The first thing to do it to make sure your seam allowance in the zipper seam is at least 1 inch or 2.5cm. As most commercial patterns only allow you 5/8" or 1.5cm you will need to add on the extra in the area of the zipper. Personally, I just add it all the way down the entire seam unless there is a design detail that would make this inappropriate.

Next lay your zipper on the edge of your seam with the top of the tape exactly at the top of your fabric. Mark where the stop for the bottom of the zipper hits on your seam. Don't just use the marking from your pattern, actually open the tails of the zipper and mark where the bottom of the zipper will hit.

Stitch from that mark all the way down the seam only leaving open the area where the zipper will be inserted.

In western style clothing, womens garments close right over left. (Men's are left over right) and if you start from the front and carry this right over left all the way around the body the fabric is still sitting in the same orientation at the side seam or the centre back. Find the left front of your zipper opening as this is where we will be starting to sew.

                                                                  Lay your zipper, right side down on the left front of the garment stradling the bottom of the seam as shown.

 Your zipper tab should be centred and in line with 1"mark at the top.

Stitch down the zipper tape on the outside edge all the way down. Make sure your needle is moved to the left and your zipper foot is away from the zipper teeth.

Now turn your zipper right side up and it should look like this.

Roll the fabric on the left front toward the zipper teeth, position your needle to the right side of the zipper foot. There should be a small roll of fabric and a gap from the seam to the teeth as pictured here, this is good, you want that little gap!

You will be stitching close to the rolled edge and the zipper teeth from bottom to top. Its a good idea to stop every so often and tug the fabric layers to ensure that it feed evenly. You will probably find the zipper tape feeds faster than your fabric so checking and adjusting every few inches will stop it from going un even at the top.

The left side is now finished and should look like this.

Match up the 1"marks at the top of your fabric sections with the right sides together and the zipper on top.

Move your needle back to the left side of the zipper foot and starting at the bottom of the zipper, you will be stitching all the way up to the top, keeping the 1"marks together and maintaining the same distance from the edge of the zipper tape to the cut edge of the fabric all the way up. This will ensure that your zipper is in straight.

Now its time to open out your garment to the right side. Pin the two 1"marks together and smooth out the finished zipper. The fold should just cover the top stitching that you see here from the left front. I like to press it with the iron to give me a sharp crease before marking and sewing the top stitching.

Unless you have a dead straight eye, I would recommend drawing your topstitching line onto the garment before you try to sew it. Industry standard is to be 1/2"from the fold; you can get away with up to 5/8"which is what you see on mine. Anything larger will look out of proportion. Start your line just below the zipper stop, exactly at the seam line, pivot at the 1/2"or 5/8"mark and go straight up.

Once your stitching gets close to the zipper slider, stop with the needle down and open the zipper to make it easier to stitch the last portion straight.

And here is your finished lapped zipper.

1/ We are often asked about working with silk as for some reason we have be cautioned about it so often we are afraid to work with this beautiful fabric. Ignore those dryclean only tags with a bit of caution. Silk does shrink so before cutting your item from it, hand wash it gently and then roll it up in a towel to remove the excess water. Iron it with a cooler iron so as not to scorch the fibres. Use a microtex needle for sewing as this will reduce the puckering in your seams. Our persperation and deoderants will discolour your silk garments so wash them frequently. 

2/ Acrylic and polyester fabrics are prone to pilling; those pesky little balls of fabric that appear on your favourite top! To help reduce this, turn your clothing inside out for washing and don't over dry them in the dryer. The only way to get rid of the pills is to use a disposable razor on smooth fabrics or stretch over a surface and use your fine sharp trimmers or embroidery scissors.

3/ One of the most common stains we all end up with is pen marks (berol ink) on our clothes. The best way to get this out is to spray it with hairspray until saturated, wait a few minutes and rinse!

It was always such an ordeal to get an item hooped exactly where I wanted it as just the action of pressing the hoops together was enough to make the fabric slip out of position. Yes, I can adjust things at the machine however, double sided basting tape has reduced the amount of fussing I now need to do!

