Foundations

Hi! My name is Jennifer, and I sew. Let me say this first: I am not a professional seamstress! I'm self-taught. I began sewing, in earnest, in 2007 after finishing college. I wanted a creative outlet. And I've always been fascinated by fashion. I read articles, tutorials, pattern information, and tons of sewing blogs. Over the last decade, I've sewn clothing, bags, toys, costumes, and lots of variations on those items. I've made costumes for Renaissance festivals, community theater, belly dance, and just for fun. I've made casual clothes, I've made work clothes. I haven't really delved into formal clothing, yet. And in the last couple of years, I've gotten involved in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and started researching medieval methods and materials for sewing.

This blog is going to heavily feature my SCA research, projects, class handouts, and tutorials. But I expect that it will also feature any other sewing project or technique I happen to document. My hope is that I can help other people who are newer to sewing, or drafting, or hand-sewing. I find hand-sewing to be terribly relaxing and energizing at the same time. It can really test your creativity (and sometimes patience). It can also be a nice, brainless activity to relax with. It's all about what you take on.

Let me talk for just a few minutes about the basics of sewing, as I see them. You have fabric. This can be colored, patterned, or plain. It can be shiny or matte. It can be sheer or plush or stiff or crinkled. But at the end of the day, it's fabric. Everything I post about will be intended for woven fabrics, rather than knits. Woven fabrics tend to not stretch, while knit fabrics tend to stretch. There are other differences, but let's keep it simple for now. If I post something for stretch fabrics, I'll say that in the post, if not the title. Then you have thread. Most sewing thread is some variation on polyester, cotton, or silk. Occasionally linen. But unless otherwise specified, I'm using an all-purpose weight of cotton thread. I don't like to use buttonhole, quilting, or other heavy weight thread for normal sewing. NEVER use machine embroidery thread for any kind of structural sewing. That's weaker than all-purpose weight thread, and meant for surface decoration only. I will specify when I'm using machine vs. hand stitching when it's important, or when both are good options. But for the most part, I use a fine-ish sharp needle.

When sewing, you have your seams, which is the line of stitching that joins two pieces of fabric together. Your seam allowance is the little short fabric ends that go to the inside of a garment. You always want to finish your seam allowance with woven fabrics because they can fray. There are several methods of doing this, the most basic one is to use a wide zig-zag stitch on the very edge of the fabric, near where it was cut. That will stop the fraying much like a serger will, and you don't need a separate machine to do it. I'll talk about other seam finishes in the future. Hems are the edges of fabric, like the bottom of a shirt or dress, or the cuff of a sleeve. Hem allowance is the extra bit of fabric you have to turn up to finish, or to sew a facing onto. I'll get into facings soon. But basically, your garment's raw edges all need to be finished in some way. The simplest is to turn the edge up, and then turn it up again, enfolding the raw edge in a fold, and stitch down the edge of the fold. That's a simple turned hem.

Anyway, I think that covers the absolute most fundamental basics.

Please feel free to e-mail me questions or requests at eliza.blackbun@gmail.com. Or if you'd just like to chat!

Let me also please introduce you to the Little Gray Cat, who must always lay on whatever I would like to use. Most especially sewing supplies.

This is Dorian, performing cat yoga on top of a pattern.