Sewing With Nancy

cc Welcome to the second episode of "Sew Knits with Confidence." During the first show, I covered the knit sewing basics taking the "less is best" approach. Still taking it easy, it's now time to learn how to add personalized touches to your knit sewing projects. You can combine knits with lightweight woven fabrics such as organza around the neckline and hemline for a trendy finish. The sewing is streamlined with the help of paperbacked fusible web. Press, fuse, and stitch; it's a three-step process. "Sew Knits with Confidence" that's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy, celebrating 30 years of sewing and quilting with Nancy Zieman

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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, makers of sewing, knitting quilting and embroidery products for over 25 years. Experience the Clover difference. Amazing Designs and Klass needles. The beauty of working with knits is that you can add a little touch of accent and it goes a long way. You can see the close-up of the organza and the trim that I have on the outer edge which is a rolled edge stitch on the serger. I mentioned it's a fuse, press, and stitch process. First, fusing under the seam allowance around the neckline or hemline, is what I'd like to show you. You can use paperbacked fusible web that's pre-cut into strips, or you can cut it yourself. Press it along the edge. Fuse it down. Then remove the paper backing. Fold it, and I've kind of given it a memory already so I knew where my seamline was. I can press this edge. What's wonderful about paperbacked fusible web and knits is that it builds in the stretch. You can see that it's not constricting or keeping the knit from moving. It keeps the edge just perfect. It's a great edge. Now, that organza is cut on the bias totally bias, so on a 45-degree angle. I'll show you that strip in a minute. I have my machine set up for a three-thread rolled edge stitch. You can use whatever stitch you'd like a little rolled edge, a little overlock, I don't really care. You're the designer here. This fabric was cut on the bias, on the diagonal so it has a stretch, a give. I like the shine. I can see there's a sheen in it. Then, as you're sewing this 2" strip what I like to do is do a test, of course which I have already done. I'm trimming off, just if you can see this tail or little extra fabric coming off. I'm trimming off a 1/4" or so. Do a test run. As I bring this around to the front... I'm only doing a little bit of it. You can see that nice edge along the area. Then just simply tuck this trim underneath the fabric underneath the pressed edge that I've already done. Then we can do some stitching. Here we have the trimming matching the cut edge the underneath edge. So, it's underlayed. Set your machine for a straight stitch or a zigzag. I'm just going to do a straight stitch and sew it down. Just sew it along, it's really a fast, fast trim with the help of your serger, if you have that or paperbacked fusible web. Here's another creative option, and that is to add ruffles. This time, the organza edges are not finished giving a shabby chic look. Bias strips with a minimum of gathering add an accent to your favorite knit top. Here's a close-up of that top. Cut the organza or organdy, again at a 45-degree angle. But rather than finishing the edges we finished them with a pinked edge. I have that right here. The same 2" strip works well. You can use any width you'd like. But after cutting it out on the bias, then just trim. Trim the edges so that it kind of curtails some of the raveling but it gives that nice look. Run a basting thread along one long edge and then just gather. You want a fine thread. Always pull the bobbin thread because the bobbin thread, for some unknown reason always gathers better than the top thread. On our small sample, whether it's something you've made or something you've purchased then just pin the gathering to the top around the neckline, and stitch along the edge. It is a fast treatment. You see this in ready-to-wear and it changes the look of a t-shirt in short order. Cotton batik or lightweight knits also create some interest. This time, with tumbling petals. You can use a stiletto, or even a seam ripper and it will serve as a valuable tool to add texture to your knit project. You look at ready-to-wear and again this cascading of petals the accents were so predominant and can be added with a little bit of effort. Batiks are the fabric we chose. They're tightly woven. They really don't ravel, so these are all raw edges. You can cut any shape you'd like. We've made little petal shapes. In the book that accompanies today's program you'll see that this is the shape that's given. I mentioned the stiletto, because you're going to use this to help gather as you are stitching. I'm working on a ready-made shirt. Honestly, I would probably position a couple of these before doing the sewing. So let me do it since that's what I would propose. Here we have put it down into place. Then set your machine for a straight stitch. I'm going to shorten the stitch a little bit. The choice is yours. I place