Beginners Sewing Course - Day 5 - Accuracy Tips Video Lecture | Sewing: A Tutorial for Beginners - Fashion Designing

hello I'm Anika from a torso and welcome
to day five of the beginners crash
course in sewing unfortunately we are at
our last day now but I hope you have
enjoyed the other sessions that we've
put on for you so far so what are we
going to cover in today's tutorial well
I really wanted to go over some of the
accuracy issues that you might find that
you come across on your sewing journey
so teaching you some tips tricks and
techniques that I use to sort of make
things slightly easier and to get a
better result we're going to be looking
at sewing curves and corners as well as
matching up seams and a little bit of
hand stitching as well I wanted to show
you how to complete a hand running
stitch which is a standard basting
stitch and then finally onto pressing
because that is really important when
you are making projects so join me back
Kim will get started we're going to
start by looking at curves and how to
sew curves now whether you're working
with a garment like we are here or an
upholstery or home decor project the
same rules will apply so we've cut out
our fabric weave marks any of the
notches that the pattern has recommended
we mark and we're ready to start pinning
them together now if you find that you
might may find it difficult to actual
sewing of the curve and the accuracy of
the curve sewing because it is important
that you do stitch on what is the
stitching line which is 1.5 centimeters
5/8 in from the edge
if you don't stitch on the stitching
line you may find that the garment or
item would be too large or too small or
it wouldn't fit in the correct areas so
one thing you can do is actually draw on
your stitching lines like I've done here
now all you would need is a ruler or a
tape measure and you would measure in
your 5/8 1.5 centimeters and use chalk
like a little chalk pen like this or you
could use a pen that comes off with an
air after time or with water and do this
on the wrong side of your fabric
obviously you don't want to damage the
fabric or for this to come through to
the right side but you may find as a
beginner that this can really help by
marking these lines onto the fabric so
now for pinning together we're going to
start by pinning our notches and we're
going to put our right sides of our
garment together and pin the notch lay
the notches will be placed in specific
places so that the EES is in the right
area of the garment so I'm going to be
looking from one side to the other to
find where my notches are and if you
have decided to actually draw your
stitching lines on now what I would
recommend you do here is actually pin
through the stitching line and check
it's come out on the stitching line on
the other side so your pins are going to
actually be sitting on your stitching
line and when you're sewing you won't
need to worry about where this edge is
but you will need to worry about where
the needle is on this line and therefore
the pins will be holding this stitching
line together so notches and I pinned
next we're going to pin the bottom edge
and then we'll be pinning the top edge
of the garments obviously if you haven't
got these lines and you don't want to
draw these lines on that's not a problem
I recommend pinning in the seam
allowance as I suggested before we're
pinning from the bottom as we're going
to be sewing from the bottom up and our
pins are parallel to our edge here our
seam allowance edge and then we're going
to pin our top edge together and then we
can start looking at the ease and the
distribution of the ease around the
curve now what you need to do here is
you need to work from middle points to
middle point and this goes for any curve
or any situation where you may need to
ease two fabrics together so a middle
point two middle point again I'm going
to be pinning on my stitching line
checking it's gone through on both sides
because I have drawn that on and then
I'm working with my next point middle
point two middle point I'm making sure
that that fits and again up here now
obviously you will need more pins for a
curve than you will on a straight seam
but please just put as many pins as you
feel comfortable working with to make
sure that everything is sitting nice and
flat ready to sew now one thing I do
want to point out as well is that a
garment or anything or making won't
necessarily sit flat that's nothing to
worry about that's because you are
making a 3d item it will never sit
quickly flat and you'll have fabric sort
of buckling in certain places as long as
your edges are together to the seam
allowance edges together here or your
stitching lines are together you are
doing the right thing
okay so what I would recommend if you
are a complete beginner is that you
baste or tack this before taking it to
the Machine so Joey back here and I'll
show you how to do that so now I want to
show you how to actually based or tack a
seam together and this can really help
if you're a beginner because you'll find
that you can remove the pins so that you
can actually position this through the
Machine much easier and you can also
find that because you will have basted
it or tacked it together it won't shift
it won't move and you will be able to
sew along your stitching line and get
fabulous results so how do you do that
well you can see the little stitches
that I've completed here now you're
going to need a needle and obviously the
