snaps and French terry

Sara,

When I was making baby clothes for my DGK's, I used jillions of snaps in shoulder and crotch openings. Even on pants of fine-wale corduroy, which is a much more stable fabric than french terry or other knits, I ironed strips of knit fusible interfacing, cut on the straight grain, inside the facing area. That was sufficient to keep the snaps from tearing out.

It sounds like you are accomplishing a lot!

Doreen in Alabama

Ah! I had no idea. Thanks!

Oh, that makes sense -- I never would've thought of that. Thanks!

I'm nesting, I suspect. Must... fix... everything...

Try the plastic snaps that come on tape for duvet cover making.

This is one of the best times of your life, I think, and it's so nice that you're enjoying it.

I believe snaps are available in colors now. When I was using them, white was the only color I could get the 16s in. But I discovered that simmering them in a tiny amount of Rit dye and water in a saucepan on the stove would make them match just about anything. That way they looked much nicer on toddler boys' dark coveralls, for instance.

Here's a snap of a cotton knit jumpsuit I made my granddaughter when she was just learning to walk...it's a Kwik Sew pattern, and the giraffe applique pattern is from one of Kirsten Martenssen's books.

Thanks! I had more fun in those days. Had a new Bernina 1230, loved what it could do. Several plants in this area produced tee shirts and sweat shirts, and there were outlets stores where one could buy good quality knits from bolt ends and sometimes matching rib, *very* reasonably. Or you could go to the plant outlets and buy long- or short-sleeved tee shirt seconds for $1.25, or sweat shirt or sweat pant seconds for $1.50. Some had only a ripped seam, a tiny dirt spot, or small knitting flaw. Cut an XL or XXL apart and work around the flaws, you still had plenty of fabric and dyed-to-match ribbing for baby or toddler garments, practically free.

Those sources dried up after NAFTA caused the plants to close. :(

Doreen in Alabama

I'm sorry you lost your source for good inexpensive fabric. It breaks my heart to see so many companies leave this country. I hope that someday the tide will turn. The suit is so adorable. Great job. Juno

That is a precious jumpsuit. Which reminds me, I have to tell a niece about Kirsten Martenssen's books. She just found out she will be a G-Mother in late October and she is already looking things to sew. I am passing on some patterns to her, but not those books. She is one of the few nieces who does sew and loves it like her aunt. Emily

Thanks, Juno. And it's selfish of me to bemoan losing the fabric sources, when so many decent people lost their jobs and had their lives turned upside down. Some of them had never worked anywhere else, and had no other skills. The textile industry has disappeared from this area.

Doreen in Alabama

We all were at that stage once. As long as you keep learning, there's no limit to what you can do!

Doreen in Alabama

Thank you, Emily. Your niece would love Sewing for Babies, Sewing for Toddlers, Sewing for Children...they all are worth their weight in gold.

Doreen in Alabama

Practice! Just keep sewing - a little every day helps!

Don't start me on jobs,I could go on a rant forever. We all know that the reason is because manufacturers can make even more millions by moving these industries off shore. Then they complain about the cost of welfare and lazy people looking for welfare and not a job and how it's money out of their pockets. Juno

Yup, this GM swears by them. Only 'mistake' I made once was forgetting the seam allowance is 1/4" and I made a pair of shorts for DGD that she had to shoe-horn herself into! Print was so cute she insisted on wearing them. She was 2 yo at the time, and the fabric was a remnant; I tried to get more but there wasn't any. My bad! didn't make that mistake again.

Jean M.

I know what you mean, but I think that many people in this country have surrendered quality on the altar of price, and personally I find it very hard to convince people why that is a bad thing.

Not only that, but I see tons of people who say things like, why should I pay more and get something that's made better when I can get something that looks just the same at W*lmart that costs lots less?

John Wanamaker (who said, "The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten") is probably turning over in his grave.

We had the similar experience when those industries left Reading PA for the sunbelt, before NAFTA, so I know what it's like seeing factory outlets close. Just this week I got a mailing of another fabric outlet going away. Sharon