I'm a single Dad, 52 years old, living in a very ordinary apartment that needs some fresh decorating ideas. I'm convinced that the windows, which are all "treated" with boring white vertical blinds, would look 100% better with some curtains or other treatments.
Did I mention I'm on a budget? I am.
One window in particular is actually an entire wall. The center is a sliding glass door that leads to a balcony, and it is flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows. The entire "wall" is 12 feet in length. It has those aforementioned blinds (which I rarely close, because I'm up on the third floor and it's almost like a treehouse out there).
Anyway, I wondering if it makes sense to buy a low-end sewing machine, learn how to operate it, and make simple curtains (or drapes). I'm used to working with drills, saws, etc. so it would seem I could learn to sew as well, right?
Any recommendations on which machine (if you think I should get one), where and how I could learn to use it, and any simple, quick, cheap curtain ideas?
Go to a sewing machine store---look at used machines. Try some, get advice and ask about any warranty and lessons. Us seamers/stitchers/sewers do turn in machines for upgrading.
You might consider getting a good used machine, Sewing machine repair shops have them, as do some sewing machine retailers. A good used machine may be a good way to start as you'd get 'more bang for your buck.' That way you could get a mid-level machine for the cost of a low end.
Another idea is a vintage machine, the Singers from the 1950's for example are considered some of the best ever made. These can also be found via classified ads, thrift shops and garage sales.
If you buy a machine at a retailer (and I don't mean WalMart, I mean a actual sewing machine store) you will get hands-on lessons which are pretty important. However, these lessons are usually available for a fee also, so you don't actually have to buy a machine to get the lessons.
You might want to get a book like "sewing for dummies" which is actually a decent basic how-to. Get supplies (a list will be in the book) such as thread, needles, sissors, etc. Then go to a fabric store and look at patterns for curtins. Get an 'easy' one to start. The get directions for the pattern are in the pattern package. Get some el cheapo material like muslin and do a test run...if it comes out the way you want, get the 'good material' and make the real thing.=20
And of course come back here with your questi>Hi, new poster here.
Another idea is a vintage machine, the Singers from the 1950's for example are considered some of the best ever made. These can also be found via classified ads, thrift shops and garage sales.
If you buy a machine at a retailer (and I don't mean WalMart, I mean a actual sewing machine store) you will get hands-on lessons which are pretty important. However, these lessons are usually available for a fee also, so you don't actually have to buy a machine to get the lessons.
You might want to get a book like "sewing for dummies" which is actually a decent basic how-to. Get supplies (a list will be in the book) such as thread, needles, sissors, etc. Then go to a fabric store and look at patterns for curtins. Get an 'easy' one to start. The get directions for the pattern are in the pattern package. Get some el cheapo material like muslin and do a test run...if it comes out the way you want, get the 'good material' and make the real thing.
And of course come back here with your questi>Hi, new poster here.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I took a "field trip" to JoAnne's Fabrics this afternoon. Overwhelming (not unlike what others may say in a hardware store?) to say the least. (Being the only guy in the store was a bit weird, too -- lol). Of course, I didn't think about the fact that having a sewing machine is only the beginning -- then there's shears, cutting boards, on and on and on. Even my iron leaves a lot to be desired, and don't even ask about my ironing board. They did sell a line of White machines, but the one that looked like a possible good starter ($99 on sale) was sold out. I couldn't bring myself to talk to anyone there because I felt too self-conscious being a complete newbie. I'm going to have to work on that.
I'll keep reading here and visit an actual sewing machine store too. And I'll try that link!
I taught my son to sew and he's great with a machine now, just told me he'd hemmed two pair of his Lady Love's jeans to surprise her when she got home from working late. Whadda guy! You have the right attitude, a sewing machine is just another power tool. I think I used that same rational when I was pointing my son to a vacuum cleaner ;-) I think you'd be better off getting a higher end used machine at the low end price. You don't want a cheap machine anymore than you want a cheap power tool. And cheap is NOT synonymous with INEXPENSIVE.
And PLEASE, don't feel too uncomfortable about treading into no man's land. One of the sewing classes I took after buying my new Designer1 had two gentlemen in it, they were not only welcomed and given lots of support and encouragement and good natured kidding (i.e. "even a girl can do this") but they were fed extremely well!
Go to my web albums
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and look in TheBalcony, last picture in the series is a big sliding door as you havedescribed and I have a NO sew window treatment on it. I never close mycurtains either.
