One of the things many sewists find so intimidating about garment construction is the wide variety of materials that go into the process of making clothing. From specialty fabrics to zippers and snaps, it can feel overwhelming at times! We’ve got you covered with a series of tips to help you navigate the materials you’ll need to use in your garment sewing experiments.
Tips for Sewing Garments, Part 2: Working with Your Materials
Working with Garment Fabrics:
8. In order to pull a garment on and off, it helps if it has some stretch. Enter the stretch stitch, to the rescue!
9. Knits make comfortable garments that are easy to care for. We’re taking the fear out of working with this flexible fabric.
10. Want to go heavy duty with your garment sewing, and branch out to leather? No problem!
Other Garment Sewing Tools & Materials:
11. Keep your pattern pieces where they belong – use stay tape to secure them before you stitch.
12. The type of needle you use depends on the fabric you’re working with. Here are some tips to help you choose the right one.
13. A twin needle gives your knit garments that polished look like they came from the store!
14. Have to sew in a zipper? No problem! Your sewing machine’s zipper foot was actually made for that job.
15. Continuous bias is useful in everything from finishing armholes and neckbands to adding ties to a sundress. Here’s how to calculate your bias needs.
16. And how to create the bias you need for your project!