needle does depend on the fabric you're
working with I would recommend majority
of the time you probably want to find a
needle than you have picked up most of
my customers come in with a needle with
a massive eye because that's what they
can see through so maybe invest in
needle threader if you have problems
threading a smaller needle and some
thread now if you're just starting off
it doesn't really matter what thread you
use you can buy specific and basting
thread but honestly anything will do I
would recommend though that you choose a
color that's not dissimilar to the
fabric that you're working with you want
something that you can see so that you
can remove the stitches afterwards but
you also want something that if say your
stitches got caught in the fabric and
you found it difficult to remove you
wouldn't end up with Tufts of red thread
everywhere which it doesn't look good on
a finished garment or project so we've
got our thread and through our needle
here we started off by either tying and
knot or by going back could sort of over
yourself and we're going to start
stitching let me pull this through so
that you can see so we're going to be
stitching along at the stitching line
now I find this is the most accurate way
to do it although it is more difficult
to remove the stitches afterwards if you
stitch in the seam lines you can still
have a little bit of shift
does depend what you're doing if you
were doing a straight line and maybe
using this on a fabric that was just a
little bit slippy and needed help to be
put together then you could do it right
you know inside of your stitching line
but I would recommend if it's for
accuracy it is better to do it on the
stitching line and then tackle for
taking out with a pair of tweezers so
we're going to be doing a basic running
stitch that's what a basting stitch is
or attacking stitch it's a running
stitch and the running stitches should
be about a quarter of an inch and five
millimeters in length so we're going to
go down here five millimeters from where
we came out and then again five
millimeters a quarter of an inch and
back up and we're going to be
positioning it on the stitching line or
we can check the other side that we've
hit the stitching line as well and we
can pull that through so I'll do another
one slowly for you
so five millimeters a quarter of an inch
from where we came out we go in and then
along again another five millimeters
quarter of an inch and out and we pull
that through and you'll find that as you
get better at doing this you should be
able to go in five millimeters quarter
of an inch up and do it in succession so
we're going to go down up down up which
will make it quicker
obviously removing the pins as we go
okay let's try that again so down up
down up okay and one more time down up
and just ignore the pins when you when
you get close to them it's always best
to sort of stitch first with the pin in
if you can and then obviously once
you've got past the pin you can remove
it just to make sure that you're not
shifting the fabric in any way and then
again and when we get to the end
I'd recommend tying and not and all
going backwards over yourself obviously
if I stop here and show you how to do
that so to tie knots we would just
literally tie a knot and I tend to
wiggle mine right down to the bottom put
my finger on it
and I've got not right at the bottom of
my thread there if you would prefer to
go over yourself all that means is that
you're just going to do a stitch on top
of yourself about two or three times and
all that will do is is hold the thread
there as well just like that
okay so I'll let you based your or tack
your theme together and then drew me at
the machine and we can get sewing it so
now we're going to sew at the curve on
the machine we're going to start as
always by holding on to our threads and
pushers positioning the needle into the
fabric and then we're going to start
sewing obviously we would go forwards
and backwards as well to seal the stitch
and I'm just going to be working with
the standard 2.5 millimeter stitch one
thing I would recommend when sewing
curves is that you really just want to
do it very very slowly so if you do have
speed control on your machine then this
is the best time to use it now as you
can see we are going to be following our
basting line which is also the line that
we drew onto our fabric as the stitching
line and I promise this is much easier
than using the guide or the seam gauge
here or trying to guide up in line with
our 5/8 1.5 centimeters on the plate
here it is easier to draw this line on I
would really recommend it if you are a
beginner now the key is as I said slowly
and also to make sure that on this line
that we have basted that the fabric
stays flat around the curves so the way
I tend to hold my fabric is with my left
hand here I tend to really feel and make
sure that there's no puckers on the top
side and then with the right hand I'm
actually going to be feeling and
checking that I'm not feeding in any
puckers and I tend to sort of use a
little bit of a motion to to flick any
puckers or things out the way use my
nails if I need you to really get rid of
them before I feed it through the
machine as I said the most important
thing is that where you're stitching on
this stitching line there are no puckers
if you feel puckers on this side or this
side that doesn't matter it's the
stitching line that matters and that is
important when you're doing this