the fabric underneath the presser foot and lower the presser foot. I kind of do a little backstitch to lock the stitches then remove the pin. Here's where your stiletto comes into play. I'm making sure I don't have any fabric underneath. Okay, it's nice and flat. I'm going to then gather, adding some tucks to the top. Lock it, backstitch a little bit and you have one already attached. So you can see, you can add a few, you can add a lot just by topstitching and gathering on the spot. Could it be that the fabric for your next creation is hanging in your closet? An oversized t-shirt can be transformed into a more attractive knit shirt. Sometimes, you can use the existing neckline and only modify the body shape. Other times, you can turn a graphic t-shirt into a knit top with an attractive silhouette. Knowing how to sew gives you the tools to be creative. When making this top, I wanted this really specific color. I couldn't find it in fabric so I purchased two shirts. They were short sleeved. I cut the front and back out of one and the sleeves out of another. I was able to use the hemline from the existing pre-made T for the hemline of both my hem and the sleeve hem. Some of the extra fabric I used for the little accents of the tea roses. I mentioned a graphic shirt. If I'm on vacation or go to special events often they have the crew neckline. I'm not fond of wearing crew necklines for myself. So by purchasing a larger-size shirt I then can convert the memories of a vacation or special event and have it fit my body better, with a neckline that I like, to fit me. I'll show you how to work with this just using a favorite knit pattern and some existing t-shirts. This makes for simple sewing because you'll be able to find some of the elements of the shirt and not have to re-sew them. Here's a large shirt. It's short sleeved so if I was making a long-sleeved shirt I'd have to get two t-shirts to get my whole garment out of here. Cut it apart. Cut it down the side seams and the underarm seam of the sleeve. Fold it in half so that you can get the center front. It's just like laying out fabric but it's already shaped. After you get the fabric shaped In this pattern, I'm not going to use the neckline at all. I'm going to remove that and put in a simple neckline like we showed in the first program of this series. So, the hem is going to stay. This pattern had a one-inch hem so you'd just extend the pattern one inch from the edge and cut out the front. I think you can see how the back is cut out. Just place the back on the fold, place the pattern on the fold, and cut it out. For the sleeves, you're going to do the same thing. Stack the sleeves, one on top of each other and cut out the sleeve pattern. Easy for that. Or if you were working with a short-sleeved shirt and purchased two t-shirts well then, I think you get the idea. You'd cut the sleeves from the body of the garment. In working with a graphic t-shirt you have to consider where the imprint or design has been made. I have another shirt here. You can figure this out quite well, I'm sure but I'll just show you how this is placed making certain that the graphic, the screen printing is centered. This was an easy one to center, because it was on point the quilt block was on point. Look underneath to make certain that you're not cutting into the graphic and that you have enough room, which I seem to, at the top. You can then assemble your shirt from the fabric that you have at hand. A little extra work but it gives it a little bit more style. Then if you'd like to add a rosette or two from the extra fabric if you're working with a plain shirt I just cut from the extra fabric, 1" strips of fabric or 3/4" strips of fabric. Like before in our last segment trim the edges with a pinking blade. Then press some gathering tape. The gathering tape we've used a lot recently on Sewing with Nancy. I'm just kind of fusing it to the wrong side. Then, I found recently just baste or stitch the edges together. Then after doing that, pull up the blue threads the gathering threads, and pull. It will pull right through the stitching and then there you are. Just assemble them and hand tack them to the shirt. Some ideas of working with existing t-shirts to make them your own. Next, I'd like to show you how to gain confidence when embroidering on knits. Make it easy on yourself and don't over plan or over stitch. The streamlined steps are made possible by selecting knit-friendly stabilizers. I know that many of you who watch our program don't embroider and many of you embroider, but don't sew. So hopefully, this program will give both groups confidence in working with knit fabrics, this time in particular, in adding computerized embroidery. It's easy to do especially when the design is lightweight. You don't have a lot of density of the stitches. You can see we have this on the neckline. On the shirt I'm going to work with today we're just going to use this very lightweight hibiscus blossom grouping. I've pre-stitched it on another fabric just to see the design and color. That's what I suggest for beginners to do. You can save this and it can be used as a label on a