How to make sewing friends

Before I share all the fun I recently had, I want to give you a little back story.

Around 6 or 7 years ago a group of friends and I would get together to sew. We'd meet once a month and head to one hostess' house. Sometimes there would be 3, 4 or even 5 of us. We'd eat, snack, and sew for a few hours while chatting about our lives. You learn a lot about someone if you sew together, because all you do is talk.

Those days and nights were cherished. I would take a pattern I had cut out so I could do some actual sewing. Or, I'd take a pattern to lay on the floor for cutting/ tracing. Ahh, those were the days. Well, over time, one of the friends moved and those sewing nights ended. No reason in particular, but life shifted as it does from time to time. 

Fast forward a couple of years.

Another friend of mine who sews, but lives one state over found a group of sewists. She told me about this sewing social she attended last year. She met wonderful people, discovered new pattern companies and fabric shops that were local to her. It sounded like an overall great time and I knew I wanted to go to the next one! 

I patiently waited for the year to go by and once she shared the event info, I bought my ticket.

It was go time! Or, sew time! ;)

For the sewcial you can bring 1-2 unused patterns and a cut of fabric that measures 1/2 yard or more. I had a pattern and fabric and set them aside for the swap. Such a fun idea!! 

I even sewed up a new dress (blog post coming soon) to wear for the evening. I packed my bag and everything I needed for a quick mini vacation. No kids. No husband. Just me.

I listened to my own music, and podcasts, and simply enjoyed the six-hour drive. Alone. Best weekend ever. LOL

Mood Fabrics donated these for us to use for the swag bags.

Saturday evening was here and it was Sewcial time!

This sewing social is called the Arizona Sewcial or AZsewcial.  It's a social hour for sewists hosted by Lauren, to talk, meet, and hang out with fellow sewing friends. So. Many. Sewing. Friends! What was inside the magical land of sewing delight? 

• Swag bags filled with coupon codes, cuts of fabric, little notions, patterns, and other goodies. Honestly, they were the best swag bags I’ve come in contact with.

• Photo backdrop for all the selfies and group photos you could take. 

• The Queen of charcuterie boards was for snacking. It had everything! Coolest and biggest charcuterie board ever!

• A dessert table was piled with sweet nuts and candies, and also had cute sewing-themed cookies!!

• There was a lovely Italian soda bar complete with maraschino cherries. Yum!! 

Charcuterie Table

Italian Soda Bar

Desserts Galore

The food photos are by Jillian S.

We started the evening by signing in, grabbing a name tag, and picking your swag bag. Each bag had a different number. That number was yours for the raffle prize and swap table.

They had a few icebreaker games to get conversations started. I was from California, so I didn’t know a single soul, so the games were a good thing.

Lauren, the hostess would call out a small group of numbers throughout the night. If she called out your number, you went to pick out a raffle prize and then to the fabric and pattern swap table. I loved the swap table idea.

Prizes included Indie patterns, PDF pattern bundles from companies, gift certificates and vouchers for online fabric shops, pattern, and fabric bundles, the list goes on.

Such fantastic things to win!!

I ended up winning 3 Free PDF patterns from By Hand London. I was crazy excited, because I love them! I grabbed a cute handbag pattern and some soft blue knit from the swap table too.

Fabric from a vendor

Michele gave a talk on tissue fitting

Vintage April on Etsy

The photos above are by Jillian S. (My phone lived inside my purse the whole time. Ha!)

After the games, they announced 4 women who were going to talk about their own thing. One woman spoke about tissue fitting and pattern adjustments. One gave a talk on social media and all that entails. Another presented on creating and designing your own fabric. And, the fourth gal spoke about how to become a pattern tester. I ended up making a new friend and chatted with her, so I missed this whole portion. LOL Ah well.

After round 2 of snacking, I visited the vendor booths to check out what they had. I grabbed a Grainline Studio Archer Pattern from one vendor table. I want to hack it into a western shirt for the fair this Spring. That post will go up after I make it in a few months, I'm sure. Ha!

Update: the fair was cancelled due to the world being shut down by Covid. So, the Archer never got made and I sold the pattern.

At the end of the night as my feet were getting tired, I sat down to sign all of the Thank you cards. The cards were already made out to each of the vendors and companies that donated items. This was such a thoughtful thing to do. I've never seen that idea and will keep it locked in the back of my mind, for future use. I ended the night laughing with another sewist as we signed the thank you cards and spoke on different sewing podcasts we listen to. We had the same opinion on the ones we loved and disliked. LOL

Whew! Such a great night. I was so fortunate that my friend let me join in on the fun even though I don't even live in Arizona. Ha! 

