Stitch and bitch thread #3 Sewing is harder than it seams

[NutellaEllaElla]

And i'm very glad to have you clever sewists to selvedge what's left of my dignity .

That was an arse of a colour to thread match, btw. A reddy, browny purple.

Now that is lovely PickAChew. What pattern is it? It looks quite complex with those tucks. It's a really nice colour.

I bought the Friday Pattern Company Davenport Dress pattern this week. It has an elasticated neckline which I'm not too keen on the idea of so I'm going to toile it to see how that goes. The waist is also elasticated so no zips required which is a win.

That’s a lovely job PickAChew. So precise. I love the colour as well.

We’re moving further inland today so I’ll be putting my shorts away I guess. I’ve worn 90% me made clothes so far this holiday and DH has virtually lived in the shorts I made him.

That must be really satisfying @Jins

I just got emailed a new free Peppermint Pattern. They've been good when i've done them before. It looks interesting.
peppermintmag.com/peppermint-milton-pinafore-just-patterns/

Joining you as a complete novice sewer. I've invested in a basic John Lewis machine, made a couple of face masks for DD, but that's it so far.

Planning on starting on a Christmas stocking this weekend - we've had to break the news to DD (11) that it isn't Father Christmas that fills her stocking, so she's quite keen to replace that with us all having a stocking that we fill for each other.

I've found this pattern www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ideas/sewing/how-to-quilt-a-christmas-stocking but have literally zero experience other than the above, so we'll see how it goes!

Oh, and I'm voting for anyone but Sara Pascoe for GBSB host. Can't stand her - please no. I say bring back Claudia, that's what really inspired me to try sewing, even if I've been really slow to make progress

It's the merchant and mills box box top in one of their hemp blends. "Hemp/Organic Cotton Bramble - Merchant & Mills" merchantandmills.com/store/cloth/sustainable/hemp/hemp-cotton-bramble/ lovely to wear, despite being quite sturdy.

I have a huge back forest log of ironing to get through then I'll be starting a Brome top in another hemp blend.

"Hemp Chambray Denim - Merchant & Mills" merchantandmills.com/store/cloth/sustainable/hemp/hemp-chambray-denim/

I've never quilted anything. Even the sewing place forums refers to it as the dark side 😁

Welcome welcome @BookShark,I started these threads as an absolute beginner and now I can't stop making dresses! There's some wonderfully skilled and helpful ladies on here.

Those fabrics are beautiful @pickachew. Love Merchant & Mills stuff.

Oh dear, re thread #3 and it still isn't working.

Shirring woes are driving me to cake. I don't understand it at all 😭

I gave up on the overlocker but sewing is not my friend at the moment.

Ok so I found a YouTube video telling me how to shirr on my brother machine. Now I have another question:
I am making a dress with shirring under the bust. The dress is made, and the instructions say to put it on and tie string around the under bust to mark where the shirring is to start. I made sure the string was level all the way round the body but when I remove the string and open the dress out the line is curved, lowest point under the bust and curving up under the arms. Should I shirr along the curved line?

Another update: I made the wrong call, the dress looks rubbish.

Oh, no @NutellaEllaElla. Was that the Grecian sundress? I've never done shirring, so couldn't advise. Which did you go for in the end, straight or curved?

Yeah the grecian, I did straight 'cos all the tutorials used rulers to draw the line. The shirring went well eventually.

@NutellaEllaElla I wish I could offer advice, but as it took me the best part of an hour to cut and stitch two squares together today, I'm not sure I'm the most experienced sewer here!

That said, I made some reasonable progress - the pattern requires a lot of stitching, cutting and restitching before getting going, so I'm hoping I'll speed up as time goes on.

Two questions if people don't mind.
1 - do you sew in ends, knot them or just cut them? I usually sew in when hand sewing, but wondered if there was a quick option for a sewing machine?
2 - Can you recommend some beginner sewing clothes patterns? I'd love to try, but I started on a machine only a week ago, so need something to build my confidence!

@BookShark welcome to the wonderful world of sewing!!

1. If you backstitch, you won't need to tie them off. If you don't, you will have to tie them off because the stitches will come undone.
2. I love Patterns for Pirates. I used them when I very first started sewing and their instructions are great.

@PickAChew that top looks great! I never colour match my overlocker lmao. I have rainbow thread by MaxiLock in it and use it for everything 😅

I finished off my bag for Bag of the Month Club yesterday, I love how it turned out!

For some reason I can't upload more than one photo, but here's the front!

@BookShark I use a variety of methods for ends depending on where they are on a garment.

Ordinary seams I backstitch. Seams that I suspect might need unpicking or altering in some way I pull the top thread through and tie the ends. Top stitching, hems and buttonholes get sewn in. Darts get sewn in.

Any garment I make has a mixture of the above. I start with good intentions of finishing threads as I go along but usually end up with a load to do at the end.

In terms of patterns the big 4 paper pattern companies all do an easy to sew range but the important thing for a beginner is the quality of the instructions. It might be worth picking up a book on beginner dressmaking although there are loads of resources online as well. I remember at school the first project was a skirt and that’s not a bad place to start for skill building.

Is anybody going to The Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate? The workshops look really good.

I backstitch, then pull the threads through, knot and trim. If it's overlock, it's unravel the tail and knot. So far, no ends of seams have failed, though my chunky thighs have seen off a few mid-seam things!

When it comes to starting dress making, you can buy a book of sewing techniques,hit youtube to help you out with the scant details in the instructions on the 'big 4' patterns.

Indie patterns tend to have more detailed instructions (with photos!) so companies like Sew Over It or Tilly and the Buttons are good places to look. Their 'easy' level patterns are generally much easier than a big 4's version of easy.

Yesterday I cut out 4 things (2 x toddler outfits, 1 x nightdress for a friend and a 'I am Cupidon' top for myself). Managed to finish the cupidon (currently in the wash getting the chalk and pen marks out), but jeez, kids clothes are possibly even harder to sew than adult clothes. Yes the seams are shorter, but everything is so much more fiddly.

@NutellaEllaElla, I'm planning on making that dress for next summer. Which would you recommend, straight across or curved?

That's a lovely bag, @Gizzy93!

You've been busy, @kittykarate! I still can't cut out - I have strained tendons in my thumb, rather than my wrist! They're getting better but big cutting out scissors are not going to help! I have some fiddly repairs to do on a Victorian ball gown I made years ago that I need to show some people this week, so I might get on with that!

I'm not sure I'd recommend the pattern based on my experience to be honest. Here's a couple of pictures of what I have after doing around half the shirring, on a straight line. It's not looking good and I think it might need the top to be recut to remove all the excess material that's drooping so badly. It could well just be me and my inexperience as a dressmaker, maybe I've got things wrong, I don't know.