by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 12, 2013
Some of you on Facebook got a sneak preview of today’s post, but for the rest of you… (Cue drum roll and trumpets!) It’s Thread Riding Hood’s One Year Blogiversary today! I think that is cause for celebration and a BIG thank you to all of my followers! I was going to do a “year in review” and “thank you” post – but I covered off most of my (sentimental) thoughts in this post – Dear Wonderful Reader {that’s you} – I’d love it if you would read it, I mean every word. I can’t say enough how thankful I am for all of you that journey along with me as I am on this sewing adventure!
To start off the fun, I am giving away a fat quarter bundle that I picked up from Fabric Spot and am excited to pack it up with a little surprise so I can ship it to one lucky reader. (Entry details for the giveaway are at the end of this post. UPDATE: The giveaway is now over.)
I would love to give the fabric to each of you, but since I can’t, I am going to give you the only thing I can – more posts! Today is the beginning of a two week series filled with 14 things that I love to use when I sew. I’ll be posting a new Tip, Trick or Notion every day until the end of the giveaway. I sincerely hope you find them useful.
All that done… on with the show!
I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and when I see instructions to fold the edge of your fabric 1/4″ and then 1/4″ again to hem I go a bit crazy! I used to get out my sewing gauge and inch my iron along the fabric edge until the fold was perfect. Then I discovered the Scientific Seamstress! Carla thinks like me – and she has provided all of us with a really easy way to iron a perfectly measured fold. Head on over to her website and download her free Printable Folding Templates.
She has included a straight folding template and a curved folding template – for those pesky curves on dresses that we all hate hemming! The templates are included in a handy downloadable e-booklet that includes both templates + the instructions on how to use them. Now you can be so much more precise! Happy folding!
I LOVE Tula Pink’s fabric designs, and you’re supposed to gift what you would want to receive, so… here’s your chance to win some of my favorite fabric! I’m giving away one fat quarter bundle of The Birds and the Bees in the Sunset Colourway. This giveaway will run during the Sew Essential Series – from Friday July 12th (today!) to Thursday, July 25th at 10 pm. The winner will be posted on the Sew Essential Round-Up post. The giveaway is open to everyone, worldwide. UPDATE: The giveaway is now over.
Here’s how to win: (Make sure to leave one comment per entry on this post so we can count them all properly.)
- Leave a comment on this post. Let me know what you would be interested in seeing on Thread Riding Hood in the coming year.
- Optional Extra Entries: If you would like more chances to win, you can have one giveaway entry for each of the following: (1) Like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook and/or (2) Follow on Twitter and/or (3) Follow on Bloglovin’. Leave a comment on this post for each extra entry to say that you did.
- Free Entries: If you already like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook or follow on Twitter or Bloglovin’ you get one free entry for each! Please leave a comment for each way you follow to let me know.
Again, thanks for reading, without you, there would be no reason to blog. And, an extra big thanks to those who comment, here and on Facebook – You know who you are, I so appreciate the conversation! I’m super-excited to see what this next year will bring. See you tomorrow for Sew Essential #2!
Disclaimer: I am not being paid by Fabric Spot, I just really like her store!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 1, 2013
Happy Canada Day to all the Canadians out there! We are relaxing by the pool today and having friends over. Hooray for holidays!
I’ve never been happy with how small the zipper pull tab is on the regular zippers that you can buy at your local fabric store. Kids have a hard time pulling on them when I’ve used zippers on backpacks and pencil cases and the results don’t look as polished on clutches and bags.
The idea started when I was finishing a few things from last week’s list. I was working on the Gathered Clutch (Noodlehead tutorial here) that I was making for a teacher gift. I love how the strap on my own clutch attaches to the zipper – so I began thinking about how I could duplicate it. At first I thought I could add a jump ring to the original zipper pull… but wouldn’t it be better if the pull wasn’t there at all?!
Thanks to Google (gotta love it!) I found a tutorial on You SEW Girl that explains how to change the zipper pull on any zipper. She uses the wire cutting blades on a pair of pliers to remove the pull – why didn’t I think of that?! A trip to Michaels for some circular findings and a stashed swivel clip later I was good to go.
Now that I had changed one zipper pull I had to change another! The second teacher gift was an Open Wide Zippered Pouch with an iron-on vinyl covered lining. I clipped the pull right off of the zipper and sewed myself a new one. Hooray, so much better! I have to say I’m a bit addicted to this now and might be adding zippers to everything, just so I can change the pull. I love how it turns out!
