5 Sewing Techniques To Try Today!

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In our quest for sewing perfection, we are constantly learning new things. Building skills that we can build on more to perfect our craft. Sometimes it’s easy. Other times, not so much. Today, we’ll look back on some previous sewing techniques that we’ve shared. Maybe you’ll find one you missed out on and can try something new! You never know…

 

5 Sewing Techniques To Try Today!

 

1. How To Understitch

This handy tutorial will teach you all about understitching. Why we do it. How to do it. And why it looks so awesome when you use it!

2. Adding Trim To Any Hem

Sometimes you just want to take a pattern up a notch. There’s a very simple way you can accomplish this. Add a trim to the hem! It can easily add a nice pop of color, or just a cool detail to make your garment stand out!

3. Add An Inseam Pocket To Any Skirt

You know you love pockets… Who doesn’t??? So why not add them to ALL of your dress/skirt sewing projects? This tutorial will talk you through how to do exactly that. Never be pocket-less again!

4. Installing An Invisible Zipper

Truth time. The thought of zippers used to terrify me. Any zippers. And invisible zippers? Forget about it. But I overcame that fear, and guess what? They aren’t that hard! As long as you know the steps… Read this tut to show you a quick and easy way to get them right every time! You’ll be glad you did. And never fear the zipper again!

5. Adding Appliques And Reverse Appliques

Another fun way to add a bit of spice or interest to your work is with appliques! Another scary-sounding prospect, I know, but SO worth it… and not as hard or scary as it sounds, I promise! Just read up to learn how!

Fabric Panels and What To Do With Them!

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Many seamstresses nowadays belong to any number of custom knit fabric groups on Facebook. Most of those groups are now offering fabric panels to turn into garments, blankets, bags… all kinds of things! But if you’re newer to sewing or newer to these custom groups or the concept of knit panels, what do you do with them? I’ll tell you!

Fabric Panels and What To Do With Them!

As far as clothing goes, panels can be GREAT fun. You can use them as a panel in a skirt front (think of a knit Isabella’s!). You could use it as the back of a cardigan. Or, my favorite, simply the front of a tee shirt, which is what I’m going to share with you today.

The fabric I’m using is from a  Facebook group called Moon Beam Textile Company (you can find the site for purchasing here), and they run SO many amazing geeky prints! I absolutely LIVE for the geek, so it’s one of my all-time favorite groups to be in.

Making a Graphic Panel Tee

To start, get your panel and make sure your shirt front will fit within the piece. Here, I’m using the Maggie for myself and also Maggie for my daughter. You can usually fit up to a size 4t on a child-sized panel and most adult sizes on an adult panel. When you fold the panel in half, make sure your fold goes through the center of the panel design so it isn’t off-center when you cut.

Cut your front from the panel. Sometimes you can get a neckband out of the panel as well, but not always. Cut your back, sleeves, and neckband (if you didn’t get it from the panel) out of a coordinating fabric and sew as usual. When you’re done, you have a unique self-made graphic tee that is perfectly you (or your kid) in every way from fit to personality!

I LOVE using fabric panels and fun custom prints to make wardrobes that are unique to my family. They fit all of our interests and personalities. They’re fun, colorful, and uniquely “us”, which is always worthy of striving for! Do you have a favorite fabric group? Or a way to use panels that we haven’t mentioned? Please share with us in the comments below!

Also, join our Facebook group to join the community and share your makes, questions, and triumphs with us! We adore our community and LOVE to see it growing with such amazing, kind, and talented people!

Pencil Huggers- A Valentine’s Day Craft

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Today we have a fun little project to share with you! Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching and I don’t know about you, but I think my kids get MORE than enough candy during the holidays. So this year, I’m making these fun little pencil huggers for my preschooler’s class. They’re super cute, easy and fairly inexpensive to make. And I’m going to show you how to make them too!

 

Pencil Huggers- A Valentine’s Day Craft!

To start, we need supplies.

You’ll need:

  • a shape template (that you can get free here)
  • felt (pick a traditional red or pink, or go crazy with non-traditional colors or printed felt!)
  • some fun pencils (if you aren’t as concerned about the candy, you can use suckers instead)
  • pins
  • scissors

and

  • your sewing machine

Prep Work

We’ll start by cutting out the smallest heart shape from the template. Then take that heart and trace it onto your felt. I used a sharpie pen so it would be easy to see, and after construction, you shouldn’t be able to see the markings anyway. As you can see in my photo, I managed to get 12 hearts per sheet of felt.

