Sewing With Nancy

New sewing ideas are coming your way. Ideas that originated over 90 years ago. Amy Barickman is here on Sewing with Nancy to tell us about about what was old is now new again. Welcome back, Amy. Thank you, Nancy it's nice to be back. During the next episodes we'll be showing the Magic pattern. Mary Brooks Picken was the founder of the Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences and originally published the Magic patterns concept back in the 1920s. The Magic patterns that my staff and I designed are an ode to Mary's original concept which is to take what's given and make it your own. "Magic Patterns," that's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman is made possible by Baby Lock, a complete line of sewing, quilting and embroidery machines and sergers. Baby Lock, for the love of sewing. Madeira, specializing in embroidery, quilting and special-effect threads because creativity is never black and white. Koala Studios fine sewing furniture custom-built in America. Clover, making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 30 years. Amazing Designs and Klass needles. Over 90 years ago, when Mary Brooks Picken sent out her newsletters with patterns included she gave dimensions. Things have changed just a little bit since then, Amy. Yes, now we're printing digital patterns similar in fashion. So, rather than having to draw out your size you're going to be printing for each particular pattern. This one has 48 pages, and tiling them together. You may get a little concerned about tiling. It's really simple. Let me show you. We're going to stack our two pages. They're printed in a way you can line them up and cut a couple at a time. I'm going to take them over to the cutter. We're going to be cutting off the top and the right edge, as you face the paper. We'll start here. This paper cutter has a really nice cutting line that I can follow. Square it up and make that first trim. Then I'll remove the paper and move on to my next cut. Again, line it up to be sure I'm getting the paper squared. That line is exactly line on the cutting line. The little wire. Yes, so slide it back that way. Then, the magic. We'll match the markings together. There's a little notch and you match like numbers together and tape them together. You keep making pairs. The pairs are taped together into-- Ta-dah! This is a smaller pattern but you can see all of your sizes from small to extra, extra large in this particular pattern piece. Now, if you want to cut out your size, you may but I like to keep this intact, how about you? I do, too, then you can have your different sizes together if you want to make multiples of the same garment. Then, on tissue paper or special pattern tracing paper you can trace off the size that you'd like and keep the sizes all together. This is how we work the modern way of working with patterns digitally that you'll often find online by many companies. From retro to modern the first Magic pattern, a tank top can be changed easily by adding gathers, ruffles or using vintage fabric. The sewing is designed to take a minimum of time with a maximum of style. We're going to work with simple sewing. Amy, this tank top, you can make changes and they don't have to be difficult. Not at all. Simple yet stylish details that change the pattern in each version. Here, we added a little ruffle at the neckline. It's just a simple detail that adds an accent. That gathering is just created by changing it at the time when you're laying out the pattern. Now, you can see that this pattern was originally designed to be placed on the fold of the fabric. We just traced that off. Right, and what we're doing is we're adjusting the pattern one inch when we cut it on the fold to allow for this little gather detail. I like to make patterns more than once never just one time because you put an investment in that pattern. But this little change, you cut the pattern out and it can make a difference, a nice style difference. You'd cut this out, do a little bit more pinning and then measure two inches from the fold to each-- Let me put that to the right measurement two inches. Place a mark on both sides of the fabric. Then run just one gathering stitch a little basting stitch. It's amazing what one little gather line can do. Lengthen the stitch. I tack down the top thread by winding it around a pin, like a figure "8" and then pulling the bobbin thread. This is a hint, the bobbin thread always pulls easier than the top thread. So there you go, you have pulled it. Amy, to make sure that I have the right amount I'm just going to lay this back down and get your pattern piece. I better get the right pattern piece here. I have to unpin it, excuse me. Lay it on top of that gathered section to make certain that the width is correct. I was pretty good, I think. Yep, it looks great. So, you could then pin the other end of the thread, wrap it around and then you'd have that little gathering at the front. I know it makes it simple, but it makes a difference. You can also use that tank top and add flounces. I love this version. You can see how we have four graduated flounces down the front. They're cut on the bias, so they have a raw edge. A real simple technique that just adds a touch of femininity to the tank, too that I love. This is like a cotton batiste. It's lightweight. But keep in mind, this is bias, and the edges are raw. How simple. Oh, I don't think that 90 years ago they'd let those edges be raw. I agree. I don't think-- I mean, Nancy, maybe. I'm not that old! Here we have the strips that are cut wider than the front of the top. Again, having just one basting stitch. If you want to do a lot of gathers you could perhaps do more. You could put two rows of basting stitches but we just have one. First, we're going to do some layouts. It's just a slight gather that we're adding. You don't want it poofy. Right, just subtle. So, I have the center front marked. Then you could either do some measuring according to the pattern directions or just estimating by placing marks along the side. The first flounce is