I'm sure I missed a few points from the night, but I truly appreciate what Lauren did. It was amazingly unforgettable. Good job Lauren!!! I could tell she put a lot of heart and soul into the whole night.

My swag bag contents, fabric (blue knit), and bag pattern (on the left next to the blue knit) from the swap portion.

So this brings me to my next point. How do you make sewing friends? There are more of us out there, the hard part is finding each other.

I have always found my sewing sisters in real life. As a mom, it's easy to start up a conversation... You're sitting next to someone chatting, a topic comes up, you both realize you sew, and the rest is history. 

Places to Find Sewists

• Meetup Groups

• American Sewing Guild

• Church Fundraisers and groups

• Instagram hashtags

• Facebook groups

• Craft shops with classes, both local and big box 

• Crafting conferences such as Craftcation (read about my first experience here.)

• Word of mouth- "Oh, I have a friend that sews, I'll give you her number"

• School or church plays need costumes, and you could make friends doing that

• Craft shows, maybe you hit it off with someone who has a sewing booth
  
  

  
  Try all of these and see if you can find sewing friends in your area. Sewing is definitely a personal hobby, but it's so much more fun when you can talk about fabric and patterns with someone else! Plus, if you run into an issue, ask your new friend. If you've never made pants, but Suzie Sewsalot has, she can help.
  
  Please share some ways you meet and make sewing friends in your community in the comments below. We all need friends to sew with!! 
  
  Happy friend finding,
  Annette

New Look pattern 6446 Romper

This New Look 6446 pattern is my favorite romper to sew. It's easy and fun to sew. Plus, it has options to make the legs different lengths. Jumpers or rompers ares great seasonal transition pieces. Add a sweater and some chucks, and you're set. 

This is half sew-along and half review. It's not a complete step-by-step. Hopefully, you'll get some useful info out of it though.

Most of the summer was spent enjoying beautiful weather, great friends, resort pools, and camping.

My friend stayed with us for a week and we squeezed in some sewing time. And, the jumper was finished at another friend’s house while I visited her. Ha!! Yes, having sewing friends in real life is amazing.

Grab the New Look Pattern 6446. You won't regret it! There are tons of tutorials on this pattern online and on YouTube. 

I chose to use this fabric that I've had since 2015. Yikes!

I bought 3 yards at Joann Fabrics in the clearance section. It's an extremely soft, thick, satin-like fabric. I used a 16" invisible zipper and coordinating white thread. 

I used my high bust measurement for the bodice. My waist measurement almost always gets blended out because I'm not a wasp. I used size 14 for the top and blended out to a size 16 for the waist, and back down to 14 for the hips.  This worked well for me.

Make sure you cut out everything and throw it all in a pile on the floor until you're ready to sew! It's the only way to do it. ;) Oh and take a blurry pic too.

There were quite a few pieces, but it was pretty simple to cut everything. I used the actual pattern pieces instead of tracing them onto pattern paper. I know, I know, bad sewing move.

Sew the darts and assemble bodice pieces. Do this for the bodice and lining as well.

The pockets were easy to make. It's a one-piece, pattern piece that you fold together and sew into the waist area.

The inside of the pocket.

Wah-la, beautiful pocket.

Does anyone else get excited over a perfect crotch seam? LOL

Sew up the pant legs following the pattern directions. Inseam first, then outer legs. It’ll look like a big floppy mess at this point.

Tuck the bodice inside the pant legs at the waist, right sides together. I used clips and they seemed to hold all the slippery layers more easily. I don’t know what this mystery fabric is, but I love it! (I think it’s a cotton sateen, but I’m not 100% sure.)

Cut the straps.

Sew the straps. I like the seam being down the middle. Topstitch them to hold in place.

Cut and sew the straps. Baste them and sew them into the bodice sandwiched between the lining and bodice pieces. Add the hem, and you're done!

**The zipper gets added before the straps are attached, but I sewed the zipper at a friend’s house, so no pictures. 

I've worn this a few times already, it washes up beautifully, and it's comfy to wear. I need to get yards and yards of fabric to make 20 more of these! Ha!

Grab the pattern, get some fabric, and make one or ten. You won’t regret it, I promise!


Have you made this pattern? Let me know in the comments below. Tag me on Instagram so I can see your version of the New Look pattern 6446.

