Doing any kind of hobby from scratch takes time, patience and the ability to focus on what you are doing, without too many distractions. In my actual working life (I’m a print buyer) we say a little knowledge can actually be quite dangerous. We all know that one person who is adamant they know how something works or how it can be done better, without having any knowledge what-so-ever of the mechanics behind it. Then when it doesn’t look like what they thought it would, they try to tell you how it needs to be put right! Here’s my perfect example of that;
Having had my shiny new sewing machine for a couple of weeks, which by the way is a Janome 4400 and I picked up from HobbyCraft, and just trying out the basic stitches and refamiliarising myself with how it all works, I knew it was time to put my knowledge to the test.
I chose a pretty straightforward pattern, something I know I could do based on the “knowledge” I had. Simplicity have a great pattern range and I don’t find them to be too difficult (hence the name I guess) I’d found some cheap (remember that word!) material, which I thought if I did make a dogs dinner of this it wouldn’t have cost me a small fortune. Bought a mound of cotton and some other sewing paraphernalia which would get used a lot, including some very nice sharp scissors – nothing worse than trying to cut fabric with blunt tipped scissors.
I carefully cut my pattern out, **overlocked all my edges, used an iron on interfacing which I then overlocked in place. I was ready to put this baby together! I’d sewn and ironed my seams to make sure everything lined up, I kept checking the fit to make sure I hadn’t misjudged my size. I even remembered how to sew in a zip, bonus on my part really.
When I finished my final stitch I was so excited to try this creation on, I ran upstairs and swirled around in front of the mirror, with a matching pair of shoes I might add, thinking I’ve got this! I’ve only gone and done it, I’ve made my first proper outfit – me, I made it. I was ecstatic.
It was then I remembered the one thing I should have done before I did anything else, remember the cheap fabric I bought, and that a little knowledge isn’t always a good thing?
My textiles teacher would be waving her fingers as me now, saying “Rachael, what is the first rule of dress making?” it was like a light bulb moment…. “always wash your fabric first” – bugger! Oh well how bad could it be, right?
Wrong…..
The main reason to wash fabric first is to allow for shrinkage, its never been washed so you don’t know how the fibers will react. You don’t want to spend all that time checking measurements and fitting correctly only to find one wash and its only fit for Barbie (check the washing instructions on fabric when you buy it most will wash at 30°C without a problem) and the second, in my case, was to see if the fabric colour runs.
My lovely black and white polka dot dress was now a very dreary shade of faded black, I couldn’t even describe it as grey, it was just wrong. I was gutted!
So here endeth my first blog about sewing, before you even start, remember wash your fabric first – it may not shrink and it may not run, but it’s better than kicking yourself after when it does!
** Overlocked / Serged – is when you stitch over and open edge of material using a zigzag stitch (as I do) and allow for an open seam.
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