Whether you are brand new to sewing, have been at it a while, or took a break and are getting back to it, I can help. As the sewist, quilter, and content creator at theruffledpurse.com, my goal is to support, empower, and inspire quilters and sewers to organize and take control of their time, space, and resources so they can spend more time making and creating.
Snappy ✂️ Kids clothes, free FMQ challenges, and padding a dress form
Hi Reader,
If someone asks you to hem something for them, what are your initial thoughts?
- Sure, not a problem.
- Fine, I'll do it but I'm not happy about it.
- Heck no!
This type of request doesn't come my way often enough for me to mind doing it, but recently, my 22-year-old niece showed an interest in learning how to do her own minor alterations like adjusting hems.
I taught her how to use a sewing machine so when she was ready to hem something, she could focus on the hemming and not on how to use a machine.
A week ago she asked about hemming some shorts, and I fully intended to teach her how to do it. However, when I saw the shorts, I realized they would not be a good first hemming project.
The shorts were lined and both the lining and main fabric were a slinky white polyester material. She wanted to take off a couple of inches, and the leg holes were noticeably wider at the hem. This hemming project would require more than a simple double-fold hem.
While I was willing to teach her how to hem these shorts, she looked more worried than excited when I explained what the process would entail.
We mutually decided to wait until she had a more straightforward hem for her first alteration lesson. (Note: I got the shorts hemmed but it wasn't a lot of fun. I'm happy we're waiting until next time.)
If there is someone in your family who is interested in learning how to sew, take a look at my Starting to Sew lessons and download the related checklists. These two resources work together and give you what you need to teach anyone how to use a sewing machine.
Another helpful resource for teachers and those wanting to learn to sew is 10 Things a Beginner Sewist Needs to Know. This is an interactive checklist divided up into categories so you can easily see what you need to know as you begin your sewing adventures.
Kids Clothes
Do you want to sew clothes for your kids or grandkids?
I recently came across Amelia's site Mother Sews Best where she teaches moms how to sew children's clothes.
She has a private Facebook group community for anyone who sews or wants to learn how to sew clothes for children. All experience levels are welcome.
She also put together a list of 100+ sewing patterns for children (many of them are free) that you can get on her website.
Save Some Scraps
If you sew clothes for your kids/grandkids, I encourage you to save one larger scrap from each garment you make and put it in a box for them.
My mom did this for me and my sister. A few years ago she gave us the boxes that held the scraps from the clothes she made us when we were little.
Looking through the scraps was a trip down memory lane and such a wonderful surprise. Neither my sister nor I knew that she had done this. ❤
When we were in high school Mom took up quilting. She used scraps from some of our clothes to make bear claw quilt blocks. She never put the blocks together and passed this UFO on to me. I know I'll be reminiscing as I finish this quilt. 🥰
As you sew clothes for your kids, think about the scraps and how you can use them for projects now and in the future.
Free FMQ Challenges
Many people get into quilting because they love piecing and putting together quilt tops.
On the other hand, the actual quilting part (joining together 3 layers with stitches) can be intimidating and somewhat frustrating, especially with larger quilts.
Wrestling with a larger quilt under my home sewing machine isn't my idea of a good time, so I gravitated to the quilt-as-you-go technique my quilting buddy, Kris, taught me. Working with the small quilt sandwiches fits my style of sewing but it doesn't work with some of the quilt patterns I want to do.
Over the past year, I've been helping my mom get some of her UFOs done and they are all twin-size or larger.
We took 4 to a local quilter, have 6 more ready to be quilted, and 12 that need the tops finished.
With Mom's UFOs and the larger quilt tops I want to make, I suggested to Mom that I would be willing to level up my quilting skills if I could use her Pfaff Performance 5.2. It has an arm length of 12 inches, and I've used it before for simple quilting like stitch-in-the-ditch and echo quilting.
She was on board with this and even invested some money to get a Cutie frame and stitch regulator to make the quilting process easier.
In my search for quilting education, I talked with Ann, a longarm quilter from my quilting bee, and she recommended I take a look at Angela Walters resources.
On Angela's website, Quilting is My Therapy, she has a page of Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) Challenges she has done in the past.
All the challenges are delivered through a series of video tutorials and based on a machine quilting technique. The best part is that they are all free!
There are 12 challenges:
- Dot to Dot
- Floral Frames
- Mandala
- Free Motion Fillers
- Fabulous Feathers
- Flora and Foliage
- Machine Quilting with Rulers
- Echos and Curves
- Help! How Do I Quilt It?
- Layered Machine Quilting
- First Free-Motion Challenge
- Swirls
I've looked at several of the challenges and she shows how to do the techniques on both a home machine and a long arm.
I need to get the Cutie frame and machine set up at my house, but I've already started watching the First Free-Motion Challenge and can't wait to start.
If you want to learn how to quilt or level up your skills, these challenges may be just what you need.
Pad a Dress Form
If you sew clothes for yourself, having a dress form can make fitting adjustments easier.
About 6 months ago, I was generously gifted a handmade dress form from my sewing sister Jen. She owns a local sewing studio and someone had donated 3 pinnable dress forms of different sizes that looked to be made to match the measurements of real people.
The one she gave me is smaller than my measurements, but I loved the vibe it gave off and used it in my sewing space as decor and to hold my tape measures.
A month or so ago, I came across How Fitting, a couture sewing blog by Brooks Ann Camper.
She wrote a detailed blog post on how to pad a dress form. What I like about her approach is that the padding is not permanent. It's pinned onto the dress form so as a person's body changes, the dress form can also be updated.
While I haven't done the actual padding yet, I did mount the dress form on a microphone stand my son left in his closet and am ready to start the process of padding it.
If you've been wanting a dress form, keep in mind Brooks Ann Camper's padding process so you can customize it to fit your measurements.
That's all for now. Until next time...
P.S. Are you new to the Snappy Scissors newsletter? Click HERE to see past issues and get more sewing education and inspiration.
P.P.S. Wishing you had more time to sew? Download the free checklist and increase your sewing time this month.
The Ruffled Purse | Discover the Joy of Sewing
Whether you are brand new to sewing, have been at it a while, or took a break and are getting back to it, I can help. As the sewist, quilter, and content creator at theruffledpurse.com, my goal is to support, empower, and inspire quilters and sewers to organize and take control of their time, space, and resources so they can spend more time making and creating.
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