Flying High! – Mastering Fly Fronts

The words fly fronts and intimidating are often used in the same sentence. Yes, fly fronts look complicated. There are lots of ways to sew them, and everyone has their preferred way (or no way, if you’ve never done one). I thought I’d share My Way with you, which I learned when I was a…

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Afternoon handbag challenge

afternoon handbag challenge

Sewing brief: in one afternoon, make a new handbag (cross body style) using only stuff we already have at home. The time has come to move onto my next handbag. Since my children were born, I’ve gone from…. For the next handbag era I fancied a cross-body bag so I wouldn’t have to carry it…

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The unexpected conclusion to the hug-me-tight experiment

Conclusion of the hug me tight experiment white cotton 2

Last week’s hug-me-tight experiment has taken an unexpected turn. You can read about the adventure so far here. This is the cutting concept I started with: I felt that the maroon double knit hug-me-tight that I was experimenting with was too short (it finished at my waist), although the sleeves were good and the collar…

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How to sew an invisible zip (finally!)

How to sew an invisible zip

Several people have asked me for a post on how to sew an invisible zip (although this might come too late for them), so here it is. Firstly, some notes: An invisible zip can be almost one of the last things sewn on a garment.  Sew the zip in before you sew the rest of…

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Shortening a metal zip

Shortening a metal zip

Shortening a metal zip is a little tutorial for you to file away until you need it.  Use it for shortening separating zips for jackets. How did I learn to do this?  One season, the designer I worked for used a lot of zips in her range.  Zips were IN.  She did zip fronted jackets,…

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