Sewing With Nancy

Make a fashion statement when sewing knits. Concerned about the process? Not to worry. I'll show you that the "less is best" principle applies to stitching comfy fashions.

During this program, get the inside scoop on choosing fabric and stitching a flattering tunic. You'll soon see that sewing knits are enjoyable and how notions can streamline the process. "Sewing Today's Fashion Trends in Tunics," that's what's next on Sewing With Nancy.

gentle instrumental music

female announcer

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 90 years.

Fuller Brush Vacuums, dedicated to keeping homes clean. Amazing Designs and Klassé Needles. I hear from many of you as our viewers. You're a little concerned about getting back to sewing fashions, especially knits, because it's been a while since you've gone through the process perhaps or you've never started before.

The "less is best" principle, which I stated earlier, is the best because you need a simple pattern. And this pattern has just a few elements to it. It has a collar. It has a little faux camisole inset.

The front piece has three options. It has a side and then this element in the front. Three panels, I should say, and then you can see it's overlaid with a little trim. There's a set-in sleeve, but the back has a great deal of interest and fun, again with an inset and an overlay of fabric.

The one I'm wearing is totally of one fabric. You don't have to worry about a different type of fabric. But the sec-- the third option has a contrasting insert, and this is the other right side of the fabric. Basically, the wrong side of the fabric.

And I'll show you those options. Knits have stretch. They have the greatest amount of stretch in the crosswise, and you need to kind of test that out. Find your pattern.

And after finding the pattern, flip it over to the back to make sure that the little stretching guide works for you; that you have enough stretch. You can always go beyond, but you cannot go within the area. You have to go beyond the stretch. So this definitely works,

and a little hint

a single knit, a jersey knit, will always roll to the right side, so you know right side from wrong side so that you're always consistent. Some fabrics-- if you want the contrast, like this is one of the samples we have. Has a lot of stretch to it. By the way, lengthwise doesn't have as much stretch.

But you see the other side works almost as a contrast so that we're gonna use that as one of the inset options. Or you can definitely work with an overlay. Here I have a cotton knit. And then I used a polyester lace as the contrast.

And two layers were used in the cream outfit that you just saw. Most patterns today are multiple sized. The days of single-sizing are practically gone. So embrace it, and choose which size you'd like.

This is an extra small through a large. And trace off the size that you need. I rarely cut along the lines because then I'm destroying all the other size options. Perhaps you'd like to share it with a neighbor or friend, and they, too, can pull off their size.

When laying out knits and all their pattern pieces, here you can see a close-up of how we're starting to lay out our next tunic pattern. I like to keep all tops point in one direction so that-- it's called the width map layout. Just make it all in one direction. It makes it a lot simpler when laying it out.

And follow on the guide sheet-- there's always a guide sheet-- where each pattern piece should be laid. Sometimes the hemlines and the collar need a little extra stability. And we like to use, on our Sewing With Nancy staff, knit interfacing. It's called tricot, T-R-I-C-O-T.

And we cut it 3/4" wide. And because this pattern has 3/4 of-- or excuse me-- 5/8" seam allowances, on the underside, we put it around the collar, the hemline, and the shoulders, the areas that would have some stretch and you want that hemline to lie flat. So simply-- on the wrong side of the fabric-- This is the collar. I'll just show you a small part of this, and that is to lay the fusible side down.

Find it in a minute here. It's lightweight, and you'll find it has a light coating of fusible. And fuse it to the raw edge. This makes life so much easier.

Whoop! I kind of went off the edge here, so I'll just try to get it the right way and fuse this-- lightly fuse. And it's because it's a knit as well, it drapes, but it just gives it that little extra stability when it's time to hem or in the shoulder seams so that you're not stretching those shoulders out of shape. My patterns over here have the interfacing at the shoulder, neckline-- shoulder, neckline, and then here you can see the hemline of the sleeve.

So the high contrast shows that fusible interfacing in place. So you're gonna cut it out, add some interfacing, and then for some basic seaming techniques which are next. There are two basic seam options that I like to use for knits, one using a serger or your sewing machine. But before we talk about the seams, probably the most important notion that you need for this process is a new needle.

Whether it's ballpoint or stretch, do choose that. I like to use a medium size, like a size 80, for the sewing machine or possibly a 90. And the difference between a ballpoint and a stretch needle isn't much difference, so use one or the other. So put a new needle in your machine or your serger.

