Sewing With Nancy

Welcome to the third episode of the three-part series on "Sewing A to Z." Learning the ABCs of sewing will boost your sewing and quilting skills if you're a newbie to this creative art. Or perhaps, refresh your knowledge if you've been sewing and quilting for years. So far, we've gotten about two-thirds of the way through the alphabet featuring one technique from each letter. Please join me as we continue this sewing journey. "Sewing A to Z," is coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program 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. S is for snaps, snaps that swing. It's an ideal technique to effortlessly prevent gaping of two edges that must meet. In "Sewing A to Z," we're sewing with some very basic techniques, but important techniques. I've used some super-sized snaps so that you could see more clearly. But the snap that swings is sewn to one side of the edges that must meet just sewing one-fourth of the opening to the fabric. Then, to find out where it's mate should land on the other side of the fabric use chalk. Darken the ball of the snap, fold it over make sure the edges are aligned and depress. After you do this, you should have a mark right where the snap should be placed, where to center it. When you're working with smaller snaps this is even more important because sometimes it's difficult to see. Then, this time, you can hand stitch all four areas of the snap, of course, to the fabric. Sometimes, when you're sewing on buttons or snaps or doing any hand sewing, like hemming your thread may tangle. A consideration is to use beeswax or a thread conditioner. Thread your needle. I'm going to use a double thread right now. Then, over this thread conditioner you simply guide the thread over this conditioner and you won't have tangling. It will work easily. Then you can simply hand sew all sections down. Simple sewing. For snaps that are another type of snap or if it overlaps, you do the same thing. Put on the ball end of the snap, first of all wherever you would like it. Then darken it, darken the ball portion. Then overlap it, making certain that it's lining up just the way you'd like it. Depress, and again, you'll have a marking. You can place the opposite side of the snap over the opening. Hand stitch it in place, using the same techniques. When you're doing some hand sewing and you need some snaps whether they're plastic snaps, metal snaps, as I have here one of these two techniques will certainly help you make the snaps align, and your edges meet perfectly. T is for topstitching. Add a custom accent with double threads in a topstitching needle. Often, when you're topstitching, you'll need it as an accent and you'd like it to show more than not show. One of the ways to do this is to work with double thread. I have two threads on the horizontal spool. I have them unwinding in opposite directions so that they will not tangle. One comes from top, and the other one from the bottom. Thread them through the machine as if they were one. Because you're using two threads make certain that you use a needle that can accommodate two threads. A topstitching needle has a larger eye. You can simply, as I have done put one of these right into my machine. I'm just about ready to sew. I also like to use a foot that allows me to guide the fabric right next to the edge. The edge joining foot, or edge stitching foot looks different on every machine. This one has a little lip. The one I'm using on with my machine does not have this lip. But you can adjust the guide so that the edge of the fabric can align right with the white, in this instance, guide to make stitching very easily done. A straight stitch, but I adjusted it a little bit. I like to lengthen the stitch. A traditional length is maybe 2.0 to 2.5. I'm going to make it longer, to 3.0 to 3.5 because I have those thicker threads. I have already determined this but I'm going to move my needle position. I've adjusted this so I'm sewing right on the very edge. That way, I can align the guide of the foot right next to the edge of the fabric. I'm coming upon a pin right now, so I'll just remove that pin and then simply sew. When going around curves, as I have here you can go a little slower. I always find it's just like driving the mountains. Go slower when you get around the curves. Just guide that fabric along the guide of the foot. I'll just sew a little bit more of this. Get the pins out of the way. Very simple stitching. I'll show you this portion of the pocket that has been stitched. This topstitching only shows on one layer of the fabric. If you were stitching, let's say, on a lapel or collar where you'd see both sides of the topstitching use double threads in the bobbin. Here I have some purple thread. It's unwinding, again, in opposite directions. I would just simply wind the bobbin with two threads and you'll have the same width and thickness of thread. Another topstitching tip. U is for understitching. Although it doesn't show from the right