Tag: free download

  • The Top 5 Sewing Beginner Problems

    The Top 5 Sewing Beginner Problems

    What was the first mistake you made when you first started sewing? Let's talk about it.

    You’re a sewing beginner, excited to make your first dress (or top, or skirt!) You have the most gorgeous fabric painstakingly picked out. You have a brand new sewing machine. A vision of what you want it to look like… and you’re ready to go.

    But after that first snip into the fabric… it’s a disaster.

    The garment fits like a giant sack, the stitch lines are wobbly and crooked. As you try and take it apart to start again, an accidental cut into the fabric! The whole thing ends up in the trash. 

    Sound familiar? 

    As sewing beginners, we have ALL been there.

    For me, it was a 1930s-style dress I was making for Halloween when I was a young teenager. Dark green, black fringe, and when I took the scissors to it, it went downhill.

    The dress was atrocious and a waste of money. I’d cut into the center front seam, the fabric was bedsheet quality, and the seams puckered and didn’t lay flat. Not knowing what I was doing, my Beginner energy was crushed. 

    I knew I wasn’t the only one who had gone through these learning woes as a sewing beginner. So I posed the question to my fellow Vintagettes on Instagram, to learn more about their early sewing days. 

    I wanted to know…

    • What were the range of problems people experienced?
    • What was their approach to sewing?
    • Where did their Beginner Enthusiasm run into problems?

    From those conversations, I distilled the following list, to support your sewing journey.

    THE TOP 5 PROBLEMS YOU’LL FACE AS A SEWING BEGINNER

    Expecting perfection from your sewing problems is expected, but not always helpful. Even life's little adventures (like a cat jumping onto your workspace) can impact your sewing projects as a sewing beginner.

    Problem #5: Expecting perfection… from the jump!

    Sewing is a practice in which skills build on each other. It’s difficult to make successful garments which don’t acknowledge that learning one or two things just isn’t enough.

    Sewing skills compound.

    Expect and account for your first several pieces to be straight garbage as you learn. And that’s ok. 

    Each piece is a learning experience, and even after 20+ years sewing, no garment is perfect. Even with hundreds of skills under my belt.

    The stress and heartache from early-stage learning can be enough to turn a lot of people off from sewing. I recommend not planning for the first few garments being worn to a party or to a special event.

    It’s important to get your feet wet in a way that makes the learning experience fun. Putting undue pressure on yourself to make a PERFECT _(insert garment)_ here is not going to do that for you.

    Expect imperfection and lean into it!

    Not coming through the instructions in a sewing pattern or your sewing machine manual can cause problems as you're learning how to sew.

    Problem #4: Not combing through and analyzing the pattern directions or learning your sewing machine.

    Sounds straightforward… but something easily overlooked and dismissed!

    Take time to look through every diagram in the sewing pattern . Do Google searches for phrases you don’t know.

    Similarly, spend time learning your sewing machine. Each machine has its own quirks. This includes how its threaded, how the bobbin is loaded, and where buttons live (or don’t live!) on the machine.

    Doing this simple review will save you a lot of frustration as a beginner. 

    Spending time up front is important. Do Google searches for specific techniques mentioned in the instructions. Read the sewing machine manual. All this decreases the amount of simple errors you can run into as a sewing beginner.

    Learn how to sew with Vintage on Tap Youtube videos! Full tutorial walkthroughs to make a wardrobe at home! | Vintage on Tap

    Problem #3: Underestimating the Power of the Iron

    Shouting this one from the rooftops:

    An iron in the sewing world is NOT OPTIONAL

    Most of us live comfortably in knitwear or wrinkle-proof clothes, the Power of the Iron is REAL.

    With heat, pressure, and steam, irons are an invaluable tool to manipulate individual fibers in fabric. They coax fabric to mold around a curve, lay flat, and encourage thread to meld into fabric.

    It’s easy to be distracted by the sewing machine, with all its stitches, bells and whistles… and completely ignore the iron. 

    Prioritize your iron!

    Pressing seams open and using steam and a tailor’s ham go a long way towards elevating your sewing. Lining things up as you sew them, encouraging seams to lay flat against the form makes your garment look professional. 

