It's been too cool to sit and sew on the roof in the early evenings recently. So when the sun shows in late afternoon, I grab my tea and quickly head to the hammock where I pin thin fabric to my pants, relax and start to sew rolling hems on fabric. Here I'm working on the long sarongs AKA furoshiki for the shop that I started back in August.
NOTE: if the Kits are SOLD OUT, shoot me an e-mail and I can prepare one for you if you give me a day or two.
brenda@oneseedwonders.ca
My view holding pansy print on silk modal with potted pansy INSPO on table in front of me - all 'a blur' in the background.
This quick repetitive sequence of running stitches is easy to learn. I’m making a 'how-to' video to include in The Couture Sewing Kit (below).
Click on this video and watch in amazement as thread is pulled and the rolling hem magically rolls along the top edge of the fabric.
If you noticed the few frayed ends sticking out in the upper top left, you know I had to undo everything and begin again because the fabric was not cut straight! I'm a visual and experiential learner and it's mostly in the "doing" though, for me. So watching someone do 'the thing' is really useful, but getting in there and using my hands and making all the mistakes is how I apply what I've half-seen. Teaching others, once I've learned how to do something, helps me verbally integrate knowledge and retain it. It's a process!
A lot of creative people best learn this way. It's partly why I make these videos.
Speaking of which, here's a really well-done video I came across that shows how to machine sew another type of couture rolled hem! Not quite as relaxing, in my books, but it does produce a beautiful edge as well.
Do you know what your learning style is?
Many of us fall under a few categories.
I've been labelled a 'kinesthetic' teacher. It just means I tend to dance through space showing off visual examples I've gathered to everyone in the classroom ... with maybe a little hand gesturing as I talk adding emphasis to all the points ... and drawing large illustrations to the blackboard to show & tell with draw-along-a-thons. You get the picture.
Back to the fabric I was sewing & showing in the video. The cut was off by over 6 inches … that's a whole half a foot (4" lost at the top and 2" on the bottom)!
There's an irony in this cutting solution. Again, it's all in 'the pulling of one thread'! I found it was good to pull a few extra for good measure.
Weft threads, located along the sides, can be carefully drawn out along the entire width of the cloth indicating where to cut. I illustrate this in the video on a prior post, The Mulberries Part 2o2 video.
The space where the weft thread was leaves a visible straight line to follow while cutting. Pulling a few extra threads leaves an even larger space and a wider line more easily seen by these aging eyes.
In the photo below, see how perfectly straight I have been able to cut the fabric and clip away stray threads along the top edge using my fancy little lime green Karen Kay Buckley scissors leaving just a little white frayed edge about the width of just a thread or two.
The following photo shows the loose sequence of just under a dozen stitches made before pulling the thread.
And - yes - I'm a little bit rock & roll and slightly dyslexic & accordingly my couture stitch sequence is classically inside out & backwards
BUT
you'll see - it's easier the way I do 'em!
And - yes - I caught a few too many threads in that last jab.
And it's actually the other side of this stitch that shows through on the other side and because I don't want my thread to show, I take the needle back out after I take this photo and back in it goes and grabs just one thread (two at the most). I twist the needle tip straight up, to a 90° angle, and send it through about 1/16" into the edge just before the top fold and bring it out just behind ... again about 1/16" away.
The whole process becomes meditative after awhile. But I need to make sure I have everything I need with me so I don't break the flow. As such, I've devised a cute little couture kit for myself.
everything needed is in this Grab'nGo when I want to sew on-the-go.
(all the basics are in this Hand-Sewn Couture Rolled Hem Practical Hanky Practice Kit)
There are other fancy couture sewing tools I use, too, but they stay in the sewing area so I know where they are.
Instead of having to bring the Karen Kay Buckley specialty scissors with me everywhere I go, I cut lengths of thread to size (no longer than a wrist to elbow length), and there's a single-edge razor to cut those threads that won't wait.