so work your way on your curves complete
and slowly and practice and you know
make yourself some curves that you need
to so that's the best way is just to
practice and you will find that you do
feel more confident working with them in
the future obviously you're going to be
selling in a thread that matches your
fabric I've got a thread that you can
see when you get to the end we'd be
going backwards and forwards again you
may have a lock stitch on your machine
that's fine the needle should be raised
the foot lifted and obviously you can
wiggle the family'll if you need to to
release the threads and cut off the
stitch and there we have it we've thrown
at the curve on your sewing machine draw
me back here and we'll take out your
basting stitches as you can see we've
got a beautifully stitched curve here so
what do we need to do next we need to
remove the basting or tacking stitch
that we put in in the first step so we
need a nun picker for that job
now how to use a nun picker okay so what
we need to do is you've got a little
pointed area of the un-- picker here now
you need to put this little point
underneath a stitch and you can use
those a cutter right there to cut the
thread now if you find that you have
basted not on the stitching line you
should find that you can pull it from
the start or the end of the basting and
it will come out
however because for accuracy and I
really do believe this will help with
the majority of projects is actually -
based on the stitching line you may find
that you need to sort of individually
cut each of them out of the seam and
this is why I would recommend that you
use a color that doesn't show up if you
weren't being able to get them out so
choose a color say we I'm working here
with a navy maybe I would choose sort of
a shade a couple of shades lighter or
maybe a black or something like that so
I could still see it but it wasn't white
or red or something that really wasn't
going to come out so I'm just working
here and you should be able to cut a few
of them and then able to pull it out
just like that
so you would work your way along the
entire piece gradually and picking
things and this is the same if you were
to say unpick some of the stitches here
if I show you how to do that you would
use the UM picker and you would go under
the stitch and you would unpick and you
don't need to unpick every single stitch
you need to sort of unpick maybe say 5
or 6 stitches apart because once you've
got a little gap in it you'll find that
you can lift it and it will all come out
and then you can just pull it off with
your fingers so it's another technique
to learn really and you'll find that you
will be doing a lot about picking I'm
sure as you are learning but hopefully
you will find that it is a little bit of
enjoyment with it as well as frustration
and now I'll leave you so that you can
unpick the rest of your basting of
tacking stitches along the length of
your curve
please don't unpack the little stitches
that we have done on the sewing machine
I only wanted to do that as an example
to show you how to and pick them if say
you made a mistake you went wrong or you
didn't stitch on the line that we had
drawn next we're going to look at sewing
corners so join me back here in a second
so now you should understand how to sew
curves we're moving on to corners which
are very similar in the way that I tend
to prepare them now corners it can be
very difficult you will want to have the
same corner if you've got a garment or a
product that has got numerous corners or
points to it they need to all look the
same so how do you get them all the same
will I find the easiest way is just like
we did with the curb seam is to draw on
our stitching line now you only really
need to do this around the corner area
so maybe for a couple of inches five
centimeters or so before the corner and
after the corner and that will be a
straight line in line with the seam
allowance so you're 1.5 centimeters
five-eighths
in from the seam allowance as the
stitching line now this is just an
example on calico I will show you one a
little bit of fabric in a second how to
do this but I just wanted to show you
first the drawing and we will go
straight across at the bottom so
that you have a corner however the one
thing that I would recommend when sewing
callers is that you don't necessarily go
to the corner drop your needle and turn
that is okay for lightweight fabrics but
for heavyweight fabrics and even really
this is a method that I do the majority
of the time is to have one stitch at a
diagonal and I will show you this in
better when we are sewing so I would
draw my line this way draw my line the
other way and then I've actually drawn a
little diagonal line across there so
when we're sewing we're going to be
sewing down and we will stitch one
stitch at a diagonal on this line and
then sew the other way so if I show you
how to mark that so this is my little
piece of fabric and I'm going to be
using exactly the same method so I've
got myself a ruler here and I'm going to
be using a chalk pen pen but as I said
before you can use a and then a marker
that comes up with water or air and I'm
going to be measuring in my 5/8 1.5
centimeters and drawing my other my
other stitching line here so they're
going past each other at the bottom
there okay so I've got my stitching line
one side stitching on the other side and
then all I'm going to do is hit this
bottom point here with a little diagonal