    Learn about how to pick fabric for clothes in this video tutorial, walking you through the steps. | Vintage on Tap, Pinup Sewing Blog

    Problem #2: Not Understanding Fabrics  and Choosing the Wrong Fabric for the Job

    Knowing and understanding fabrics is absolutely critical, but also one of the more challenging skills to learn with sewing. For a lot of people, this skill comes with time and experience.

    It’s one of the biggest reasons I’m such a proponent of starting your own fabric swatch book as a beginner. Understanding the different fabrics on the market and how they compare to application, especially in relation to ready-to-wear is vital.

    Looking at as much fabric as possible, feeling it and observing how its used out in the real world. It makes it easier and easier to see what fabrics are more appropriate for what purpose. 

    A pretty floral print might look gorgeous, but is it printed on fabric good enough for what you want to make?

    Fabric Swatch Book, Free Download | Vintage on Tap

    I’ve created a free swatch book template to start building your fabric swatch collection. A swatch book is an important part of the learning process. 

    Print out a few pages with simple information, noting fabric information. This practice develops a solid understanding of how to pick out material.

    By doing this, your skills as a sewing beginner will be more fine tuned towards making more beautiful garments!

    Fabric Swatch Book, Tutorial | Vintage on Tap

    Problem #1: Ready to Wear Sizing =/= Sewing Sizing

    The sad fact is, Ready to Wear clothing sizes are completely different than Sewing Pattern Sizes! A Size 8 from your favorite dress brand will be completely different from Size 8 in a sewing pattern.

    Why is that? Each brand uses their own “block” or average measurements for their audience, which influences the fit for their brand. This also extends into sewing pattern companies, who also develop their own sizing matrix.

    Also, sewing patterns tend to have more ease (or extra “space”) in their measurements, usually based on the design itself.

    The main lesson is that your real-life measurements (when you wrap a measuring tape around your waist, etc.) should be the basis of what size you pick from the sewing pattern envelope. Not what you buy off the rack in a store.

    Using your own measurements as the source of truth– not the number on your clothing label– will lead you to picking sizes which work better for you.

    Video tutorial for how to understand a full bust adjustment! | Vintage on Tap, Retro and Sewing Youtube Channel

    You *will* run into problems as a sewing beginner and that’s totally normal and ok! 

    “[Babies] ability to be bad [at walking] and have everyone be ok with it is how they get good.”

    Tom Vanderbilt, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning

    A positive, self-accepting Beginner Mentality (like babies learning how to walk) will do wonders in accepting the ups and downs of sewing.

    Being OK with being bad at sewing and trusting that the more you sew the better you get will lift undue pressure from the process.

    Leave me a comment down below, letting me know how long did it take for you to feel like you were a confident beginner sewing?

    What “clicked” for you to feel more comfortable in the learning process? When did you no longer feel like a Sewing Beginner?

    The Top 5 Problems you'll encounter as a sewing beginner and how to overcome them.

  • How (and Why!) to Set Up a Fabric Swatch Book!

    How (and Why!) to Set Up a Fabric Swatch Book!

    Fabric Swatch Book, Free Download | Vintage on Tap

    A fabric swatch book? What the heck is that?

    I’ll just say it up front: my fabric swatch book is one of the most important tools in my sewing arsenal.

    The swatch book has never before appeared in a single video, but I consult it regularly and it lives next to my giant sewing pattern library. Its invaluable. If I ever have a fabric question, its there for me.

    A fabric swatch book is a book of possibilities.

    Setting up my book was one of the very first projects I did as a textile design student and it taught me a few really important things:

    1. Fabric names and fiber contents
    2. Weaves and characteristics of each type of fabric
    3. Suitable end uses

    Of course, this sort of education for a home seamstress and sewist may only come from a fabric mishap and can be a painful experience. For someone who may not know what is out there, they might not know of everything they could work with. Especially if you live in an area where really high quality fabric stores are not available, not being exposed to different fabrics and understanding how they differ can really set you back in growing as a seamstress.

    Fabric Swatch Book, Free Download | Vintage on Tap

    Online fabric stores can be a game changer, but you have to know where to start.

    I’m sure there is a percentage of people who order fabric online because they expect one thing… but get something else.

    Fiber content and qualities are described as accurately as possible, but if you’ve never been exposed to Georgette, you will have no idea what it is you’re ordering.

    Enter, swatches.