quilt or cut it out for a greeting card so it's not going to go to waste. It's cut out the size of the embroidery hoop. I traced it and cut it out. For those of you who watched our program on machine embroidery, six easy lessons with expert Eileen Roche, you saw this done. You can get some more pointers on that online if you'd like to re-watch the show. This is used as a template. On the shirt, I'm going to embroider on this V neckline. I've placed a mesh, a stabilizer that's a mesh pressed onto the back of this so that the back of the shirt does not stick to the hoop itself. Just a small piece of a fusible mesh stabilizer. It's a great one to have in your collection. Then pin the template wherever you'd like it right on your shirt. We're not going to sew over this. Just use it temporarily to get everything positioned. Then, place a hooped stabilizer. This is activated by water. It makes it sticky by water, which I'll do in a few minutes. Place it under, between the layers and get the hoop positioned. Use a little painter's tape my favorite thing to use for holding fabric in the hoop so that when I lift up the fabric I can just moisten the stabilizer. Let me get it repositioned so it's sitting in the hoop, positioned just right. If it's off by a 1/4" it's really not going to matter that much for this design. Unpin this. Let me take off the tape. Make sure it's flat. Then, one more stabilizer. There's usually three layers for knits. I'm using a water-soluble stabilizer. This will come off or be torn off. I place this on top. As I'm embroidering it, you'll see how this works. Set your machine up for embroidery and here you can see that it's embroidering the design. We're about halfway through the design. The design takes about 8 minutes to stitch in total. It works very easily with that clear, wash away stabilizer on top because that stabilizer keeps the embroidery design predominant. You tear it off. Then, pop this out of the hoop. You can cutaway the excess stabilizer which I'm not going to do right now. Let me just show you even though it's got the stabilizer in there where the embroidery would be placed. Remove it and you would have an easy embroidery on your shirt. The cascading flounces created for this T are raw edged and easy to achieve. Use your favorite knit top pattern and make a few modifications to the pattern to create a top with charming details. When you look at this top you think, "Can I really do this?" Well, yes you can, with just some changes. The seams are added down the front cascades are included, which are really quite magical. I'll show you how that works. You need to change the front pattern piece. Out of a piece of tissue paper, cut a whole front. Usually, they're cut on the fold. Make it one whole front of a tissue piece. You fold the tissue back in half. Fold it once. Fold it twice, along the hem. Fold it a third time, and crease. Then, mark the lower edge. I have done this on this pattern that's been unfolded. Just mark five of the creases. This will work for any size so not just a medium or an extra large. Any size. At the top neckline, make five marks from the center out one inch apart, so you have five marks. You can connect the dots. Using a long ruler, connect the marks from the lower edge to the marks at the neckline and here's your pattern piece. You're going to cut these apart. Notice I've added grain lines to each of the pattern pieces. As we move over, you'll see that on the pattern pieces I have added 1/4" seam allowances on each side. This takes a little time. It takes a little time to cut it apart but that's exactly how pattern designers and fashion designers make the pattern changes from a basic pattern. Now for that flounce. You may be surprised at how this is shaped. Someone on my staff helped me figure this out because I didn't get it at first. Cut an 8/1/2" circle for each flounce. In the instructions, we tell you how to draw a big "6" about 2-1/2" from the edges. Then along that "6" line, you're going to cut. This creates the flounce. How about that for a very unique treatment? The shirt itself, I'm going to pull that up along the side so you can kind of see what's happening as I work along. The flounces start about an inch from the top. It's a half-inch now, because there's seam. But start an inch from the top. I cut the edge flush and then just pin it down all the way down to the edge. Cut off the excess flounce an inch from the bottom so you have room for your hem. After you've basted that down, this is what it looks like. You're going to make five circles. Pin one to each piece. This is flouncing already, I'll just hold it over. There you can see how that cascades down. When you meet your seam allowances together you can restitch section one to two and two to three, and three to four. There all these different pattern pieces actually six pattern pieces. There you have that unique insert. A great graduate study class for "Sew Knits with Confidence." Project Linus is not new to Sewing with Nancy viewers. Many of you have donated blankets to this national organization that has provided nearly five million blankets to children who are in