going to align with the underarm. And then have them placed about three inches apart. Amy, you found it easiest to start with the second one. Yes, I think that was just a point that worked well for us. Then we added the flounces from there. You just slightly, and it's really a slight gather. Then again, I'm going to pull that bobbin thread and begin here. You kind of get the idea. Take your time. You don't want to break the thread. There are many ways of gathering. This is just one of them. Use your favorite method. I'm trying to ease that in here. There we go, that's a lot better. You'd place it across so that the fabric is flat. It's kind of perpendicular to the center front and there you go. You would stitch it down along that basting stitch. Lift this up and put in the next one. Pretty easy. This one also has a nice neckline change. Yes, this neckline finishes it with really, a professional look. We'll be adding the bias, stitching it in place and then folding it over several times. I know you did it in contrasting fabric so we can see clearly how this process is done. This particular pattern has a pattern for the bias trim. Amy had matching fabric. This is contrasting fabric. I'm going to show this to you on the armhole. The trim has been sewn together meeting right sides, and then pressed with wrong sides meeting, and long edges. This is quite simple. Meeting right sides together align the edges. It's kind of on a one-to-one ratio so you can just get them to match. I'll pin a couple more times. While I'm pinning this you can watch a close up of stitching the bias trim to the edge. Just stitch around the edge, sewing with the bias upward. Then after you've gone in a circle on the neckline we have it here where the trim has been pressed upward and then turned to the inside. Because it's on the bias, it will meet that curve. Again, here's another quick close up of stitching of attaching the trim around the edge. So, it's kind of like a quilt technique but it's nice and fast. Now, a vintage look. Yes, we're going to move on to incorporating vintage fabric into the tank design. I love going to thrift shops, and it's amazing the fabric that you can find. Here we have the tank with the flounce that's graduated. We've used, probably this might've been a drapery fabric or a decorator fabric that we've incorporated into the tank. The other idea we came up with was to add a scarf as the accent to the bodice. So, what you see here is a scarf that we've attached to the bottom of the bodice. The fun thing about this is that there was enough fabric leftover to have a little flounce that would hang. The finished edge of the scarf can actually be the finished edge of your garment for a simple technique, but adding a fun accent. So, if you want to use that finished edge on the scarf pattern one other alternative is to have a large scarf. You don't have to trim the edges you can just follow the line. The line of the pattern. Make a simple top that's in the pattern. Then you can combine new and old fabric, and make it your own. Onward to skirts. Learn how to stretch your creativity and make the magic swirl. We'll start with a basic sewing technique learning how to sew a waistband, then adding a pleat and finally, re-purposing menswear for another charm style. What I like about Magic patterns is starting simple A simple design. Here is a very simple way to approach the waistband of a skirt for a flattering style. In the front, you have the darts with a flat waistband and then the elastic in the back. They're all going to be finished nicely. You could add this to this pattern or any pattern you have at home. I like the flatness and then the comfort of the elastic in the back. Definitely. Now, you are going to work differently with the front and back, that's a given. As I'm pulling up the waistband pattern piece we've added some fusible interfacing. Amy, this is the underside of the waistband so we've done a little pressing. Yes, you can see here that we're using denim and it's worked well for this waistband. This has been pressed by half an inch and it's on a one-to-one ratio, believe it or not with the front. After the darts have been sewn in meet the front waistband to the front piece. You can see, we wanted to give it a little memory and pressed it in half but that's not absolutely necessary. It does help. Then meet all the edges. You're sewing it flat, at this point. You're not sewing in a circle. Then you can set this aside. The back has some similar characteristics. Let's look at the waistband. We did some memory pressing, again. Press it in half so you get the crease mark. Then you can press under the seam allowance that you have right there. Sew it, again, flat, one on one. Then as we press it around, I'll just flip this around. It's a lot of folding, pressing. Then you'll press around the front. You want me to go ahead and press that? I would like you to do that, yes. The iron is our friend. It is. My mom always said to me, and still I remember "Sew, press. Sew, press." It makes a big difference. Give it a shot of steam, I think. There you go. Then, on this particular piece you just remember that fold and stitch along that lower edge. You're working flat that's what I like about this technique. You're not in a circle. It allows you to get just a really nice finish. This is the back piece that we've stitched flat. I have a wonderful tool that's going to allow us to pull the elastic through the waistband. We would pull that all the way through. It's really wonderful. When you get near the end of the elastic Amy is probably not going to get through with the time. I've got a ways to go! You're going to pin that elastic to the skirt so it doesn't pull all the way out. I've had that happen a time or two. Yeah, no fun. But now it's time to attach it to the front. You can see the elastic is pulled through. Now, you meet-- Let me take that pin out. You're going to meet right sides together for the side seam. We'll match up the waistband treatment. Now, here's the top of the front. To finish it, it wraps around the side seam. Then