Welcome to lesson # 2 of our Learn to Machine Sew series! On Monday I took you through the anatomy of the sewing machine, your most important sewing tool, and today I will talk about the other important components: fabric and must-have notions.
There are something like a gazillion different types of fabric, so I can’t get too exhaustive on the subject. If you are interested in learning more about fabric, a great resource is the book “Fabrics A-to-Z: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Using Fabric for Sewing
Fabric is made from fibres from all different types of sources. There are natural fibers, such as cotton, linen, hemp, and bamboo, and fibers from animal sources such as wool or silk. There are an incredible number of synthetic fibers including, but definitely not limited to, polyester, acrylic, spandex and nylon. In the photo above you can see three very dissimilar fabrics made from synthetic fibers. There are even fabrics made from gold, recycled plastic bottles (fleece) or other peculiar sources. Fabric is created when putting together these fibers in some way. Most fabric is woven or knit, but there are also other methods such as felting, bonding or braiding fibers. For each type of fiber and manufacturing method there can be many different types of fabric. For example batiste, denim, flannel, terry, voile and poplin can all be made from woven cotton, but are totally different from one another.
Fabric can also be all different weights and each weight has different characteristics. In the photo above is a lightweight chiffon (a woven synthetic fabric) which I used to sew flower girl dresses. As you can see, it is very sheer so if you use it for clothing you need to have a different lining fabric beneath. It is very floaty and light, so nice for summer. It has a lovely drape, meaning that it falls nicely from a body instead of staying in stiff folds. However this means that it is a real pain in the butt to cut and sew because it moves around so easily.
Here are two different woven cotten fabrics: a medium-weight quilting cotton (the cupcakes) and a heavy-weight black denim. I would suggest using medium-weight cotton when starting to sew as it is the easist to work with. You can tell the weight of a fabric by touching it or often even just by looking at it. The above fabric pieces have been washed and you can see the cut edges have started to fray. Notice how much more fraying has occurred with the heavy-weight cotton as opposed to the medium-weight one.
Fraying is something that happens with most fabrics upon cutting and/or washing, though it depends on how the fibers have been worked. For example, a raw edge of woven cotton fabric (above photo, top) will definitely fray if not enclosed in some way before washing. Knit cotton fabric (above photo, bottom) does not fray even when washed on the most heavy duty cycle, though the edges may curl in. Therefore when sewing a knit jersey fabric (like t-shirts), for example, you can leave unfinished raw edges without having to worry about them fraying apart.
Fabric is rolled onto bolts after being manufactured. When you buy fabric by the yard or meter, the length of fabric that you want gets unrolled from the bolt and cut off. The width of fabric can vary greatly. The long edges of the fabric are called the selvage or selvedge. A nice thing about the selvage is that it will never fray because of how it was worked, so a lot of times you can use this to your advantage. Sometimes you will find the fabric designer’s name, the name of the fabric design, and a color swatch printed onto the selvage.
Sometimes you may notice tiny pin-sized holes running along the selvage.
A very important thing to know about fabric is how the grain runs. The lengthwise grain runs parallel to the selvage while the crosswise grain runs across the fabric as it is cut from a bolt (though keep in mind that fabric is rarely cut perfectly along the grain, but somewhat irregularly), perpendicular to the lengthwise grain and selvage. In most wovens, these two grains look the same whether you hold the fabric in one direction of another. In knit fabric, however, you can see a difference in the two grains if you look closely. The lengthwise grain appears as teeny tiny columns. In most knits the crosswise grain will the be one with the most stretch, although there are four-way-stretch knits in which the lengthwise grain is very stretchy, too. When you are in doubt which side of the knit is the crosswise grain, cut across it and stretch the fabric gently. The cut edge will roll along the crosswise grain.
Why is grain important? Well, you will usually want to cut out your fabric pieces along with the grain (although sometimes you want to cut at a 45° angle, the bias, although we won’t get into that now) so that the fabric pieces will lay right and not get pulled out of shape while sewing. Let’s pretend that this is a pants pattern (although I promise you that you will never see a pants pattern that looks like this!). As the crosswise and lengthwise grains usually look the same on woven fabrics, you can usually cut out a pattern piece in either direction with the same result as long as the piece is cut out along one of the grains.
This is not the case with stretchy knit fabrics. As a general rule of thumb, you want the greatest stretch to go across a garment or other object, not vertically. Let’s say we’re making leggings (as I did with this very fabric). We want the fabric to stretch around our hips and legs, fitting snugly on our bodies. So we need to make sure that the pattern is cut out so that the parts of it that stretch across the body are along the crosswise grain, the stretchiest direction.
Fabrics have a right side and a wrong side. With some solid color wovens you may not really be able to tell a difference. The front and back of knits look different and there is usually a marked difference between the front and back of most printed fabrics. The colors and designs on the back side are much more muted and less sharp.
