I haven't made anything for years and just bought a Easy Butterick pattern. I am confused as I have read the instructions many times. I have laid out the pattern pieces as shown and cut them out. They all butt up to each other but now I am wondering how I was supposed to cut notches if there is no gap between the pieces. Am I being thick. Can anyone help and also what does everyone use to transfer markings - tracing wheels?? Is carbon paper a bit fiddly?
Making an assumption here: are you in the habit of cutting notches *out*? That is, leaving a bit of fabric to the outside of the seam line? If so, you would have to leave each pattern piece a scant 1/4" away from every other piece, at least where notches are going to be.
But I cut straight across notch areas and make a tiny snip(s)
*into* the seam allowance for all notches. Works for me...
For other markings, I use tailor's chalk (I have several colors), pencil (but only if I'm *sure* it won't show), a marking wheel, and/or white marking-pencil. I don't like tracing wheels because they chew up patterns and I almost always use a pattern multiple times.
Here's the rationale behind notches. In armholes, one notch denotes the front of the armhole, and there is a corresponding notch on the sleeve or armhole facing. Two notches denote the back of the armhole/ sleeve. Notches become useless if they are not cut precisely. So I always taught my students to cut straight past the notch, and make a tiny snip at the center of the notch. Snips are much more accurate than notches. There is a dot at the center of the sleeve cap, and this dot corresponds to the shoulder seam. This dot can be marked with a snip as well. When there is a yoke on a garment, a sleeve dot will correspond to a dot on the yoke, rather than the shoulder seam.
Two notches together denote a side seam; three denotes a center back seam. Do not get into the habit of cutting across two or three notches without differentiating them separately; this is when they become useless. Simple designs will have few notches. The more complicated a design becomes, the more important it is to have notches to accurately sew things together. No fair whacking off the top or bottom of a seam if they don't match when sewn together.
There are many ways to mark other symbols or sewing guidelines on fabrics. Some are done on the outside (for pockets, for example); others are marked on the wrong side (darts). A good book on basic sewing instructions can explain some of these for you. My most used marking materials are waxless chalk, disappearing ink, and tailor's tacks. An analysis of what you are marking will help you to decide which marking system to use.
Thank you so much. Now I understand why some have two notches and it all makes sense. The patterns are definitely laid next to each other and on the sewing instruction diagrams the pieces have outward notches but I like the sound of snips so will do this. Do you know why some notches have hard lines and some broken lines?? All the replies have given me good useful advicel. Thank you.
Heh heh, am remembering the first time I used the disappearing ink pens. Hadn't sewn for years and was coming back to a process full of many new tools and ideas (such as frequently changing sewing machine needle). I marked the pattern in the afternoon, but went away for the rest of the evening doing family activities. Next morning I took the garment pieces to the machine to stitch and discovered not a mark remained. Voila! as the magician says. Disappearing ink fades a lot quicker than I'd realized.
One of my students "said" that she took a test with an erasible pen and got a zero because her paper was blank. Trouble is, she used the blue one that has to be erased with water, rather than the purple that disappears after a few hours. I hope she made it somewhere, because she couldn't bluff in our division.
"Notch", by the way, refers to the marks on the pattern -- in the days when printing was expensive, patterns were marked with holes and notches. The original word stuck to the notches, but the remaining holes are now called "dots" -- most holes were replaced with words or easier-to-read symbols such as grain arrows. "Notch" is not an instruction for what to do to your fabric.
Leaving little tabs is the least-convenient way to mark a notch -- I do it only when making underbriefs *and* cutting them on a fold that goes right through the notch, so that it's fairly easy to cut a tab. Even then, it must be done with extreme care, for there is a very strong tendency for a cut to extend beyond the point where it makes a sharp turn.
There are a zillion ways to mark a notch; the tiny snip is most common, because the scissors are already in your hand. Sometimes I will pinch each snip and nip a speck of lint off the corner to make it easier to find.
Since I have real blackboard chalk (bought before the chalk in blackboard crayons was replaced with other substances), I sometimes stencil the fabric through the notches and holes in the pattern. More often, I use removable marker or thread. One can make a wee tiny snip for precision, then darn in a line pointing at it so that you can find it.
Another trick is to weave a pin into the notch, then rub a marker on the bumps the pin raises to make a precise mark. This is also a good way to transfer a mark to the other side of the fabric.
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