you would sew the side seam on both edges. I'm going to do that once more, because this is so important. The top edge of the back, which isn't finished and the pressed edge of the front are aligned. Then the front wraps around the back. On this side, it's been stitched. You stitch the side seams. You can do some trimming but I'm going to show what happens. Magic! Yeah, it is. Then that front piece can be stitched down just the way we did on the back piece. You have the comfort in the back and the firm, smooth line in the front. I like it. So you can also, then, after you've learned that technique and you do some Magic options to your skirt. Amy, you want to tell our viewers about this? Sure, on this version of the skirt we added a center pleat. When we cut the pattern out we allowed an additional four inches that we then pressed into place. You can see we added some pockets for detail. Everybody loves having a pocket for your cell phone. This is a fun variation of the previous piece we looked at. So, here's the fabric. We're just going to go quickly through this. You're going to lay out the pattern, the skirt pattern four inches from the fold. Here's the handy tool; we'll line it up. I'm not going to really pin, but you get the idea. There you go. Then you cut it out after you've done this. Put a pin which have on our next sample at that 4" mark. Then stitch down 8". So, here's the 4" mark, and we stitched down 8". At the hem, we pinned the edges together. I also put a pin at the center front. We're going to match, this is a pressing technique I'd like to share with you. But if you have the fold of the fabric you align it to the center seam. The fold to the seam, and I'm just going to pin. You want to do the same down below. Then we're just going to kind of tell you about this but I think you'd need to do pressing before you do any other sewing. Here we go. You can just press down this area. If you don't want to get the imprint from the crease then you can place a curved pressing tool underneath. You just keep doing this down the edge. Ah, perfect! So, you get it pressed before you do the sewing. It's a great style feature. Amy, your kind of known for vintage. Yes, I love re-purposing, recycling. Menswear, in particular is a great rack to look for beautiful fabrics at the thrift shop. This is an example of a skirt that has this nice overlay. You can see that we used a pinstripe and a wool crepe that we found off the rack. These were actually men's pants. So, over here, you can see some of the various fabrics and textures that we found a little check and a window pane type plaid. But what we do with the pants, is we actually take them apart first at the crotch seam and then we'll take the center side seams out and iron out the hem. Here you can see where we are with it. We have beautiful fabric to work with. It really is lovely, so here's the fabric. We've cut out the skirt the yolk, and the skirt back. We did some folding of the waistband. Place it on the edge. This isn't exactly on grain, but this is a small piece. Right, we need a little forgiveness there. Just to show you that you'll probably need to purchase fabric that coordinates with it, this just shows the combination. It'll work well. Denim and some menswear, then you have that overlap. Combining regular fabrics with re-purposed fabric learning some basic sewing techniques you have great ways of making your next skirt. For this Nancy's Corner segment we're going on the road to Puyallup, Washington to Sewing and Stitchery Expo where you're going to see a fashion show young girls making their garments through the 4-H Club, you're going to be amazed. The 4-H program is 100 years old. We know it's a program that works. If you talk to anyone who has any kind of 4-H in their background they'll smile and be very proud of what they did or tell you what they did. And it ain't all cows and cooking anymore. I have, in my club lots of urban 4-H'ers doing a variety of projects. Sewing isn't the only thing that we do. We do everything from rocketry to raising chickens and all kinds of crafts. The 4-H Fashion Review fashion show that you will see here at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo is an encore performance of the kids' competition that they had at the State Fair. I had 75 kids compete in the show and 24 of them will be here today. They were judged on the outfits they were wearing on how well it was sewn how well they could talk about the outfit accessorize it, and model in it. I grew up as a 4-H'er in Oregon with an excellent quilting instructor to teach sewing skills, and I tried to do that. I prefer working with the youngest kids starting when they're eight years old. Get them on that sewing machine and it empowers them to make things and make the best better. I also grew up with 4-H. I got back on the scene full-time as an adult volunteer about eight years ago with a club. I am now the Club Leader of that club. We have 21 kids in our club. They range in age from third graders all the way up to seniors in high school. For my first-year kids, I have a set curriculum certain projects I like them to make to learn different sewing skills and how to use the machine. Maybe how to use the serger and then after that they can sew whatever they want. I have no restrictions. If they want to sew a simple little dress, great. If they want to make their prom dress, awesome. If they make a "Make it with Wool" outfit, even better. I will let them sew whatever they want. I usually have about four or five other adult 4-H leaders who assist me. I have been a 4-H leader for 44 years. I concentrate on teaching sewing skills. January and February are devoted to making small objects and things to learn their skills. We use Nancy Zieman's "Let's Sew" book as our curriculum. Turn to page 61 and learn how to sew on a button. The younger ones, in four hours, can make a t-shirt and shorts or something like that, and they're happy with it. I consider every 4-H member in the state part of my family, my kids. I just love them. I can't imagine not working with kids.

