I am in desperate need of an old fashioned sewing circle. I mean, ladies of the great and wide sewing world, seriously, how did you learn to sew? Were you lucky enough to have a mother or grandmother to teach you? Are you better at reading the Vogue Sewing books than I am? Or have you given up and just headed to Anthropologie to buy your overpriced but super cute blouses off the rack? Where oh where can I find an old fashioned sewing circle? And how am I supposed to learn to sew without a full blown sewing circles of mothers and grandmothers and godmothers and great aunts all sitting around giving sage advice on things like mitered bias facings.The cool fold over collar on the above 1950s Collar Confection Blouse needs to be attached and finished with a bias strip binding. And in order to wrap around the 105 degree corner you see, I have to make a mitered corner. These mitered corners have me flummoxed. It is supposed to be simple. In fact, so simple that my pattern instructions merely have a little step "miter the corner" for the instructions, as thought I will just instinctively know how to miter a corner.
But the thing is, I don't know how to "miter the corner" and I can't seem to find a solid resource to teach me.
I though Youtube might stand in my my old fashioned quilting circle, but no. Two annoying placemat videos later and I still have a lame looking non-mitered corner. I just want to sew this blouse. Seriously. What's a girl gotta do to learn to sew?
The collar, with the bias tape folded over. It almost looks decent from the front. but then......you see the back. That is not a mitered corner. I know that much. Fumble as I might, I am not making those neat and tidy little corners like I am supposed to. Yikes.
6 comments:
So, my mom did teach me to sew, but not to miter corners. I learned that from the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, AKA my personal sewing bible. It has great diagrams and four pages of bias mitering goodness. They have it at my library, although after checking it out (and returning it late) 4 times, I got my own. HTH!!
I can sympathize, I thought going to college would sort me out and I'm sorry to say it really didn't. I've lernt more on my own or from the internet. I have like minded older friends who just don't have the level of skills I'm looking for.
I wish I just had a dedicated helper, someone who knows what I'm asking and how to answer it. It also doesn't help that I need to be shown how to do something before I can understand it.
*sigh*
On the mitered corners I have a book which clearly shows how to do it, I could take pictures of it for you if it might help!
The Vogue Sewing book should have it, but it's easier said than done, I think. If you have made bias binding for quilts, it's similar, I think. What I would do, and being over internet is hard to describe, but anyway, is to get it all pinned from both sides of corner up to the corner then at the corner, you will have a piece that pleats upward. Mark where the pleat starts on each side and finger press so you can reverse it and sew it the opposite way along those lines. You want the seam allowance of the "pleat" to be underneath, then trim it and press it open. That is how I would work it, whether it is right or not. Without seeing it in person, I hope this makes sense.
http://quilting.about.com/od/bindingaquilt/ss/mitered_binding.htm
is one of my favorite methods....
Oh dear. My mitered corners are suspect on any given project. If I lived closer to you, I would come over and help you out, but I'm 5 hours away (I detest I-35!)
We started a sewing circle in my town by going to meetup.com You should see if maybe there is a group in your area, and if not, start one. It's really been great to meet once a month with others and get inspiration,ideas and advice.
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