Sewing tips - needles and pins

I bought a great book about clever sewing tips some time ago and promised myself that I would dip in and out - these are tips everyday people have come up with for making sewing easier, more accurate or better in some other kind of way. There's shortcuts and all kinds of tips in there: including stuff that I had never even considered before!

This is easier said than done because I misplaced the book. Ach, most annoying. Please let me know if anyone has borrowed it from me at one of the Dressmakers meetings!

We can come up with sewing tips ourselves, please add yours in the comments!  I am sure there are lots of useful things that I haven't listed. This blog post ne is all about pins and needles. Here goes, in no particular order:

Pinning
To keep two layers together for sewing, put pins sideways (i.e. perpendicular) into your fabric: you won't distort the length of the two layers in relation to each other - pins that run parallel to the cut edge can bunch up the top fabric and shift the layers out of alignment.  NB: If you are left-handed you can try inserting the pins from the left for easier removal.

© Howtosew.com

A great article on pinning for beginners here at How To Sew. And a very fabulous post by Threads Magazine here - who knew there could be so many tips on pins and pinning?

Removing pins
It is probably best to remove pins before you sew over them. Some people do as a matter of course - I find it just as easy to take them out as I sew along than do it later. One big thing: the machine needle usually slips past the pin and keeps on sewing but it is very possible for the needle to hit a pin and break. Small parts of a broken needle can get propelled incredibly fast and quite a distance and would be very bad news if they end up in your eye. It would do serious damage. I would therefore strongly recommend removing pins at all times. Even wearing glasses cannot completely protect your eyes and may provide a false sense of security.

Right side/wrong side
I like to put a pin with a glass head into the right side of all fabric pieces as soon as I cut them out. Some fabrics make it really tough to tell one side from the other, except when you've sewn everything up - then the one piece you got wrong may be glaringly obvious.  At some point I tried to use white glass pins for the front and darker ones for the back but found that too much faffing around.  Other people like to put a chalk X on the wrong side of the fabric instead.

Types of pins
Pins come in different lengths and thicknesses. If you want to take a look to compare them, places like John Lewis department store sell pins that are for all kinds of purposes (dressmaking pins, bridal & lace pins, appliqué pins, and many others) - I like to use the longer ones that are quite thin. These go into fabric more easily and also come back out without having to wrench them (not all fabrics work well with thin pins, others need different ones).  Try out several kinds, see what you like best.

Thread Magazine desribes an astonishing range of pins.

Pins to use with jersey (or stretch or knit) fabrics: pins are also available as ball point pins!  To be completely honest: I had no idea so you learn something new every day. (I also didn't know that there are even Glow-in-the-dark pins! Not kidding)

There are also other kinds of pins: U shaped fork pins, much longer with yellow glass heads or flat flower disks. The latter ones are for use in quilting and might come in useful for dressmaking too. There are also items that pin layers together without being pins: clips and similar that are often used in quilting. Use these on leather and other materials that should not be pierced - if you don't have these, try sellotape or pin only in the seam allowance.

Collecting spilled pins
Magnets are great for picking up spilled pins. Who wants to crawl around on the floor and get them stuck in your fingers. There is just one very important thing: please keep your magnet away from your laptop and computer. I have heard nightmare stories of people who have wiped their harddrive because their dressmaking magnet got too close. Better safe than sorry.



Machine sewing needles

Don't worry if you never paid attention to what kind of needle is sitting in your sewing machine. I sewed with the pre-installed needle for years before having to change it - but I don't think I was sewing very well.  Using the right kind of needle can make things a lot easier.

Universal or sharps needles are for woven fabrics. They come in different sizes, use a 70 or 75 for thinner fabrics, and a 80 or 90 for medium weight fabrics. If you sew with very heavy and dense fabrics then you may need a needle with a higher number but the 70-90 sizes are usually sufficient.

Ballpoint or stretch needles are for sewing knits, also known as jersey fabrics, Ponte, IDC, interlock or any other material that is not woven but made from interlocked columns of stitches similar to what you get when knitting. I find these ballpoint needles better even than universal needles that are supposed to be good for all materials - a ballpoint is just that bit better at slipping in between the fabric's threads rather than piercing them which is what the sharp needles do. In a fine jersey this can potentially cause holes and damage to the stretch fabric. Go with the right needle, it just makes sewing lots easier. I like to put a small dab of nail varnish on a part of the ballpoint needel that won't touch machine or fabric to tell them apart from sharp needles.

Sewing with different and specialised fabrics calls for different needles: there are all sort of special needles: leather, denim, metallic, to stitch, embroidery, gold embroidery, and a few others.

Here is a list of needles by Schmetz and a visual guide here.

