We love this unique hand stitching tool. Our step-by-step tutorial shows how it can quickly attach one item to another as well as create an interesting line of stitching as a decorative accent. Great for bag handles!
One of the most satisfying things in the world of DIY is when you get to overcome the mystery of “how the heck do they do that?!” You know what we mean. You’re looking at a home décor item, thinking, “I really need one of those, but it is WAY too expensive for my budget.
If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I'm guessing this three-in-one presser foot is easily worth a bird, a hand and a bush. We love a cool accessory that does several things, and the Janome Clear View Quilting Foot and Guide Set is one of our favorite multi-tasking tools. It comes
Last Minute Mom’s Day Idea: Two clear-view pockets can hold a gift card and a handwritten note. We also designed a matching free printable: two sheets of ten, perfectly-sized gift tags you can download and customize.
Window coverings are a great DIY project; and simple enough for the beginning sewer. Straight edges. Simple, straight stitches. But even the most basic curtain project starts with knowing how to take proper measurements.
Narrow tucks, called pintucks when they are super narrow, are often used in heirloom sewing, but they can add a lovely detail to many projects. Did you know you can create the look quickly and easily with your Quarter Inch foot?
Sergers. For some, the word alone can send them screaming into the darkest corners of their sewing rooms. “The threading… not the threading… make it stop!” Well, perhaps that’s a wee bit dramatic, but the fear of threading the loopers on a serger, “Sergiothreadaphobia” as it is known in medical circles, keeps many a sewer
Start with an off-the-shelf hot pad and mitt set – we found ours for $2 – add some simple fabric and trim details and voila, style on a shoestring and a great first make. It’s also an excellent ScrapBusters project.
We go over our recommendations for what to have on hand if you’re just getting started in the world of sewing as well as a few favorites to add to your toolbox as you move up in your skill level and expand your projects.
When temperatures rise, a great quick-cooling spot is your neck. Our easy-to-make wraps use water absorbing crystals within the pockets of a long, tie-on tube for fast cooling power. For adults, kids, even pets.
Scanning the list of materials for your next project tutorial, you suddenly come across a term or two that causes you to stop and scratch your head: Fat Quarters, Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes. Have you accidentally clicked from a sewing site to a recipe site? All these items sound delicious, but what the
There is one particular type of hem we receive more questions about than any other: the rolled hem. Not to be confused with a narrow hem, a rolled hem is created using a special presser foot. Great for edges on lightweight fabrics.
When budgets get tight, repairing and re-purposing is the way to go to extend an item’s life. We explore some innovative ideas for using iron-on patches for scarves, t-shirts, pillows, and… of course, jeans.
The school year is wrapping up. Soon the books will be closed and the desks will be empty, but the impact on students’ hearts and minds is forever stamped. Great inventors and leaders are not born. They are motivated and inspired by all the amazing teachers who stand up and stand out every single day.
Large, snap-on plastic grommets are traditionally associated with curtains, but they are a great solution for a variety of projects. Dritz makes the best, and we outline how quick and easy they are to install.
Whether you’re sewing or just binge-watching a bit too much TV, you need to get up and move around. These ten simple exercises don’t require any special tools; use your own body to stretch and strengthen.
From cooking to organizing to looking good, these five favorites are sure to please. The supplies needed are minimal; you may already have the perfect options in your stash. To make your gift extra special, we have a set of free printable “Mom Said!”gift tags.
This project features not 1, not 2, but 3 cute zippered pouch styles to hold life’s little necessities. Three specialty labels further customize each pouch, and we offer a free set of Mother’s Day gift tags as a finishing touch.
A cover hem is a professional-style "serged" hem that traditionally has two to three lines of parallel stitching on the right side and a looper stitch which covers the raw edge of the fabric on the back side. It's the type of hem commonly found on most ready-to-wear knit garments (and many woven RTW items
We like webbing… not necessarily like the monster from the black lagoon’s hands, but the cool cotton kind for bags and such. However, it can be hard to find in other than the most basic colors of white, natural, navy, and black. Bust out your decorative stitches and some colorful thread! This fast and easy
In between the simplicity of gathering and the intricacy of hand-smocking, lives one of our favorite texturing techniques: elastic shirring. You've probably owned a garment or two with shirring on the bodice or sleeve edge. It was the style on those iconic 1970s peasant dresses, and it remains popular in new fashion trends. Shirring is
Rivets can hold thick layers together at points where it would be impossible to stitch with a machine. They’re the tough guys of sewing, but are actually quite easy to apply with the right tools and tips.
