Text copyright © 2008 Ruth Singer Photography copyright © 2008 Jan Baldwin and Dominic Harris, except for this page, this page, this page, and this page copyright © V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum Illustrations copyright © 2008 Philip Haxell All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Potter Craft, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com www.pottercraft.com POTTER CRAFT and colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc. Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain as Sew It Up by Kyle Cathie Ltd, London, in 2008. The project designs in this book are copyright © Ruth Singer. Products can be made for sale using these designs, but Ruth Singer and The Sewing Bible must be acknowledged. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request. ISBN: 978-0-307-46237-4 eBook ISBN: 978-0-7704-3468-7 v3.1 Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction Practical Techniques Setting up a sewing space Basic tools Fabric Notions Starting sewing Pressing and steaming masterclass Hand stitches Machine stitches Seams Notching a curved seam masterclass Princess seam masterclass Inset corner masterclass Hems Couture hem masterclass Blind hemming masterclass Edgings, bindings, and piping Continuous bias strip masterclass Mitered corner masterclass Fastenings Invisible zipper masterclass Bound buttonhole masterclass Projects Stripy apron Book bag Falling blossom Pocket handbag Mr. Mouse Decorative Techniques Frills and ruffles Pleats, folds, and tucks Decorative box pleating masterclass Trimmings In-seam trim masterclass Scalloped edge masterclass Fabric manipulation Yo-yo masterclass Stitch and slash masterclass American smocking masterclass Quilting, appliqué, and patchwork Hand quilting masterclass Trapunto masterclass Reverse appliqué masterclass Patchwork masterclass Embroidery Projects Pom-pom blanket Pleated corsage Silk cuff Patchwork needlebook Pinstripe pincushion Quilted placemats Gingham purse Gathered scarf Trapunto pillow Using the Techniques Curtains Pillows Dressmaking Designing Customizing and recycling Repairs and alterations Projects Quick curtains Vintage jacket Pieced pillowcase Circular skirt Customized T-shirt Pebble pillow Tools Fabric guide Templates Glossary Reading Resources Index Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction Sewing for pleasure is getting the stylish revamp it deserves. Making clothes, accessories, presents, and beautiful things for your home is a great way to express your creativity and personal style. Sewing shouldn’t be a chore: Making things for yourself and your friends and family should be a pleasure, a hobby, a distraction from real life, a creative outlet. Nothing beats the pleasure of saying “I made it!” when asked where you got your lovely bag or skirt or cushion. We all want gorgeous and original things for ourselves and our homes. We can buy nice pillows in big brand shops, but our friends will have the same ones, as will millions of other people. Our homes express part of our personalities and they should be as original and vibrant as ourselves, not carbon copies of a magazine shoot or our neighbor’s house. And really, shouldn’t we stop buying cheap and throwaway products and instead invest time, money, and effort in real, handmade, ethical, and unique things? Unlike our grandmothers’ generation, we don’t have to sew to clothe our families. Sewing for ourselves is unlikely to be an economic choice for most of us now: Clothes and homewares can be cheap, and time is money. You can spend almost infinite amounts on patterns, fancy fabrics, a sewing machine (or two), steam irons, a made- to-measure tailor’s dummy—or you can choose to make sewing an affordable hobby, buying fabrics from markets, using remnants, and recycling. You should buy the best you can afford—not necessarily the most fancy, but the best quality for your needs. Plenty of people find sewing an odd to thing to want to do. I once caused consternation in a roommate’s boyfriend by sitting sewing in front of the TV. He had only ever seen his grandmother and mother sewing, and then only out of financial necessity. To do such a thing for pleasure, when clothes could be bought cheaply in retail stores, was to him bizarre and somehow radical. Why would a young, professional woman, brought up to reject stereotypical female roles, choose to do a chore our mothers happily abandoned when feminism and changes in world trade made it unnecessary to sew clothes? The answer is, because I love fabric and clothes and always have. It seems to be in my blood. And I was brought up to do what I wanted, not what anyone else thought I ought to do. Although I’m now a professional maker, I spent over 20 years sewing for myself, for fun. I made the over-ambitious mistake of starting with dressmaking, which wasn’t perhaps the easiest way to learn. Clothes (for grown ups) are great to make, but actually quite hard projects, and it’s harder still to get them to fit perfectly. Crafts and home projects—like pillows, shopping bags, and pincushions—are a much easier way to learn sewing, but by all means use a complicated project as a way of learning lots