There are also twin needles: a single shaft (for inserting into your machine just like an ordinary sewing needle) that carries two needles below. They are a distance of 2mm, 3mm or 4mm apart - depending on the effect you want to get. You use an ordinary bobbin with these. Make sure you use the exact same thread for all three stitchlines, I ran into huge problems using a different bobbin thread once (loop and loops and loooooooooooopppps of thread down below. It took me ages to rip it back out because it got entangled. I wouldn't recommend it)

Problems with stitching
Always make sure that your needle is inserted as high up as it'll go (check your machine manuel for the right position) and ensure the screw is tight. If your machine suddenly develops a problem with the tension, or it starts making a unusal sound, or any other issue - re-threading the machine (top and bottom) is your best bet. This sorts plenty of tension problems. But if that doesn't help then changing your needle is the next step: your needle might have got blunted, or bent too slightly to be noticeable, or just plain gone wrong somehow. A new needle can make a big difference. Make sure to get rid of the old needle (put in some paper and wrap with sellotape to avoid injuries) before you are tempted to use it again. I did run into the problem once that my sewing thread started to shred: it split into different strands and had bits of fluff hanging around. My needle's eye had gotten damaged and was splicing the thread. Get rid immediately.

I ordered some Millinery straw needles #10 (red box), they are incredibly thin

Hand sewing needles
I am still searching for the holy grail of thin but sturdy hand sewing needles that aren't too short for my poor short-ish fingers. Most hand sewing needles are not quite thin enough for me, I find them tough to get in and out of fabric. Also the needle eyes tend to be really tiny on the short, thin ones. I have heard of Japanese made needles that are supposed to be very good. If anyone knows these or can recommend something else, please let me know in the comments!

Threading your needle
Lots of people wet the sewing thread before threading a needle. There is a better way: leave the thread dry but instead put a little moisture at the back of the needle eye. Thread is attracted to moisture and will slip easier through the needle in order to get to the liquid. It sounds a bit mad but it does work.  If poking away at the needle doesn't work, do cut the thread again to get a blunt end (Please DO NOT use your dressmaking shears for cutting sewing thread, paper or tissue - this will damage and blunt them. Cutting thread will put a tiny nick into your dressmaking shears and you won't be able to cut thin fabrics like chiffon or satin without getting stuck).  If that doesn't work either: there are threaders you can try. Try online or at craft fairs. I have yet to figure out how they work, but amazingly they do!
If you can't get your auto threading device on your machine to work: once you wound the thread around the correct bits and hold it slightly tensed: make sure to release the leaver quite slowly. There is one moment just before the magic happens when you need to go extra slow. Try and avoid the leaver jumping upwards.


And last but not at all least: check your pins and needles for any that are bent or rusty. These just make your life more difficult and sewing somewhat annoying. Which would be a real shame. Let's all go with gadgets and processes that make sewing fun and easier!  Rusty pins can damage your fabric or even ruin it if your WIP is left for some time before you are able to go back to it.


These are the tips I was able to come up with. Can you think of anything else that's pin and needle related? Please add in the comments.

Using stay tape at the waist

I blogged about bias tape last time.

I've since come across a technique that re-inforces the waistline to keep it from distorting. Using tape at the waist looks very interesting and it isn't complicated at all. In short it's the sort of thing I really like!

Re-inforcing any area with tape (or ribbon) makes use of said tape as something referred to as 'stay tape'.  The area "stays" in shape, so I suppse it's easy to remember.

~

Good old Sewaholics put me onto the concept:

A Different Kind of Waist Stay

~

Gertie from her Blog for Better Sewing has more about the whole thing:

The Wild World of Stay Tape

~

It even turns out that Claire Shaeffer describes it as a couture technique in her book of the same name, I even think I have this book:

Couture Sewing

Sewing the tape onto a foundation layer is a whole different kettle of fish that I want to explore at some future point.


Have you used either bias or stay tape?  How did it go?  Please post some photos of your projects, either as works in progress (yes please!) or completed projects, in the appropriate photo album on the Meetup site.

~

Bias tape on

This is a really good demonstration on how to use store bought bias tape to finish off raw arm hole edges:

Sewaholic's 'Finishing of armholes with bias tape'

It makes a lot of sense to use tape cut on the bias because it smooths itself around curves a lot more than tape cut on the grain would ever do, even if you were to iron it to within an inch of its life - straight grain tape would still pucker and misbehave.

I bought this kind of bias tape in a few colours, the one that is folded in at both edges - and I never knew what to do with it because it seemed to me that you would want it folded over just once with the crease running down the very centre.  I think I was thinking of using the tape as binding rather than as a facing.  Aha!

This makes a lot more sense.  Very glad I found this blog post.

Jaycotts.co.uk is a good site to get your supplies from

What kinds of projects have you used bias tape for?  Do you use it like a facing (on the inside of the garment) or like binding (visible on the outside of the garment too).

Please post in the comments, and better yet!  Why not do a short blog post about your project and show us how you used bias tape?  We would love to see!

