here. Even if it won't to be visible from the right side, we still have to finish the edge to prevent it from fraying. You can choose any finishing you'd like. I did it with overcast stitch. So right sides together. We will sew front and facing with f8/5 of an inch seam allowance along the whole curved edge from the outside and the chestline. But before sewing, we will place the straps at the top and the loops at the sides. To start with the straps, you have notches in your pattern, but I will also draw here so it can be better understood. So, all around we have 5/8 of an inch seam allowance. I will mark them in the corner with marker and a pin to act as a stopper. This is the same spot where you have your notch. If we want to have our straps right in the corner there, then we can’t place the straps passed this pin, because we would be inside the sean allowance already. Take your strap from the raw edge and with the top stitch on both sides facing towards the sides, Place them between front piece and facing. Matching the raw edge to the chest line. And make sure to be super close to the pin stopper. Then pin both straps in place. For the loops, match the rest of the curve and the notches, pinning in place. Like we did before, Mark the 5/8 seam allowance at this side seem over the facing. So you'll know where to place your loops and don't go past that seam allowance. Match raw edges of the loop and pin in place. Also between facing and main apron fabric base. Makes sure that when pinning you're catching front fabric, loop and facing. We will continue to so at the sewing machine, a straight line here parallel to the facing side seam. And then another seam beginning from the start of the facing all the way to the other side - through the curve that's just like the other side of the curve. And repeat the placement of the loop on the remaining side. Match the curve and pin everything in place. Pay close attention when sewing, not to sew the loop to the curve at the sides. Only sewing the raw edge side, Once you've sewn the whole thing, Remember 5/8, right sides together and catching loops and straps with both layers of fabric, you end up with something like this. Take a closer look at these seams I did not pivot, they are separate seams A vertical line as tall as a facing and another seam going past the first stitch towards the side seam We need these for our next step, where we need to trim the excess fabric. with green marker, I'll show you what we need to remove. You can trace it as well. Don't cut this seam, just cut this green rectangle. Careful not to trim any stitches. These will allow our corner to be super pointy and crisp with no excess fabric on the way. Then we will grade the facing's seam allowance Remember to leave the main fabric alone. So we will grade the facing fabric, then we will trim the curve and the corner of both fabrics. Notice that here we removed fabric from both layers of fabric. Contrary to the grading where we will only remove the fabric from the facing. Once graded, trim the corners next to the straps. Then trim the curve. Careful not to cut any stitch. Once you have both curves trimmed, let's turn right sides out to end up with an apron like this. We will iron to perfect the seams, use a pointy tool to really get those seams right there in the middle of the fold like we did before. So then we can top stitch and secure the facing in its place. Having the raw edges enclosed on the inside with the raw edges of the straps and loops. Take a look at the huge difference pressing makes. Now from the wrong side, you'll notice we have a double folded edge next to the facing. We have the one we did at the beginning with 3/8 of an inch seam allowance, And this new one, which isn't pressed at one inch and three quarters, making sure it measures the same all the way pin in place So we can press it. This second fold at 1 3/4 should be formed automatically by turning the right sides out because of the side seam in the facing. Let's iron and do the same on the other side. Once pressed, we will move onto this beautiful mitred corner. Join me on our next lesson to finish assembling and sewing the apron.
