How To Prepare Fabric For Sewing

Before you get started laying out your pattern pieces and cutting your fabric, you will want to prepare your fabric. There is nothing more upsetting than investing your time and effort into sewing a project only to have it shrink the first time you wash it. Fabrics may also shrink differently in each direction, which can also make for a strange looking project in the end. To avoid this, pre-washing or pre-shrinking your fabric before you start to sew can be very helpful.

Fabrics that do not generally require any pre-washing:

• 100% polyesters
• Fleece
• Other synthetics

Some fabrics are available preshrunk, which can save you some time. If you will never wash the item you are making you can also skip this process.

I will generally skip pre-washing if I am using a very light weight cotton such as a voile, where the finish on the fabric adds some stiffness which can be helpful when sewing. However, the other benefits to pre-washing your fabric is to remove any left over residues from the manufacturing process, to remove excess dye, as well as other elements that may be sitting on your fabric. Preparing your fabric will include a few steps.

Washing
It is important to note that when you pre-wash your fabric it may change the look and feel of the fabric. Refer to the fabric bolt at the time of purchasing for the care instructions. Following the care instructions for the fabric is very important.

You can use a washing machine, hand wash or dry clean. Wash the fabric separately to ensure that the colour does not run into other items or test a small piece of fabric prior to washing to determine its' colourfastness. Dark or very bright colours can be pre-rinsed in cool water until the water runs clear, before washing. If you have a dry clean only fabric, you may want to consider finishing the raw edges and then dry cleaning. An alternative to dry cleaning is to use a steam iron in the direction of the grain.

Tip! If you have a fabric that may unravel, you can finish the raw edges with a serger or zigzag stitch before washing.

Drying Your Fabric
Dying the fabric past the point of dryness can help to increase shrinkage. However, I have found that taking the fabric out of the dryer slightly damp and then ironing can be a great way to get wrinkles out. You can also put your dryer on a hot setting and remove fabric promptly after dying to reduce wrinkles. Ideally use the dyer setting that best suites your fabric. Some fabrics will require you to hang dry or to lay flat to dry.

Tip! You can hand wash silk with a gentle detergent and hang dry or dry clean.

Ironing
If in doubt use a dry iron. Some fabrics will end up with water spots if you use a steam iron. It you are not sure about seam ironing, test a small piece of fabric. Try not to distort your fabric when ironing. The safest approach is to iron in the direction of the grain and avoid pushing and pulling against the fabric.

Tip! You can pre-shrink your notions, ribbons, interfacing and zipper if necessary.

Straightening Your Fabric
The next step in preparing your fabric is to straighten the raw ends of your fabric. The goal is to make sure that the lengthwise and crosswise threads of your fabric are at right angles. There are a few ways you can straighten your fabric:

• Fabrics with a pattern - identify a repeated motif along the cross grain and cut a straight line along the pattern.
• Woven fabric - make a small cut at the selvage (self-finished edge of fabric) and pull a crosswise line of thread, then use this line as your cutting line.
• Alternative method - fold the fabric along the grain with the selvage edges together and smooth out wrinkles in fabric. Use a rotary cutter or scissors and a straight edge to cut a straight line across the fabric.

You can trim away your selvage if desired. I often leave my selvage on fabrics that are difficult to identify the right side.

Now your fabric is ready for your sewing project!

If you have a tip or suggestion on straightening your fabric, please comment below.

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Fall Wardrobe Sew-Along

How To Take Body Measurements
Selecting A Pattern

How To Prepare Fabric For Sewing
How To Cut Pattern And Fabric Pieces
Reviewing Pattern Instruction Sheet
Sew-Along - Butterick 6182 Skirt
Sew-Along - New Look 6005 Pants
Sew-Along - Burda 6820 T-Shirt

Selecting A Pattern

The first project in our fall wardrobe sew-along is a skirt. We will be using a commercial pattern from Butterick; the Lisette B6182. This is a simple skirt with invisible back zipper, front pleat and side-front pockets. There is a range of sizes for this skirt and the suggested fabrics are easy to work with. The sizes are grouped into A5 (6 to 14) and E5 (14 to 22).