side it plays a key role in keeping facings and undercollars in their place. I have a sample of just a portion of a facing a neckline facing. You could use it on armhole facings or a variety of places. For this facing that has been stitched around this curve I've already done trimming. Grade the seam allowance always making the facing seam allowance the narrowest and the garment seam allowance just a little bit wider down to about 3/8" and 1/4". After grading all the seam allowances then I press, prior to doing the understitching. My preference is to press from the wrong side. Here, I can hold the fabric so I'm not going to get any little tucks. I want to press it flat. Just press a portion of it at a time and you'll have the seam allowances pressed to the facing. Now, most instructions will give us some guidelines to use a straight stitch to stitch the seam allowances to the facing. My preference is to use a zigzag stitch. This is a multiple step zigzag. I happen to know it's a little bit too wide for that narrow seam allowance so I'm going to narrow the width to about 2.5. I'm going to increase the length to about 2.0. This wider width allows the fabric to lie flatter. That's why I prefer it over a straight stitch. Then sewing from the right side, just sew in sections. You kind of have to mold the fabric when you have a curve such as this. Just sew on the facing. The stitch will not show from the right side. It will certainly help keep that facing to the underside because the seam allowances have been sewn in that area. Let me just get that out of the way. I'll cut the threads. When I bring this to the right side you'll be able to see that here's that little stitch. It's been sewn down. The seam allowances have been stitched to that facing. Even though it hasn't been given a final press it just folds very nicely around that edge. So, whenever you're working with collars, cuffs, or facings this is how you do understitching. V is for vinyl. It's not usually thought of as a fabric. But it's easy to incorporate it in accessory and fashion projects. When working on vinyl whether making a handbag, a tote, perhaps a belt you may want to incorporate some of these techniques when sewing. This fabric is really fun. It would make a fun raincoat. I'm going to make a tote out of this fabric. But yet, when sewing this you may want to consider some of these techniques. Instead of pins, first of all, use paperclips or other types of clips to hold the fabric together. When sewing on the wrong side, it sews readily because the fabric has canvas attached to it so it feeds through the machine with ease. But to press it is another story. Because of the vinyl portion of it, you would melt the fabric. So rather than pressing as normal we're going to use a wooden pressing tool. On the table, I simply flatten it out with a little handheld flattening area. It still doesn't keep it flat. So what we're going to need to do is topstitch the area. Use a topstitching needle, because the fabric is thicker. Then incorporate a roller foot. The roller on the foot portion will aid in topstitching over this area. Most laminated fabrics can easily be topstitched with just the addition of a roller foot. I'm topstitching, obviously, a straight stitch. I've lengthened the stitch to about 3.0 or 3.5. Do a little testing before doing the stitching. That will allow you to have the fabric really flat. This is the one I just stitched. This has the stitching on both sides. At times on Sewing with Nancy, &nbspwe have used the clear vinyl to work with handbags or cosmetic totes even sewing totes adding it as pockets, or adding it to the fabric. I have the striped fabric underneath. I'm going to borrow some of my paperclips just to hold it in place, right on the fabric. This vinyl is a little more difficult to stitch. Sometimes it doesn't want to feed through the machine. With tissue paper on each side of the presser foot just put a strip so that the foot instead of guiding on the fabric is guiding on the tissue paper. This will make the feeding of the fabric like a breeze. So, whether you're working with laminated fabric or very thick vinyl these are some techniques that will help you in your sewing savviness. W is for wrapped corners. This technique is definitely a staple in my sewing repertoire. If you've watched Sewing with Nancy &nbspover the past years perhaps you've seen this technique. It's one of my favorites, because it works out so well. When having corners generally, we'll pivot. We'll sew a straight edge pivot at the corner of this collar, for example sew the other edge and then pivot again at the opposite end. Well, when sewing this collar we're going to sew four times without doing any pivoting. It will be assured that you'll get very sharp points. You can do trimming and understitching along the way. The first step is always to add interfacing. Interfacing on both the upper collar and the undercollar. After fusing the interfacing, meet the cut edges together along the outer