After they’re all traced out, I laid the sheet of felt with the traced images directly on top of a second unmarked sheet. I then placed pins through both layers at the center of each of the traced hearts. This helps the felt to not slip while you’re cutting.

We will cut the two layers at once to make sure they are perfect pairs. this helps in the final construction.

 

Now, remove the pins, but keep your pairs together. Take the traced heart piece from each pair (I recommend doing this one at a time, so as not to confuse the pairs) and draw a roughly 1/2″ line about 1/2″ from the top and bottom center of the heart. This will be where the pencils are placed. Use your scissors to clip a little slit through the one layer where you drew your lines.

Construction

Now that we have everything ready, we’ll get to the fun part. At this point, I want you to consider that your perfectly matching heart pieces are right side together with the visible part of your tracing on the outside (wrong side). I want you to flip both of those pieces so that they are right sides together with the ink to the inside. If you did this correctly, your pieces should still be perfectly matched. Pin those pairs around the perimeter.

Here’s where you have options. You can use a hand blanket stitch to finish these if you’re good at that sort of thing (I’m not). If you are going to machine sew, you can choose to match or contrast the thread with the felt color. You can choose a straight, zigzag, or decorative stitch to complete the project. I chose to use a contrasting white thread with a decorative stitch, shown above.

The easiest way to do this without the machine trying to eat at the felt is to start at the center top and sew down to the bottom point. I place my felt just past the 1/8″ mark to sew. Then repeat for the opposite side.

Now all you need to do is stick a pencil through the holes and you have finished pencil huggers! Aren’t they adorable?

The BEST thing about these pencil huggers is that you can adapt it to ANY holiday by simply switching out the shape you use! Use a bunny for Easter, a pumpkin for Halloween, a tree for Christmas… possibilities abound! If you loved this craft, or have suggestions for other blog topics you’d like to see, please drop a comment below! Also be sure to join our Facebook group for fun, support, and showing off and all things BSD!

Add an Inseam Pocket to ANY Skirt!

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I know that an essential must for my wardrobe is ALWAYS having a pocket. Pockets in my pants, in my jackets and most of all pockets in my skirts and dresses. Unfortunately, the fashion industry does not typically agree and so women often go without that essential feature. In this blog, I will show you an easy way to add inseam pockets to any existing dress or skirt pattern in your pattern arsenal!

Add an Inseam Pocket to ANY Skirt!

Create a Pocket Piece

The first thing you need to add pockets is the piece to create them. You can either freehand your own or take the pocket from your favorite pocketed pattern. Cut 2 mirrored pairs to make 2 pockets. You can do this for ANY skirt. Just keep in mind if you’re making a circle skirt, you will need to cut this into 2 half circle pieces in order to add the pockets.

Figure and Mark Placement

Placement is an important part of this process. A good rule of thumb for placement is to place it 2-3 inches down from the natural waist. if the skirt attaches at the natural waist, make a mark 2-3 inches down from the top raw edge of the skirt pieces Make sure you mark this on both ends of both skirt pieces to ensure your pockets are even with each other once you’re finished.

Add Pocket Pieces to Skirt

Place one pocket piece right side down to the right side of your skirt piece. Line up the top of the pocket with the mark you made in the previous step. Stitch them down at the seam allowance.  Open the pieces out and press well.

Once this is done, you can sew the skirt front to skirt back as you normally would. The only difference is to follow the outline of the pocket when you reach it instead of sewing straight down the side.

Now, when you turn the skirt right side out, you’ll have pockets! Just finish sewing the remainder of the pattern as written and you’re good to go!

This is a perfect for storing all of that mom-stuff you know we all carry. You know, tissues, hand sanitizer, all the things the kids hand you to ‘hold’ for them. I love my pockets, so I hope you find this little tutorial a helpful way to boost the pocket count of your own wardrobe.

As always, if you find this content helpful or try it out, please share with us in the comments. Or better yet, in our Bella Sunshine group on Facebook! We look forward to seeing you there!

