Sewing on a Snap: My Way

May 18, 2014 Lisa Press

Most doll clothes need snaps. But I had a problem. I dreaded sewing on snaps--not because it was hand sewing. I love hand sewing. They just never looked cute. And I prefer not to use velcro. It can pull apart yarn doll hair. And it isn't cute. And there is something more classic enduring and simple about a snap.

There were several things I hated about snap sewing. The stitching to secure them never looks good if you use sewing machine thread. It looks scraggly. The beginning and ending knots always show.

I needed to find a way to make snaps fun. After all I sew on A LOT of snaps.

I tried changing it up a bit. I used pearl cotton No 12 for thread. It looks pretty and two stitches for each hole is plenty. It also helped with the knot problem. Instead of knotting my thread, I secure it at the beginning and end by passing through a loop and pulling the thread tight. It is completely stable and if you snip the extra thread short enough, barely shows.

Snaps became cute and fun, and not dreaded at all. Just a final punctuation mark.

Below, beginning with a diagram of the two parts of a standard snap, I have diagramed my snap sewing method.

Next post, sewing snaps onto clothes and my weapon for great placement.

My step by snap sewing guide:

Images enlarge if you click on them.

Teaching a Child to Sew: Laying Your Pattern Out

April 22, 2014 Lisa Press

In an earlier post, I showed how to make traceable pattern pieces. This works with doll clothes, small softies and other small projects because the pieces are small. Most importantly, no piece is larger than an standard size piece of paper that can go through a copier and be glued (I used sticker paper) onto poster board.

Once you have your pattern pieces, you can easily arrange them on your fabric and trace.

The captioned photo story below shows you almost all you need to know. Two things to keep in mind. If your pattern piece requires you to cut two pieces of that piece, you will need to trace it twice or make two traceable pattern pieces. If the piece is symmetrical, the two pieces can be the same (like the pattern piece Wrap Dress Back Skirt and Dress Bodice Back in the photo below). If the piece is not symmetrical, you will need to flip it, so you have two mirrored pieces (like the wrap dress front below and the two pieces of the front skirt).

Pattern pieces should be arranged to conserve fabric and straight lines, like the one at the waist, should follow the grain of the fabric, the straight lines of the fabric's woven thread. see image below.

Cutting Out Patterns with Children

April 13, 2014 Lisa Press

There are many ways to cut out a pattern. You can pin the paper pattern pieces to the fabric, you can copy the pattern onto freezer paper and iron it onto the fabric, cut and then peel it off (I'll save this is for another blog post) or you can trace the pattern pieces onto the fabric. You can have the fabric folded in two so you are cutting two pieces at once, or you can have the fabric unfolded, so you are only cutting through one layer at a time.

That's a lot of choices.

When sewing with children under 10, I think tracing the pattern onto the back side of an unfolded piece of. fabric works best.

First, why?

No pins involved.
Most patterns are printed on regular paper, not tissue paper, which is difficult to pin.
You won't need to use the iron.
If the fabric is unfolded it is easier and more accurate to cut one layer at a time.
This method better preserves pattern pieces, which are secured to poster board.

Here's how to make your pattern pieces:

Use a copier to copy the pattern pieces onto Matte White Sticker Paper. Roughly, cut the pieces out. #1 in visual below.
Stick them onto white poster board #2.
Accurately cut out each piece in the center of the black outlines. When you are done you should have a sturdy tracable poster board piece of each pattern piece. #4
Sharpen a colored pencil. #3
Have your child trace the shapes onto the backside of the fabric. If they trace on the front, there is more of a chance that lines that go astray may be visible.
Next, your child should cut along their traced lines.
Keep the paper pattern pieces nearby while sewing so you can tell what each piece of fabric is.

Teaching a Child to Sew, The Launch of a Series

April 3, 2014 Lisa Press

When I was a child I tried to teach my younger sister to sew. I have gone on to teach all three of my children, a few nieces, a few children of friends and a brownie troop to sew. There is almost as much of a learning curve to teaching sewing as there is to sewing.

This post is a first in a series about teaching children to sew. The very first post will be about what to think about when introducing sewing to your child--some thoughts before you begin (or end in frustration).

1. Start with hand sewing. Hand sewing is a better way to introduce the basic concepts of sewing, ie securing thread, right sides together, what is a seam, undoing mistakes, etc... than the machine. Understanding how to work a sewing machine is a whole separate mastery that should be learned after a child understands the basics of sewing.

2. Although a child can learn to sew at any age, and each child is different, ages 6-9 is often a great time. They are young enough to still be keen on mastering new skills, not old enough to think, I'll never be good at this. It is also an age when they still play with dolls and stuffed animals, which brings me to my next suggestion...

3. Doll clothes are a great way to start. When the project is done, the child has something they want. Unlike pillows, doll clothes require a number of sewing skills. You can start with a simple dress that just requires seaming and basic hemming and build from there. Through doll clothes your child will also learn the basics of garment construction, which will naturally lead into sewing clothes for people.

Next: The very first sewing skills to teach.