First, draw lines at a 90 degree angle intersecting where you wish you design to be.

Next apply double sided basting tape to the inside edge of your inside hoop.

Now you can stick your inner hoop to your fabric using the intersecting lines to position the hoop centre to your project centre.

And of course, because it is sticky, it wont shift!

Now I am hooped and have my cross mark for the centre of the embroidery and I can use my machines positioning abilities to fine tune everything.

What a great time saver and once the basting tape loses its'stick I just put another layer on.

You already know that I sew as much by machine as possible to avoid hand sewing but, there are times when there is just no way around picking up a needle and thread. Sewing on a shank button is one good example.

To give your thread extra strength and to stop the thread from tangling during the sewing process, run the thread across a piece of beeswax then iron the thread to melt the wax into the fibres. Then you will  find hand sewing is a breeze.

Another simple thing is when you need to use "Fray Check" liquid to stop fraying, you may find it dries stiff. If you iron the area dry with an iron set to synthetic setting you will find the liquid dries to be more plyable and softer.

This week I thought it would be helpful to give you some basic steps to follow when buying a new pattern and then what to do before you cut it out. First, it's important that you know that pattern sizes do not relate to clothing sizes. In fact, you have probably found that the more you are willing to pay for a garment, the smaller the size will be on the label. Garment companies have their own internal sizing system and it varies from company to company.

So, step #1, go armed with your body measurements. The basic bust, waist, hip is what you will need and then look at the back of the pattern for the measurement chart.

If you are making a top, a dress, or jacket, your bust is the best measurement to work with as it is easier to adjust the waist than the bust of a fitted garment. If you are making pants or a skirt, then your hip is the measurement to work with.

After you get home, you will need to check the fit of the garment before you cut it out. Lay out the pattern pieces and measure across the fullest part of the bust, the waist and the hip. Subtract the seam allowances and then take these measurement around your body to see if you like the way the garment will fit. Is it too loose? or too tight? Make sure you sit down and check before you decide. If it is too large or small, then do the same process for the next size up or down.

Fit is subjective; everyone has their own interpretation of what is a comfortable fit. What some might find too tight another might find just right.

The next step is to check the length of the pattern compared to your body length. You will probably need a friend to help with this one. One of the most important measurement I have found for length is the "back neck to waist" measurement as I have found most garments on myself place the waist about 2" higher than where I want it to be! I need to compare what the pattern has given me to what I need and then either lengthen or shorten the pattern to be comfortable for me.

Remember, you wanted to sew your own clothes because you don't care for the fit and style of what is at the mall, so don't try to just create off the rack at your sewing machine. Check your measurements and make the pattern and garment fit you - customize and ignore the size labels.

All of our clothing classes include help in measuring and fitting the pattern for your individual figure. You might also consider the Bernina My Label 3D fashion software. They do have a free download version you can try to see what you think. Click here for the link

Here are the steps when hemming:

First turn up your hem opening and press to crease. See Pic. 1

picture 1Then mark with your fabric marking pencil exactly where the two fold intersect each other. You can see here in Picture 2 I have both marked the place as well as inserted pins.

Picture 2

Now open out the folded hem and turn your project back to be good sides of the fabric together. You will be matching those 2 marks made in the previous step and your piece will look triangular. See picture 3 & 4.        

Picture 3              Picture 4      

Look at this next picture (5) and you will see the two marks on the inside of where it is pinned.

Picture 5

The next step is to draw a line that runs from the outer crease to the point as in picture 6. This will be where you will be stitching as you can see from picture 7.

picture 6

 picture 7

 Once you know your stitching is correct you can trim back all the excess fabric from the point as this will only create bulk in the corner. You can trim this quite close to your stitching even just a scant 1/4"or 5-6mm is fine. See picture 8picture 8

Now press open that small seam - remember your point presser and corner pressing techniques! Then tun everything inside and right side out. picture 9

Put on your edge stitching foot and stitch close the open edge pivoting at the corner. See picture 10picture 10

And now here is the completed mitred corner hem.

