We based our tutorial on the words we hear whenever we receive questions about this topic: "How do you figure out how much fabric you need?" "How do you cut all the strips?" "How do you sew all the strips together?" "How do you put it on your project so it looks smooth and pretty?"
No matter what kind of sewing you like to do, there are times you must use a hand needle and thread. Learn our favorite tips and products to help eliminate knots and tangles so you can keep those stitches flowing smoothly.
“Cutting corners” can be a good thing – if you do it correctly. Sharp corners give a project a clean, professional finish. Learn techniques for clipping and stitching corners that will help maintain the best, cleanest shape.
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
A Sewing Tool Box Basic! Seam grading is like stair-stepping. It’s the process of turning a standard seam allowance into layered tiers of fabric. The result is less bulk, which means a smoother finish from the right side.
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
From getting the spacing right, to cutting holes in the fabric, to the actual installation process, we’re here to prove you can conquer this hardware at home and get a professional result. Plus you get to hit stuff with a hammer!
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.
I know I should be able to do math in my head; I also know I should eat more fruits and vegetables and actually use my gym membership. I could continue to pretend all these things are going to happen, or… I could find some little workarounds. Our Cheat Card is a handy reference table that
Making a narrow hem with a clean corner can be a challenge. Our go-to option, the one that earns our Sewing ToolBox Stamp of Approval, is a double-turn with a folded diagonal point corner: easy, tidy, and pretty from both sides.
Snaps are one of our favorite closures. They're small yet sturdy, like a cute little Corgi dog. But there's not always a lot of variety from which to choose. You can usually find nickel or brass, and the Western favorite: pretty pearl head snaps, every once in awhile, maybe a rhinestone alternative. But that's where
A true Sewing Survival Skill! The word fussy sounds negative. But in the world of sewing, a fussy cut is a beautiful thing. It means cutting in a way that precisely captures a specific section of fabric for a specific purpose.
Your project instructions call for two yards of 60" wide fabric, but the fabric you want to use is 45" wide. Hmmm... attempting to dredge up that old math lesson in proportions is probably not going to happen on the fly. Instead, print out our handy conversion chart for those times you don't have a
We love the look and functionality of zippers. But many of us are not crazy about installing them. To get good, you gotta jump in. Let’s start with a conventional zipper, where the fabric meets along the center of the zipper teeth.
In our quest to continue bringing you the information you’re searching for, we’ve been partnering with some of our pals in the sewing community to provide guest features on garment sewing. This is an area we don’t currently focus on at Sew4Home but for which we get a lot of inquiries. It’s not that we
A quilter extraordinaire, our friend Kim Niedzwiecki (aka Go-Go Kim) recently entered the world of garment sewing. She’s alive to tell the tale, and offers up her experiences, pearls of wisdom, and encouragement for you to do the same.
Tufting are those depressions made at regular intervals in a cushion by passing a thread through and pulling it taut. Simple, right? It can be. Start with the right tools and make sure you measure and mark with precision.
Thermal fabrics are the added layer in projects designed to keep hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold, such as oven mitts, lunch bags, shopping totes, etc. We take a look at options for thermal batting, fabric, and interfacing.
Often, the most exciting notions look rather nondescript inside their cardboard boxes and cellophane wrappers. Our goal with the Products We Love series is to break open the packaging, show you how to use these cool tools, and inspire you to add one or more to your own sewing basket. The Clover Hot Hemmer is one of the
Sewing a rectangle into a tube rings of “square peg in a round hole” hopelessness. And yet, it’s one of the most common techniques when creating bags, boxes, and baskets. If you want a flat, stable base, an inset base panel is the go-to option. To make this geometric magic happen doesn’t take a hammer,
Picking out buttons is fun! Sewing on buttons, not quite so fun. The up-side of button sewing is that it’s relatively quick and easy, and by following our tutorial basics, yours will stay put stronger and longer.