Choose your pattern size

Using the waist and hip measurement you collected on your body measurement chart, choose the pattern size grouping (A5 or E5) you need. The finished length of the skirt in all sizes is twenty four (24) inches, so be sure to measure where this will measure fit on you. You can lengthen and shorten the pattern if needed.

On the flap of the pattern envelope (see below), locate the numbers that represent your waist and hip measurements (a). If your measurements are between two numbers, then I suggest measuring the pattern pieces, minus the seam allowance and determine what the finished garment will measure. You can also transfer the pattern using tracing paper and sew a muslin for an initial fit. Alternatively you can start with the larger size and alter if needed. This skirt is not a tight fitting garment, which suggests that there will be some easement.

Gather fabric and notions

I have chosen to use a linen/cotton blend fabric. You can choose to use a twill, linen or poplin as suggested (b). To determine how much fabric and interfacing you will need, refer to the chart on the back of the pattern envelope (c).

You will also require a 7” invisible zipper and thread. I was unable to find a 7” zipper, therefore I am using an 8” zipper. I am using 100% cotton thread. Ideally you will want to match the colour of your zipper and thread with your fabric or match one of the colours in the print. Once you have gathered your fabric and notions you are now ready to prepare your fabric and cut your pattern pieces.

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Previous Post   |  Next

Fall Wardrobe Sew-Along

How To Take Body Measurements
Selecting A Pattern
How To Prepare Fabric For Sewing
How To Cut Pattern And Fabric Pieces
Reviewing Pattern Instruction Sheet

Sew-Along - Butterick 6182 Skirt
Sew-Along - New Look 6005 Pants
Sew-Along - Burda 6820 T-Shirt

Fall Wardrobe Sew-along

Starting from today through to November 30, we’ll be going through the process of creating several pieces for a fall wardrobe. Photographs and instructions will be posted as we walk through the process of making five pieces. You can ask questions in the comments section or join us on Instagram and Facebook. I will do my best to address your questions and you are free to share with each other.

Join the sew-along or simply apply what you learn to other projects. Our first post will be next week, so keep an eye out for pattern details and the next step in our sew-along!

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Next Post

Fall Wardrobe Sew-Along

How To Take Body Measurements
Selecting A Pattern

How To Prepare Fabric For Sewing
How To Cut Pattern And Fabric Pieces
Reviewing Pattern Instruction Sheet

Sew-Along - Butterick 6182 Skirt
Sew-Along - New Look 6005 Pants
Sew-Along - Burda 6820 T-Shirt

Jute Ornament

I love making holiday decorations and I am very excited this year to get started with some fun projects. This jute ornament can take a little time to make, but it is very fun and super cute for holiday decorating. You can make a loop for hanging or you can simply cover the styrofoam ball in jute and put on display. You can make them all the same size or you can vary the size of the styrofoam balls.

Supplies
Styrofoam Ball (desired size)
Jute Twine
Hot Glue Sticks
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors

Instructions
1. Turn in the end of your twine and glue onto the styrofoam ball with a small dot of glue.

2. Place a small bead of glue on the styrofoam ball close to the twine and wrap twine around the first piece of twine.

3. Continue the process of gluing and wrapping in small sections at a time until you cover the surface of the styrofoam ball and you are left with a small opening on the opposite end.

4. Cut the remaining twine to your desired length to make a loop for your ornament to hang from, or cut close to the base and leave just enough twine to fill the final space on the styrofoam ball.

5. Place a dot of hot glue in the middle of the small opening and press the end of the twine into the space.

Now your ornament is ready to use. Have fun!

Our New Crafted Spaces Studio and Store

This is the first post since the summer and I am sorry if it seemed like we may have disappeared. However, if you have been following our  Facebook and Instragram then you have an idea of what we have been up to and of course the title of this post may have given it away. After such a long hiatus, it seems only fitting that our new studio and shop gets a little spotlight.

Crafted Spaces | 13 Collier Street, Barrie, Ontario

I am happy to announce that we have opened our new studio and store at 13 Collier Street, Barrie, Ontario. The new location was opened on September 8, 2014 and is bright, spacious and conveniently located in downtown Barrie. Our main studio area is where most of the action happens, but there is an additional room of handmade goodies, an office and tons of storage. We even have a cute little kitchen and a private washroom in the unit.

