Alteration DVD giveaway by Gentleman Jim

The other day I was reading my blog feed and came across this post by Clare at Sew Dixie Lou. So I checked out The Lost Art of Fine Tailoring, a blog I hadn't heard about before and the giveaway Jim is hosting. Firstly, even if you're not interested in the giveaway (which, really, you are if you sew), his blog has already a lot of information on sewing and fitting and such. And he just started it!

And he knows what he's talking about: he's been in the garment industry since 1961. That's quite impressive. He's experience is mostly on men's clothes, but includes women's clothes too (and in any case: I think the same techniques are applicable to either, with maybe slight variations). In the 60s he actually tailored custom clothes for major stars like James Brown, B. B. King, and Duke Ellington among others. Maybe I'll find some swing clothes tips there as well ;) although 60s is not really the swing era anymore. Lately he's been teaching sewing in Georgia.

So, to join the sewing community, Jim is hosting this amazing giveaway. I think I can speak for everyone, that he's most welcome! I'm so excited about this blog and the perspective it offers and of course I really want to win the dvd... :)

Craftsy!

I wasn't going to post anything today, but then I saw something which made me want to: The Craftsy courses are on sale until the 2nd of July. If you don't know what Craftsy is, go and check it out. I've been drooling several courses, but I thought I would wait until I have more time, since I have quite a few sewing plans at the moment (more about this in a few days). But they are so much cheaper now, and they never expire!

So I decided to buy the Jean-ious! course and the Sew Retro Perfect Bombshell Dress course. The Jean-ious! teaches you how to reproduce your perfect pair of jeans without taking them apart. So you can basically copy the perfect fit to other fabrics and/or colors. This is something I've wanted to learn how to do, although I would like to do the same for dresses... But maybe this will give tips in general. The Bomb Shell Dress is a course by Gretcher Hirsch whose blog I can also recommend if you like the retro styles at all. She has a book coming out also in the fall that I would love to get. But yes, back to the course: This teaches you how to make a fitted bodice with bra cups and boning! I really would love to learn this, since I need support if I have a dress with which I can't wear a bra. And I would love that halterneck style... I was a bit worried about the boning, but I was convinced at the first ever #sewingsocial twitter chat, that it will be ok with the instructions.

But, I have few (or quite many) projects before I can get to these, but I just wanted to advertise if anyone's interested about these courses, since they have been going up in price recently. Now they were just $ 20 ~ 16-17 €. So, go sign up now! Oh, and look for the next twitter chat on Tilly's blog, since everyone wanted it to be a monthly thing.

Sewing tips for beginners

Ok, so I've decided to change things around a bit. As I've read more and more blogs, I seem to enjoy the sewing blogs the most. So, what I've decided to do, is to keep sewing here in this blog, which is still also about style, but maybe more sewing than I originally thought. All other crafts and also non-clothing/accessories-related sewing will still be posted in The Monday Night's Sewing Circle.

But this was not the subject matter of today's post. While I was sewing my charleston dress, I noticed some things that might help someone else who is also either a total beginner or has a bit of experience like me (or I have quite a lot of experience, just that it was long a go and I was a kid). So here are my advice:

1) Use the slow gear, if you have one: I have this awesome thing in my new sewing machine, where I can change the maximum speed of sewing. I haven't used the fastest yet, but I use the middle one for straight and easy stuff and when I have a slippery fabric like my charleston dress and especially when sewing something curvy like the armpits, I found the slower gear totally awesome.

2) Pin & baste. And I mean baste by hand. Also iron. Especially with slippery fabrics.

3) Make a muslin. I didn't for my charleston dress and I wish I had...

4) Don't take shortcuts. Even if you want to or don't see the point of doing something that's in the instructions. When you get more skill you know where you can cut, but for starting out, it's better to do it all, especially if you want your clothes to look nice :)

5) Unpick, unpick, unpick. Unless your fabric shows it. But if you make a mistake, it usually is worth it to take it apart and do again. So many times that you get it right (this applies to any crafts, really). It's sometimes so annoying, but generally worth it.