Fit 2 Stitch

Peggy Sagers: I cannot count how many emails I have received from viewers who watch this show who don't sew but want to learn and ask where to start.

We hear the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Today, I will apply that saying to sewing.

All garments, no matter how difficult, start with a straight stitch.

We dedicate this series to those of you who want to sew.

The simple straight stitch is where we will begin today on "Fit2Stitch."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male announcer: "Fit2Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors, ♪♪♪ Reliable Corporation, ♪♪♪ Plano Sewing Center, ♪♪♪ Elliott Berman Textiles, ♪♪♪ Bennos Buttons, ♪♪♪ and Clutch Nails.

♪♪♪ Peggy: One of my favorite things about teaching is meeting those of you I teach, because that's the ultimate joy.

Maria's here today because she's gonna reflect back some of those things that I've taught over the years.

And as we all learn to sew, one of the things we have to start with is straight lines.

Not exciting, we're gonna make it exciting.

You're gonna make it exciting because you've done some awesome straight lines.

Maria King: I've done a lot of straight lines, thank you, Peggy.

I didn't realize how many things you could make that was nothing but straight lines.

Peggy: It is, and as we learn to sew, you know, some people have said to me, "Well, what am I gonna make with straight lines?"

That's your job, is to show us all those things you made with straight lines.

Maria: Well, we have several examples, and there's even more that I didn't bring.

Peggy: Good, good, good, good, but why straight lines?

Why do we start there?

Maria: We start there, I believe, because if you can't get the straight line correct, then your whole garment is gonna be off.

I don't think you're gonna be pleased with the results at all.

Peggy: It's kind of like a little building block; is that a fair statement?

Maria: And I would imagine that a lot of sewers are quite a bit like I am, where they don't realize that just sewing a straight line, there's a technique, there are rules.

Peggy: Tell us about that.

Maria: Okay, so what I was taught by you, because I hadn't heard this before, was that when you put the material through your machine, you've got one hand at the top of your material, the other hand at the bottom.

That helps to guide your material, but it also helps to feed both of the pieces through the feed dogs evenly.

Peggy: Okay, perfect.

Maria: So, if you don't do that, then the feed dogs are actually pulling the bottom layer through and the top layer is just kind of going along with it but not at the same speed, so you can end up with ripples when you get finished sewing your seam.

You might be off a little bit.

Your hem might be a little bit longer on one end than the other.

Peggy: So, let's sew a straight seam and let's observe you when we do it.

So, this is what?

Maria: This is the back, center back of a vest.

Peggy: So, interestingly enough, the center back seam on a garment is the only seam that is cut and sewn to itself.

Maria: Right, and I have not practiced this.

Peggy: You've had plenty of practice.

You've done great.

You've done great.

Maria: All of us-- and my feed dogs are down for some reason.

Peggy: So, that's an interesting thing about garment sewing now, in other things it's not-- pillows and things like that.

We'll talk about seams when you cut them, they're the same, but when garment sewing, it's really important, though, as your fabric goes through the machine it doesn't shift layers.

And so, we want to place our hands in such a way that we're controlling that shift.

So, your left hand goes to the back to control the layers.

Maria: Right, so, now, Peggy, one thing when I was practicing my straight seams, I started pulling this first just to get a little bit of fabric up here.

Is that correct or no?

Peggy: No, because you don't actually have to start on the edge of the fabric.

Remember, you have a seam allowance, so that stitching doesn't have to be to the very edge.

Go ahead and start in a little bit, lessen your seam allowance, obviously.

Maria: Okay, and it is.

Peggy: So, let your hand-- and it's not a pull as you've learned, it's just really a gentle guide, right.

So, the left hand is pulling the fabric.

Maria: There we go.

Peggy: And then part of that, too, is if you look at what is your stitches, what's your stitch length?

Maria: The stitch length on my machine is an 8.

Peggy: So, that's pretty small for garment sewing.

What we want with garment sewing, with garment sewing now.