edge and sew from cut edge to cut edge. On this next sample, which has been stitched-- It has also been graded grading the undercollar the narrowest. You'll see that the stitch starts at the very cut edge and ends at the very cut edge. You press your seam allowances toward the undercollar and do that understitching which we just did for the letter U. Here's the understitched collar. It's nice and flat and already trimmed at that collar point. Now, wrap the fabric so that those two edges are meeting and the seam allowance has been wrapped to the underside. Notice right on the fold is the seam line. You can either pin it, or in this case it's just such a short seam that I can just start to sew. I'll backtrack a little bit and sew that seam. Then, after stitching this we'll do some grading and trimming. Here we have the seam stitched. I'll simply cut off the corner and grade the seam allowance. Again, grading the seams so that one is a little bit longer than the other. The most common pressing tool I use is that finger press. You can just finger press that open. Then turn this right side out. As I turn this, I'll simply encourage it with a turner. But you will see that I have a very sharp point even without pressing, due to wrapped corners. Y is for yo-yos. What's old often becomes new again. In the '30s and '40s, yo-yos were used for making coverlets. Now, yo-yos are used for accents. They can be made of silk, cotton, or a variety of fabrics. Our great-grandmothers or grandmothers used lids and jars and traced on fabric. Whatever the size of the lid or circle that was traced the yo-yo will become half the size. After tracing, as I did on this small sample then trim the fabric approximately 1/4" away. It doesn't have to be exact. Thread a needle. You might want to use that beeswax or thread conditioner. Get matching color thread not contrasting, as I have here. Then you're just going to roll or turn the fabric around just kind of quarter by quarter, following the edge that was traced. You could even use a lead pencil if it wouldn't show through on the other side. You can take several running stitches, if you'd like which I'll do right now. Just run it around. Pull the thread taut and you'll have a yo-yo. This will be a relatively small yo-yo when I get it completed. I think you can see, as it's starting to turn the size this will be. This will just be like a little flower yo-yo shape. There are more contemporary ways of making these using a two-section plate and disk. There are little knobs that you'll find at the end of the plate and markings that are on the disk. You can kind of see those. You don't even have to cut a square just cut the fabric a little bit larger and align those two markings together. You have to kind of fold back the fabric which I'll do right now. Get everything aligned and snap it into place. Then just roll the fabric on one side. On the underside, they have little areas small little horseshoe areas, very small that you sew from, in and out, just making certain that you sew in this area up and down, up and down, to go around the disk. Then after sewing all the way around as you can see that I've done, then you do some trimming. Trim off the excess fabric. Snap out the sections, and pull the thread. Whether you're making hundreds or just a few which generally I just make a few for an accent you can then tie the threads securely in the middle and you will have a yo-yo that you can use for an accent. The perfect representation for the letter Y. Z is for zippers. Lap zippers are my favorite style. See how to use tape for ease of pinning and topstitching. This lap zipper showcases the simple technique the lap, the underlay. the first change I make is when cutting out the pattern. Within the zipper area I allow a one-inch seam allowance. At the very top of the fabric I mark the one-inch area and I leave the zipper area open. I've stopped sewing with the traditional 5/8" at the bottom of the zipper. After this initial stitching, then do some pressing. You're looking at the right side of the fabric. The overlap side has been pressed under the entire one inch. The underlay side, a scant one inch in other words, about 7/8" so there's a little extra 1/8" in this area. The zipper is placed underneath the underlay area. Just butt the fold of the underlay area next to the coil. Notice that I have the extra length of the zipper at the top of the fabric. Then, with a zipper foot on my machine I'm just going to topstitch along this area. I have it pinned in place. Then just simply topstitch. You don't have to baste the seam, just sew. That's one of the two stitches. I mention that I like to use, instead of pins for the next step, I like to use tape. This really works out well. The tape is used to not only hold the fabric edges together but also to give you a guideline. I've used 1/2"-wide sewing tape. You could also just use office tape. Either way works. First I put down the tape to hold the fabrics together. Then the stitching line. This