The Sew Show: January 2016

Placket is essential when you are going for mandarin collar. Plackets tend to look more attractive if you use the same fabric you are using for collar. It adds a continuous effect ;going from neck to collar. Plackets always need to be sturdy so either you have to use moderately thick fabric or you can use thin fabric with a lining. I'm going for the later so let's get started.

Before you begin placket, you need to slit all the way down till where you want the placket to end. See image :

Take the measurements ;the length of placket. The placket pieces must be cut out according to your desired length while the width should be 2 inches if you want 1/2 inch as the placket width (the remaining 1 and 1/2 inch will end up in folding)
*In these pictures I have already done first placket*

After that keep the lining on the fabric piece and pin it on the placket slit with the right sides together as shown in the pic.

Be sure to note that the placket piece is kept such a way that the sides are together.

Now sew through the first 1/2 inch.

Fold over to the wrong side and sew as shown.

In a similar way sew the other placket. Now turn to the wrong side of the fabric and you will see their crossing point at the end of the placket slit.

Keep the triangular portion towards the wrong side such that once you flip the placket crossing it should look something like this.

Turn to the right side of the fabric and sew the placket as shown.

Now, sew the edge of the placket to make it sturdy and attractive.

Stitch the placket opening if the placket is too deep in its slit. There you have a lovely placket.

If you feel like I've missed anything, please do leave them in the comments. Please follow me if you like my blog and enjoy The Sew Show.

placket sewing

07:12

One of the main reason I decided to sew an earphone case was when I saw the condition of my ear buddies. Since they were put directly in my bag, the wires were almost at the point of breaking. This post will help you make a trapezium shaped case. To be honest, I really wanted to make a triangular one but only till halfway I realised that the earphones will hardly fit inside because I took the triangle size (3.5 inch) too short. They all say you learn from your mistakes so if you're going to try the triangle design then be sure to take at least 5inch. If you're going for the trapezium one then follow the steps. Before you 'follow the steps' let me remind you that you can make your case with any design just be sure to secure the opening with a button or zip.

Cut out an equilateral triangle out of paper taking 5 inch for the sides. Using this piece as a guide cut out 4 triangles out of fabric. Don't forget to leave some space around the triangle for seam allowance.

Now sew each of the dotted line to the adjacent dotted line keeping the paper triangle as a guide and trim the excess seam allowance.

Once you complete the three pairs of dotted lines you'll get something like this.

Now sew the ends and sides.

Once you finish that it look far clean and better than before.

Now cut out a lining piece with seam allowance as shown.

Sew the seam allowance by folding the frayed edges.Sew the lining over the fabric.

Turn over the fabric such that it looks like a trapezium and also that the right sides of the fabric must be together. Now sew the sides (marked by the arrow in the pic) of the trapezium.

Now turn the fabric inside out.

Add the button and the buttonhole.

There you have it. Trapezium shaped earphone case. If all goes wrong you at least have a fancy name. I'm just joking of course. Hope you liked it.

If you feel like I've missed anything, please do leave them in the comments. Please follow me if you like my blog and enjoy The Sew Show.

06:47

Fabric grain is an important topic to know if you want to :

Cut the fabric right way.
Get the bias binding out of the fabric.
Get deep into the different parts of fabric.
Know the way it affects the way fabric hangs and stretches.
Know the way it affects the way a dress fits you.

So simply said, fabric grain plays a huge part in getting a perfectly sewn dress. After knowing the basics of fabric grain, you'll never see the fabric the same way. Trust me, you won't.

First things first,

Fabric Grain refers to the orientation of the weft and warp threads.
Weft and warp refers to the threads which finally make up the fabric or cloth. Warp is the lengthwise or longitudinal thread in a roll, while weft is the transverse thread.

The three grains are straight grain, cross grain, and the bias grain.

Straight Grain
The straight grain is aligned in the same line as warp threads and selvedge. Now you will ask what selvedge is? Take a look at the picture below. The selvedge is the sealed part of the fabric where you can find the name of the manufacturer printed. The raw edge on the other hand is the side that frays. The straight grain stretch less than the cross grain since the warp threads will be pulled tighter than the weft during weaving. Most garments are cut with the straight grain oriented top to bottom.

Cross Grain
The cross grain runs perpendicular to the selvedge and parallel to the weft threads. Compared to the straight grain, cross grain stretch better since the weft threads are generally looser than the warp during weaving.

Bias Grain
The bias grain of a piece of woven fabric is at 45 degrees to its warp and weft threads. Sounds a bit technical, isn't it? Let's break it down.

Take a piece of fabric and try to stretch it horizontally. You'll notice that it doesn't stretch easily.
Now try the same this time stretch it vertically. You'll see that it is more flexible than the horizontal method. This proves that straight grain is more sturdy than cross grain.
Now comes the magic. If you stretch the fabric diagonally, you can see that it stretches far better than the other two grains.
The thing is that to make a neckline look smooth, you need to use the bias binding from bias grain otherwise it will look tragic with uneven ripples.

The "bias-cut" is a technique used by designers for cutting clothing to utilize the greater stretch in the bias or diagonal direction of the fabric, thereby causing it to accentuate body lines and curves and drape softly. Every piece of woven fabric has two biases, at right angles to each other. Fabrics which are not woven, such as felt, do not have a bias.

So, there you have it. The basics of fabric grain secret. Now you know how to get that perfect even neckline with the bias grain recipe ;)

If you feel like I've missed anything, please do leave them in the comments. Please follow me if you like my blog and enjoy The Sew Show.

bias binding bias grain cross grain even neckline fabric fabric grains raw edge selvedge sewing straight grain uneven neckline weft warp

04:38

Bias neckline is a great way of adding expert touch on any simple dress. Bias neckline needs bias binding. By bias binding I mean the fabric itself but it's not just a fancy word. There is way of cutting the fabric for bias binding.
The bias of a piece of woven fabric is at 45 degrees to its fabric.If you need more info on this bias thingy then check out this post: Fabric Grains.

If all's good with you, let's move on.
So we have the bias piece. Now align it on the neckline in a way that it needs to be folded towards the right side of our cloth/ dress.

Before you pin it remember that you need to stitch it all the way through the end of neckline and so you need to pin it in a way by which you can stitch the neckline properly. And this means you need to pin the bias in the wrong side.