My husband Don and I have spent the past few months getting things together and are very excited. I have also been hard at work creating new classes and workshops and we are curating a great selection of sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting and craft books. In the coming months we will also have a selection of sewing and craft kits available; as well as a beautiful selection of handmade accessories, home decor items and other gift items from Canadian designers and artisans.

Crafted Spaces Sewing Studio

We jumped at the opportunity to move into this spacious and bright new location. We hope that the new location will be more accessible to our students and it will provide us with an opportunity to host a wider range of classes and workshops. We have introduced several knitting classes and hope to have more new classes and workshops being taught by myself and other instructors.

I have really enjoyed working from my home studio over the years. It has provided me with an opportunity to be close to my boys and to stay at home with my little guy, who started JK in September. Some of the larger group classes and some textile dye workshops will continue to be held at my home studio in Shanty Bay, Ontario.

The transition to the new studio has been great and I hope you will love it as much as we do. There are still a few small things left to do, but the new space has been well received by our students and customers. The new locations has lots of street parking and is easy to access. There is more square footage; which translates into comfortable sessions. There are also classes and workshops available throughout the day, evenings and weekends.

We also invite you to join us at our open "Sew and Craft" which takes place on alternate Sundays from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. My husband Don (GSM Beats Inc.) is also teaching guitar lessons from the private music lesson room at the studio. We also invite other creatives to join us to teach a class or workshop or to sell their handmade designs in the shop.

For more information about our location, hours and updates on our classes and workshops connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.

Crafted Spaces | 13 Collier Street, Barrie, Ontario

DIY Holiday Gift Wrapping

Wrapping gifts is a holiday favourite of mine. I love finding creative ways to present my gifts and I prefer to use materials that can be reused or is recyclable. I think that an important part of gift giving is the presentation and there are so many ways that you can present a gift.

I like to get my Christmas shopping done early, which allows me to take my time with the wrapping. Each Christmas I like to do something different so I generally give some advance thought to what supplies I would need. After I have gathered my supplies, I prepare an area that I can designate as a "wrapping station." This year I have kept things simple and have chosen basic Kraft paper, Kraft paper bags, jute, yarn and red velvet ribbons. I purchased a roll of Kraft paper from Wal-Mart and found Kraft paper bags at the dollar store. The red velvet ribbons are from Chapters and HomeScene. The jute and yarn are left over from previous projects.

Other great options are strips of vintage fabric or bias cut fabric, which I use as ribbon. I have also sewn fabric bags as an alternative to paper gift bags. Newspaper comics and regular news print are also fun alternatives to wrapping paper.

If you are looking for other great holiday gift-wrapping ideas, I have rounded up some of my favourites:

• Winter Scene Painting Gift Toppers
• Handmade Holiday Woodland Wrapping
• DIY Pintuck Plaid Gift Wrap
• Christmas Chalkboard Packaging
• Printable Chalkboard Gift Tags for any Occasion
• Handmade Holiday Gift Baskets
• Handcrafted Sugar Cookie Gift Sack
• Gift Toppers
• Photo Gift Tags
• Chalkboard Christmas Gift Tags and Labels
• Freebie Printable Christmas Wrapping Paper

Happy gift-wrapping!

Crafty Home: How to Make a Pillow Insert

My husband has been sailing with his parents since he was a baby. He learned to sail with his dad and he is eager for the day when he can call the boys crew mates. We already live in "cottage country," so about three years ago we decided to make Toronto our choice for where to keep our boat. We had it closer to home, but there is so much happening in Toronto and after living there for many years it was our way of getting to spend time in the city and enjoy some sailing on Lake Ontario.

Earlier this year we visited the Toronto International Boat Show and I was inspired. Aside from wishing and dreaming of some of the new boats with their breathtaking interiors and amazing sailing features, it made me think about ways I could make our boat more homey. As part of our Crafty Home series I will share with you the projects I will be making with the hope that it will inspire you to add some handmade and creative touches to your home or home away from home.