so that I remember as I'm coming along
that I'm going to be going down so one
stitch at the diagonal and then the rest
along this line here join me at the
machine and I'll show you in greater
detail how to do this now we're going to
be sewing the corner that we prepared in
the last part of the tutorial as you can
see we've got our markings in chalk
along here so all we're going to be do
is actually guiding the stitching line
that we've marked on into our foot and
so that's in line with the needle now my
foot I've got a tiny little red dot at
the front that I can see and that's
going to line up with the needle so I'm
going to be feeding this line into my
little red dot we're going to start by
holding our threads putting the needle
down and obviously if you were coming up
to a corner on a project you would have
probably gone backwards and forwards or
locked your stitch
further up your projects but we're going
to do that now and we're working on this
bit working with a 2.5 millimeter stitch
or 2 millimeter would be fine and we're
going to continue sewing along matching
the line here up with the little red
dots and there for the needle now when
you get say one inch away from the
corner a 2.5 centimeters we're going to
turn our stitch length down to 1.5
millimeters now we mentioned this in our
tutorial 4 of this session and what that
does is actually mix it reinforcement
around the corner because a corner or
point can take a lot of wear and tear so
the 1.5 will help with that and we're
going to continue sewing up to the
corner now one thing to add if you
decided that you didn't want to mark
your corner on there maybe for speed
then some machines will actually have a
guide going this way that will show when
this front piece of fabric here is at
the 5/8 1.5 centimeters so you'll know
when to turn the corner now I've got a
little Ridge on my plate there but the
machines have got something a more
linear line or anything that will show
you your little marking so check your
manual for that however I still do find
that you get more consistency with the
points by drawing them on so we're
continuing up to that point and if you
find you're getting close and maybe your
machine you're still a little bit
worried about how quickly you're
approaching it you can use the hand
wheel on the side of the machine if you
turn that towards yourself the machine
will stitch a stitch so you can do a
couple of stitches using the hand wheel
if you are worried about going past the
point you can also turn the hand wheel
backwards if you need to reverse okay so
our needle is now down and we're going
to lift up off foot it is really
important that you make sure the needle
is down when you do this so that your
fabric doesn't slip and move out of
place we're then going to turn our
fabric so that we can so that single
diagonal stitch and again I would use
the hand wheel to sew one stitch so that
you don't jump ahead and sew more than
one needle down again we lift our foot
and we pivot the fabric
now if you find that you didn't want to
do the one diagonal stitch and you just
wanted to do a right angle you would do
exactly the same thing and pivot one
right angle at the same time and then
we're going to continue stitching out
matching up a line with our needle and
I'm a little red dot on the front of the
foot now when you're about an inch 2.5
centimeters away from the corner you can
bring the stitch length back to the 2 or
2.5 millimeters that you're working with
and we would simply sew out on our line
here or if you're working with a guide
or seam gauge on the side you'll be
using that to guide your seam allowance
and we'll continue that all the way out
we would go backwards and forwards or
you would do a lock stitch to finish we
would lift and we would pull that out
and trim that off and there we can see
we've got a lovely neat corner that is
going to be really secure and if you
were to turn this around because of the
one diagonal stitch you would find that
you've got a very neat even point
so now you've sewn your corner we need
to work out how we're going to actually
flip this and cut this down now I would
have imagined that you would have
actually sewn two pieces together you
would have pinned like we did with the
curve along the line so that the two
layers were matched up and now we're
going to need to trim it because this is
too bulky the seam allowance that you've
got here to be able to turn the corner
around get a nice finished point so what
do you need to do now you will need a
pair of nicely sharp sort of embroidery
style scissors and all we're going to
literally do is cut off right by the
point and this is about an Apes three
millimeters from the edge of the point
and this is part of the reason why we
actually reduced the size of the stitch
around the corner because it does help
with the reinforcement now we're cutting
this off so we've cut off the corner
there and you're left with two other
corners so we can cut those off too and
literally just trim them off until you
aren't left with any of the balk and I
know this is scary bit this is the bit
that everybody goes oh really you really
want me to cut that so please please
don't be worried and just you know it
comes with practice but
get the bravery and really you know
cutting actually we'll end up producing
better results in the long run now
depending on what you're making you may
find that you need to trim down all of
your seam allowances but the most
