Patsy's Sewing

Using Butterick B6262 By: Eldaka Terrell When I wanted to learn how to sew many years ago my mother told me to find a pattern and read the instructions.  Following her advice, I attempted to sew using my only resource, the pattern instruction guide. YouTube.com and many other Internet outlets were not available at that time. Endeavoring to sew at a young age frustration followed soon after I began as the instructions just didn’t make sense to me; even when my mother tried to help. My attempted skirt was wearable despite the crooked/loose seams; puffy elastic waist and an extremely uneven hem.   A short time later I dismissed my desire to make my own clothes until now.  Determined with a burning desire to begin once again I find myself learning and enjoying every technique, tool and ounce of new knowledge I can acquire. During this blog topic I'm will share my experience through various blog entries which will include pictures, videos and my inevitable mistakes. I chose an...

A Beginner for Beginners By: Eldaka Terrell When I first decided to start sewing again, my equipment and supplies consisted of a: sewing machine, scissors, hand needles, a couple of spools of thread, and, basic straight pens. I also had a seam ripper which I picked up at Dollar General. The Sewing 101 Guide from Jo-Ann Fabrics assisted me in gathering a few more supplies that I could use, which included a flexible measuring tape and marking pencil.   There's no point in buying supplies and equipment you really don't need therefore; I acquire tools as needed for new project. Today my stock includes additional supplies which have helped make sewing easier. This post includes a brief list of my tools which I plan to add, as my sewing needs increase, such as a tracing wheel and transfer paper.  If you don’t happen to find this list helpful, there are other list links included in the resource section at the end of this post you may find informative. My Beginner Sewing Tools and Wha...

A Simple Ruffle by. Eldaka "Patsy" Terrell I purchased a plus size dress from Goodwill and it was an absolute exciting find for me. Discovering one that I'm willing to take home at my local store is rare. Perhaps it's because they just don’t get them donated on a regular basis or they are a hot commodity and simply sell out. Before This dress was just my style and full of fabulous color however, it was too short by my standards. Call me old-fashioned, but the shortest dress I am comfortable with wearing should fall just about at knee or longer.  My solution to this problem came to me while reading the craftsy.com sewing blog. “A Ruffle”! Attaching a ruffle should provide length and style at the same time. As always, before getting started a couple of quick tutorials was needed. There is an outline of the resources I used at the end of this post for reference. What I Did Wrong There’s only one thing I can say about what I did wrong, “As a beginner never, assume you k...

Butterick Pattern B6222 Review My first sewing project was Butterick Pattern B6222 by Connie Crawford. I choose this pattern because it appeared versatile in the design, loose fitting and not your grannies dress.  I purchased the pattern from Jo-Ann’s (It’s the only retail fabric store I know of in my area; except for Wal-Mart). I paid $11.97 which is 40% off the regular price of $19.95.  (I probably could have purchased it cheaper online and I wasn’t sure if Wal-Mart still sold Butterick). What I already knew. I figured I already had a good foundation to stand on, since I had been helping my mother sew for as long as I could remember. I personally already have the basic equipment and supplies I needed to begin, however if your completely new to sewing and need a guide on the type of equipment and supplies to buy for a beginner. Jo-Ann’s Fabric Store has a handy dandy brochure called, “Sew 101 Guide” and it’s free. I picked one up at the store, but it can also be downloaded fr...