Sewing life hacks: 10 tricks for seamstresses
Any activity has its own subtleties and tricks that simplify the work and allow you to optimize it as much as possible. In the sewing business, there are tips and life hacks for sewing and needlework, which help to more quickly and efficiently perform certain actions, as well as make it easier to work and save time and effort.
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Double pencil or template frame for outlining allowances
A cardboard template 1-1.5-2 cm wide or two pencils tied together with a rubber band will allow you to make precise allowances on the fabric or pattern. This will help to significantly save time when cutting and sewing and will allow you to create a very neat product.
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Cardboard template for smoothing seams
A sheet of cardboard with borders marked on it is a very convenient sewing life hack that will allow you to create even and uniform allowances for the hem of the bottom of the product along the entire length.
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Cardboard for stitching thick fabrics
Most home sewing machines are very poor at sewing thick layers of material. A small strip of cardboard or thin plastic under the back of the foot would be a good working life hack to help solve this problem.
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Stationery elastic bands for precise stitching
If the size of the markings on the machine’s working surface is not enough for stitching, many seamstresses use ordinary stationery bands as a guide for stitching.
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Template for making a bias inlay
You can create an even and neat bias binding without special devices. To do this, it is enough to cut out a template from a sheet of paper or cardboard with slots of the required size, through which the tape will need to be passed. With the help of such a life hack, it will be convenient to form binding for future sewing.
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Memo with stitching directions
A good seamstress always has a handicraft guide with tips on the direction of sewing to help shape the seams correctly. Such a life hack is especially relevant when sewing on a typewriter product made of thin and flowing fabrics, which can be very distorted when sewing with threads, which makes them easy to ruin.
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Building a pattern for old things
If the old thing fits perfectly to the figure or has an interesting cut, you can remove the pattern from it for subsequent sewing of a new product without having to open something so as not to spoil it. For this life hack, it is enough to glue over every detail with masking tape, after which the resulting element can be transferred to the pattern.
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Storing bobbins of thread
If there is no special container for storing bobbins, special silicone pedicure dividers can be used for this purpose. Sewing bobbins fit perfectly, hold well, and are easy to remove.
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Self-adjustment of the skirt length
In order to measure the required length of the skirt or level the bottom without assistance, a little trick can be used: the usual thickly coated thread is pulled in the doorway and is located at the required height.
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Sliding foot
A special sliding foot is required for sewing leather, polyethylene, or other very smooth fabrics. If not, you can easily do it yourself. To perform this life hack, it is enough to glue tape on the entire lower part of a regular foot. It will provide good glide and will help the fabric advance well when sewing.
Other Important Sewing life hacks
- It is best to grind the sour cream parts of the product, stepping back 1 mm from the basting line towards the product. Then it will be very easy to remove the broom threads without damaging the machine stitching also find the best heat press machine for better results.
- To prevent the ends of the linen gum from opening, they should be melted over a fire before starting work.
- So that the Velcro is securely sewn, it is best to adjust it to the details of the product with a dense zigzag stitch.
- To avoid dulling the needle, it is better to lay the stitching parallel to the line of the streak, stepping back from it literally 1 mm.
- To prevent the seam from skewing during the stitching in of the zipper, you need to duplicate the allowances for stitching in the zipper with strips of a thin non-woven glue pad. The width should be equal to the width of the seam allowance and the length should be equal to the length of the zipper opening. IMPORTANT! This method does not apply to transparent fabrics.
- To prevent the silhouette of the darts from appearing on the front side when smoothing, a strip of cardboard can be inserted between the main part and the dart before processing.
- To prevent the stitching from tightening or deforming the stitch when stitching the details of the product onto the synthetic winterizer, you should slightly increase the stitch length and relax the tension of the upper thread.
- When replacing the slider, you need to rip up the upper part of the zipper stitching seam, pull out the zipper tail, remove the faulty “dog” from it, put on a new one, check how it works, insert the zipper tailback and stitch the ripped section as it was sewn before the repair.
- To easily thread a needle, just spray a little hairspray on the end of the thread.
- To quickly sharpen the scissors for cutting, you just need to cut the sheet of foil with them several times.
- The needle bar can be replaced with a regular foam rubber sponge for washing dishes.
- A simple magnet will help to quickly collect scattered metal elements or needles. And you can also put it under the bottom of the saucer or in the needle case – so all their contents will always be in place.
- You can draw a circle of large diameter on the fabric in a simple way: we take a strong thread, to one end of it you need to tie a piece of sharply sharpened chalk or a marker for cutting. Then from the chalk, you need to measure the length of the thread equal to the desired radius of the circle. Then, holding the free end of the thread in one place with your finger, you need to draw a circle on the fabric, gradually and very carefully moving the chalk on the thread around the center.
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