    I am a huge fan of ordering swatches, specifically ordering swatches in bulk. A swatch will tell you more than color of a textile- but it’ll show you the weave, the drape, the amount of body, the color vibrancy. It’ll give you the ability to test color fastness, laundering qualities, and how much your fabric shrinks.

    Usually priced relatively cheaply ($1-$2 a swatch), I recommend picking up 3-4 swatches every online order to start building your book.

    Fabric Swatch Book, Free Download | Vintage on Tap

    Building your Fabric Swatch book is SUPER easy.

    Gather up your materials!

    Use the free printable!

    FREE Fabric Swatch Printable!

    Get this FREE printable swatch sheet in your inbox!

    Powered by Kit

    My free printable is organized with what is most important to me in a swatch, specifically:

    • Fabric name
    • Fiber content
    • Characteristics
    • Source

    The download includes three pages, the first as pictured above, the second page reverses the position of the swatch boxes (for an evenly balanced binder!), and the third includes blank boxes in case you want to track different information than what I use personally.

    If you love working with nothing but natural fibers, you might want a box that talks about shrinkage. If you want to have pages dedicated to a specific fabric company, you might want to include a box that talks about release date or collection.

    Ultimately, build your swatch book in the way that might work best for you.

    Fabric Swatch Book, Free Download | Vintage on Tap

    Step One: Ordering Swatches

    Every time you place a fabric order online, order swatches. Every.time.

    Swatches are cheap and you should really aim to start collecting swatches from fabric you’ve never used before.

    Scuba knit? Double knit? Broadcloth? By ordering a few at a time, you start to build an array to add to your book. Also, if you’re seeing the same types of fabrics listed as recommended fabrics in your favorite sewing patterns, order them, too.

    Another tip I recommend is that if you see a free swatch sample available, jump on it! For services like Spoonflower and My Fabric Designs, new fabric types become available regularly and swatches are usually distributed for promotional purposes. Put in an order and add it to the book.

    Step Two: Build the Book

    This is pretty straight forward, but please note a few things as you get started:

    1. Please use cardstock or thicker paper for this project. Regular paper is too flimsy for heavy use.
    2. You can print your sheets double sided! This way, you don’t waste paper and you can get more swatches into your binder.
    3. Decide early on how you want to organize your book. Do you want everything organized by source location? By color? By fiber content? This doesn’t have to be a strict choice, but it’ll help you organize things and find things later down the road when all like-swatches are near each other.
    4. 3M Double-sided permanent tape might not seem like it’ll hold: but it’ll hold (I promise!) My original university book still has its swatches firmly in place, even after 6 years!

    Follow along with the video, and get your book set up. And then, flip through and admire it!

    Step Three: Use the Swatch Book Regularly + Add to the Book

    This is where the book and its uses really shine!

    Picture this: you’re about to work on a brand new pattern and the recommended fabric is a satin charmeuse. You’ve never used satin charmeuse. But. You happen to remember ordering a swatch of that a while back- so you go and consult the swatch book. Now, you know what you’re getting into.

    Or, you’re in a fabric store and absolutely NOTHING is labeled. But, you touch the fabrics in store, consult your book, and now know that you’re buying 3 yards of organza and what sort of sewing needles you should be using with it.

    The uses in this vein will go on and on. A pattern might say to use a “silky type”- and you can flip through, find all your silky fabrics, and decide right away which one of them you’re going to use. Or, you might go into a department store and try on a top where you love the fabric- you can later consult your book to find out what they used so you can replicate it from home.

    Adding to the book is a piece of cake.

    Besides ordering the swatches as above, you’ll also want to add swatches of the projects you’re working on as you try new fabrics out.

    As I said in my video, not all Italian stretch wool fabrics are going to be the same and documenting the differences are going to hone your sewing and textile discerning skills. Not all tana lawns are the same, not all midweight cotton knits are the same, etc. etc.

    Building a catalog of the fabrics you’ve worked with- in addition to the swatches you’ve ordered, will make the book more robust and you’ll become stronger at recognizing the differences.

    Ultimately, getting this fabric swatch book set up will allow you to expand your fabric knowledge and be able to more accurately select the perfect fabric for your project.

    Fabric Swatch Book, Tutorial | Vintage on Tap

    Do you have a fabric swatch book? What sorts of fabrics would you want to include right away?

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links :)

     
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