Seeking a sewing mentor in West Hills/Canoga Park area

Heyo - just started learning to sew - made elf hats for my sisters at christmas - but wanting some more indepth skills: pleats, darts, collars, finishing touches, et al. Anyone got some free time and room to accomodate a big dumb guy? I'm between contracts at the moment, so I couldn't pay, though I can be handy around the house: bit of light plumbing, moving heavy boxes, rewiring lamps, dish or window washing, etc. I can help you photograph your own projects for use in a web gallery or on eBay or etsy. Backrubs. Whatever you're needing done, I'll take a stab at it.

My goal is to be able to make structured, properly tailored clothes. Got my eye on some nice waistcoats and a frock coat.

Anyway, thanks for any help you can give.

Cheers! Sarge (in West Hills, CA)

slsecondthoughts at gmail.

Reply to
Jeffery Sargent
Loading thread data ...

Welcome!

First, get this:

formatting link
Then come back here to ask specific questions. I'm not in your geographical location. I hope someone in your area offers you lessons, but good luck finding *quality* lessons without paying real $$ for them.

Reply to
BEI Design

Beverly,

Is this a really good book for those who wish to learn to sew?

I bought my daughter in law a new sewing machine for Christmas and she is thrilled, she said it was the smash hit of all the Christmas gifts that anyone received. My delightful and very dear granddaughters ages 11 and 8 are very interested in the machine and have begun to use it for some little sewing projects. I am very surprised and happy that the girls are interested in sewing, I just wish I wasn't clear across the country.

I know it's not recommended to choose a machine for someone but I did do some research and found a Janome at Sears that was on sale and has a one step buttonhole with a foot that can measure the button and make the correct size buttonhole. It also has an adjustable foot pressure and can drop it's feed dogs. And it was really cute, off white with red/pink controls. The girls (and my DIL) all just love this machine.

I hadn't thought about a book to send along but after reading your post I think it's an excellent suggestion. I do know they will need a good supply of needles, it was a long time before I realized just how important it is to use the correct needle and one that was in good condition. Would this book help or hinder? I don't want them to be intimidated (by a big heavy book) and they do have an aunt near by who sews.

They think it's so much fun! Hooray!!! My older granddaughters used to sew with me but after I moved from South Lake Tahoe they got frustrated and decided to not sew again ever. These two live in Apple Valley which is still in California but not at all close to their cousins.

If you (or anyone) know(s) of a good beginning sewing book for younger people please let me know.

Thanks,

Judie

P.S. My DIL is now a sewist although she recently has expressed some interest and even asked her sister (the one who sews) to look at the older Sears Kenmore machine I gave her a few years ago. She said it was eating her fabric and breaking needles (trying to hem some pants). I know that particular machine is a good little workhorse in very good working order but hard to know what was wrong from New York, hence the new machine.

Reply to
Judie in Penfield NY

Yes, in my opinion it's a great all-around book for sewists. I'm 70, have been sewing for 64+ years, and every once in a while there is a rarely used technique I need a refresher course on. I have a fairly large sewing library, including several on couture techniques (and for those I highly recommend Claire Shaeffer's books), as well as books on draping, bridal, serging, etc. and also many books on historical designs and costumes.

There may be other "Sewing for Dummies" type books. However for a really good reference book on sewing I think the RD Complete is a great start. It has good descriptions and excellent pictures.

NAYY,

Reply to
BEI Design

I agree with Beverly. I haven't been sewing quite that long, but in my opinion, it's a great book to have. I find that even 11 YO's can refer to it and understand what it says quite easily.

One I've seen but don't own and is also good is the Dorling Kindersly one of a very similar name:

formatting link
It uses photographs rather than drawings, so it's sometimes easier to translate to your own work. I don't think it's quite as comprehensive as the RD one, but some folk prefer it.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

Thanks, Beverly

I do have this book but it's copyright date is 1976 and I don't find it nearly as helpful as the Simplicity Simply the Best sewing book I have from 1988. I also have the Singer sewing books plus a couple of the Sewing with Nancy books. I think I may have to actually get out to a store and check the newer sewing books in person.