important thing to be able to push down
that corner is to cut off the corner and
then cut off the other corners there so
you're going to have a nice corner to
turn through when you're done so now we
know how to cut corners what happens if
you've got a curve and we need to clip
into the curve let me show you how to do
that now we've got two different curves
here we've got a concave curve and a
convex curve so we've got the inward
facing curve and the outward curve now
both are slightly different I'm where
you need to clip them to get a really
good result when you're finishing with a
product so we're going to start with the
concave curve so this curve is going
inwards so all you need to do that is
get a sharp pair of scissors and we're
literally just going to cut in to about
same eights away three millimeters away
from our stitching and we can just don't
do the little clips that sort of
intermittent areas so that it gives it a
little bit of movement when that it's
turned around now if you had two layers
of fabric here I always tend to do my
Clips staggered in the layers so that
you don't have one area of weakness at
any one point so though we're left with
just these little Clips going in to the
curve so what to do with a convex curve
now this is slightly different and you
can see the little triangles that I've
already cut out from the curb edge so
we're going to again clip using a pair
of scissors with a sharp point into the
seam allowance about 1/8 3 mil from the
stitching line and we're going to cut
out a little triangle you want scissors
with a sharp point really so that you
can make sure that you are getting the
triangle out and again we can do these
at little intermittent variations and
you'll find obviously a steeper curve
needs more Clips than a smoother less
steep curve so just like that
and again if I had two seam allowances
here I would again do these at opposite
you know in the seam allowance different
seam allowances so that you're not
making a weak point but the two seam
allowances at one time so hopefully this
helped you with your clipping of curves
and your cutting of corners next we're
going to move on to matching seams
another tip I wanted to go through with
you is how to match up seams now I've
got two lessons that I've sewn here as
an example both have been pressed open
and I wish to join them like this but I
want this seem to be consistent and
match at the joint
how do I do that and more importantly
when would you need to do this quilting
is a big one obviously when you're
quilting something you really want your
seams and joints to match up so that it
does look professional and really finish
is a piece in terms of a garment you may
need to do it if you had a dart in the
bodice that needs to match a dart in the
skirt so that you had a line continuing
down the body that was even this can
also happen at side seams of a bodice to
a skirt it can also happen very commonly
in an underarm seam that comes from a
sleeve to the side seam of a bodice so
it's something that you will find that
needs to happen and this is a really
easy technique that you can use to do
that so what we're going to do is
position one on top of the other and
we're just going to look at matching
them up ourselves first so I'm really
peaking in between the two layers there
and I'm laying one seam on top of the
other seen as best as I can now you will
learn sort of to get a feel for this so
you will find it easier after time than
you do to start with but to start we're
just going to aim to position them
together with anything to bring in
something called a clover fork pin now
these were sold for quilting I believe
originally but I use them all the time
for garments sort of home decor pieces I
don't know wash bags that need to be
matched in certain areas anything that I
need to match this is the one that I get
out of the box
now we're going to position this the two
little legs need to go either side of
the seam that we need to match up and
you want the point of the pin to be
going towards the seam allowance so that
the bulky end is sitting in the fabric
so legs either side of the seam and
bulky end in the fabric point of the
pins going out towards the seam
allowance and you want to make sure that
you are putting the pin in around this
stitching line mark so if you're working
with 5/8 1.5 centimeters position it
around there because that is the bit
that it's going to make sure will match
not before that nor after it and then
we're going to check we're going to peel
open the inside and check and we're
completely perfectly matched up if you
weren't all you would do is reposition
it and sometimes that you have a
difficult seam or some difficult fabric
and you may need to do it three times
but that doesn't matter because once is
in and we're going to sew over it in a
second it will match up I promise so one
thing to point out before we go to the
sewing machine is that you want to make
sure ideally that the sort of pointed
edge is in line with the edge of the
fabric especially if you're going to be
using one of the magnetic scene gauges
that we spoke about earlier you don't
want the pin to be creeping over the
edge because it will get caught on the
magnetic seam gauge so the clever thing
about this is that we're going to sew
over it now I've never had a problem
hitting this pit this pin I believe
because you've got the two legs the legs
find it very easy to sort of jump out of
the way and because they're two of them
