Free denim? We are a short family. It is hard to find the 29 inch length jeans that my husband wears for work and play. I have become an expert at cutting off and hemming the 30 inch to fit. I decided if I had to cut and hem, why not buy the longest length possible 36 inch or longer. I now have extra new denim for patching or other crafts. I also do the same for my own jeans.
By MaggieGrace from Pittsburgh, PA
Fabric tubes are used in a lot of sewing and craft projects. The initial steps are pretty easy, the frustration comes when it is time to turn the tube right side out. There are sewing tools made especially for this purpose or you can use things you may already have. This page contains some solutions to this common step.
Save fabric from unrepairable jeans for future patching. This is a page about patching jeans.
Threading a bobbin on a sewing machine can be a little difficult if you haven't done it before. This is a page about threading a sewing machine bobbin.
Whether a bathing suit, hoodie or sweat pants a large safety pin can help guide that string back where it belongs. This is a page about rethreading drawstrings.
Make your next mending project a little faster by pre-threading your needles. I have needles already threaded in all the colors I use. I have two or three needles threaded for each of the most popular colors, like black.
This is a page about picking up pins and needles. When sewing, pins and needles seem to always find their way to the floor. As they can be dangerous to small children and pets, in particular, they need to be completely picked up after your sewing session.
This is a page about discarding used sewing machine needles. When discarding used sewing machine needles, crafters each have their own method to get rid of them safely.
I'm upcycling an UnderArmour shirt and I can't get my sewing machine to sew it. I've changed my needle, the tension, semi-cleaned the machine, rethreaded it a few times, but I can't get the thread to catch more than maybe one stitch. It works fine on other fabric, but not on this material. It is going to be so cute! I just really don't want to have to hand stitch it. I've changed the height of the needle too. I'm considering using another fabric as a "catcher" fabric, I guess you can call it. I've also had problems with dropping stitches a lot. My old machine never did that, but I'm not very experienced with sewing either. Help?
You may need to change the needle. My machine did the same thing and when I went back and read the book it said the needles need to be changed according to different fabrics. So you may have to try different needles until you can get one that will catch the threads. I'm sure they won't have a special needle for the fabric you are working with, so you may have to go by trial and error!
Accidentally forgetting to leave an opening to turn a sewing project right-side out can be very frustrating. At a recent sewing class, the teacher gave me this fabulous tip to keep from sewing your project shut. Determine where you want your opening to be then mark the beginning and end of the opening with 2 pins.
With cats at our house, I try to be extra careful that they don't get ahold of the threads and scraps from my sewing projects. I went to a fundraiser recently and bought a decorative handmade bowl that I didn't have a use for yet.