Then for serging, I'm just going to show you on a partial sample, this is the same pattern cut out of another knit. I've made it a little bit shorter so I don't have so much seaming to do, but I have the front and the panel-- the front insert pinned together. And when I show you the pinning for serging, the pinning is going to be parallel to the cut edge. And this makes certain that the blade of the serger does not nick the pins.

So I have the pins holding the edges together. And my machine is set up for a four-thread overlock, the most basic of all stitches. So I have four threads, and you'll do a test, set your test, but it's the standard width, the standard length for knits. And on your serger, you will have a guide.

It will have an L and an R, and the L stands for that you've used the left needle, you have thread in the left needle. So you can just guide it along that edge and serge. Now, I always do a test seam. But truth be told, when serging, when serging on knits, this four-thread overlock stitch does the trick.

And you can see the stretch that goes right with the fabric. The sewing machine is next, and if you would like to build in stretch, don't over-sew it. This is what-- where so often I see a heavy seam in knits. Here's a zigzag stitch, a traditional zigzag stitch.

Well, we're going to lengthen it to 2.5 millimeters and then shorten the width, because this certainly would give a flat seam. So we'll make this what we call a wobble stitch, a wiggle stitch, so it's just a little bit askew of being straight. And that little bit of a zigzag will give with the fabric. Now, the serger is the optimal choice for this fabric, but since we have 5/8" seam allowance, I'll just guide this along the 5/8.

And then you'll see what is accomplished here. And I always pull out those pins right before we get to them. And you can when you're working with a sewing machine, you can reverse the stitches. I didn't do that to begin with, but I should have.

So lock those stitches when you begin, and then as I hold this up, you'll be able to see that it has built-in stretch. So here we go. It has give. And do test it that you don't have popping of stitches.

Now, when we do the pressing, it's very important to always set your seam. Set the seam flat, and regardless if it's a serger or a sewn seam, I press it the way it was stitched and then we'll do the serger as well. And you're not gonna use contrasting thread, of course, but let's put it here. And then press-- I always press over a seam roll because it will prevent the edge of the serger in particular from leaving an imprint on the edge.

And I'm going to hold this up to press it, but you'll see that you're just pressing the seam, not the edge into the fabric. And if it's a traditional seam, you'll do the same thing. So knit fabrics do roll, so take a little time to finger press in advance. Those built-in pressing tools work great, And with a serger to lock the thread, since you cannot do that with a serger, just put a drop of a seam sealant at the end.

And then to dry it quickly, put it over a paper towel or a tissue that's been folded and then give that tip just a touch, and you will be set to have your basic seams. So these are the basics of working with seams and knit fabrics. For some details of this top, we have insets. Insets at the back where we've used the wrong side of the fabric as the right side.

Nice complement. And as well as in the front where we have the camisole-type inset. With this fabric, we just overlaid a lace on top of the knit fabric. And you-- these are gonna go in a little bit unconventionally.

Now, granted I'm making a specific pattern, but you'll find in a lot of knit pattern pieces that you can apply some of these techniques to a variety of styles. This is the sample that I stitched with the serger and a traditional seam just a few minutes ago. And the seams have been pressed. And this is the inset piece, the camisole inset piece where we had the fusible interfacing, that 3/4" wide strip, pressed to the edge.

It's kind of maybe a little tricky to see, but it's that white on white. Pressed under the edge and then use a wobble or a wiggle stitch, not in contrasting thread, but in the same colors so that you can see it gives but yet is a stable seamline. When sewing, you usually say "right sides together." And this time, I'm gonna say "wrong sides together." You're gonna say, "What is going on?" Well, it's not going to look just perfect yet, but I'll show you what happens, and that is I've notched the center. Just fold the inset piece in half and clipped off that center fold.

I did the same on the garment front so that I can meet those wrong sides together. And you just align these two pieces and do a little stitching-- little pinning first before you do some stitching, and align these two pieces together and sew the neckline. Now, this may not look too perfect because you have different curves dealing with each other, but let me show you what happens after you stitch it. Here's the seam allowance, and it's on the outside.

Well, it's not gonna be that way when you're finished, but right now, that camisole piece is sitting in there so nicely. So just keep that in mind. That's all you need to do. And you have to get the back piece ready.

So I will show you that piece right now. And this has a very unusual little V shape. You may have seen this on the pattern before. The pattern piece underneath has been stitched just like that V with a wiggle stitch, wobble stitch.

You clip to the corner, the V point. And I'll just finger press this. You could easily press it with an iron, but finger press this open. And you don't have to finish seam allowances because the fabric does not ravel.