attached together and person is that I
use them all the time have never had a
problem hitting it however I wouldn't
say that you should sew over pins
normally so just this one gem it the
machine and we can sew this so now we're
ready at the sewing machine I've lined
up the edge of my fabric with my one
point 5 centimeter 5/8 guide line that
I've got on my metal plate here we're
going to start as always holding threads
turning the hand wheel to position the
needle into the fabric and a backwards
and forwards stitch
okay
now we're going to slow forwards and
nice and slowly and then we're actually
going to sew over this pin another thing
to think about is that this bobble II it
has to be facing up you cannot have this
sort of raised area at the end of the
pin that should be in the fabric side as
I mentioned a minute ago it has to be
sitting face-up it must not be sitting
down and facing down or even putting
this pin underneath the fabric because
the machine will not like that and we're
just going to be gradually sewing and
when we come to the pin which is very
carefully sew over the pin if you have
wide seam allowances make sure the seam
allowances is sitting flat on the top
and on the bottom you're not catching
either of those nicely over the pin and
the machine doesn't even seem to bother
why it all the way to the edge of the
fabric or the theme you're working on
again backwards and forwards or lock
stitch finish with your needle raised
lift the foot pull the fabric out twist
the hand wheel if needed and cut that
off and then you can see here that it's
sewn the 5/8 seam allowance happily over
that and clothe up in and if I were to
take the clover pin out you should find
and there you have it there you see the
seam perfectly matches up at that middle
join point as I said these are a
fabulous tool and something I would
really recommend if you're getting in to
doing sewing because it can make
something that actually is quite
difficult to do very very easy and
therefore have a great finish and
professional results to it next we're
going to look at pressing so draw me
back here so we can get started
so when I want the final aspect of our
five-day tutorial and the final aspect
is pressing which is really one of the
most important bits that you need to do
and that you need to keep on top of when
you're making garments and projects it
really will give you a much better
finish result if you press than if you
don't so how are we going to go about
doing this well I'm going to start by
trimming any little threads get them all
out of the way with a sharp pair of
scissors and keep on top of those as
you're sewing because otherwise they can
get tied into another area next we're
going to press the seam flat so by flat
I mean not open just one layer on top of
the other and what this will do is the
heat and steam will help to allow the
stitches to sit and shrink meld them
into the fabric so that you'll get a
better finish result so with heat and
steam we're just going to press that
nicely okay and the idea with pressing
really is that you use the weight and
the steam to actually sit on top and
press the fabric we're not ironing or
giving that ironing motion that you do
when you're at home okay now one thing
to also think about is the tools that
you use when you're pressing now I'm
using a little ham here I would
recommend something like a ham needs a
field of sawdust the reason being is
that the Saudis will draw the steam
through the fabric and help to set the
press ham is fantastic for anything that
is 3d on the body so darts pleats
princess seams anything that has sort of
got the curved nature on the other side
of things you've got what's called a
seam roll now this is fabulous because
it's ever so slightly curved so when
you're pressing a seam flat and open
which is what we're going to do now it
will help to stop the seam allowances
embossing onto the right side of the
fabric so we're going to position our
seam open and again we're going to give
that a press
now obviously I would recommend that you
test your fabric before pressing test it
check the heats of the iron and that the
temperature and things seemed doesn't
mark your fabric doesn't damage it if it
does there may be a Musa pressing cloth
something like a layer of silk organza
is fabulous and that's what I tend to
use because it's see-through but any
pressing cloth would do the job and
protect your fabric so we've pressed the
top bit of this the bottom bit of this
is going to be a little bit more 3d so
we're going to bring our hand back into
it and actually use the hem and you can
use the edges of the ham to really make
sure that you're pressing it flat and
nice now you tend to want to press your
seam allowances open
I mean garments all to the back of them
to the back all of the of a seam or a
project so work your way around
something pressing it so that it does
give a nice finish and let's have a look
at the front of this it gives a really
nice finish
to the look of the garment and that
concludes our beginners crash course and
sewing I really hope that you have
enjoyed the 5 sessions that we've put on
that you've learned something and that
you do feel more confident on your
sewing machine and with your sewing
ability please do stay tuned for more
videos because we will have more videos
projects tips and techniques that we
want to share with you up very soon but
for now enjoy your new Fred hobby and
see you soon
you