Happy Stitching,

Annette

How to Sew Simplicity 8244 Cheongsam

Have you ever been scared to sew something? Too nervous to start because you didn't know where to start? Let me share a little story with you. Grab a cup of tea, this is a long one. And, this is also the dress that made me start a sewing blog.

Simplicity 8244, a 1950s style dress pattern. Fabric was from JoAnn.

I picked up the Simplicity pattern and beautiful floral fabric with a vacation in mind. My husband and I were going away for a few days. I wanted to make something pretty and different. 

When I sew something for myself, I like to look at other people's versions. It’s how I pump myself up. LOL

I searched the interwebs to find any and every tutorial, on how to sew up Simplicity's #8244 pattern. I didn't find what I was hoping for. I found a few pattern reviews and photos, but no tutorials or step-by-step instructions. I messaged a gal asking a few questions, but she didn't have the answers I needed either.

Hesitantly, I traced the pattern onto my paper (here's a list of my go-to sewing tools) and transferred the markings. I always need to do a FBA (full bust adjustment). How was I supposed to make one with this asymmetrical dress? After staring at the pattern for what felt like days, I shut down. I rolled up my traced-off paper and set it aside. For one year, exactly. 

Not sure what lit a fire under me, but I decided to pull that rolled-up pattern out of hiding and give it another go! 

I made a muslin using some old Halloween costume fabric on hand.

I sewed up the muslin, making sure to include the darts, side, and back seams, and any other important areas. I did not attach the collar or zipper. It's a muslin, so it was for the fit purpose only. I HIGHLY recommend making a muslin for this pattern. You may find that you need a few simple adjustments.

I found that my bust fit pretty well. *I did use my high bust measurement. I have a 5-inch difference between my high bust and regular bust. FBA to the rescue. 

I made the short waist adjustment- because I have no torso. Ha!! Thanks, Mom. ;)

I also did a forward-sloping shoulder adjustment as well. Bad posture FTW!

Nothing else was needed. I transferred those measurements back to the pattern piece and traced out my pieces onto the pretty fabric. 

Gather everything you need:

• Fabric

• Pattern

• Interfacing, matching thread, needles

• Frog Closures or buttons

• Piping. I opted out, but you may want to add the piping detail

• Sewing machine, etc.

• All your favorite pattern tracing and cutting tools

• Patience and a good night’s sleep

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Now that the fitting info is out of the way, let's dive in and make this beautiful traditional Chinese dress. I did a little research on the dress, thanks wikipedia. If you want to find out some more information and the dress history, click that link. Youtube has some amazing videos on how the dresses are made as well. I love the internet.

Trace out the pattern onto your favorite paper. Don't forget to transfer every marking, there's a lot with this pattern.

I didn’t have a table big enough, so I traced it off on the floor. Ouch, my poor knees.

This was a lot of dress, make sure you have a large space to lay out the pattern. I chose to do this on the floor. Cue the angry sewing Gods. >: )

Once everything is cut out, and your marks, darts, and hemlines are transferred. Cut out the fabric. **Pay close attention to the pattern layout on the tissue paper. You don't want anything backward or inside out. This is very important. you'll see why later.

Sew the fisheye darts.

Sew your fisheye and bust dart first. Fisheye darts are pinched in the middle and sewn up. Knot by hand. Go back to the middle and sew down to the opposite end. Knot by hand. Press the waist darts towards the center. I love this style of dart, they are so flattering. A tad tricky for your first time, but once you get the hang of them, you’ll love them.

Match up shoulder seams and back center seam. Stitch. Press open.

So far, so good. Right? Moving right along. It should look more like a dress at this point. 

Facings

Now for the fun part. The facings. All the armhole and neck facings. So many facings. And collar pieces. Wheee!! Keep them separated by attaching your pattern pieces to them with a clip or pin. It will make you scream less. I promise.

Attach all the facing pieces together following the pattern directions. I used the picture on the pattern to make sure I got it right. It looks wonky, but it works. If you didn't iron the interfacing on earlier, do it before you sew the interfacing snake. That’s what it is, it’s a facing snake. LOL

Attach the facings together at the seams, be sure to match the notches. This is very important for the facing to lay correctly and flat. Sew the seams together, and it should resemble a funky snake. Now you're going to attach the facing snake to the dress. Matching notches again, and following the curves and angles.

Side note- The pattern has you do a hem on the facing, but I wished I would have just serged the edge. It creates a little more bulk than I like. It doesn't bother me enough to rip it out though. #lazysewis

I didn't take a photo, but you make the collar before applying the facing snake. The collar is sandwiched in between the dress and facing snake. It has basting stitches to hold the 2 layers together.