crisis. They've now added a new venture encouraging volunteers to stitch weighted blankets which helps create a calming effect for children with sensory disorders. I'd like you to welcome Mary Balagna who is from the national headquarters of Project Linus. Mary, welcome to Sewing with Nancy. Thank you for having me. Mary Balagna, excuse me for mispronouncing your name. The most important thing we have to talk about is this weighted blanket. What a wonderful process. Tell me about the blanket. Well, this is an example of a weighted blanket. It's very heavy. It's used for children, who for some reason who have a problem processing their stimulation from outside influences, whether it be sight, or sound or lights, or smells, or whatever. For some reason, they have a problem being able to sort that out and calm themselves down. For some reason, unbeknownst to science I'm sure there's something behind it now that's been discovered but children have been found to take blankets and place them on top of themselves one after another, after another even putting a hand or a leg in between the mattress and box spring to try and get some deep pressure. That deep pressure produces a calming effect. And this blanket for which you have the instructions on your website is designed. It's very unique and it's heavy. It's made in channels, as you can see. You found, you told me recently that you don't send them weighted. We don't. We just send the outside shell. Actually, it's weighted with bed sheets twin sized sheets is what we've used here. But it's really important to remember that every child is different. Every child is a different size so it has to be tailored to that particular child. You tailor them with the use of twin sheets. The top sheet is very simple to fold. When you told me about this on the phone I thought you'd cut these into sections and roll them. But you fold, and fold, and fold. Just fold in half, and just keep doing it. Eventually, you get this size. If you're wondering how this is going to work there's hook and loop tape on two ends. It's hard. It's hard, but that's a good thing because we don't want it to come open easily. It sometimes helps to kind of roll it a little bit. Sure. Just to facilitate getting it in the channel. Then, when it's in there, you can put your arm in there and just open it up. It's very easy to do that. As you can see, it takes up the whole channel. It's kind of hard here because we're not flat on a table. But once it goes in, we just Velcro-- Hook and loop tape, Velcro, any other type of closure. Right, we make sure that it's closed. It can easily be removed for washing, or whatever. I can see the weight. You know, little babies are swaddled. This gives kind of the same type of thought. It does. To make these outer blankets you don't want them too powerful in color or design. Exactly. We need to be careful, especially on the back side. We don't want them to be too stimulating in color. So what we do is, this one is a solid. This is a tone on tone. The front side, many children-- you know, this little boy the one that this particular blanket is going to is a soccer fan so this is why it was made with soccer fabric. We try and do the best we can when we hear about a need. Maybe somebody will say this is for a little girl she likes princesses or she's a fan of Winnie the Pooh. We do our best. We can't always accommodate, but sometimes it's nice to personalize them a little bit and give that child their very own blanket. But the requests are pretty daunting, which is unfortunate. There's Autism, and Cerebral Palsy, and ADHD and ADD, different disorders that produce this sensory problem is really where the weighted blanket seems to be most beneficial. We've had just a tremendous outpouring of help but the need is never met as with everything, unfortunately. Sure, but as people who sew and stitch and work with fabric we can help in this manner by making the outer cover for a weighted blanket and donating them to the local chapter of Project Linus, a non-profit organization. Yes, and we have many people-- We offer the pattern on the website. There are people who just need to make them for family for friends. We're happy to give that pattern out. We have, actually, two different patterns. One is made with a solid fabric by our coordinator in Joplin, Missouri. She originally came up with it, Joyce Gentzler. Then our national assistant, Cheryl Hughes came up with this pattern. Just two different ideas, depending on your expertise. Well, Mary, thank you for sharing this with us. What a wonderful project fitting a need. Thank you for sharing. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. And thank you for being with us on Sewing with Nancy for our two-part series on "Sew Knits with Confidence." I hope you've enjoyed this and regained confidence if you've sewn with knits before or that you'll be able to try it if you haven't. Go to nancyzieman.com for more information on our Nancy's Corner guest more streaming video programs, Facebook and social media. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now. 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