Press this open. And presto. You can see what is happening on this sample. You get that shape already formed for you just by the shape of the pattern.

Now, that inset piece. How do you get it to set in here? You just overlay it. That's all there is to it.

And this sample has been pressed, and I have the underlay already established here. And I would overlay this and match the seam allowances. Pressing probably is paramount. I'm going to align the cut edges and press.

And just align-- peek underneath and get 'em aligned. A couple more pins. And then I would set my machine for the wobble, wiggle stitch and stitch equidistant around the edge. And to help, you can see as I'm topstitching this that I have-- I'm stitching using the gauge set at 1/2" or 3/4", oh, about a 1/2".

And just topstitch around the edge. We'll go back to my sample that has the inset already sewn. And you can see in the front-- here's the front inset created. And the back piece has that inset with just simple stitching, very simple stitching.

Now, what's next is the collar. And we'll do that at the sewing machine. Next is the collar, a cowl collar. It's a large pattern piece, drapey, single layer.

There aren't two layers to this. And when we look how it's attached to the top, you'll see that the seam is on the top of the tunic rather than on the underside. The collar is going to be stitched with right side of the collar to the wrong side of the top. But when it's complete, then the collar itself will drape over that edge and you'll see that little camisole-type inset is already in place.

Now, this is a little bit tricky to show 'cause it's a lot of drapey fabric. But I want to show you that you can kind of break the rules, not always sew with right sides together to achieve the correct look. Here is the collar piece, one of the collar pieces of the fabric that we've been working with. We've turned under the edges along the hem.

Did a little zigzag wobble stitch. And before we did that, we did the seam. Here's the center back seam. So you have with this large piece that's been hemmed, and it's ready to insert into our fabric, only we did it with the turquoise and white shades of fabric.

Now, I'm going to-- Even if you like to use a serger, I would sew this first of all, and then you can serge it afterwards. But I have-- here's the top. The collar is on the inside. You're seeing that the right side of the collar, which I'm pointing at, meets the wrong side of the top.

Now, when you make-- meet this together, matching the center points and the notches, you'll find that you'll have one layer that will be slightly longer than the other, and that's normal. Happens in knits all the time. The ease of the fabric. So when you have this with your pattern, make certain that you always stitch with the longer layer to the feed dog, the little teeth that bite the fabric to-- not really bite it, but ease the fabric to stitch in place.

I have reset my machine for the wobble stitch and then I'm going to stitch. This has four-- 5/8"-- excuse me. 5/8" seam allowances. And when you get to an area that is just needs some easing, I like to just kind of raise this up, just hold it up a little bit, and that allows the machine to ease the two fabrics together.

Now, just take some time and stitch all the way around the collar to attach it to the neckline. And I'm coming to the starting point. And I'll just overlap the stitches. Cut the threads.

And when we bring this up to see what happened, here's the collar, the wrong side of the collar. Let me just insert this hanger so that you can see what's happening. And get this smoothed away. And it overlaps after you've trimmed or serged that seam allowance, it overlaps onto itself.

This is the back of it, but you can see how well that drapes, and it does the same in the front. If we look back to our finished top, you can see the front piece, how the collar is draped down, that little insert is caught, and that's all because we had the right side of the collar meeting the wrong side of the fabric. The main things left to finish on this top part is set in the sleeves and to do the hemming. And the sleeves again will be stitched comparably to the way we did the collar.

The sleeves are gonna be slightly a bit larger than the armhole. And so you'll sew the sleeve to the underside of the next feed dogs. And I'm just gonna lay this on here. Here we have the front and back.

And here we have the sleeve. And you'll set it in flat. And I'm not gonna go through all these details. We've done this on several other Sewing With Nancy programs.

But you'd meet the armhole to the sleeve-- This is the sleeve. That's the armhole. And you pin right sides together again, and then you just serge or stitch the edge. And if you put the longer layer, which will be the sleeve, next to the feed dog, it will be perfect.

Stitch the underarm seam and do some hemming. The hemming is just like we did earlier, by turning up the edge along the hemline and using that wobble stitch or zigzag stitch. And I'm just going to pull this up, the hem, to show you that we have the hem stitched, turned up and sewn, not difficult at all. So with some basic sewing principles, easy seams, learning how to use the right and wrong side of the fabric, you'll have a fashionable tunic.

♪ ♪ When a child is seriously ill or going through trauma, the gift of a handmade doll often represents love while providing comfort. Please welcome Jan Householder, the founder of the Giving Doll project, a remarkable organization that provides encouragement to so many. Welcome to Sewing With Nancy, Jan. Thanks for the invitation to come and share the Giving Doll program with your viewers.