See the collar sandwiched in there? If you opt out of the collar, pay no attention to this picture.

Sew the three layers together. Understitch the collar and facing area.

As long as the facings and collar went in well, it should look something like the photo. If you opted for the pretty piping detail, that would have gotten sewn in between the facing and dress seams as well.

The front of the Cheongsam is looking pretty good so far.

This dress was a labor of love. I sewed a little each day, without rushing. I definitely took the slow sewing approach to this one. And, if you need to take a break, take it. If not... forge on!

Next up, stitch the 2" small area to enclose the flap part. Those are the technical terms in case you're wondering. I think they have you do this to ensure nothing is accidentally seen, skin-wise.

Sew this small area around the flap part.

Armhole facing time. Apply your interfacing if you haven't done so already. Finish the edge as you did with the neck facing. I serged the edge instead of an actual hem. I learned after making the front facing. Attach to the armhole matching notches and follow the curve.

This is where the pattern placement messed me up. Well, where I messed up. I had to cut out so many armhole facing pieces. I kept doing it backward. Ugh. I turned the machines off, unplugged the iron, and walked away. I returned the next morning with a clear head. Sometimes that’s the only thing you can do.

After the facings are sewn to the armholes, the instructions have you start the vent openings.Oh boy, I was so confused at this part. I read the instructions over and over and over. I've never made a vent before, so I went to ye old YouTube.

Below is a video of how to create a vent by Professor Pincushion. She has fantastic videos on almost everything, so check out her YouTube channel and website out.

How to sew a vent in a skirt.

I followed the video and made both vents with the snip at the backside of the dress.

You can see the stitching line on the outside if you look closely.

After that was all sorted, I was a happy lady. Whew! Thank you Professor Pincushion; you saved the day.

I put in the side zipper. You can insert the zipper before or after the vent. It doesn't really matter. But, you do need an invisible zipper foot.

It makes a pretty zipper that hides secretly in your side seam.

Invisible zipper foot.

Sew the left side first.

Go slow and help it along.

Sew the other side next.

Grab your invisible zipper and invisible zipper foot. I like using clips for this. Attach it backward, and if you use the correct foot, it'll be a breeze. The foot is designed to grab and push the zipper teeth away from the fabric. The teeth then refold back to make a beautiful seamless zipper.

• Sew up the left side first.

• After you sew up the left side, backstitch and go to the sewing table.

• Pin or clip the right side of the zipper tape to the seam fabric. It looks like this when half sewn. See how it's backward. You have to flip your sewing brain inside out to do these zippers.

• Sew the other side down. Hold the tape and work with the machine while I slowly sew the zipper.

Inserting an invisible zipper is easy once you think of it as going in, backward.

Wow, all that is left to do is the bottom hem. The pattern suggests a 2" hem. So, that's what I did. I serged the raw edge, then turned it under, and under again. The pattern calls for hand stitching, but at this point, I had enough of this dress. So, I tossed that sucker on my machine. I usually don’t hand-sew anything unless I absolutely have to.

Sewing the hem.

A little behind-the-scenes shot. Phew! Glad the dress is done. Oh wait, I need to sew on the frog closures by hand. Cue a tear and a Netflix show. LOL.

Use a clip to hold the collar together. Pin each side of the frogs to the dress exactly where you want them. Thread that hand needle and get to work. I should have used some interfacing behind where I sewed. Ugh. Stitch them both by following the pattern instructions. It looked like one was at the corner of the front bodice flap and another at the collar. That's where I put mine. Once these beauties are on, you should be done! Hooray!!!

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Overall, I love this dress. The fit is amazing. It's form-fitting but loose. Does that even make sense? I like the length too. I'm glad I decided to just dive in, after a year of it staring at me... from the corner of the floor. I don't like labeling sewists as beginners, advanced, etc. But, I think this dress would be best for someone who has a few garments under their belt already. It was time-consuming, and the pattern layout was tricky. Just take your time, and you'll be a vintage goddess in no time.

The only thing now is where I'm going to wear it. Hmm...

Photos below are all by Erica Lancaster

Well, that’s it. I hope you make this dress if you’ve been on the fence for a while. If so, tag me on Instagram @sewingtothemoon. I want to see your version. I love this dress and can't wait to wear it everywhere, once I figure out where to wear it.

Happy sewing,

Annette