Judie

Reply to
Judie in Penfield NY

formatting link
>

Thanks, Kate.

I think a trip to a store so I can see in person what is available would be the best thing for me to do at this point. I have a number of different sewing books here ranging from the Singer Sewing Book up to the serging book I got a couple of months ago.

I think they would be better off with actual photographs, I hadn't realized that most of my books are not even in color. I sort of think something simple at first in order to not make them feel overwhelmed.

I just wish it were possible for me to visit them but it doesn't look like that's going to happen for the next year or two.

Judie

Reply to
Judie in Penfield NY

geo had written this in response to

formatting link
:

Just published my new website on quilting:

formatting link
youshould be able to get a lot of nice information for free there. Will beposting regular articles on quilting also from my blog. See an excerptbelow:

A Brief History Of Quilting

What is quilting? Why is it popular in cold countries than in tropical ones? What makes is special?

For beginners who do not have any faint idea about quilting, introduction to this old but growing craft can elicit a lot of questions. The following are some of the answers, including a brief history of the craft.

The craft

The dictionary defines quilting as a method of securing or wadding of two layers of fabric, usually with a soft, thick padding (cotton, wool, etc) between them, by way of stitching them together.

In the old days, this extra padded fabric is used to make garments for insulation against the cold. Later, the stitching that keeps the stuffing evenly distributed provided the opportunity for quilters to express their artistic inclinations through designs and colors.

Very old quilts were found in the mountains of Mongolia dating as far back as the 1st century. A wadded carpet found has a center quilted in an overall pattern of spirals and bordered with diamond designs and animal shapes.

The patterns and the techniques of those old quilts are still in use today and are already part of the quilter?s catalog of techniques.

Coverage

The first quilts were thought to have originated from ancient Egypt, went all over Asia, and then to Europe in the years of the Crusades in 11th century.

More:

formatting link
enjoy, Geo.

Jeffery Sargent wrote:

-------------------------------------

##-----------------------------------------------## Delivered via

formatting link
Community of the NetWeb and RSS access to yourfavorite newsgroup - rec.crafts.textiles.sewing - 3921 messages and counting!##-----------------------------------------------##

Reply to
geo

The RD book is good in may ways, but not in all ways. I bought it on recommendation of many on this ng., but was somewhat disappointed. Likewise, I bought "Sewing for Dummies" sight unseen, for my dgd, then thought I had better have one myself in case she had questions, but agan, I was VERY disappointed. Frankly, I think that along with the Singer books, many of which I bought off the remainder table, the best one I have is the Vogue 1975 edition, which I bought at a rummage sale for $1.

My advice is always the same. Take an entire afternoon or evening, go to your local free public library (or a big city branch if neccessary) and look at ALL of the various sewing books,to see which one "talks" to you.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Reply to
Olwyn.Mary

Wow..thank you all for the suggestions.

Kinda figured it wouldn't be that easy. Started sewing with a pretty good idea how it worked (I'm a sculptor, so patterns and assembly are second nature) but not how to work the blasted machine. Like having a road atlas in your head, but not knowing how to operate a car. Thought I might have good luck having a hands-on tutor to help me with fancy bits (an instructor vs learning to drive via the driver's manual). But I guess it's time to hit the books.

Thanks again! Sarge

Reply to
Sarge

LOL! I live in a very small town with a tiny library where I volunteer, and I read all these recommendations avidly to help me decide what we should buy for the library's shelves.

Reply to
Kathy Morgan

Most sewing machine stores have machine operation classes that are a very good idea to take. Even if you didn't buy the machine there, it's often possible to buy a few hours of instructional time on your machine specifically.

Or see if any of the teaching members of

formatting link
are near you. You may also want to consider joining ASG
formatting link
and Patternreview
formatting link
May I make some suggestions for you?

Books: Carol Ahles: Fine Machine Sewing. Work through the basics chapters as soon as you have some experience operating a machine. Yes, it looks fussier than you probably want to do... do it anyhow. Particularly, tackle the chapters on hemming and rehemming and narrow hemming fairly early on. It'll save you a lot of time.

