So it’s been snowing here. Crazy, I know. And I’m in a flurry of holiday projects (I’ll be sharing some real progress tomorrow). So today I just have a couple quick words of wisdom if you’re just starting out with sewing. A couple things I’ve learned over the last two weeks.
- If you think you’re getting a deal because the “quick sew, 1 hour” pattern is only $2.99 and the others are all $11.99 and up, well, I hope you know Vietnamese. (By the way, that 1 hour is for people who actually know what they’re doing. For the rest of us complete amateurs, it’s actually 1 hour times 27.)
- When the directions say “iron the pattern with a warm, dry iron”–DON’T. Just smooth it out with your hand. I never found the warm-dry setting on my iron, but I did find the scorch-and-curl-tissue paper setting.
- If you smell something that smells like burning plastic while you’re sewing, STOP IMMEDIATELY, and check your “automatic cool-down” iron. And move the pillow stuffing.
- If the directions suggest that you test a technique on a scrap, they mean at least 5 times. Particularly if using a button hole attachment. One perfect button hole does not qualify you for a button down shirt. Believe me. Apparently neither does 5, but who’s counting?
- Invest in a good seam ripper.
Oh, and if anyone knows how to keep elastic from rolling, but still have it stretchy (by the way, sewing it as part of your seam DOESN’T work), please let me know. My directions are in Vietnamese.
