hello! I'm a Black American woman in my 30s, and I like to sew things and play video games and cook, not necessarily in that order. i like nerdy crafts and handmade things, and this storing-house for my creative expressions and obsessions!
Iron it. Listen to me. Look me in the eyes. Are you listening? Iron your fabric. Don’t be an idiot and waste a solid yard of material bc you were too lazy to do it right the first time. Ask me how I know. Velvet is possibly the only exception.
Expanding on the ironing, make sure your grainlines aren’t skewed. When you buy fabric, 99% of the time it will be cut crooked and you cannot rely on the cut edge to lay your fabric out straight. If your fabric has a woven pattern, you can use that as a reference, but printed ones aren’t reliable either. I draw a thread an trim off the slanted excess.
Lay your fabric out on a flat surface with straight reference lines that can be used to align the grain. For me this means my hardwood floors.
Yes I am way more obsessive than the average hobbyist tailor but getting your grain aligned is so important.
That pattern matching you see here? All because I washed and dried the fabric first, them made sure the motifs were aligned when I was ironing it before I layed out the pattern pieces
Always preshrink your fabric. (aka: wash & dry it in the manner you will treat it after making your item.)
BLAAARGH!! PUT THE COALS WITHIN MY MOUTH! ROAST YOUR FOOLISH MARSHED MALLOWS!! COLLECT THE ASHES FROM MY ASS TRAY and dispose of them responsibly, especially if they are still warm, fires are no joke. Uh. BLAARGH!!
I don’t know what 19th century man needs to hear this, but your whiskers look splendid and manly, your check trousers are neat and becoming, and you have just enough macassar oil in your hair. You should put that piece of bijouterie on your watch-chain, it is an interesting ornamentation that will surely earn you admiring glances.
ALT