14. Apron Sewing: Alright, so for our mitred corner, with our bottom edge still raw, fold it towards the wrong side at 3/8 of an inch for our first folding and then fold again at 1 3/4 to have the same measurements of the side, we need to have a square here, not a rectangle. So let's press these folded corner and move onto the next step. This is my pressed corner. And now we open it to reveal the pressed lines. By drawing an imaginary line that touches the corner of this first Square up to the edges, I am going to fold towards the wrong side and cut the excess fabric. Right here. I'm going to cut. So I'm going to trace a line above my first imaginary line here in white. And now trace - that is where I'm going to cut the excess fabric. Well, now with the excess fabric out of the equation, fold it Now making sure to fold the 3/8 seam allowance to the inside and pin in place each corner so we can then fold. Let me get mine in place. So we can then fold to this enter creating this corner. Let's move to the sewing machine to secure this corner by stitching. Alright, I have this super well pressed corner. And we can now secure by sewing these two edges together. If I were to top stitch this corner without sewing the mitred corner, we would have this open space - that could be okay. But I prefer to close the space - , because it is well pressed and the lines are marked I'll know how to sew these two lines that I want to keep together. So open the corner and the lines touching my index fingers are the ones I want to sew together. So keeping the seam allowance the 3/8 of an inch seam allowances folded towards the wrong side Match your right sides together. And you want to match the folded edge from the seam allowances and carefully also keep this pointy this point formed by the square at the very edge of the fold, of the middle fold. And pin in place. Then with basting stitch, sew a straight line on top of the desired lines. When I turn the right-side out, I get my pointy mitred corner with both sides stitched together neatly. Here I suggest sewing with basting stitch in case the lines don't match correctly, You can easily unstitch. Since it is correct, I will open again to trim the excess fabric and have less bulk inside of the corner. Careful not to cut any of the stitches, just cut this remaining excess of fabric. Press again to keep our edges crisp And I'll get back to the table to explain the following top stitch to secure the mitred corners with the whole garment. Our final topstitch, goes from the facing edge around the whole apron at 1/8 from the open edges of facing and hemline, pivoting at the mitred corners and returning to the start, remember to back tack at the beginning and end. And of course my bobbin thread ran out this close to finishing - makes me laugh how it always happens. So moving on, once finished, look how dense the back tack from the empty bobbin looks in here. Of course, this is way more obvious because of the contrasting thread. But if this happens to you and you're using matching thread to your fabric it won’t show this much. Lastly I want to add the pockets, this tiny one for the chest, and the bigger one a bit lower First let’s finish all the edges, choose the finishing you prefer, they will be hidden inside the pocket so won’t be visible, remember to leave the hemline like it is now, already finished. So once you finish each raw edge, fold them towards the wrong side at 3/8 of an inch, finger press, and then iron press. Let me do mine to show you. So here are my pockets. I finished the raw edges with pinking shears - pressed and pinned in place to keep the seam allowance folded properly. Now, I'd like to secure my folds first and then attach the pocket onto the garment. for that I’ll sew straight line close to the pinking shear Edge And then attach to the apron by topstithcing again close to the folded Edge, from the right side, which results in a double top stitch look from the right side. I would like to jump onto the sewing machine, not only with my pockets ready, but also a planned to where to position each pocket onto the apron. I know I want these larger pocket squared to the side and bottom seem. So I'll measure five inches to the side. And mark it with my tailor's chalk - in this case my tailor's chalk is white so I'm adding this black line here where I drafted my Tailor's chalk for you to see it properly. Same with the bottom seem, except that this time at four inches. I'll do my first passing of top stitching to attach the seam allowances. So once it's sewn, I'll match it to the previously traced lines and attach it to the apron with the second passing of top stitch. I won'tto be sewing free handedly, I'll pin the pocket to the apron so I can confidently stitch it. So here I have both pockets with the top stitch at the seam allowance. And I'll place the bigger one according to the tailors chalk line we traced before an pin in place, making sure to catch both layers of fabric. Now to top stitch at 1/8 from the folded edge and pivoting at the corner. Back tack beginning and end to have the open top edge secured and open. Repeat for the tiny pocket at the chest. Same as always, threads to the back a couple of stitches manually to secure the seam, remove the pin and back tack beginning an end - to dap stitch at 1/8 Both beautiful pockets. Remember to pivot by lifting presser foot while the needle is still down and make sure everything is placed properly. And also that you're not stitching anything like the straps or any other fabric that you didn't saw getting under the needle. Always check, check, check. And now here we have it. Both pockets placed. The awesome mitred corners. And from the wrong side everything is placed with the top stitch. And obviously we only get one top stitch passing from this side on both pockets. Now let's try it on - to put it on and you just have to cross the straps and pass them through the loops. And then make a bow or just a knot at the back. And the pockets are customizable so you can place as many as you'd like and in any position you prefer. So here we have our apron.
15. Final Thoughts: Alright, before we part our ways, let me give you my final takeaways for this Sewing 102. Thank you so much for joining. I hope this was very useful to you. Again, don't forget to show me your makes down there at the class project section. And if you have any question or suggestion for future classes, don't be afraid to hit me up. Hope you enjoy your apron, zipper pouch and all the learned techniques we saw here. See you soon!
Valeria Garala, Textile designer & pattern maker