Our little home away from home is like an urban cottage on the water. It is a 32 feet Beneteau and comfortably sleeps four, and slightly less comfortably sleeps six. Our little family enjoy summer nights listening to the live music concerts next to the marina and walking to all the festivities of the city. Another great benefit is that we are always going away from the flow of traffic and do not have to contend with hours of cottage country traffic.

Boat lift-in was on Saturday, May 4, and we were up bright and early to make our last minute preparations. I always get so nervous seeing the boat suspended in the air and it is such a relief when it finally sits in the water and we have confirmed buoyancy. Much of the day was spent cleaning the boat and getting it ready for the season.

Several months ago I purchased two of these beautiful 100% cotton embroidered cushion covers, but I needed to get pillow inserts. I decided to make the pillow inserts from some cotton fabric I have in my studio. It was a quick and easy project and is a great alternative to buying ready made ones. If you have cushion covers and will like to make pillow inserts, here is what I did to make mines.

Making a Pillow Insert
My pillow covers are 12" x 20", so adjust your measurements to match the size of your pillow covers. Measure your pillow cover and add a minimum 1/2" for seam allowance (Fig1). I used one yard of 45" wide, 100% cotton. The amount of fabric you will need depends on the size of the pillows you are making. I also used 100% cotton thread. I used EcoFill; however, the pillow fill is something that you can find at your local craft store, Michaels, online at Joann's, or visit Walmart's craft section.

Instructions
1. Cut two pieces of fabric 13" x 21" (which includes 1/2" seam allowance).

2. Stitch around the edges using a 1/2" seam allowance and leaving an opening in the middle-bottom of the pillow.

3. Trim the ends of the pillow and turn inside out.

4. Stuff the pillow to your desired firmness and close opening with a slip stitch.

5. Place the new pillow insert into the cushion cover and enjoy.

DIY Spring Wreath

A little over a month ago my husband handed me the Christmas wreath from off the font door and with the sweetest look that said "it is no longer Christmas." This got me thinking of what I wanted to do for spring, so I purchased a grapevine wreath from Michaels with the intent of making a new spring wreath. Well, I finally made it, and I am happy with the results. I had originally planned on having it done for Easter, but needless to say I only finished it today.

I gathered my tools and decided to use some flower bushes that I already had in my craft room. The peach blossoms are the same as the ones I used in the Recycled Glass Bottle Vase project last month.

Here is how my wreath was made:

MATERIALS

• Grapevine Wreath
• Peach Blossom Stem
• Cabbage Rose Bush
• White Rose Bush
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Burlap Strip
• Scissors
• Wire Cutter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Hot glue the tips of the twigs and insert the peach blossoms in between and on the ends of the grapevine.

2. Remove greenery from bushes, hot glue the tips of the stems and insert them into wreath.

3. Remove flowers from bushes and place hot glue at the base of the flowers, starting with the smaller white roses and working from the outer sides toward the centre.

4. Cut each cabbage rose stem a few inches from the base, place small amounts of hot glue on the tips of the stems and fill in the centre of the arrangement.

5. Hot glue additional cabbage roses to fill out any holes or use other small filler if desired.

6. Make a bow with the burlap and hot glue it at the top centre of the wreath.

I love my new spring floral wreath. It is so inviting, makes me feel warm inside and puts a smile on my face. It also reminds me that my front door is in need of a makeover, but that is a future post.

Happy spring!

Easter Eggs

I have found a wonderful selection of Easter egg projects. I am going to try a few of them with my family this weekend and I am excited to see how they will turn out. I have never made Easter eggs so it is a new experience for me. My son and I started emptying some eggs today and I think we will probably spend much of tomorrow evening making our eggs.

I found this really cute bird's nest with eggs and I am going to use it in an Easter display. I love finding little crafty things like this, that I can use for projects.

What is your favourite way to decorate Easter eggs?

Sharpie Embellished Dish DIY

I saw some very cool Sharpie permanent marker embellished projects on the Internet and I wanted to try one myself. Most of the projects I found used black or metallic markers, so I was not sure how it would look using coloured markers. I got some instructions from a few blog posts, namely the ladies over at A Beautiful Mess and by Stephanie Lynn.

