Say "Oui" To French Seams!

Bonjour, fellow sewing enthusiasts! Let’s learn how to sew French seams – those magical stitches that turn ordinary seams into masterpieces and bid farewell to frayed edges. So grab your spools, don your imaginary beret, and let’s journey together into sewing finesse!

Prepare Your Fabric:
You’ll want to do this on thinner fabrics, such as a lawn, voile, gauze or similar weight. This one is a lovely fabric by Art Gallery Place the fabric's wrong sides together. This is the opposite of traditional sewing, where you sew with the right sides together.

The backs of the fabrics are facing each other.

Sew the First Seam:
Pin the seam you want to sew with a French seam, ensuring the fabric is aligned.
Sew a straight seam with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. This is smaller than your final seam allowance.

Trim and Press:
Trim the seam allowance to about 1/8 inch (3mm) to remove excess bulk.
Press the seam open with an iron.

Fold and Press:
Fold the fabric along the seam line so the right sides face each other.
Press along the folded line to create a neat crease.

Sew the Second Seam:
Sew another seam with a 3/8-inch seam allowance (or your desired seam allowance). This will encase the raw edges from the first seam within the fold.
The first seam you sewed will now be hidden within this second seam.

The fronts of the fabric are now facing each other.

Press and Finish:
Press the seam to one side. The raw edges are now encased, creating a clean and finished look on the right side of the fabric.
Your French seam is complete! This method prevents fraying and creates a clean and polished finish on both sides of the fabric. It's particularly useful for delicate fabrics like chiffon, silk, and lightweight cotton.

Remember that French seams work best on fabrics that aren't too thick, as they can become bulky with multiple layers. Consider other seam finishing techniques like flat-felled seams or serged finishes if you're working with heavier fabrics.

DIY A Silk Flower!

This silk flower is fun to make and it’s a great way to use unwanted neckties!

Supplies needed are: 

one silk twill or silk brocade necktie, (The best is a wider tie made of silk twill. A silk brocade tie also works but it is a stiff weave so it’s a little more difficult to work with.)
all-purpose thread,
2 feet of embroidery floss or yarn,
2” square of craft felt,
standard long hand sewing needle for the thread
large( doll-making sized) needle for the floss or yarn,
seam ripper,
fabric scissors,
large safety pin if you are making a brooch or a barrette if you are making a hair accessory.
Before you start, pre-wash the necktie if needed, with water and dish soap and hang to dry.

Step 1

Step 3

Step 3

Step 4

1.  Deconstruct the necktie by removing all the threads, interlining and lining.      

2. Determine the widest width of the tie narrow end of the tie and trim the rest of the tie to this width.

3. Hand sew ¼” long running stitch or machine sew a basting stitch down the center of the tie.

4. Pull the thread so it gathers the tie tightly. Don’t cut the excess thread yet.

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

5. Roll the gathered tie strip so the stitching runs down the center of the roll.
6. Wrap the excess thread tightly around the center of the roll so it covers the stitches.
7. Thread some of the excess threads onto the long sewing needle and make several stitches through the center of the roll.
8. Cut about 2 feet of yarn or embroidery floss. Wrap the yarn or floss around the tip of your index finger several times leaving 3 or 4 inches of excess yarn or thread on each side of the wrapped circle. Now wrap the free ends through the center of the wrap a few times to secure. Tie the free ends together.

Step 9

Step 10

Viola!!

9, Thread the ends of the yarn or floss circle through a yarn or doll needle. Push the needle through the center of the flower until the yarn circle is flush with one side of the flower. Take a couple of stitches with the yarn tails near the center back of the flower to secure it in place.
10. Center a safety pin on the back of the flower. Cover with a small square of felt. Hand stitch the felt all the way around the edges to secure the safety pin in place. You could also use a barrette if you’d like a flower for your hair!
Voila!! You have a beautiful accessory.

Can't go get a haircut? Let's make a scrunchy!

Supplies:
20” wide by 4” high medium-weight fabric. You can use just about any kind, like t-shirt, quilting, velour, silk, etc.
9” long x 1/8” wide elastic
matching all-purpose thread
scissors
sewing machine
ruler
hand-sewing needle
bodkin or a large safety pin

Fold fabric in half with the fabric fronts facing, length-wise and sew a 1/4” wide seam allowance along the long raw edges.

Flip right-side-out.

Using a safety pin or bodkin, attach the tool to the end of the elastic and pull into the tube. Make sure you keep both elastic ends in sight.

Tie the ends of the elastic together, leaving a 1/2” tail, like you would for hand sewing.

Fold one end toward itself so raw edges are tucked inside. Tuck the remaining end into the folded end about 1/2”.

Hand sew the ends together with small stitches. Back stitch at the end and you are done!

Holiday Gift Tutorial:

Rope Bowls

Ages: 9 and up. Parents may want to supervise, due to little fingers having to be so close to the needle and presser foot in the first steps.

Supplies: 
At least 18 yards of cotton blend closeline rope can make a 4” tall with 10” diameter bowl.
I found mine at Meijer in the laundry basket supply section of the store.
All-purpose thread in any color or combination of colors
Sewing machine that does zig-zag stitches
A pencil or chopstick for starting out, so your fingers won’t get in the way
*Optional, pompoms acrylic craft paint or ½” wide strips of woven light-medium weight fabric and various thread colors. Mix it up and have fun!

Instructions:
Set your machine to the widest zig-zag setting. 
Coil one end of the rope clockwise, until it’s about the same size as a quarter. 
Sew across the diameter of the coil and use a tool to help push it along, so your fingers don’t get in the way. Raise the presser foot lever with the needle down and adjust the coil, so you can sew across in another direction. Repeat this until it feels like it’s going to stay together. 

Begin rotating the coil as you sew, making sure the needle goes through the sewn rope and the rope being coiled around. If you miss a couple of spots, you can go back after it’s done and sew over any unsewn sections. 
When the coil comes near the edge of the sewing machine, tilt it upward with a sharp angle so the sides of the bowl start to take shape. 

After you get to the end of the rope, backstitch and forward stitch about 3 times to secure the end. 

*So many options!
If you want to do some scrap-busting, wrap strips of fabric around the rope just before you sew it. Send Jamie an email to sewinghive@gmail.com and she’ll send you a video of that. 
You can also paint right on the bowl with acrylic craft paint.
Another thing you can do is tie on some tassels or pom-poms.