Back to the Blog . . .

It has been forever since I have posted anything to the Blog but I am going to post more - I promise! My goal is to post once a week for the rest of the year. Can I do it? I have been so inspired by Sew Expo, I think I can! Look for my Sew Expo recap post, including photos of Paul LaPonte, owner of Quality Sewing in his great Go Red Style Show outfit next week. Until then check out these fun tips that I just came across:

Sewing Tips & Tricks - Get organized, get thrifty and get inspired today with these sewing tips for 2010 from Baby Lock:

1. When sewing a garment that require buttons, take one of the extra buttons and sew it to the inside of the garment. If one of the buttons comes off that garment, you won’t waste time looking for a replacement button.
2. Organize your stash by color – whether it’s thread, fabric, trim or buttons – to save time looking for these items later.
3. Stop looking for extra sewing projects to make – check out the Free projects on the Baby Lock and Designer’s Gallery sites.
4. When cutting your fabric, use washers, canned goods or fabric weights instead of pinning your fabric – this really saves a lot of time!
5. Prevent wear and tear on your machine (and your arms!) by taking a smaller travel size machine to sewing classes. The Sofia is a lightweight options for a sewing and embroidery travel buddy.
6. Sometimes it’s more fun to skip the shopping and cutting and jump straight to the creating. Eliminate the time used to select and cut fabric by purchasing pre-cut fabric kits.
7. When embroidering, use a smaller embroidery hoop for your designs. This helps prevent using / wasting more stabilizer than needed.
8. Black out curtains: Instead of using curtain liners, use black out curtains as part of your home décor. These curtains not only prevent the sun from fading your furniture, fabrics or threads, they also help cool down your room by blocking out the sun.
9. Regardless of how much we paid for our sewing machines, they are a very important piece of machinery to us. So why not protect them? Plug your sewing machines in a surge protector to prevent a power surge.
10. Before starting a new sewing project, make sure you purchase all the supplies first. It can be very frustrating trying to start a project only to realize that you don’t have everything you need. Do you really want to make another trip back to the store?

Post your favorite tip or trick as a comment to this post and be entered to win a $15 Gift Card to Quality Sewing Centers. All comments must be posted by 10am, Wed. 3/17/2010 to be entered. Winner will be notified via email.

- Carmen

Comments

[Carmen]

Drum roll please . . . and the winner of the $15 Quality Sewing Gift Card is Nita Pangan! (I will email you Nita for your mailing address) Thank you all for your comments! Look for fun prizes like this in the future.

happy sewing!
Carmen

[Julie]

Did you know that you should press your pattern pieces with a dry iron before laying them out on your fabric? Pressing them flat ensures that your cutting will be accurate and your marking will be not only more accurate but make assembly easier. Remember, no steam as steam will shrink the pattern pieces.

[Nita Pangan]

Tips and Tricks

My favorite trick when cutting out is to use table knives to hold my patterns in place. That is how my mom did it and that is how she taught me. Of course we were always cutting at the kitchen counter.

[Kristie G]

Tip: Use Bo-Nash bonding agent when doing hems on doll clothes Much easier than tryng to stitch those bitty areas. Bo-Nash is also good for repairing hard to stitch areas on ripped garments.
Kristie

[Carmen]

Hi Kristie,

Yes - I was super nervous during my interview. It was fun anyway. We did beat the goal of $10,000 and we raised over $20,000. Thank you for your support! Check out more details on the drive in the Blog posted today - KBTC Pledge Drive a Huge Success.

-Carmen

[Laura M]

Always have Wonder Tape on hand. It's the best for holding zippers, patch pockets, trims, plaids, etc in place without pins. No basting needed. Just sew right through the tape, as it disolves in water.
Laura

[Kristie]

How did the fund raising turn out for KBTC, were you nervous Carmen? Paul did a great demo on the TV, short time to present features and benefits, I thought he focused on the best ones, hope we surpassed the $10,000 goal, would love to hear?