Want to try it? Here is a quick tutorial on how to change a zipper pull. I will be posting how to add a wrist strap to the Gathered Clutch later this week.
Changing a Zipper Pull
You will need:
- two scraps of fabric for the pull – I used 2″ x 3″
- a zipper
- jump rings (chain findings) in two sizes – from the jewellery section of your local craft store (mine were 1/4″ and 1/2″)
- needle-nose pliers
- school glue stick
- fabric pen
Here we go:
(1) Cut the original pull tab from your zipper using the pliers (see this tutorial from You SEW Girl). (2) Pull away the small piece that is left. (3) Open a small jump ring using pliers and fit it onto the slider. (4) Attach a large jump ring to the smaller one. (5) Close the small jump ring using pliers. (6) You should have the pieces pictured.
(7) Place your fabric right sides together and fold in half so the short ends are touching. (8) Measure 1/2″ in on each side of the folded edge, Draw two diagonal lines to the raw edge corners. (9) Fold over all 4 short ends by 1/4″ and glue them down. (10) Cut along the diagonal lines. (11) Stitch along the diagonal lines with a 1/4″ seam allowance, pivot at the fold. (12) Grade the seam and clip the corners close to the stitching.
(13) Turn the Zipper Pull inside out, press, top-stitch the ends closed with a small seam allowance. (14) Wrap the Zipper Pull around the large jump ring on your zipper. (15) Unzip the zipper and stitch it on close to the jump ring. It is easiest to use a zipper foot. (16) All done!
Look at how great your new zipper pull is! And I”m sure you can think of so many more possibilities!
Come on back later this week for a tutorial on adding a strap and swivel clip to a Gathered Clutch.
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 26, 2012
I have been wanting to try to make a shirt out of this material for about a year and a half now and I finally found the perfect pattern. I was on burdastyle hoping to find something quick and easy. This pattern from dixiediy was exactly what I was looking for. This is such an easy pattern, and the instructions are simple to follow for a “just more than beginning” sewer.
I’m sure there is a more technical approach to making the stripes match at the side seams, but here is what I did.
Cut out the back piece – one of the two pattern pieces.
Match the stripes on the piece you just cut (the back) with the stripes that are going to be sewn to it (the front). Make sure that the bottoms of the two pattern pieces line up as well.
This is another closeup of the matched fabric. Now, remove the “already cut” piece from the table (the back) and cut out the front pattern piece.
Tada! Wasn’t that easy! Now a word about the pattern. I decided to use knit fabric for a woven fabric pattern – which is not always a super idea. However it worked out here. The only problem was that I had to take in about 2 inches on either side because I made the shirt a bit big – of course erring on the large side is mostly always a super idea.
I will post photos of the finished shirt as soon as I can get my overworked husband to do it for me. Our business has had a very busy last few weeks. Either that or I may have to bribe my 4 year old and see if I can get a good one that way!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 17, 2012
In my list of the necessary evils of sewing, pins, zippers and sewing on Velcro are near the top. Pins are forever breaking needles (Does anyone actually remove them as you get to them?)! Zippers are never straight, and pinning one on is not the easiest thing you ever tried to do. Tiny hooked Velcro pieces shift when you lower the presser foot, and don’t like to stay put as you sew them on.
Fortunately I found
this tutorial a few years ago and it has gone a long way towards helping me change my mind. I think I was trying to find out how best to install a zipper and stumbled upon a staple that I use almost every time I sew. A glue stick. Nothing fancy – just any old glue stick – even the cheapy ones from the dollar store work fine. The purple school glue kind are great because you can see what you are doing. Stick some on the side of your zipper, press on the fabric and voila – “Look Ma! No pins!” You can sew straight through it, I haven’t had any trouble with sticking or having any residue on my needle. This stuff is so strong it’s hard to separate the fabric when I have accidentally put something together the wrong way.
1) Add glue to the fabric or zipper and stick them together.
2) Sew them together – no pins!
3) All done – hooray!
Velcro is the same – just add some glue to the back of your velcro and press it on. It will stay put while you sew it on too. Thanks to Michelle for posting the zipper tutorial in the first place. Now, go find a glue stick and never be afraid of a zipper again!