is where I'm going to stitch right next to this tape. Start at the bottom or the top, it really doesn't matter whatever you would prefer. I think this time I'm just going to start sewing at the top. I'm going to sew right along the tape. I have the zipper foot on. I'm going to backstitch a little bit within the seam allowance. Notice that sometimes the pins might give you a little bit of a bubble or a dimple in the fabric. Because the tape is there you certainly don't have to worry about it. I'll stop with the needle in the fabric, pivot and then sew the bottom. With a little thread, time and removal of the tape, you have your zipper in place. You can see, as I'm pulling it away with just two rows of stitching that's how you create a lap zipper. As a kid, did you ever collect leaves, twigs or perhaps dried weeds? My Nancy's Corner guest continues to gather interesting shapes from nature. Then she uses them for inspiration to create fabric artistry. I'd like you to welcome Barbara Schneider. Barbara is an extremely creative individual who combines photography to capture the images with photography and then creates amazing pieces out of fabric for modern art. Welcome, Barbara. Thank you for having me. You're very welcome. You start with an inspiration. I do. I often just go out on a walk, either in the woods or in wetland areas, and I collect materials. It could be leaves, twigs or pods. Sure. And this leaf started my whole journey toward these shaped leaf pieces. Oh, wow. It is an amazing transformation. You have three layers of fabric, you mentioned. Yes. There's the front, which is pieced out of many materials the back, and then a layer of batting in between. It's heavily machine stitched. The original had circle areas. You've emulated that with the stitching. Then I added the satin stitching here to create the stem. I made many of these and they really didn't have any life to them until I had the idea of shaping them. I've used stiffening glue. And then I shape them over whatever materials come to hand. They start to take on a life of their own. When I display them in multiples you get the interaction of the shadows and the undulating light which is what I like the best. Oh, they're really very inspirational. This leaf was flat, that you used for the inspiration but your next piece had a very dimensional leaf. Yes. Especially in the fall, I like to collect leaves that have curled up in such interesting ways. They become very sculptural. Extremely. I try to take that idea. Wait until you see this. This is really charming. I try to create the feel of that as best I could, again, with the fabrics. In this case, there's the addition of netting the stitching again. It's free-motion stitching in the shapes of the vines or even just in the indentations that may be in the leaf. I cut the edges so it's that same feeling of the little sharp edges on it. Again, this was combined with several other leaves to make a whole piece. I like the way they feel. I do, too. And the way they capture the light and shadow. Very striking. The next inspiration came from very small leaves. That unfortunately, were eaten away by Japanese beetles. Yes, these are linden leaves. They seem to love linden trees. They're just so minutely-- Like lace. Like lace, yes. Let's show the finished result. It's about 5'-6' in width. It's stunning. It captures the same cut-away areas. It has great-- I find myself, I kept looking at this piece. It draws you to it. But you used a little different technique for this particular one. For this piece, the technique I used was to scan those leaves and print them out. I blew them up quite large and printed them out on my home printer. I had a hard time seeing this but they're pieced right in here. So it's not just one piece of fabric. It's tiled. It's tiled together and then backed. Then I would go back in and do the stitching. And after the stitching I used my little, tiny nail scissors and cut out all these spaces. Then I did the same thing in terms of the shaping that I did on the other pieces. This piece is fairly recent. It's very striking. Thank you for sharing this. What a unique way of working with fabric, and stiffeners and layering, and machine embroidery. Thank you, Barbara. You're welcome, thanks for having me. You're very welcome. For more information on Barbara's fiber art you can go to NancyZieman.com and click on "Nancy's Corner." At NancyZieman.com you'll also be able to see additional episodes of Sewing with Nancy read my blog, and find out additional information. You'll find that we're now coming to a close of "Sewing A to Z." We've done three programs of "Sewing A to Z." I hope you've learned from these basic techniques. Bye for now. Nancy has written a full-color, fully-illustrated book entitled Nancy Zieman's "Sewing A to Z" that includes all the information featured in this series. It's $19.99, plus shipping and handling. To order the book, call 1-800-336-8373

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