#sewists

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

McCall's Step-by-Step Sewing Book, McCall Corp., 1966

[allegorechoquilts]

Made a cute lil crossback apron for a friend (she asked me like a year ago and I procrastinated)

Excuse my rancid stance, it’s the scoliosis 🌸

[colorsandwords]

Question!

Sewists who hand sew, what is your handedness and in what direction do you hand sew?

Left handed; left to right

Left handed; right to left

Left handed; up to down

Left handed; down to up

Ambidextrous; left to right

Ambidextrous; right to left

Ambidextrous; up to down

Ambidextrous; down to up

Right handed; left to right

Right handed; right to left

Right handed; up to down

Right handed; down to up

Voting ended onNov 29, 2025

[thinkhappythxughts]

possibly a long-shot, but could anyone possibly point me in the direction of some resources on sewing that focus on either “mens” clothing, or more gender neutral stuff? it feels like all the beginner patterns and books i can find have skirts and dresses as their main focus, which i certainly won’t wear, and none of the women in my life tend to wear that sort of stuff either, and it feels like a waste to make a bunch of skirts for practice just for them to get chucked in the back of a wardrobe. any recommendations for online resources (youtube, blogs, etc) or physical books would be very welcome. thanks!

[sheliesshattered]

Any sewists out there looking for good deals on yardage, StylishFabric.com is having a pretty impressive sale on bolts (5, 10, 15, or 20 yard bolts) on some of their fabrics. I just picked up three different 5 yard lengths, each of them at $1.75/yard, no polyester or nylon among them. My total with shipping and tax was under $38 USD. I bought the fabric for my Solstice dress from them last year and I have so far been impressed with their fabrics.

Their sale fabrics are here: https://www.stylishfabric.com/sales-and-clearance/closeout-fabrics.html

[truebluemeandyou]

How to Make a Face Mask for Hospitals and Medical Centers

Hospitals and medical centers across the country are asking sewers to make face masks to protect out health workers. You can google “how to sew face masks for hospitals” to find out where fabric masks are being requested.

EDIT: Also see my post on So Sew Easy’s roundup of 35 DIY fabric masks, and also simple beginner child and adult face masks here. 

Stillwater Medical Center is asking sewers to follow the face mask pattern from buttoncounter.com here.

From Deaconess Health System:

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Citing shortages, Deaconess Health System, including Henderson's Methodist Health, has asked the public to sew face masks for staff fighting coronavirus.

"This does follow CDC protocols that you can find on their website that if all other supplies are not available, that handmade masks that meet certain criteria are acceptable," Deaconess spokeswoman Becca Scott said.

The release with the video, pattern and instructions was posted to the Deaconess Facebook page Thursday morning and is available at www.deaconess.com/masks. A PDF of the pattern is available here and embedded at the bottom of this article.  

Deaconess has "a sample video" about how to make the masks, which Scott said will be sterilized when they come in.

From Forbes here:

Additional Resources for Open Source or Volunteer COVID-19 Projects:

One of my favorite how-to sites is Instructables. The DIY Cloth Face Mask has almost 100,000 views. It is a step-by-step instruction for those who need it. Kudos to ashevillejm.

In 2006, CDC released a Simple Respiratory Mask design using heavyweight t-shirts in its Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. More of an academic post, but some ideas in it.

A Facebook group was formed last week: Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies. It is worth a visit — in just a few short days there are 20,000-plus members and volunteers.

If you are looking for some research and street-level testing of various materials for DIY mask-making, this post from Smart Air Filters is exceptional: What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks? It also includes a few great links at the end of it.

[lilyinthesnow]

Tips for people new to sewing.

Iron, iron, iron. Iron everything.

Iron your pattern pieces before you use them. Even those flimsy paper patterns can be ironed. Do it.

Iron your fabric before you cut out your patterns.

Iron your garment as you sew it.

Iron your hems and seams.

The finished product will look a million times better if you iron it.

Make sure you've got the right heat setting for your fabric.

Higher heat settings will melt and/or burn certain fabrics.

100% cotton fabrics can be ironed on the highest setting with or without steam. Unless they have glitter, then iron them on medium heat from the back.

Poly-cotton blends will melt on high.

Polyester, silks, satins and wools can be ironed on medium heat. NO steam. Never steam with them. They will shrink or discolor.

Satin, wool, and silk should be ironed from the reverse side. Or on the front side with a 100% cotton bath towel between the iron and fabric. So like lay a towel over the fabric and then iron it.

I see so many beautiful garments people spend literal hours on that have never seen an iron. It adds time and effort but trust me; it is worth it. You don't even need a fancy iron. Get a cheap one from satan-mart. (Wal-Mart)

(Also if you want to play with fire, a quick and easy way to tell if a fabric is 100% dupioni silk vs a poly-silk blend like some taffetas and dupioni, is find the selvage edge, (that's the bit that's not been cut on when they cut your fabric) and hold a small flame to it.* If it burns/melts it has plastic in it.

*Don't set your house on fire and if you do I'm not responsible for it.