How To Add Trim To Any Hem

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Have you ever looked at a pattern and thought a really cute lace or pom-pom trim would look fabulous on it? Not sure how to accomplish that? Let us help you! Today, we’re bringing you a tutorial on how to add any of these embellishments to any hem! It might just add the perfect touch to those Tess Tulip Shorts (in Ladies and Girls sizing!) that you’ve been eyeing.

How To Add Trim To Any Hem

While this might seem like a tricky thing, it’s actually pretty simple. And once you’ve done it once or twice, you’ll be a pro at adding trim to just about any pattern in your arsenal to make it extra special!

Step One: Create a Memory Hem

Using the pattern’s instructions, fold your hem and iron it in place, creating creases where the hem will eventually be. In the case of the Tess Tulip shorts, that hem is two 1/4″ folds, pictured.

Step Two: Place and Pin Trim in Place

With the hem folded, place your trim (here, my lace) where how you would like it to lay on the wrong side of the garment. Carefully unfold the hem and pin the lace (or pompoms or ricrac) in place through a single layer of fabric. The trim that will be peeking from beneath your hem should be pointed toward the main body of your garment. Carefully sew along the edge of your trim through the single layer of fabric. These stitches will keep it perfectly in place for the final step.

Step Three: Adding the Hem

Now that you have the decorative part in place, the rest is easy peasy. Just fold along the creases you created in step one and stitch into place like you normally would! I personally love lace but have seen some amazing pom-pom and ric-rac added to hems for some phenomenal pieces as well. Be creative! Have a blast! And make everything beautiful and uniquely yours!

Gabriella’s Winter Coat Sew-A-Long: Day 8

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Gabriella’s Sew Along Day 8: Final Details, Button Holes, and Buttons

Today is also a catch up day.

Welcome to Day 8 of the Gabriella’s Winter Coat Sew-A-Long! Are you still with us? Day 5 was a mid sew-a-long catch up day. If you need to go back, here is where you can find Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6, and Day 7.

Today will be fairly quick to finish. If you have never sewn button holes before, don’t worry, I will be showing you how in detail. Today will be steps 35-39 of the pattern instructions.

Final Details

Follow steps 35 & 36.

With the main side up and beginning at the bottom of the right front placket (the right when you are facing the coat), top stitch at 1/4″ up the placket, around the neckline, down the opposite placket, and around the hem of the skirt.

TIP: Since the layers are a little thick, use a medium-long stitch length for top stitching. If you have to lengthen your stitch even further when going around the neckline due to there being more layers there, do so.

Make sure to move the hood out of the way of your stitching so you don’t sew it down.

top-stitching Read more

Gabriella’s Sew-A-Long: Day 2

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Gabriella’s Day 2 – Cut Material, Create Hood Pattern, Interface, and Prepare Bodice

Welcome to Day 2 of the Gabriella’s Winter Coat Sew-A-Long! Find Day 1 here.

Today we will be cutting our material, creating our hood pattern, interfacing the pieces, and preparing the bodice for construction. These are steps 1-5 in the pattern.

Cutting the Material

Cut your main, lining, and interfacing pieces for Gabriella’s using the instructions on the pattern pieces. Compare the pieces you have to the cutting guide on page 11 of the pattern to be sure you have everything. There are a lot of pieces to this pattern! Take your time cutting out all of the pieces. Accuracy when cutting leaves less room for error when sewing.

TIP: If your material is dark and you are having difficulty tracing it, rub chalk off the edges of your pattern piece to create an outline. You can also use baby powder on a sock to rub the edges. Another use for chalk is to write on your mirror image pieces in order to more easily see which is which. It should all come off when shaken vigorously.

Gabriella's Winter Coat Sew-a-long Day 2: Shows how to add a hood to any coat pattern. This tutorial will be useful for future projects. Read more

Gabriella’s Sew-A-Long: Day 1

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Introduction to Gabriella’s Sew Along

Welcome to the Gabriella’s Winter Coat Sew-A-Long! The weather is starting to get quite chilly up North, so we thought it would be a great time to sew some winter coats for our little girls. Stay tuned for a hood hack tutorial too! Gabriella’s is rated as an Intermediate Plus pattern in our shop and includes sizes from 6M to Girls 12. A sew-a-long is the perfect time to attempt a pattern like this that has a higher difficulty rating since there will be many people available to help if you run into any trouble.