Let's bring this blog to life again - now that summer and the holidays are over.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

How to ... turn a weekend project into a week's project

Saturday, the weather forecast mentions heavy and thundery rain, hail and frequent lightning. My plans were cancelled, not due to the weather, so I had all possibilities at my fingertips, as long as it didn't include wandering outside. My eyes looked at my famous Ikea bag with fabric, went over to my desk with my sewing machine and my brain remembered the sew-along "A simple item from stash fabric" which was about to start. Still lying in my bed, my weaker self started to nag about closing the eyes and get more rest, but my fingers were already infected with the sewing bug and it finally got hold of the rest of my body, wanting to finish the skirt over the weekend.

I found a white polycotton with red polka dots which I wanted to use as the skirt part of a dress. Since I don't yet have a dress pattern, I work with body blocks rather than with commercial patterns, that fabric had to wait ... or not. I could just turn it into a circle skirt and wear it on a lovely summer day. I decided for the latter and, instead of inserting a zipper or using elastic band, I decided to use some of my buttons. It also helped that I found a similar fabric here.

The fabric itself is rather see-through, so I decided for an underlined skirt and used some of the white polycotton I bought a while ago. I used the half circle skirt pattern which Barbara helped me to make, and cut the pieces. For the back piece, I just traced the pattern onto my fabric. For the front pieces though, I folded the pattern in half, traced it and added some extra fabric for the buttons and button holes, respectively. The width of that extra fabric is the width of the buttons I used, in this case 2 cm. (More explanations on how to add a button front closure can be found here - although that tutorial is for a dress.)

My folded blue half circle skirt pattern on the fabric I want to use, the buttons are next to it. 

I then sewed together my red polka dot fabric with my white underlining, wrong sides up, just a straight line along the edge where the buttons and buttonholes will be, zigzagged it and then trimmed it. Ironing is essential, so I ironed it, flipped it over and sewed another straight line, just for effect than for anything else, two cm (my button width) from the edge. If you want to, you could add another layer of fabric or underlining for the part where the button holes will be. But since my skirt is already underlined, I decided against it.

The front layer

It turned one pm, and the weather forecast was slightly wrong. It rained a few hours, no sign of hail or thunder and then the sun was visible. Quickly sewing the back piece to the two front pieces, and all which was left were buttons, buttonholes and hems. But first it was time for socialising!

Sunday morning, and this is how you turn a weekend project into a week's project: I realised that my back piece is wrong side up, so I had to rip the side seams apart and start again. Important note to myself: You must never rush things! I spend most of Sunday evening to undo the wrong I did to my skirt. And I did the hems.

After I found my motivation the week after, and a very useful hint to start with the button holes from my fellow seamstresses at a monthly meeting, I did the button holes. And forgot to take a picture. But basically, I marked where the top and bottom button hole would be. I then put a mark on exactly half the way down and made this the centre of another button hole. I repeated that until I had no more space on my fabric and marked 9 button holes. After sewing all of them and ripping them open, I marked the middle of each button hole on the other skirt front to know where my buttons should be.

Et voila:

Four kinds of finishing seams

This is an interesting blog posts about different kinds of finishing seams.  Four of them to be precise.  There are another few mentioned in the comments.

Do check it out: I want to be a turtle -Notionally Speaking: Finishing 

I don't agree that bias binding is a quick method, but maybe you get quicker with practice?  Love an overlocked or a French seam.  But then again the Hong Kong (bias strip) seams do look very nice!  Just make sure to use tape from a really thin fabric.  I wonder if organza would work?  Might be too slippery to work with though.

What's your favourite kind of seam finishing?

Link to a great invisible zip tutorial

This is a great tutorial on how to insert an invisible zip.

Actually, the whole By Hand London blog is great. Do check it out.

Do make sure you use a zip that's at least 4-5cm (around two inches) longer than the opening you want.  The lower end will dangle on the inside of your skirt but this is much preferable to messing around with pulling the zip pull up while you're in the middle of stitching along the sides. With a dangly end you can stitch each side all the way down in one go.  It makes sense once you try this!

Leave the back centre seam unsewn (if you are going to insert the zip into the back centre seam of course).

You need an invisible zip sewing machine foot.  Inserting an invisible zip without this is the proverbial pain in the backside.  Once you own one you'll be forever grateful that someone had the good sense to invent them.

Try pressing the zipper teeth aside (as per this tutorial), I am told it makes stitching easier and more accurate.

This tutorial also shows very clearly where you need to start closing the back centre seam once the zip is in.  Lots of tutorials don't show this, which is why I was never that clear about what you're supposed to do at this point.

The description says to start the back seam about a half centimetre away from where you stitched before.  That's half a centimetre horizontally away from the stitching line, not vertically as I first thought.  The photo thankfully clears up that potential confusion.

If back-stitching isn't suited to your fabric because it makes the end of the stitching line too bulky: reduce your stitch length to the minimum your machine will give you (around 1mm or otherwise 1.1mm) and use this for up to half an inch, then increase the stitch length back to normal. The resulting tiny stitches will hold your thread.  You can take the thread ends back below the end of the stitching line and back stitch them by hand a couple of times in a suitable place. If this will show through you can try to whipstitch the ends around your stitching line (on the inside)