One last consideration is the direction of a print. With some prints, such as the one on the right above, it doesn’t really matter which direction you use it in because the print looks fine any way. Some designs are directional prints, however, such as the cupcake fabric above. It is meant to be used in one direction only. You probably won’t get the effect you’re looking for if you cut out your pieces with the cupcakes upside down or sideways. When using directional printed fabric, you might need more fabric than indicated when cutting out pattern pieces so as to work within the print’s direction.
Edit 12/06/14: Somehow I totally forgot about a very important thing about fabric! You must ALWAYS wash fabric at the highest temperature possible for the type of fabric before starting to cut and sew it. I’m sure you’ve at some point in your life tried on a garment in the store and it fits you perfectly, but when you get home, wash it and put it on, it’s tight. Most fabrics shrink in the wash and even more so if the temperature is higher. If you don’t want the unpleasant surprise of a garment or object that you’ve spent precious time (and fabric) on to be suddenly too small, I suggest you wash all fabric immediately upon their entering your home.
Lets talk a bit about notions, the tools necessary for sewing. There are a LOT of different ones, but we’re going to focus on basic must have sewing notions. The most important are machine needles. They come in all sorts of brands. The standard sizes run from 60/08 to 120/19. The first number is the European size while the second number is the one used in the United States, although you’ll often find them written together. The lower the number, the more narrow is the needle. For general sewing with medium-weight fabric you’ll want to use a 90/14. 60/08 or 70/09 are good for very lightweight fabrics, such as the chiffon in one of the images above, and don’t make big holes in the fabric. When sewing a heavy-weight fabric, a 100/16 or 110/18 will be wide and strong enough to push through the fabric. You can buy packages of needles in just one size or in a variety of sizes.
When choosing a needle, you also have to consider the type of fabric, not only the weight. The most common needles are ones for wovens (as seen on the left above) and ballpoints for knits (on the right above). The tip of a needle for wovens is nice and sharp so it can pierce the fabric easily. Piercing knit fabric, however, will damage it, leaving little holes in it which can open up even more. The ballpoint needle for knits is not as sharp so instead of piercing the fabric, it slips through the knit loops, leaving them intact. For the beginning of this course I suggest using 90/14 needles for wovens.
Once you start getting more experience, you can take advantage of a huge variety of machine needles. I often use needles for jeans (with an extra sharp point) and double needles (otherwise known as twin needles). Double needles are wonderful for sewing more professional-looking hems, but I don’t suggest trying them until you’ve gotten in some practice with regular needles. I recently bought these double eye needles, which have two holes, one on top of the other, so you can thread it with two different colors of thread at the same time, making multicolored stitches.
Let’s look up close at a machine needle. The widest part at the top is called the shank. That’s the part that gets inserted into the sewing machine. The back side of the shank is flat and usually the brand and needle size is etched into the flat side. Some brands color code their needles by size and type. For example, size 90/14 Singer brand needles for wovens as seen above have a red shank with a blue strip at the bottom. These colors vary from brand to brand. The shaft is the long center part of the needle. When sewing, the thread gets pushed into the groove in the front of the shaft. The indentation at the bottom back of the shaft is called the scarf and is necessary for the needle to pick up the bobbin thread from beneath the fabric. The hole near the tip is called the eye and this is where the thread is inserted. This animation shows well how the two threads (from the needle and the bobbin) create stitches. (This other animation is also fascinating!)
Speaking of bobbins, you will need to have some empty bobbin spools. As I mentioned last lesson, new sewing machines come with a few bobbins, but you might want to buy some extras so that you can keep a bunch of different colors on hand that match your spools of thread. Just make sure that you are buying the right type and size. If you are in doubt, bring one that came with your machine to you local sewing supply store and ask for help choosing the right bobbin.
Thread! How many colors and types! Bring your fabric into the shop so you can choose thread that matches it perfectly. The best way to tell is to pull the end of the thread loose and pull it across the fabric. This will give you a much better idea of what it will look like as a single strand against your fabric as opposed to the whole spool. Or another option is to purposely choose a contrasting color thread to add an extra visual element. Take a look at the seams of your jeans. The orange-brown color looks nice against the blue denim, doesn’t it?
Like fabric and needles, there are different types and materials of thread, some of which you can see in the photo above. At the top (light blue) is a very thin thread used for embroidery. It is not resistent enough to use for sewing seams. Moving counter clockwise we then have an all purpose (lavender) medium weight cotton thread. This is great for general sewing with cotton wovens. Polyester thread (olive green) is probably the most versatile thread and is much more resistant than cotton thread. This is why it’s also a good choice for stretchy fabrics because it’s less likely to break. Heavy duty thread (black) is used for very heavy weight fabrics or, as I use it, for sewing buttons onto coats. Elastic thread (white) is used for special techniques, such as shirring.
One thing to note is that thread quality varies greatly. A cheap thread, such as the ones you get in those free sewing kits, with break right away. You might also be tempted to use some vintage thread that were your husband’s aunt’s decades ago (ask me how I know this…), but trust me, thread gets old and brittle. Just fork out a couple of dollars to get the good stuff and I promise you will have far fewer hassles, swear an awful lot less, and enjoy sewing a whole lot more.