Gary....DON'T be afraid to ask for help. Most of the ladies that I know at JoAnns (I also used to work for the company) are more than willing to help if you are willing to explain what you are looking for/want to do.
Once when I needed something in a hurry, I simply slotted a curtain rod through the "wide hem" end of a pair of printed sheets and hung them up. I bought them off the clearance table, so they didn't cost much, they looked quite acceptable, and the only work required was to install the curtain rods. If you wanted to be fancy, you could tie them back with some of the fancy "rope" you buy in the Home Decorator dept. of the fabric store, in which case you will also need to install some kind of hook to which to tie it.
I LOVE that window treatment. It feels a bit overwhelming wandering into this strange new land of sewing, but you all are making me feel pretty darn welcome. (I think I like the anonymity of the internet for now!). Lemme ask another question, to which I think I already know the answer:
How hard is it to make tee-shirts? I live in tee-shirts and think the prices of good ones are outrageous. So how hard, on a scale of 1-10? If they're pretty easy, especially for a rank beginner with no experience, I think I could justify the expense of a machine which would pay for itself in very little time. Make sense?
For t-shirts you need a serger with cover stitch capabilities and they aren't cheap. For what the machine costs you are better off buying them already made. It will take a very long time for it to pay for itself. If on the other hand you were serious about sewing and were going to make more expensive items such as bathing suits, exercise clothes, or outerwear it might pay. T-shirt fabric in a retail fabric store will cost you more then buying a ready made t-shirt, but when it comes to things like bathing suit fabric or polar fleece you can start saving money. Does that make sense? Some people do make their own t-shirts but that is because they either love sewing or they want something unusual. Men's t-shirts which you can find on sale for $5 or less don't pay to make.
Before you buy a sewing machine or serger go to your library and check out books on sewing. Get a feel for all the other things you need to buy besides the sewing machine or serger. You need scissors, pins, pin cushion, tape measure, yard stick, wash out marking pencils, good iron, ironing board, thread, etc. You don't need a rotary cutter or cutting board unless you are making a quilt. You will need a big table for laying out projects, or the ability to pull up the rug and move out the furniture to work on the floor. I had to work on the floor when I made 8 ft long drapes, as there was no other surface big enough. There is also more involved in making something than just buying fabric. You also need thread and trim. You don't need a pattern for drapes, because all drapes are custom made to the windows measurements, and are usually just rectangles of fabric. All you need is a book with good instructions.
You could also cheat by using fusible tape. It is a way to "sew" without owning a sewing machine. You put this tape between the layers of fabric and iron it together to hold it in place. It works well for hemming things. I used it quite a bit before I got a sewing machine. You could also sew by hand, and that requires almost no investment. Scissors, pins, needles and thread are all you need. You probably have the yard stick and tape measure already in the house.
Another no sew option is bed sheets. If you open up to two side seams by the wide hem at the top of a flat sheet you have a pocket to slip the rod through. Just put 2 or more sheets on each window depending on width. You could use any carpentry skills you have to make a cornice to cover the top and make it more decorative. You can also buy decorative tie backs such as tassels ready made at the fabric shop or any home decorating shop.
Sewing is not cheap like many assume. Fabric stores have to make a profit, too. When you buy fabric, buttons, patterns, etc, you are paying a marked up, retail price. You could easily spend $15 making a simple knit t-shirt with a ribbed neck and that doesn't include the pattern. The primary benefit to sewing for yourself is having a custom-fit - but THAT takes a lot of experience to achieve in itself.
Also, don't expect too much from the employees of Jo-Ann's. No offense, I'm sure there are some good ones there, I actually worked there myself during college. But most of their employees aren't sewers and couldn't tell you the difference between a chiffon and georgette. It's just a low-paying retail job like everything else these days. Despite the higher prices, I shop more often at Hancock's now because of their knowledgable staff. Of course, this may be a regional thing. Maybe it's the complete opposite in other cities!
It makes perfect sense to me. I would find an older one from classifieds or a thrift store or yard sale -- test it with fabric to make sure it runs quietly and you can switch it through all the stitches
-- because that will cost you under $50 and those older machines will last forever if serviced regularly. And there are bunches of curtain ideas on the web.
I use a tabletop ironing board for an ironing board, because I have had too many full-size ironing boards break. It works fine for me.
