Transcript
Hi, I’m Cynthia Mann and we’re here today at Birch Fabrics in Paso Robles, California. This is also the home of Fabricworm.com. Hi, I’m Melissa Lunden; I’m the resident seamstress here at Birch Fabrics. I teach sewing lessons here, prepare blog tutorials and sew samples of Birch’s line of organic cotton. And I am here today to talk to you about sewing. So, here are my top five tips for sewing a dress. First, start with an easy pattern. You have a lot of different options out there and plenty that are for beginners and very user friendly with great instructions and so don’t be scared. Start easy. My second tip for sewing a dress is read your pattern all the way through. Get a feel of what the pattern says, what the different pattern pieces are, what you’ll need. It’s really helpful to have a road map of where you’re going and know why you’re sewing and doing certain things at certain points. My third tip is there’s and old adage, “measure twice, cut once.” It’s important to get a really good idea of how big you are, how big your garment is, and not cut before you’re ready. My next suggestion is to take the time to do a mock up before you use your fancy, pretty fabric. It’s hard to do. Sometimes you get excited and you want to start sewing right away but if you take the time to use some old fabric or some muslin to try out the pattern first. You’ll find out where the pattern works for you, what you have trouble with, and you won’t waste your good fabric. And then, by the time you’re ready to use the good fabric, you’ll have worked out all the kinks of the pattern and figured out how many tricks you need to use, and your dress is going to look perfect. And my last suggestion, when you’re sewing a dress, it to remember that when you’re sewing a dark, you want to start sewing from the outer edge of the fabric and work your way into the center. Don’t start in the center and work back. Good luck.