The Giving Doll is a nonprofit that I established in May of 2006. Our mission is to give faith, love, joy, hope, and comfort to children at times of special need in their life by giving them a handmade doll. These dolls are so comfy looking and cozy, and their hand-embroidered or machine-embroidered faces. And tell us a little bit about how this started and then how you make them.

Okay. The inspiration, really, was a little 11-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of my student teachers. I'm a former family and consumer science teacher. And in December of 2005, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

In 2006, she was-- went into a program at St. Jude's, and she came back in March and said, "Jan, the kids are so sick there. Is there something you could make that I could give?" Sure. So we came up-- together, we came up with this doll.

And it has pockets. The girls have pockets in their aprons and the boys have pockets in their cuffs, because she wrote poetry. And she only wanted 12. So I made 12, thought I was good to go, and she came back and she said, "Um, Jan, the kids are so sick there.

Could you make some more?" - Sure. So that's when I knew I needed help. So as far as the construction, yeah, they are all handmade. The faces are embroidered, and some of my groups, I do have groups now in ten different states, they hand-paint the faces.

They're all-- there's nothing that a child could get injured on. Everything is child-friendly. Now, you mentioned you have ten organizations that stitch-- volunteer sewers that stitch and cut and embroider as well as possibly paint. And you've made-- in this short period of time, a remarkable number of dolls.

Share that with our viewers, please. Yeah, well, since we started, we're now approaching 39,000. And these dolls have been given to children in every state and 64 foreign countries. So it's just a remarkable program.

And it's not just for the children in hospitals, because, as I mentioned, children going through trauma or their parents are deployed-- you also have dolls for them. Correct. We made 'em for Katherine for St. Jude's until she became an angel 11 months later.

But because she wanted so many, I started a group at our local senior citizens center. Mm-hmm. - And we started networking. Because people would come in and say, "Well, there's a little boy in our area whose father's being deployed." Or there was a house fire and the children lost everything.

So we networked and then once Katherine became an angel, we decided our mission needed to continue. So it's basically, "Does the child need comfort?" And that is a whole scenario of different events. Sure. And you have some-- that you have on your-- I know in your office right there, you have a doll that has pink hair.

Right, right. We have a doll that has pink hair. And these are given to children whose mother is going through breast cancer treatment. And then you also in that-- you also include a quilt and a tote so that they have a little place to carry the doll in.

Right. The program expanded, and we have included a little quilt. It's just 24"x24". Can be crocheted, knitted, or the no-sew.

And then also there's a little tote bag. So the doll and everything fits right in the tote bag with the blanket. Now, Jan, you have a mission, and that is to have a chapter in each state or to have 50 chapters. Oh, we would love that.

Right now, we have ten. We would love to, you know, be able to give dolls in certain areas, you know, have that chapter established. We have been able to give dolls in every state. One of our programs was, we made dolls with red feet and gave them to at least one Ronald McDonald House in every state in memory of the kids that became angels at Sandy Hook.

So we made 12 girls and 8 boys, and they all had red feet because Ronald has red feet. And the other chapters in the other states then were able to cover their Ronald McDonald Houses. And at the end, we received notes and messages, and I put together a scrapbook, sent it to the principal at Sandy Hook, and she goes, "Thank you for thinking of our angels in such an important way." Well, Jan, this is a remarkable program, and you give all the dolls away. They're never sold.

They're very specifically given to children who need them, and what an admirable organization. Thank you for joining us. Well, thank you. Thank you very much for having us and letting me tell the story of the Giving Doll.

And I hope-- I'm sure you'll reach your goal of 50 chapters. Thanks, Jan. Well, thank you. Thank you for joining us today during this program "Sewing Today's Fashion Trends, Making a Tunic." You can re-watch this program at NancyZieman.com and join us on Facebook and other social media platforms.

Thanks for joining me. Bye for now.

announcer

Make your own fashion statement when you stitch this stylish and versatile tunic with Nancy's expert guidance and helpful hints. To order this pattern and DVD combination,

call

800-336-8373 Or visit our website at sewingwithnancy.com/3109. Order item number BD3109, "Sewing

Today's Fashion Trends

Tunics" for $11.99 plus shipping and handling. Indicate your pattern size, 6 to 26. Credit card orders only. 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, Fuller Brush Vacuums, Amazing Designs and Klassé Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Riley Blake Designs. ♪ ♪ Sewing With Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.