Maria: I'm going to take that down a little bit and make it longer.

Peggy: I would, I would go to a little bit longer in garment sewing--good girl, and what's your right hand doing?

Maria: My right hand is doing nothing more than just holding the material steady and helping to guide.

Peggy: Okay, so the left hand is giving the gentle pull and the right hand is controlling the seam allowance so that we're sewing a straight line.

Good girl, how's it feel?

Maria: It feels good.

It's still a little foreign to me because this is a new technique that I'm learning after all these years.

The more I practice, the more subconscious it becomes.

I won't have to think about it after a while.

Peggy: Good, and tell me about that learning.

What was that learning prior to this, what was that?

Maria: Basically, I had no learning.

I was just sewing and my hands would go wherever I thought they should go.

I had never heard that there was a proper place to put hands.

Peggy: So, if you ever get a chance to watch a movie or get inside a sewing lab, you'll see that the ladies on those industrial machines-- okay, so you saw a little bit of difference there.

Just a little bit at the bottom, so what that's telling you is that control of that left hand wasn't complete.

It allowed the layers to shift because you cut that and you cut it at the same time and it was the exact same length.

So if the shifting happened, it's on you, it's on the operator, it is not the machine.

The operator allowed that to change.

Maria: So, that tells me I need a little bit more practice.

Peggy: That's right, or else just be aware of it, because when you go to sew seams that are side seams where you're sewing the front to the back, you know, you can say, oh, the pattern's off, or, oh, there's something wrong, so that control is very important to do.

Maria: That's good to know.

Peggy: Yeah, let's go back to this stitch length for just a minute.

Okay, what I want is when I've sewn two pieces together, if I get my sleeve caught-- I know one day we were moving a refrigerator and my son caught his cuff on the top hinge of the refrigerator, ripped his whole cuff off.

That's actually what we want.

We want--when there's a tug on our fabric, in apparel, we want the thread to break, not the fabric to rip.

So, if we're using a really, really small stitch, it's just gonna tear when we go to take it apart and that's not what we want.

We want the thread to break, not the fabric to tear, because we can always mend it, we can always mend it, but we can't restore the fabric.

Maria: So, on my machine that's almost down to a baste.

Is that sufficient?

Peggy: I think it is to some people, and some people feel they're so afraid of that word "baste" that the whole garment's gonna fall apart.

It's not gonna fall apart.

Maria: Yeah, I grew up thinking basting was a temporary thing.

Peggy: Exactly, and it is, in theory it is, but in this case I've been surprised at how much we can open up our stitch length and still be comfortable with it.

Maria: Yeah, you had to give that a pretty good pull to get it.

Peggy: Yeah, and it's good, it's perfect, it's good that my fabric didn't compromise.

So, it is fair to say with different fabrics that are more open-weaved, I think a lot of sewers who are new have a tendency to think they need to stitch really, really teeny, but that will just disintegrate that fabric should any, you know, stress be put on it.

Maria: Should you make a mistake picking those stitches out.

Peggy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know that well, don't we, Maria?

Everybody knows that, so let's move on now, because you got to practice lines and then I said go home, look around your house, and figure out what you want to do with straight lines.

Maria: Right, so the first thing I thought about was pot holders.

Peggy: You must be a cook.

Maria: I am, I love to cook and I'm pretty good at it.

But anyway, these are two potholders that I made some time ago.

I just did that out of scrap material that I had, and I believe I inserted old cup towels or something on the inside.

Nobody's gonna see it, but it worked beautifully.

So, basically when you're practicing your straight seams, you can use scraps and things that you already have around the house.

Denim would be wonderful for that, but anyway-- Peggy: So, give us the little Maria demo on how we did this.

Maria: Real quick, this is super simple, you start out cutting two pieces of fabric the same size, and I chose to do this 8 inches by 8 inches, and to that I had to add a seam allowance.

So, I added 3/4ths of an inch to that, and this is what I came up with.