I got this really cute dish from the dollar store and was inspired by a stunning tea set that I found online. I washed and dried my dish and then drew my design freehand. I was able to get the colours to blend nicely in some areas, and to get the colour as vivid as possible I made several strokes with the markers. I used a combination of fine and ultra fine tip markers.

I baked the dish in the oven for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. I saw different temperatures for similar projects and I decided to go with the highest temperature to be on the safe side. I also preheated the oven before placing the dish on a baking tray and I left my dish in the oven to cool before taking it out.

After baking my project in the oven, I found that the colour was more muted than the original colours, so I think next time I will try using a brighter colour combination and see what the results are like. I hand washed my project after reading one of the blog post I found that suggested to do so versus using the dishwasher. I have also posted a few of the projects I found on my Crafty Ideas Pinterest board and I hope it gives you a few ideas on what you can do. Perhaps you can try it out and let me know how it works for you.

Enjoy!

Toilet Paper Roll Napkin Rings

When I was thinking about what to do for our craft project this week, I remembered making napkin rings from toilet paper rolls as a child. I decided to try it out and see what I could come up with.

One toilet paper roll can make about four napkin rings at approximately one inch each. I covered two of my rings with 2 inch x 5 1/2 inch scrapbook paper using Mod Podge, and I hot glued jute twine to the third ring.

I added a little "blink" on the first napkin ring with a rhinestone embellishment, which I attached with a little hot glue.

For the second napkin ring I hot glued some flowers and a ribbon for a little touch of spring. I think this napkin ring will be really cute for a picnic in the park. What do you think?

The last napkin ring I made is wrapped with jute twine. I hot glued the twine directly onto the cardboard ring. This was quick and easy to make and turned out a lot better than I thought it would.

I really like all three of the napkin rings I made and I will be trying some other ideas. I might even let my boys in on the fun as part of our family art night.

Have you ever tried making DIY napkin rings from a toilet paper roll or anything else?

Crafty Ideas: Colour Palette Generator

Ginger Lily
Photography by Yvette-Michelle Cottle Darby

I want to share with you a few colour creation tools that I think are pretty crafty. I have not used all of them, but I have read some reviews and after checking them out, I am looking forward to making a comparison. With some of these web tools you can upload or link to an image and generate a colour scheme or palette, while others require you to enter a colour and it will generate complimentary colours for you.

Here is an example using the image above on the DeGraeve website:

Example using Sherwin-Williams (paint colours) website:

The possible uses for these tools are wonderful and are really great time savers. They are great web design and graphic tools and can even be used as a decorator's tool. Some of you may already be aware of these websites and may even have a few that you can suggest.


Links

ColorCombos - colorcombos.com
Colourlovers | Photocopa - colourlovers.com/photocopa
Color Scheme Designer - colorschemedesigner.com
CSS Drive - cssdrive.com
DeGraeve - degraeve.com/color-palette
Kuler - kuler.adobe.com
Pictaculous - pictaculous.com
Resene - Colour Palette Generator
Sherwin-Williams - letschipit.com

I hope you find these links of some benefit. Let me know what you think.

DIY Burlap Art

There are several ways to transfer an image onto fabric. I wanted to share how I transferred this vintage sewing machine image onto burlap to create this art piece.

I selected this great vintage image from my collection of images and printed it onto an 8.5 inch x 11 inch sheet of Avery transfer paper (#03275).  I printed my image using my ink jet printer as instructed and I carefully cut around the image. I prepared my burlap (15 inch x 15 inch) large enough so that I may have the option to use the print for an alternate project; however, you can cut your fabric to suite the size of your frame. I ironed the fabric and serged the edges to prevent fraying.

I centred my image on the burlap and pressed as instructed. I found that when I first tried lifting the image away from the fabric it still seemed sticky, so I flipped over the fabric and applied heat to the underside. This final step really made a great difference to the finish, and seems to "set" the image into the fabric.

I framed my finished piece in a vintage picture frame that I found at the thrift store. I am thinking however, of making a cushion with the panel of fabric.

What do you think of my new art piece?

Enjoy trying your own!