NO!!!! NO!!!! NO!!!! Don't get a low-end White. Find an older used machine. You will get more bang for your buck as well as a machine that wasn't built with the idea of planned obsolescence in mind.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have a few spares I'd be glad to sell for a modest price (There are some machines who *beg* me to take them home because they don't want to be left in the thrift store) and I have tried them and they run well but might need something very, very minor -- one needs a belt, but that would run you $10 or so, etc.
Congratulations on one of the best decisions of your life!! :-)
While searching for something else, I came across this site which is an online sewing instruction booklet that you can print out for guidance. I hope this will help you with your endeavours.
You're certainly getting plenty of advice, aren't you! If you decide to go down the sewing route, you will find it very rewarding.
However, re non-sewing treatments... It sounds like you've got all the light-diffusing, privacy, etc that you need from your existing blinds, so all you need is a bit of window-dressing.
So first of all, I'd say don't get rid of your blinds. Instead, think about how you could treat them (stencilling, etc), if you want to break up that expanse of white whenever you do shut them. You can do wonders with stencils and a bit of car spray paint. A book called 'Instant Decorating' is full of good ideas here, if you can track it down.
For curtains, for now, I'd use saris, if you can get them. There are loads available online, but you can't beat a sari shop. Just put up a curtain pole with good-size finials - a bit wider than the width of the window - and drape your saris over the finials. You can knot them, twist them round the pole, use multiple colours, etc. You can hold them onto the pole with curtain clips - Ikea sell these but you can get them in lots of DIY places too. They clip right round the pole and hold the fabric with teeth, but IMHO they do snag. I often use elastic bands, or carpet tacks instead. For draping ideas, look in a home furnishings book from a bookshop or a library. 'The Curtain Book' by Caroline Clifton-Mogg is pretty good, as is 'Textile Classics' by Melanie Paine, but there are loads of others.
If you can't get saris, simple lengths of any lightweight fabric will do the same job - abundance is always good when it comes to curtains, so a lot of a cheap fabric usually looks better than a small amount of expensive fabric. Don't break the bank. Sunlight fades and rots fabric pretty quickly - proper curtains are usually lined and interlined and specially treated to take account of this - it's one of the reasons they cost so much.
If your drapes are lightweight, you can tie them back with anything - pyjama cords, ribbons, raffia. Florists are a good source of alternative materials of that kind.
Finding the fabric is the hard part... good knits are not easy to find always. Tweak the pattern to fit you, and start sewing. The book I'd suggest for you is Kwik-Sew's Sweatshirts* Unlimited, which has the basic pattern in all sizes, instructions for making them on both the sewing machine and the serger, and instruction on "theme and variations".
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*"Sweatshirt" in the language of this book, covers all sorts of dartless tops, including sweatshirts, polos and regular ol' t-shirts.
It takes a bit longer to make a t-shirt on a sewing machine than on a serger, but you don't need a serger to make a t-shirt. It's about an hour and a half for me to make a standard t-shirt on a sewing machine (you'll want a zigzag machine most likely, but you can do it on a straight stitch machine)... about 30 min on a serger. Which is why sergers get called "microwaves of the sewing world".
Most commercial t-shirts have two lines of straight stitching on the hem, with thread snaking between the lines of straight stitching -- this is called a coverhem stitch, and it's $$$ on a serger. You can do a good job of faking it with a double needle in a zigzag machine... you might want to ask for a demo when you go interview some used machines.
Don't be frightened to ask for advice. I can assure you some of us women don't know much about sewing and feel a bit silly in sewing shops too. For some reason there's an assumption that because I'm a woman I know the basics - a bit like men in garages, except that women will ask questions! Start your collection of sewing equipment slowly - get the best you can afford - either on sale or used. Don't buy cheap products as they won't last.
Good luck and enjoy.
Viviane
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> Don't forget to look for lessons. Try Adult ed or a sewing machinedealer.
T-shirts aren't that hard to make with a standard sewing machine once you have a little practice but I will agree wiith the other person who said that the hard part is finding good quality knit. I have had good luck at Walmart of all places. I found some really nice quality dark purple knt on the dollar a yard table and at that price you can't go wrong but for the most part what you find at fabric store is either juvenile knit (ie with duckies or teddy bears) or in horrible patterns.
The way that sewing saves me money is in repairing clothing. Sometimes a little tear can make something unwearable but 5 minutes of stitching can fix it.
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