Then the next step is to take your material, and you're gonna add your batting, your cup towel, whatever it is that you're using to insulate with, and you're gonna do it on both pieces of fabric on the wrong side, and then we're gonna stitch it on.

And Peggy, what you'll notice here is I did not backstitch any of my seams.

This is--I believe it's called a cross-stitch, which, I think, is brilliant because I don't know about you, but how many times have you done the backstitch and the material gets caught or the material gets caught down in your machine and you end up with a great big mess or you end up with a hole in your fabric?

So, this is beautiful, it also eliminates bulk.

Peggy: You know, there was a time when factory methods were considered beneath us as home sewers, we were better than the factory, we wanted to do everything couture and that's just not true.

Factory methods are fast and efficient, and we can look at a method like this that we stitch across and then come this way because it crosses the stitch.

It's so much faster than a backstitch.

Maria: And it makes so much more sense when you do it and test it out.

Peggy: That's right, and we get a chance to look at it and say, is it going to work for me, or do I want to stick with back stitches?

That's the good news, there's nobody standing over saying you should be backstitching or, you know, you shouldn't.

Maria: I very rarely backstitch anymore.

Peggy: So, it's called an overstitch.

We just go over and then we come back.

All right, go ahead.

Maria: So then, once you get your two pieces of fabric insulated, then you're going to take your two pieces of fabric and put them right sides together, and you'll sew the three edges and maybe a little bit of the fourth edge, but you've got to leave an opening to turn it inside out, which I did here.

Peggy: Okay, I love this, I just think this is adorable.

I need new potholders really bad.

Maria: Is that a hint?

Do you want me to do more straight lines?

Peggy: There you go, I'll tell you, you have to do more straight lines, eight more straight lines because I need eight more potholders.

But I love the batting inside, it's really just to protect, you know, to penetrate the heat.

Maria: Correct, yeah, but you could do this same technique, you could do glass coasters to catch the moisture.

So, here we have it turned inside out.

Peggy: And you sewed a little handle on there.

Maria: I sewed a little handle on there.

I would probably top stitch it together, or if you're like me and you know you've got to go somewhere and sit and wait, like a doctor's office, take it with you and practice your hand stitching.

For some people, hand stitching is very relaxing.

Peggy: I agree, I agree.

Maria: So, that's potholders.

Then, this is nothing more than a hand towel that goes in the bathroom.

I made some curtains for the half bath, and those curtains were straight lines.

Nothing fancy, all straight lines, and then I got to thinking, wow, it would be fun to take some of those scraps and make hand towels for the bathroom to match, so that's what this is.

This is a purchased hand towel, and I took a strip left over.

Peggy: I love it, because what you're doing is you're saying, "You know what?

I can sew straight lines, and look at all the stuff I can do in straight lines."

This is amazing.

Maria: I'm customizing my house at the same time.

Peggy: I love it.

All right, so, I see some pillows.

Where did they come in in the mix?

Maria: Okay, so I've got pillows in the house.

These are actually the patio pillows, and the patio pillows, because they're outdoors, I wanted to be sure that I could take the cover off and be able to wash them.

Peggy: I can honestly say I've never made a pillow.

Maria: Really?

Peggy: Yeah, I know.

Maria: You could practice your straight lines.

So, I got lazy, I didn't want to deal with a zipper.

Peggy: Not lazy, you know what?

I think a lot of times we just respect our skill level.

Is that fair?

Maria: Well, that's true, too.

Peggy: Yeah, because a zipper, if you don't do it right, it can just mess up the whole thing, whereas if you put in velcro, you know you're gonna have success.

Maria: That's true, so this is velcro.

Peggy: Respecting our skill level, I think that's brilliant, and so the inside-- Maria: I actually purchased an inside.

I think I went to the thrift store and bought that for $3.

Now, you don't have to do that, you could make your pillowcase and stuff it with batting if you wanted to.

Again, this is nothing more than straight lines.

Peggy: Crossed at the edges.