The latest obsession with Kits began after the City of Toronto finally allowed vehicles to once again park along the Allotment Road, this Summer.
Let me explain.
I celebrated and bought myself a Big Rubber Mom purse to bungee to my trolly.
It came with a few accessories. That opened the flood gates ... there was a cup holder and inserts to separate things, an iPhone holder, hooks to hang keys and things with loops on, etc.
AND THEN, I broke down and bought the amazing Peg & Awl Sendak Artists Roll. It fits nicely inbetween one of the inserts ... then I got a few new art materials that fit in it ... it & the kits go on ...
I share links to some other Kits, too. Kits I've gotten and Kits I have yet to get ... all strewn about through other posts that you can poke through when you have some spare time.
The Couture Sewing Kit
... more video instructions and a downloadable PDF attachment on how I do rolling hems
1. colour choice from one of 6 kimono silk threads (enough to sew a long sarong)
2. a tiny tin of beeswax to tame stray thread fibers which keeps thread from tangling while sewing (you could wet and press it between your thumb and index finger's nails - but it isn't that kind to nails)
3. a couple of lovely long thin delicate sashiko needles <- all the better to stitch silk and other fragile fabrics with
4. a few round head straight pins to pin your material to the pad of your ironing board as you press a crease in (or better yet use them to pin your fabric to the leg of your jeans so you can lean back in a chaise lounge, hammock, bed or sofa and hem a day's troubles away with your cup of tea
5. a single-edge blade
6. a random selection of one of my favourite teas (enough for a couple of cups)
7. a 10 inch square of organic cotton Voile to use as a practice piece and when finished to use as a neck scarf (or wrist band that will soak up watercolours whilst painting plein air miniatures <- in the post about what's in my new Art Kit, I'll talk about using it for this ... once I receive all those extras and I've had a chance to test them).
And Now for a few things that are NOT in The Kit!
... things I use that you might like to know more about and/or use as well.
The sewing bird. I refer to mine as a hemmingbird (see what I did there) ... and when I discovered she existed, and was a 'thing', I had to get her.
Here are some similar versions available on Etsy.
This one's mine!
It's no longer available - sorry.
BUT I did you find a similar version below at just under $60 - close to what I paid.
OR this $16 'sewing bird' (below) from the United States has a $24+ delivery fee to Canada. Hopefully, it's less if you live South of our Border.
AND there's this Antique Victorian model (below) that comes with free delivery but maybe that's just for Canada! It also comes with a rather hefty price.
Maybe this rather charming antique model just under $450 plus a $27 delivery fee!
Don't tell anyone BUT ...
After I got the hemming bird and clamped her to my board, I realized the issue she solves (that of acting as a third hand), I'd already, inadvertently taken care of by pinning the pansiola print to the right leg of my jeans (see far right top of the photo below). It's the same as holding the fabric in the bird's beak.
Le Sigh!
There's also another advantage to having the fabric pinned to my right leg. It allows me to move my leg, intuitively, at the same speed, away as I stitch to hold the material taut. It lets me get quickly into the flow where I can tack a dozen or so stitches almost without thinking with the wind down and ever-so-satisfying magical 'thread pull', moving along seamlessly, in & out, at an even pace between the two.
Those who know me, know one of the best times of my day is tea time.
These days, I usually have tea after a late afternoon walk around the neighbourhood. Both the walk and the tea help to ground me and ease the transition from late afternoon to early evening. Tea wakes me differently than morning coffee does.
It seems to create a calm sense of intentional awakened relaxation.
I chose my brew based on how I feel after a walk. Sometimes I want a soothing herbal brew and sometimes a want a quick hit of strong black tea or a smooth bit of green ... while sitting amidst my favourite potted trees and plants.
Now I'm wondering if you're wondering if you have some of your own favourite fabric waiting patiently in your stash for a rolled couture hem?
Let me know.
Now - are you ready for The Fit (it's a hissy fit) ... full of righteous indignation.
If you are ... CLICK HERE !