Tutorial
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Sharpen Your Skills: Guide to Sewing Scissors
Let’s talk about all the scissors you might want or actually need for sewing (and a few bonus types for you costumers out there)! There are quite a few, so I’ve broken them down here with their uses and place in the cutting world: Types of Shears and Scissors Dressmaking Shears Dressmaking Shears come in two distinct varieties: Knife-edge and Serrated-edge. Both styles coming in sharp tip and blunt tip. There are also spring loaded versions to take some of the work off your hands. These are the mainstay of your scissor collection. They are meant to cut through fabrics as light as chiffon and gauze, all the way to…
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Fabric Selection 101
Beyond a doubt, fabric selection is the most crucial part of sewing – it literally is the costume. When I was a starting seamstress, my fabric choices were ALL over the place, especially for skirts, I used lining fabric, charmeuse, silky solids, and a myriad of completely inappropriate fabrics for the styles I was making. Best part? They fell apart. Not just because I didn’t finish my seams, but because the fabric was quite literally, wrong. You can learn from my mistakes! Save yourself some coin to spend on the appropriate fabrics for a project. I’m going to talk all about wovens today and save knits for another. If you…
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New to sewing? Here’s what you need to start.
Starting sewing is intimidating, especially when you’re going through rows and rows of sewing notions in Joann Fabrics. I’ve distilled those walls into a list of the basics you’ll need to get started and with the ‘advanced’ tools you will likely want to acquire over time if your needs call for them. Click on the pictures for links! Taking care of your machine is priority #1. You’ll need to keep it properly oiled and continually remove lint so the machine action can work uninhibited. You’ll want to clean the lint out every 6-12 hours of sewing depending on your fabric. (I’ve had to do this up to once every hour…
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Sewing Machine Needles: Simple Guide for Success
Using the right or wrong needle for the job can make or break your project that you’ve worked on for hours, days, or months. Figuring out which needle is right for your fabric selection is tricky, but below I’ve created two handy phone-friendly infographics for you to reference the next time you need to buy needles! And a bit extra, the anatomy of the machine needle and what all these different types of needles look like up close. For reference, a self-threading needle is a universal needle with a small slit to make it easier to thread, these are recommended only for stable wovens, mainly quilting cottons and their ilk.
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Petticoat Math!
Beware: Algebra Ahead! Petticoats are not hard. I repeat, they are not hard. All of it is simple math and I’m here to help you figure out your fluff, length, and fabric requirements for a basic tiered petticoat like the one I’ve made for Anna! First things first: Fabric. You’ll need a stiff organza as your base fabric, my suggestion is to use this from Fabric Wholesale Direct. It’s easy to sew, easy to cut (fun fact, you don’t have to cut organza, you just tear it on the grain so it’s always perfectly even!), and it’s pretty. The other fabric you’ll need is tulle for the bottom tier. You…
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A Rose Petal Skirt
Taking inspiration from Dior and the 19th Century (specifically the mid 1860’s) I designed a skirt with petals that are short in the front and lengthen as they get to the back. These petals are more intricate than they appear, in fact, there are four layers of fabric to them: two types of organza, glitter tulle, and silk gauze. Each petal is made from a base of gold organza with a second layer of the iridescent organza. These bases were cut to the shape of the final petal. I sewed them together around the edge, but then added three rows of stitching from the top to the bottom spaced out.…
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Let’s Talk Research
An upcoming project of mine is Arwen’s “Red Dress” from the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. So how does one go about actually making a cosplay that is fairly screen accurate? Read on and I’ll tell you all about research for this relatively simple costume. The first step is to break everything down into parts, so we have the following categories: Fabric, Sewing Pattern(s), Trims, Embellishments, Wig, Accessories, Shoes. In the case of Arwen, we are only using a few of these categories: Fabric, Sewing Pattern, Trim, and Wig. To figure out the fabric, multiple reference images are generally needed, in the case of Arwen, one or…
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Making Fire
My 18th Century (specifically 1770’s) Charmander, aptly named “Le Feu du Charmander,” required a non-historical trim to create a flame effect. During the time period, fabric trims were, for the most part, various types of gathered strips of fabric or bows sewn onto the dress in artful, mirrored ways. No way would this work for the ombre look I was wanting to achieve – let alone match the texture I desired. The solution: nearly 200 individual ‘flames.’ I simultaneously regret and love this decision. I’m often quite conflicted when it comes to costuming and time-consuming techniques, this was no exception. Materials: Five 1-yard cuts of flame colored fabric 2 packs…
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13th Century Hair Netting
I’m working on this Elizabethan styled cosplay. Together with Sara Cosplays, we’re going to be Anna and Elsa – she’s Elsa. Anyway, these cosplays are something of a cluster of new techniques I’m having to research, learn, and use in the creation. I got it into my big silly brain to make a snood for each of us. Because the ones that are sold online are the vintage style from the 1940’s – that’s not really going to cut it. RenFest isn’t until after we need them either. Not realizing what I’ve gotten myself into, I take to the internet, find a tutorial and run with it. Screaming, crying, and…
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Linen Petal Dress Creation
I have a few cuts of fabric that are solely dedicated for when I need a quick filler project to get my sewing fix. Yes, I am addicted, no, no help is needed. These two linen fabrics I’ve had for a while now, and finally decided to put this look together. The petal style skirt was inspired by a look of Michelle Obama’s a few years ago – I love the idea of scallops without the actual hem being curved. The visual interest of this is something that I don’t see in most clothing stores except very expensive ones – because the seams cannot be set by machine, they must…
