My sewing tips

My friend Sabrina is in the process of learning to sew and recently took a sewing class. I was dismayed though by how little she was taught at that “course”—I put it in quotes because honestly from what she’s said, all they did was stitch pre-cut squares together. Maybe it was a get-to-know-your-sewing-machine class? Anyway, Sabrina, if I’ve got it wrong, let me know in the comments.

This week I’ve made a dress and a top for Alison and while working on them, I kept thinking of things I’d tell Sabrina if she lived near me. So here are some of the things I’ve learned while sewing (mostly from painful experience). I’m pretty sure others who read this blog also sew, and I’m hoping you’ll chime in with tips of your own.

• Wash and dry your fabric before you do anything else (unless it’s dry clean only, duh).
• Iron it too.
• Iron your pattern pieces. Wrinkled pattern pieces lead to bad cutting which leads to tears when sewing. 
• Lay out all the pieces and pin them before you cut anything. Trust me on this, it’s just no fun to learn you don’t actually have enough fabric even though you thought you did.
• Check to see if your fabric has a nap and then make sure all pieces have the nap going the proper way.
• Know your sewing limitations and if you’re going to go beyond that, at least use inexpensive material. I know I am awful at linings so I avoid patterns that have more than a lined bodice because I will mess it up, get frustrated and pitch the whole thing. With patterns costing $18.95 a pop and most materials running $5 and up a yard, that adds up to real money.
• This one is personal preference: When you are sewing, trim off the thread ends when you’ve finished a seam. After I’ve finished a project, the last thing I want to do is to go back and cut all those suckers off then.
• Press your seams in the direction your pattern directions say to (toward the bodice or toward the shoulder, etc).
• If you don’t want to look ghetto gross, don’t use Stitch Witchery. It’s super easy to hem something properly with thread and needle.
• Know when you’ve done enough for the day and then stop. Otherwise you can make fatal mistakes.
• If your fabric looks the same on both sides, then make sure you mark the inside/outside of each pattern piece. I used a pink seersucker fabric for Alison’s dress and it looks the same on both sides. I didn’t mark inside/outside so yesterday I got to take out the side seams and hem from the skirt of the dress, flip them over and sew them all again. This tip leads directly to the next one which I learned when I used to cross stitch.
• If you make a mistake, take it apart and do it over. Odd gaps, gathers that shouldn't be there, stitches that catch extra material are things you will always see and so will everyone else. Just take it apart and do it over.
• Do mark the little arrows or double arrows on your pieces. When you are pinning seams later, you’ll be very glad you did that. These days, I cut a tiny single or double slash into the fabric instead of the triangles I used to cut.

So what tips do you have for Sabrina? Heck, what tips do you have for me?