Pleats are the origami of the sewing world. And although you don't usually need to fold one into the shape of a swan, there are a wide variety of pretty pleats that add distinct visual and textural embellishments for both home décor as well as garment sewing. Each type provides a different look based on
It gives a fabulous softness to a wide variety of projects, from toys to pillows to blankets and more. Although not difficult to sew with, to create the very best results, it helps to have a few tips and tricks under your belt.
Little pieces of fabric sewn together. That's truly quilting at its most basic, but it's just about as crazy as describing cooking as: tasty bits of food mixed together. The creativity (and the love) is in the who, what, when, where, and why of how it all happens. Our Quilting Basics series is designed to
It’s a little bit like the ancient art of origami. You start out with a flat square (or rectangle), and after a few folds, flips, and slices, you have perfect bias strips ready to become custom binding for your next project.
How fabric is woven is important; fabric that is off-grain when you’re cutting can cause the completed project to stretch out of shape. Get a better understanding of how to identify fabric grain and tips on how to straighten it.
So many choices! This article helps you sort out the most common interfacing options for bags and totes. You’ll like the printable chart we developed. Post one copy in your sewing room and use another when you shop.
Most of the time, sewing is all about soft things, from beautiful fabrics to cushy pillow inserts. However, every so often, something hard comes along. It's not there to torment you; it's a way to inject an interesting new texture into the mix. We're here with a few tips to make working with these trims
Outdoor jackets, yacht covers, baby clothes – the humble snap does it all. They’re easier to use than buttons and more durable than Velcro®. Find out the best tools to use and tips to follow to make inserting snaps… a snap!
There are entire accessory systems to achieve this unique embellishment technique, often referred to as “yarn embroidery.” YOU can do it with a simple change of your Janome presser foot. It’s like drawing with yarn.
Ruffles. Bet you can't use them just once. If you love ruffles like we do, you need to know about an accessory that makes ruffling and pleating easier, faster and more precise: the Ultimate Ruffler from Janome. This attachment is designed to work with any machine that can accept a snap-on presser foot, which means
A big part of sewing is knowing your fabric. A big part of knowing fabric is understanding how to care for it. Protect your project and fabric investment. Learn when to preshrink fabrics, what products to use, and more.
If you can imagine it, chances are you can appliqué it! With appliqué, you’re free to incorporate almost any kind of graphic into your project. Learn our favorite tips and techniques for finding designs, cutting, applying, and stitching.
We love the quilting art of superstar, Heather Jones. A while back, she was kind enough to give us her favorite tips on straight line quilting. It provides a clean, modern feeling to a design, and is especially cool when densely stitched.
Beads add dimension, texture, and color in one fell swoop. Hand sewing is an option, if you have a few spare days. Machine sewing CAN be like trying to ride your bike over a field of BBs… unless you have this clever presser foot set.
Explore heirloom stitching by machine. We show two options: hemstitching (if you are brand new) and fagoting (if you’re more advanced). Both offer beautiful borders with mitered corners and an optional monogram.
There are two major curves you encounter in sewing: inward or concave and outward or convex. Learn the keys to a smooth result with both: an accurate seam allowance, proper clipping, and careful pressing.
We love embellishing projects with gorgeous ribbons. One reason is that we have such amazing choices from our friends and sponsor, Renaissance Ribbons. Another is because ribbons inject wonderful color and texture. Third, they're very easy to work with. Since we use them often, we're always thinking about new and unique ways to apply them.
Stenciling is one of the oldest forms of human art. We’ve used it to embellish some pretty half aprons. A coordinated set of these aprons would make great gifts for a bridal party or a cooking or crafting collective.
Remember how scary it was to raise your hand in school and ask what you feared would be a "stupid" question? Hopefully we've moved beyond that childhood fear. Questions are great because they lead to answers, and answers are meant to be shared. Today's quick measuring tip came from a question in a visitor's email. Someone