Woman

I'm gonna take you guys backstage...

Announcer

This is 15-year-old Faith Simmons...

Nancy

Did you have to do some fitting on that dress? Yes, lots of fitting. I tried to keep it in here, where it would fit nice and everything, because I wanted it to look really nice. Then I had to take this in and out. I would like to go to college to learn how to sew more so I can go forward in sewing. But I'd like to be a vet, also. I've actually been sewing for about four years now. You made this jacket, and you made it lined. That's not an easy task. No, not when it's so silky and all the pins just fly everywhere! What was your favorite part of making this outfit? Probably learning how to make button holes. Ah, not everyone's comfortable with it, so that's good. No...!

applause

Nancy

Keep up the good work, maybe you can have my job some day. That would be awesome! I'm sure you were as inspired as I was watching the girls and all their great sewing accomplishments. If you'd like to re-watch that interview or the show on "Magic Patterns," go to nancyzieman.com and click on one of the 70 videos that you can watch. Or, you can join me on social media via Facebook, via Pinterest, or my blog. Again, thanks for joining me. I'll be back with another episode of "Magic Patterns." Bye for now. Amy Barickman has written the "Magic Pattern" book that serves as a reference for this two-part series. The book includes a CD with printable patterns for sizes small to extra-extra-large. It's $15.99, plus shipping and handling. To order the book, call 1-800-336-8373 or visit our website at sewingwithnancy.com/2807 Order Item Number MPBK. To pay by check or money order call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at nancyzieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman has been brought to you by Baby Lock; Madeira Threads; Koala Studios; Clover; Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Pellon. Sewing with Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.