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What is INTERFACING?

INTERFACING is a supporting fabric in a garment or craft project, it is designed to give your fabric structure where needed.  For example you will find interfacing in a waistband, collar & cuffs.  It acts as a stabiliser, stiffener in hard wearing areas.

INTERFACING comes in a variety of weights.  Lightweight, medium weight & heavy weight.

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Choose your interfacing based on the type of fabric you are using and also look at what you want your fabric to do.  For example if you are making a shirt and your fabric is lightweight and drapey like a rayon, I would choose either a light weight or medium weight for my collar and cuffs.  When I am making something like a journal cover or a clutch/zip pouch, where I want more stiffness, then I choose a heavy weight interfacing.  If I needed to interface a waistband on my stretch skirt, I would use an interfacing suitable for stretch fabrics.

INTERFACING is sold as “iron on” or “sew in”.

“Iron on” interfacing will have a shiny side or tiny dots of glue.  One side will feel a bit rougher than the other.  This rough side should face the wrong side of your fabric and then pressed on with a hot iron.

I do find many manufacturers will say to use no steam and a medium hot iron.  I know that my iron needs to be on the hottest setting for it to stick so please always just do a little sample piece first.

“Sew in” interfacing, I find, is rarely asked for these days.  You will most likely find vintage patterns requesting sew in.  It just means you need to baste (stitch in place) before you begin attaching the rest of your pieces.

Here are some FAQs my students have asked over time!

Do I iron the fabric or the interfacing? – Iron the fabric!  If the fabric is particularly thick and hasn’t stuck then I iron the interfacing side with a pressing cloth (scrap piece of fabric will do) on top.

Should I cut the interfacing any certain way? – I fold the interfacing in half and always cut from my paper pattern piece as I do my fabric

If you have any questions regarding INTERFACING & how to use it, please email me kelly@missmary.com.au

 

 

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Sewing Retreat Perth

Our Cocktails & Stitches Retreat at the luxurious Crown Towers Perth on 19 & 20 May 2018 is not too far away now and its time to start thinking about your projects.

I have put a few things together here to give some ideas.

I particularly like the pre cut Liberty Fabric that are available at The Strawberry Thief.  You can choose from jelly rolls, charm squares or hexagons.  Robyn also has the full range of Liberty fabrics available.  Shipping is free over $50 however I am happy to organise a group order if you prefer.

Carolina from Sew Mondo has some great quilt patterns available in her online shop.  One of which I am working on at the moment that only requires 6 different fabrics and is great to start with if you are a beginner quilter.  Carolina is also part of the WAQA Shop Hop opening this week, click here to see the details.

 

As an absolute beginner knitter, I knitted a few things last year and whilst it’s not my most favourite craft I was extremely happy with my projects.  I used the Loopy Mango yarn and their cropped cardigan pattern.  The yarn comes in gorgeous colours, all of which I have a colour chart here if you would like to see.  The yarn is not cheap, it does pill although I have not found a single yarn that doesn’t yet.  It just means you need to shave it down occasionally and look after it.  The postage is not cheap either however I still feel it was totally worth it and I get comments on the cardi every time I wear it.  They have a range of other projects available whether knitting or crochet.  Have a look at whats available at Loopy Mango.  I also have the colour chart here available for you to look at!

You know I am all obsessed with crochet and that I am terrible matching colours.  I also am not particularly fond of working from a pattern.  So I will be working on another hexagon blanket, one colour per hexi however these hexi’s will be a lot larger than the last blanket I made.  Hexigons are made up of trebles.  If this is something you would like to work on and would like to start practising please send me an email expressing interest.

And not forgetting clothing items!  If I make something it will no doubt be stretch fabric, I will have the overlocker and the cover stitch machine available to use.  I have heard some ladies will be making skirts, Holy Communion dress, bomber style jacket, casual lounge pants and tops.

If you have any questions or need inspiration please let me know.

 

 

 

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Colette Pattern – Moneta Dress

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Its not often I purchase a pattern and make a dress for myself, simply because I have the drafting skills to make my own and because most patterns I buy I end up altering somehow because Im so particular and fussy.  This time I wanted to find a pattern to suit the fabric I had bought, a garment I could literally whizz up.

I found the Colette Patterns Moneta Dress Pattern and I love it!  It comes in a broad size range and this is the type of dress that would suit all body types.  Its perfect for stretch fabrics!

Be sure to head to Colette Patterns to purchase your pattern.

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Transferring Patterns to Fabric

Transferring your patterns to fabric just got easier!

So you buy a pattern and upon opening it you find every size available to you!  (Vintage patterns had one size per envelope).  Thats great but how many of us agonise over whether its best to cut the size we need or transfer the whole pattern onto Vilene?  Either way it takes quite a bit of time to prepare the pattern before we can even start on our project.  Well, there are a few sewing tools that will make this process a whole lot easier…

Dressmakers Carbon Paper and a Tracing Wheel is all you need – read more at the end of this post.

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These items are now available in class.

This is how its done…pin your pattern to the fabric.

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Slide in some Carbon Paper between the pattern and the fabric.  The inky side should be facing your fabric.

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Use your Tracing Wheel to press firmly along the size line that you require.  Be sure to include all markings and notches as you go.

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Take the pattern piece away and you will see your marked dotted line to cut along.

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The Dressmakers Carbon Paper comes in a pack including 5 sheets of paper in red, yellow, blue, white and green so this will cover all colours of fabric.

Tracing Wheels are by Clover, I find these are the best tools around.  They are ergonomic and sturdy unlike cheaper brands.

There are 2 types of Tracing Wheels…spiked and blunt.  Ive always owned a spiked wheel however, recently when I wanted to transfer my pattern to a knit fabric it wouldn’t work so well, so blunt is suiting me much better.

Also available by Clover is the Double Tracing Wheel.  This wheel is perfect for when you are transferring your patterns and need to add a seam allowance to the pattern.  The wheels are removable with slots measured every 5mm, so you can add a 5mm for your seam allowance up to 3cm.