During this sew-a-long, we will discuss things like appropriate materials and where you can source them as well as how to modify the coat for use in warmer weather. If you would like to join in the fun and sew-a-long with us, here is how to participate:Gabriella's Winter Coat Sew-A-Long! I love this vintage inspired coat for the little girls. It has ultimate twirl factor! Must Pin to participate.

Read more

Box Pleat Hack for Rose Bubble shorts

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I really wanted to try to hack the new Rose Bubble Shorts and do a box pleat version.  I am loving the look!

For those who want to give it a go, here is the tutorial:

You will need:

-Fabric (I used Orange 100% cotton)

– Your front shorts pieces

Are you ready?

Here we go!

BOX PLEAT TUTORIAL

  1. Follow step 1 of the pattern tutorial to transfer all your pattern markings to your fabric pieces. This is a necessary step, don’t skip it!

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2. Working on the wrong side of the front short pieces, follow step 2 of the pattern tutorial to baste your pleats in each marking.

Here is what the wrong side should look like.

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Here is what the right side should look like.

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3. To create an open box pleat you want to press the pleats flat from the back and baste them in place.

IMG_6397

 

YAY! You are done!

4. Continue with step 4 of the pattern tutorial to finish the shorts! When you are done with the tutorial, your shorts should look like this!

It’s amazing how that one little tweak will give a pattern a whole new life, isn’t it?

 

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If you love this hack, please share in the comments below! If you try this hack, please share it with us in the Bella Sunshine Facebook group! We’d LOVE to see it! If you have any other hack ideas you’d like to see us write about? Also comment below or let us know in the group! We can ALWAYS use fresh ideas!

 

Pattern Hack: Bow Tie Leggings & Shorts PDF Sewing Pattern

Pattern Hack: Snaps are your friend

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I’ve got to start this out by saying that I have incredible testers. Honestly, the people who help me perfect my patterns rock. Not only are they super opinionated (which is exactly what you want in a pattern tester), they are so creative and talented. Heidi Richardson of These Old Blues is one of those people.  She made the cutest pair of Bow Tie Leggings in a neutral color and couldn’t decide which fabric she wanted to go with for the bows. So she did what any logical, creative person would have done. She decided to do a pattern hack and include both of them. Check this out:Pattern Hack: Bow Tie Leggings & Shorts PDF Sewing Pattern

Yep, snaps! How genius is that?!? Now you can make an amazing pair of leggings and have them match any outfit perfectly, just by swapping out the bows. And just because I love you, I’ve included a tutorial to help you figure out how to do just that.

Adding Snaps to Your Bow Tie Leggings to Create New Options!

Here’s what you will need:

The Tutorial

First, cut out your pattern as you normally would. In addition, cut out 4 pieces of interfacing (or 2 pieces of knit interfacing and 2 pieces of woven interfacing if you are doing woven bows) using the bow center pattern piece provided in the pattern. The pieces you have will look a little something like this:

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-006

Next, you want to fuse the interfacing to wrong side of the fabric using an iron. You want to center the interfacing on 2 of the main bow pieces. On the pant leg, center the interfacing and bring it up approximately 2 inches from the bottom of the raw edge. You should then have something that looks like this:

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-007

Now its time to figure out where to put the snaps. Center your markings vertically and place them a half of an inch away from the edge of the interfacing on either side for the slim fit bows. If you are doing the smaller legging fit bows, you will need to do the same, but mark them 3/4 of an inch on their side.  Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-009

Be sure to do this not only for the main bow pieces but also on the pant legs.

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-010

Next, add your snap per the instructions of the manufacturer of your snap press.

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-012

Isn’t it beautiful??

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-011

This is what you should end up with:

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-014

Now follow the pattern, and finish up the leggings just as you normally would with exception of skipping the step to attach them.

Bella-Sunshine-Designs-Bow-Tie-Leggings-015

Ta-dah! You’re finished. And hopefully your hem turned out much prettier than mine! Now you just have to make a million more bows to match all the tops you’ve made for your little cutie.

Did you try this pattern hack?? If so, spam me with your photos in my Facebook Group. I’d love to see what you came up with.

 

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