Our free gingham fruit embroidery + appliqué designs were custom-digitized for Aurifil 80wt thread. The stitch work is so delicate + precise, you’ll do a double-take when you realize it’s thread, not actual gingham fabric.
We get a lot of questions about zippers. They seem to live at the top of many people's lists of Sewing Phobias (ziphobia!). In an effort to calm these fears, we already have three step-by-step tutorials for inserting standard zippers, tackling invisible zippers, and putting in an inset zipper. We're adding to the zipper toolbox
Left: Faux Leather Shopper, Right: Trendy Faux Leather Handbag Back in the 1970s, I wanted my mom to buy me a real leather jacket. Unfortunately, she was only prepared to spend for one made of synthetic leather. As much as I wanted to believe it looked genuine, it just looked fake. Today's fake – excuse
Simple panel window coverings are often one of the first DIY home décor projects people attempt. Figuring out how best to hang those pretty panels can be more of a challenge. Dritz offers three drapery tape solutions.
A circle has 360˚ – we all learned that in school, but we didn’t always learn how to use those 30 dozen degrees to create the angles that make up some of our favorite shapes. Our latest Sew4Home Cheat Card is the third installment in our Basics Shapes trio. It focuses on the most common
As we roll into the final days before Christmas, we’re taking a moment to step away from our sewing machines to bring you something a little different – something we hope might become a new tradition for the holidays. We wrote a little story and designed a pretty book to go along with the adorable illustrations
If you’re a Sew4Home regular, you know we don’t traditionally present a lot of projects in the wearables category. Of course, there are all our super popular aprons and a few other easy items, but in terms of fitted garments, we tend to leave those to other experts. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t love
There are lots of embellishment ideas out there, but for our money, it just doesn’t get much more fun and versatile than pom poms and tassels. If you’re a regular Sew4Home follower, you know we’re fans of both, and have already done our own step-by-step tutorials on making each. But we’re always up for learning
When does 1+1 = 1? When you’re basting two layers together! Lear: how to determine if your sewing machine has a basting stitch, when to use the stitch in sewing projects, and why hand basting is sometimes best.
This earns our Sewing Survival emblem because learning the ins and outs of all types of hardware options is key to adding a more professional finish to your next bag project (and more!). The secret is precise measuring.
Our recent Basic Shapes Cheat Card #1 brought you fun facts about the smooth curves of The Circle. Time to straighten up and fly right with the most common of the angular geometric shapes. Are these all of them? Not at all, but they are the ones you are likely to come across in your
This clever Janome foot helps you attach tape evenly and smoothly to the edge of your fabric. Adjust it to handle widths from 5mm to 20mm. Use both single fold and double fold binding styles, either tape you’ve made or packaged.
There are lots of straight lines in sewing, but we love the circle. In fact, in my humble opinion, the circle is the Queen of the geometric shapes. Don't get me wrong; I like all those squares, rectangles, triangles, octagons, and whatnot; but the circle is the coolest of the bunch: smooth and pretty and
Pom poms are great for so many projects. Whether you need one great pom or dozens, a Clover Pom Maker simplifies the task, and each one will be as perfectly puffy as the next. Find some yarn and get ready to get fluffy.
One of top rules of sewing success: Start each new project with a new needle! When a needle is piercing your fabric at 600 to 1,000 stitches per minute, small things like a dulled point or an eye that's beginning to wear can make a big difference in the quality of your stitches, which means
Prom and wedding season is upon us, which is always a great time to pull out the specialty fabrics for garments as well as home décor items. However, working with these fabrics does require a little special handling; they aren't always as user-friendly as good ol' cotton. We picked four of the most common categories:
Don’t laugh. This printable in our Cheat Card series is based on one of our most popular articles. Really! If you’ve been sewing forever, and work with fractions every day, it may seem crazy to you that someone wouldn’t know how to read a measuring tape. But if you step back for a moment, and
Broken zipper = broken heart! It’s a major frustration because it means something either won’t close or won’t open. The most common element to fail is the zipper slider; this can also be the easier part to replace.
For more basic Janome sewing machines (5mm and 7mm), this a fun, easy way to add little decorative stitch touches in pretty thread colors! Be the flower girl of the sewing accessory world, sprinkling pretty posies over any project.
Today’s machines can zip along at up to 1000 stitches per minute; you can see how a little length goes a long way. The shorter the stitches, the tighter the seam. The longer the stitches, the looser the seam.