Your sewing machine will most likely come with at least an all purpose presser foot and a zipper foot, among other possible ones. This is my collection of extra presser feet that I use with my Elna Lotus machine. They are all for different things and I don’t suggest buying any extra feet until you know you need one. Part of the reason is because presser feet are not universal and will not fit every sewing machine. So if you upgrade, you might not be able to use your old collection on your new machine. Make sure to buy presser feet that are compatible with your machine model.
Please, please, please do not use your household scissors gunked up with glue residue for cutting fabrics. It will be sure to frustrate you. You need super sharp scissors that you will use exclusively for fabric because using them on any other material will dull the blades. And likewise, do not let anyone get near your fabric scissors if they don’t intend to cut fabric. When they start to get dull, get them sharpened or do it yourself with this trick that I recently discovered. This is part of my collection of fabric scissors. The ones on the left are regular fabric scissors that used to be my mother’s. Next in line are dressmaker shears. The angled handle permits the bottom blade to rest against the table while cutting out pattern pieces. These are super cheap Ikea shears, but they’re pretty good for what they cost. Those little scissors are embroidery scissors, which are great for cutting out tiny pieces. The ones on the right have zig-zag blades and are called pinking shears. They are generally used for cutting the inside edges of unfinished seams because the zig-zag cut frays less than a straight cut. Our family is very rough with our clothing so that’s not really enough for me, so I prefer to finish edges in another way (we will talk about that another day). What I do sometimes use pinking shears for is for a lazy way of notching curves in fabric (that, too, will be covered another day). To start off with, just a regular pair like the ones on the left should be sufficient.
Like all other notions, there are various types of pins, too. You probably already have some safety pins hanging around the house and those are good for some things, but you will mostly use straight pins when sewing. There are different sizes of pins, but I generally only use two types: the all purpose pins that you can see in the box to the right in the photo above and silk pins. For regular pins, I like the ones with a big ballhead. Mine have cheap plastic heads (and you can see how the color has chipped off of the used ones in my pincushion), but there are also some beautiful glass ballhead ones. I have some other regular pins without the ballhead and I find them much less convenient to use and they sometimes hurt my fingers when pushing them in. Silk pins are thinner so they can slip through lightweight fabrics better. I actually have never bought these but have collected quite a few of these from the days when we bought new clothing. The little pins they keep dress shirts folded up with aren’t very long, but they work quite well.
You don’t absolutely need a pincushion, but it will make your life easier. There are all sorts of pin holders, some of them magnetic, but I honestly find it much easier to pull pins out from a regular pincushion. The classic pincushion (at least in the United States) is shaped like a tomato with a little red pepper hanging from it. Apparently the pepper is filled with something abrasive which helps sharpen pins and needles, but I honestly have never found that it does much. One of my very first sewing projects I did back when I was about 12 or so was a pincushion shaped like a pig (and therefore christened a “pigcushion”) which I gave to my sister. I need find out if she still has it!
Fabric markers are another must-have. There are lots of different types. Here is a very small selection of my fabric marker collection. The classic fabric marker is tailor’s chalk, which is great because it can be brushed off without leaving a mark. Tailor’s chalk is usually white, but it can also be blue or red (like the pieces at the center top). Sometimes it can come in a little holder with a metal blade to sharpen it on (to the right). But my absolutely favorite chalk marker is the powdered chalk liner*. It has a little wheel that you roll along the fabric, leaving a very thin line of chalk. You can buy refills of chalk powder for it.
There are other types of markers, too. I once bought some pencil markers, but I honestly didn’t like them at all. Then there are two types of ink fabric markers. There are disappearing ink marking pens* which are usually purple. The markings will disappear after a couple of days of being exposed to air. The thing that I don’t like about these pens is that you have no control over when the markings vanish. I actually found that with some fabrics the ink vanished right away. But some people swear by them, so I guess it’s a question of personal taste. My true love is the water soluble marking pen*, which is usually blue. The marking shows up very well and you can get rid of it whenever you want by dampening it. You can run some water over the finished product or wash it directly, but I generally just lick my fingertip and wipe the mark away if it’s small enough. So basically I always use either this water soluble pen or the chalk liner and just leave the others in my sewing box.
One tool that you absolutely don’t want to be without is a seam ripper. When you make a mistake sewing something or decide to change a seam, or also for taking apart clothes for refashioning, you slip the tip of your seam ripper in the stitches and pull them out. You may not like doing it (I know I always let out a big groan when I need to take out my seam ripper), but if it saves you from having to throw out a project, trust me, this thing will become your best friend. It is also used in making button holes.
There are gazillions other sewing notions out there, but these are the most important ones that you will use from the very start of your sewing experience. I will mention others as we make our way through this course. But now that you know the basic characteristics of different fabrics and some useful tools, you’re ready to approach your machine! Be sure to come back on Monday for our first lesson on the sewing machine!
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