Maria: Crossed at the edges, no backstitching.

Peggy: So, it's kind of a big potholder.

Maria: Yeah, and all you do, if you're using a pillow like I did, I just took my tape measure and measured from seam to seam.

And let's say it was 10 inches, then I added 3/8ths of an inch seam allowance, did the same thing this way, cut my material, sewed my straight lines.

Peggy: So, it's actually more of a lesson in measuring as opposed to sewing, because the sewing is just such a small part.

It's an easy little part.

Then you can take them off, you could wash them.

I guess what I love about sewing always on every level, you can always make it about you.

You can make it how you like it, customize it to what you want, you wanna make sure it's washable.

All of those things become so simple to do.

Maria: Or use what you have available.

So, if you look around at what you already have, there's a lot you can do.

Peggy: Yeah, I agree, so--so talk to me about the fabric.

Maria: I brought this, Peggy, to demonstrate how to get something on the straight of grain.

Peggy: Because it's a stripe and you want that stripe to be nice and straight.

Maria: Right, exactly, so what I did, I've already marked this at 18 1/2 inches, and then, so this was 18 1/2 inches across here, exactly, and then this was 13 1/4 inches this way.

Now, making sure your material is on grain is more important when you're working with longer pieces.

If you were making a pair of pants, you would definitely want to make sure that you were straight of grain.

Otherwise, after you made your pants, the leg would twist on you.

And I'm sure you've all bought a pair of pants that did that.

Peggy: So, that's what I like, because I think at this point, you know, straight lines, it doesn't matter what we're gonna sew, if it's for our home, if it's for our body, it doesn't make a difference, because straight lines can do all of it.

Straight lines, you can look around and you're going to see them all over the place.

Maria: Right, so I have just gotten in the habit that I pretty much make sure I'm on grain with everything.

It's just a built-in habit for me anymore.

So, real simple.

Peggy: And that is very therapeutic; don't you think?

Maria: Yeah, I love it.

I like the rip, I like the sound, and then do a little snippet, and there we go.

Peggy: Okay, so now you've got it.

Maria: So then, if I have two pieces just like this, I sew.

Peggy: And you're ready to go.

Maria: And I'm ready to go, I'm ready to make another pillow.

Peggy: Pretty good, pretty fun.

Do you need any pillows?

Maria: And very simple.

I think I'm pillowed out.

I've got plenty of pillows.

Peggy: And hot pad holdered out.

Okay, so, but I know something about you.

I know that, number one, you made your top.

Maria: I did.

Peggy: Okay, so now you started to move away from home, and you just wanted to make clothes.

Maria: I did, I wanted clothes, I love fashion.

You once called me persnickety, which I am, I want my clothes to be in my color, my way, to fit me.

Peggy: Which I think is wonderful.

Maria: I'm an artist when it comes-- or I feel like I am an artist when I sew.

I would like to get to the point where I'm proud of everything that I do and people don't come up to me and say, "Oh, did you make that?"

I mean, the only people that should be asking that question are people that know that I sew.

Peggy: So, show me some of the fun things you've done, because you've gone where?

You've gone all over the place.

Maria: I've been all over the place.

So, I did not make the top on this, but I did make the skirt, Peggy.

And again, this is nothing more than straight lines.

It's got a straight line down the side seams.

That's it.

This piece right here, I got at an antique store.

This is actually a vintage curtain that I overlaid over this material here.

Peggy: That's, to me, so much beauty in sewing, is we start to see it everywhere.

We start to see different pieces, we start to see what else it can be.

We really start to create those lines and go to other places and things.

Show me what else.

Maria: But it's amazing how creative you can get with just simple lines.

Peggy: There's no limits.

There's just no limits.

I mean, as soon as you take the limit cap off, it's really a whole bunch of fun.

And I know you're a cook.

Maria: I am a cook.

I worked in a kitchen for 18 years, and I had made a pair of chef's pants out of this material, and I saw this apron and I thought, oh, that would just be so cute.