Picture 1The orange thread on this serging in picture 1 is the lower looper just to make it easier for you to distinguish the orientation of the seam. You will need a really sharp small pointed scissor or as pictured here the "Snip-Eze" snips which I found perfect for the job.

Working from the lower looper side, start cutting the loop of the lower looper between where it connects with the needle threads on the inner edge of your serging. See Picture 2

Picture 2

Next, from the top or upper looper side of your work, pull out the needle threads. They should pull away easily from the fabric.  See picture 3

Picture 3

Lastly pull away the upper looper thread which is now just laying on top of the fabric. See picture 4. Clean up the small bits of thread and you are ready to sew again.

Picture 4

Over the years they have evolved to include lots of different shapes and sizes but all have one thing in common; helping us to get that cord through the channel with a minimum of fussing!

This one has a very wide end with teeth that grip the elastic or cord. The small red button slides to the left to make the teeth grip.

The bodkin pictured above has a slot the elastic slides into and the bodkin itself is rigid metal to make it easier to grip while sliding through the casing.

This is a flexible bodkin which is great for narrower cordings and ribbons. The end of the wire has a red slider that creates a lariat to grab the cording and hold it firmly. The opposite end has a ball that is easy to feel and slide through a narrow channel.

1/ Make sure that the design you have chosen will lend itself to metallic threads. If the design is too heavy  or has multiple layers of satin stitching many times the metallic fibres will cut through the thread in the needle. Try to find designs where it is more of a chain stitch or running stitch and if it is a satin stitch design make sure the density is such that the metallic doesn't overlap. 

2/ Use a thread stand and place it as far from your machine as possible. This really works. Allowing the metallic thread enough time to relax and flow without twisting before it hits the needle makes a huge difference!

3/ Use a metallic needle. It has a very long eye to accomodate the metallic thread and help reduce the friction.

4/ Speaking of friction - try a lubicant such as "Sewer's Aid"by collins or the amazing silicone thread lubricant available from Bernina (pink bottle). Just a drop on the eye of the needle goes a long way.

5/ Slow your machine down even 1/2 speed helps and depending on your make of machine you may need to adjust the upper tension slightly. Remember this is metallic fibre you are working with not cotton thread so it may need a little help to form proper tension.

Working with metallics add another dimension to your decorative work. Don't shy away from them, just experiment and you are always welcomed to ask us for help.

French Seams:

Start with your fabric WRONG sides together and sew at 3/8" or 1cm for the length of your seam.

Figure 1

 Then trim down your seam to a scant 1/4"or less than 5mm.

 Figure 2                    

Press open this small seam allowance  and then turn your seam so the fabrics are RIGHT sides together and press so the seam line is right on the edge. (Just like we showed you last week!)

 Figure 3Now with the right sides together you will stitch the balance of your seam allowance 1/4"or 5mm. This will encase the first seams raw edges. A tool that really helps to keep your seam line perfect is a piecing foot with a guide (pictured here) and will leave you with a perfect 1/4"or 5mm seam.

figure 4

Here is how the finished seam will look from each side!

figure 5

A second really nice looking finish is what is called the Clean Edge. Again I am making the assumption you have a 5/8"or 1.5cm seam allowance.

First make your seam as you normally would with the right sides of your fabric together. Then press your seam allowance open. On each raw edge of your seam allowance press under 1/4"or 5mm (see figure 6)

Figure 6

 Now stitch down the folded under edge at a very small 1/16"or 2mm from the folded edge making sure to keep the seam allowance free from the main project body. (see figure 7)

Figure 7

Now the outer edges of your seams look clean and finished and will be protected from fraying. This is a great way to finish the inside of an unlined jacket.

Figure 8 I would really value your feedback on these Tuesday Tips and invite you to post your comments here!

Is there a technique you would like to see? Let us know and we will see you next week.

Laurie