Sewing / Clothes / Bags/Pouches / DIY Fabric stuff

LagoonCity · 2022-03-27T16:49:52.382Z

I just discovered that one style of extra fake looking pleather that was used for a lot of 70s and 80s dust covers and cases is still available.

I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else, I guess I should probably pick up a yard soon, since it looks like it’s deadstock.

Not exactly the same obviously, but it’s close enough.

steveoath · 2022-12-28T13:06:13.739Z

Hey, all. Looking for some advice. My daughter has stained the sleeve of her favourite hoodie and is absolutely heartbroken. Try as i might the stains will not lift. I have suggested we remove the sleeves and replace with ones from 2nd hand hoodie (dont worry tho, this will be transformed into sleevless summer hood).

Only problem is i cannot find advice on how to remove sleeves. Is it simply a case of unpicking the stitching?

alanza · 2022-12-28T13:13:24.936Z

I asked my mom, and she said “yes”, for what that’s worth!

juhbuba · 2022-12-28T13:15:45.392Z

Yes, turn the garment inside out and use a stitch ripper (should be <$5 at a craft/fabric store).

Any commercially sewn garment will have a long thread parallel to the seam and a thread that loops under and around it (or some variant). This makes it easy to start (carefully) pulling the ripped thread out of the stitch every once in a while, so it won’t be necessary to actually rip every single loop.

Depending on how the sleeve is attached at the armpit, you may need to cut a bit, too. Reattaching is another matter.

jatwo · 2022-12-28T13:32:08.877Z

Another option could be to treat the stain as if it were a hole, and darn a little patch over the stain.

Could either try to match the darn thread to the shirt fabric in an attempt to make it inconspicuous, or embrace the repair and choose a contrasting thread.

wheelersounds · 2022-12-28T19:17:25.383Z

This seems like it would be a great project! And great advice, everyone. I am a huge fan of applique patches as cover-ups; there are some cool patches on Etsy. I usually iron-on first and then stitch the border for longevity.

If you wanted to sew new sleeves on, I would turn the sleeves and hoodie inside out, pin the new sleeves in place starting with the armpit seams, and then either backstitch or blanket stitch the sleeves on by hand.
An advantage to hand-sewing hoodies (I did it a lot in high school and since) is that the fabric is very easy to put a needle through. It won’t look perfect the first time because clean/consistent hand stitching takes a bit of practice, so if this is a really special garment a patch might be the way to go. Or she can practice stitching on some scraps to get the hang of it.
I’ve always found customizing garments makes them more special and I can also say I did it!

juhbuba · 2022-12-28T21:40:08.246Z

wheelersounds:

then either backstitch or blanket stitch the sleeves on by hand

Here’s another good backstitching how-to video I like: https://youtu.be/EZngDWBk0xE . There are also some other good videos on her channel.

There’s a lot of overlap with historical tailoring and a niche with people making videos about it. Was surprised to find hand stitches like this can be as strong as machine sewn ones. And you need so little to get started.

Rectangular_Eye · 2023-02-15T14:00:06.300Z

This week I spent quite a bit of time helping my wife launch a new sewing focused YouTube channel! It takes a minute for her to get comfortable on screen, but I think it came together pretty well. <3

Jensu · 2023-03-05T11:58:41.112Z

My partner got a Bernina 440 from her Grandmother, and it has a freehand embroidery function that I gave a spin today. Very fun and surprisingly straight forward. If you like the messy look

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Rectangular_Eye · 2023-03-05T22:10:20.821Z

Wow - that’s a lovely machine to happen upon! Looks fun!

Also: Val’s new sewing room tour vid is up:

Jensu · 2023-03-06T14:35:38.176Z

Yes! She was a tailor for her whole life, so this was her last workhorse. I have very, very little sewing experience, but it’s easy to feel the difference between our (my words) old sewing machine and this. All the mechanics are super smooth and with zero play, and things just work.

And I enjoy that it’s just ol denough to have a keypad and alarm-clock lcd screen. No touchy-colory interface.

The free-hand embroidery foot is amazing. It’s basically an optical mouse, registering how fast you move the fabric, and then adapt the speed of the needle accordingly. So you can stitch in all directions, at any speed, and still get consistent stitch length! Again, this is maybe common for hardcore sewers, but mind blowing for me

fourhoarder · 2023-03-06T15:35:32.748Z

I am not a hard core sewer but I did also just come to this technique, via art school friends. you can do this on most machines, take the foot off completely and drop the feed dogs (if they won’t switch out, you remove them), but I imagine it is easier with a special foot. important to tension the fabric, using an embroidery hoop upside down was the method I was instructed to, looks like you’re doing that here. also this way you are manually controlling stich length obviously.

Jensu · 2023-03-06T15:48:01.276Z

fourhoarder:

using an embroidery hoop upside down was the method I was instructed to

I had a genuine “I’M A SEWING GOD” when i figured that out myself.

But other than that, this is exactly the technique. I’m neither a drummer or piano player, so my hands to eye are not really ready for controlling the speed with the pedal, when going in more than 1 direction with the hands.

fourhoarder · 2023-03-06T15:54:01.521Z

you can def jam the machine really hard doing this without the optical foot.

radioedit · 2023-03-28T18:28:16.805Z

Made the cutest lil dust cover for my Norns

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jatwo · 2023-12-27T23:38:46.499Z

Getting back into mending clothes (maybe it’s the cold weather?). A few recent projects that turned out well:

Repaired 2 holes in the little one’s sleeves with a darned sun and cloud to match the sweatshirt.

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Repaired a hole in the little one’s pants with a darned flower to match the fabric pattern

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Repaired worn sock toes with a basic darn pattern.

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Next, need to learn how to use my partner’s sewing machine (inherited from her grandma) in order to mend a tear in my favorite jeans. That’s the focus for this holiday break.

wheelersounds · 2023-12-28T01:10:40.798Z

absolutely adorable. I’m going to take a cue from you and making my mending more decorative. I especially love the flower. Your little one is very lucky.

jatwo · 2023-12-28T01:33:20.384Z

Thank you! I typically do the more common seed stitch + square darn as seen in the 3rd picture, but I feel children’s clothes encourages me to be a bit more creative and playful with mending.

widdly · 2024-01-02T02:27:39.337Z

A couple of years ago my wife was at the op shop and bought what must have been a retired tailors entire inventory very cheaply. Now we have loads of woolen suiting fabrics, shirting, linings, pocketing etc. I’ve been teaching myself tailoring and I’ve made 6 shirts, 2 shorts and 4 trousers. As an engineer I have had to train myself to say “toile” instead of “prototype” and “sewing” instead of "building.

anon60283851 · 2024-01-02T16:58:08.352Z

It didn’t end up on my (intangible / “imaginary”) 2024 goals list, but we still have a good vintage sewing machine I’ve messed around a tiny bit and should learn to use properly. My previous proper sewing experience is from comprehensive school and that’s quite some time ago now, so most probably will have to just start learning from scratch.

It’s actually one of the more interesting and practical “projects” I’ve had waiting, but also something that’s surprisingly hard to start…