Unit 5 Pattern Making

Cut out a garment and sew it up. It fits perfectly, yet it was never altered, adjusted, or tried on until the last stitch was sewn. Sounds like an impossible dream? Not at all!

For those who want to sew for their families, there is no other way. We all know that it is the rare person who does not have to alter commercial patterns before they can even start to cut the garment and sew. Even then, there's a great possibility that the "altered" pattern will not fit "right".

The advantage of pattern making is that you are using YOUR measurements for the patterns and not an "average" set of measurements used by the pattern companies. Whatever figure problems you may have -- high hips, sway back, rounded shoulders, etc., they are considered when the measurements are taken, when you make your own patterns. It makes no difference whether you're tall or short, very thin or heavy set -- pattern making will solve your problems.

There are two ways to get the perfect fit that you've only dreamt about before. Pattern making is not hard - after following the easy instructions on how to take your measurements, you'll be using the easy step by step instructions to create a basic pattern, then go on to make any style you choose.

Unit 6 The Stitched Arts

The stitched arts include sewing, patchwork, quilting, appliqué, embroidery and other types of ornamentation that are attached to material with hand or machine stitching.

Sewing is a art of cutting out and stitching two or more pieces of material together. It can be as simple as sewing two seams together to create a garment, or it can be very complicated. Much complicated sewing becomes pure decoration.

Patchwork is the method of sewing together several pieces of fabric to create a design. It is one of the oldest sewing crafts. Because it’s a way to use leftover pieces of material, patchwork evolved quite naturally from sewing. Even prehistoric people are thought to have used patchwork to make fur garments.

Patchwork is used to make clothes, bedspreads and other smaller items for household use. The traditional outfits of the Seminole Indians offer unusually fine examples of patchwork.

Quilting is the process of stitching through several layers of fabric. The design comes from the shape, or outline, that the stitching makes. Today, one of the layers of fabric is often a specially made filler or fibre, called batting.

Americans are known throughout the world for the quilts they make. In colonial times and even later, women would often gather socially to make quilts, a special kind of bed cover. Besides bed covers, quilting is used to make shirts, coats and jackets.

Unit 7 Determining the Right Side of Fabric

How many of you have had trouble finding the right side of the fabric? Sometimes they look so much the same or maybe they're different but both sides look nice.

So the right side is the side with the rough holes. This is the same side that gets printed and pressed, etc. But you'll be at a loss once you wash the fabric as the holes may disappear. In that case just use what ever side you like best and stick with it.

And how to make sure that once you've started sewing up the garment that you keep all the right sides out and looking the same. It’s easy to mix them up when sewing.

Washable markers and markers with disappearing ink come in many colours, and are very easy to use. Always before using a marker or pencil, try it on a piece of scrap fabric to be sure it performs well. It should stay on long enough to be useful, but should be easily erased with a fabric eraser. Try Painter's Masking Tape. It's made with a lower stickiness and is more readily removable. Don't use the regular beige tape. It will leave sticky stuff on the fabric and the longer it sits there the worse it gets.