John Giordano: The Sewing Machine Guide. More on how to choose and use various features of mechanical machines, as well as general machine care, but it's got good stuff in it.

Gale Grigg Hazen: Owner's Guide to Sewing Machines, Sergers and Knitting Machines. Care and feeding, and how bad sewing habits make good machines work poorly, and can even damage the machine.

Nancy Bednar and Joann Pugh-Gannon: Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Techniques. Things you probably never thought of doing with a machine.

Videos and DVDs: Connie Crawford: Studio Sewing Skills (consider buying the student packet, too). Covers the processes used in garment sewing, starting with threading a machine properly. A whole heck of a lot of "bad sewing machine" issues are actually misthreaded sewing machine, bad needle, wrong needle, bad thread or incorrect seam starting issues. Just for grins, take a look at:

formatting link
and see if you recognizeany problems you've seen before. Islander Sewing Systems: lots of good stuff, but I'd suggest you may especially want to pay attention to her pinless sewing methods. You'll see them on most of the videos, but they're explicitly explained on the Industrial video, starting about 12 minutes in.

Judy Barlup: Japanese Tailoring

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

If it's mainly the machine, it might be worth while checking with the HomeEc teacher of the nearest highschool or maybe even middle school; s/he might be willing to spend half an hour with you acquainting you with the basics of the machine, and that might be all you need to be up and running.

Another possibility would be to check for a local quilting group. Quilters love to snare new members into their craft and are very generous about sharing their skills and experience. Many quilters also sew garments, so if you attend a workshop you're likely to get more help than you ever wanted. Your name suggests that you're a guy, which is an advantage if you go to a quilting group. There aren't many guys quilting, but some of the most famous and well known quilters (and coutiers) are guys, so the ladies will probably fall all over themselves to help you out, and any other guys present will be glad to have more male reinforcement.

Pleats and darts are basically the same thing: with a pleat you just fold the fabric over at the seam to make for instance the waist smaller, but leave the body relaxed so you have room for shoulders or hips. The pattern or maybe even the garment sketch will show whether to fold toward or away from the center. Darts do the same job, but you sew them down (and the trick is to sew from the wide area to the point and off the fabric, then tie the thread.) For collars, the two main tips I'd offer are 1) trim the points to reduce bulk so you get a nice point when you turn it right side out, 2) clip just to but not across the seam line to fit the collar to the neck opening or collar stand, and 3) grade the seams. (Okay, so I can't count. There are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can't.)

In fact, grading the seams will improve almost any part of the garment where you have several layers of fabric. Grading means trimming away the excess material from the seam allowance after you've sewn it, trimming one layer (usually the innermost) very close to the stitching, the next layer not quite so close, etc., so there's not a big hump of layers of fabric all dropping off at the same point.

Making structured, properly tailored clothes is a whole other ballgame that I've not yet gotten the nerve to try, but there's no reason why you can't do it. I'd practice first by making an ordinary shirt, which is going to involve basic skills with pleats, maybe a yoke, a collar and maybe a collar stand, and cuffs. Cuffs are IMO a bit easier than collars but it's a similar process, so you might want to do the cuffs first. OTOH, facing the sleeve opening can be a real b*tch, depending on the method used for that shirt, and fortunately waistcoats and jackets use a different method to face the opening and skip the cuff which just can't be as bad as a shirt sleeve opening.

Reply to
Kathy Morgan

Hey

Its great to hear that another guy has a taste for sewing, I am in Long Beach CA and am an experienced sewer, i would be happy to work with you on learning the ropes. I could come up and give u a hand sewing a project to get u started setting zippers, buttonholes , darts, ect. you can contact me at snipped-for-privacy@aim.com.

Richard

-------------------------------------

##-----------------------------------------------## Delivered via

formatting link
Community of the NetWeb and RSS access to yourfavorite newsgroup - rec.crafts.textiles.sewing - 3927 messages and counting!##-----------------------------------------------##

Reply to
sewing bear

InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.