Peggy: And this is all straight lines.

Maria: This is all straight lines.

It's nothing more than-- what is that, a square?

I mean, you can't get any simpler.

Peggy: So, tell me about this little journey.

You started with the fabric, the pattern, with the idea?

Maria: The pattern was the idea, and then I knew I had this fun material that I liked, that I felt was appropriate for an apron, and I had this material, so I just married the two together, and I love it.

Peggy: And that's the whole goal, when you finish it all you love it.

Do you go back and figure out that you didn't do this exactly the way it should have or that the stitches aren't exactly right?

Do you ever do that?

Maria: I do do that.

I don't remember doing it with this.

This was a pretty simple project.

Peggy: And I do think that if we stay within our skillset for a longer period of time than what we think we should, then it just really becomes very intuitive to us to do that, so I would really recommend-- you've got these straight lines down.

I mean, show me this.

Maria: Okay, so again, we have a skirt that has two straight lines that go down the side seams.

Peggy: Okay, so you felt comfortable that you could handle a yoga skirt no problem?

Maria: Not only that, Peggy, this is a doable project that can be done in one day, and I think that's important for us because we can start something, complete it, and get that sense of satisfaction.

I think we need that in the sewing room.

Peggy: Talk to me about, because this was next level for you.

It was straight lines, but what?

Maria: We had to do the rolled hem.

Well, we didn't have to, I chose to, because it was another skill level that I wanted to learn.

So, with the scarf, it pulled everything together, made it a little bit more sophisticated, but again, this is nothing more than a square.

Peggy: It's the apron all over again.

Maria: Exactly, only we did the edges a little differently.

Peggy: Show us those edges.

Show us how you decided.

And I do think that's something that I watched you, it's very exciting because you just wanted to keep going.

I didn't have to say, okay, now we gotta do this, you know, you just said, okay, how do I do this?

You just kept pushing, and I think that was really exciting to watch.

Maria: Well, I'm not done yet.

Peggy: Show us how that works.

Maria: So, basically what you're going to do, you're gonna start out with your edge and you're going to make a 3/8ths inch seam, okay?

Then from there, you're going to press it, and you want your seam to be just slightly inside this fold that you've just made, and you'll press it, and then you're going to take it through the sewing machine and you're going to sew right on top of that stitching that's already there, okay?

So, I believe I've done that here.

So, I sewed right on top of the stitching, and then after you do that, then you're going to take the scissors and very carefully and very patiently cut off the excess.

And I say patiently, because I did this one time and I actually cut into the wrong part of the fabric.

So, you do have to take a little bit of time with this, but you'll take your scissors and very carefully, as close to that stitching as possible...

Okay, so that's that, and then you're going to roll it one more time and stitch again right on top of your stitching.

Peggy: So, there's another stitch on the inside, but on this outside there's actually no stitching at all.

The last stitch is the only stitch that shows.

Maria: Right, the last stitch is the only one that shows, so that's what you've got on your scarf.

And I believe most scarves are finished like that, I haven't looked.

Peggy: No, I think you're right, and you're ready to do more.

Maria: I am.

Peggy: Can we have you back again?

Maria: I'd love to come back, thank you, thank you.

Peggy: Thank you, Maria.

Maria: You're welcome.

Peggy: Thank you so much.

Those straight lines, I'm telling you, you just can't diminish the value of those straight lines.

Simple straight stitching is easy and fun to practice, but we can bend those straight lines and stitch all things curved.

Next time, we'll give you tips and ideas on how to accomplish those curved lines.

Join us right here on "Fit2Stitch."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: "Fit2Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors, ♪♪♪ Reliable Corporation, ♪♪♪ Plano Sewing Center, ♪♪♪ Elliott Berman Textiles, ♪♪♪ Bennos Buttons, ♪♪♪ and Clutch Nails.

♪♪♪ To order a four-DVD set of "Fit2Stitch Series 13," please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.