Reading a Sewing Pattern

Whether you have been sewing for awhile or just learning, this book offers comprehensive, easy to understand instruction for successful garment construction.

Here's a quick excerpt from the book on Reading a Sewing Pattern.

By Jan Saunders Maresh

Even though a sewing pattern might be labeled "easy" or "quick," the pattern instruction writers sometimes assume that you have a certain amount of general sewing knowledge. Nothing can be more intimidating than trying to figure out what all the hieroglyphics are on the various parts of a pattern. Don't have a pattern panic attack! Take a look at each of the standard pattern parts one at a time, and you'll be shopping for patterns like a pro in no time.

Reading the front of the pattern envelope

On the front of the pattern envelope, you often see several style variations of the same project. In the world of sewing, these style variations are called views. One view may have a collar, long sleeves, and cuffs. Another view may have a V-neck and short sleeves.

In home decor patterns, you may have several views in one pattern for a basic window treatment. Another pattern may have several pillow views. A third has several options for slipcovers. Views simply give you style options on creating the same basic project.

Reading the back of the pattern envelope

The back of a pattern envelope contains the following information about your project:

• The back of the project in detail: The front of the pattern usually just shows the front of your project.

• A description of the project by view: Always read the description of a project on the back of the pattern envelope. Drawings and photographs can be deceiving, but this written description tells you exactly what you're getting.

• How much fabric to buy: This information is based on the width of the fabric you choose, the view you're making, your size, and whether your fabric has nap or not.

If your fabric has nap, the pattern requires you to buy a little more fabric. Your fabric has nap if it falls contains any of these qualities:

• One-way design: For example, your fabric shows dancing elephants printed in the same direction. If you cut out some of the pattern pieces in one direction and other pattern pieces in the opposite direction, you'll find elephants dancing right side up on part of the project and upside down on another part of the same project. You need extra fabric so that you can get all your elephants going in the right direction.

• Fuzzy texture:Such as velvet, corduroy, Polarfleece, and some sweatshirt fleeces. When brushed in one direction, the fabric is smooth; when brushed in the other direction, it's rough. This texture difference translates into a color difference. You need more fabric to cut out the pattern pieces in the same direction.

• Uneven stripe: For example, the fabric has three colored stripes — red, blue, and yellow. To match the stripes at the seams, you need extra fabric because the pattern must be laid out in the same direction. If the front and back pattern pieces are laid out in opposite directions, the stripes are cut on the front, going from red, to blue, to yellow. The stripes on the back would be cut so that they go from yellow, to blue, to red. When you sew the seam together, the stripes won't match at the side seams.

• Even or uneven plaid: The color bars in a plaid must match both vertically and horizontally. If the plaid is not symmetrical in one or both directions, you need to lay out the pattern pieces all going in the same direction. This technique requires more fabric — for making the plaid match.

• List of notions needed for specific views: These notions include items such as the number and size of buttons, the zipper length and type, elastic width and length, shoulder pad style and size, hooks and eyes, and so on.

It's what's inside that counts

Inside your pattern envelope, you find the following items necessary for your project:

• Pattern pieces: Some pattern pieces are printed on large pieces of tissue paper. Others are printed on sturdy pieces of white paper called master patterns.

To preserve the master pattern for reuse, simply trace the size you need onto a piece of pattern tracing material. (This material is available through sewing mail-order catalogs and specialty fabric stores. Look for Trace-A-Pattern and Do-Sew brands.)

This way, you can trace off another view or cut out a project for someone else who is a different size without destroying the master pattern.

• Key and glossary: These references help you decipher the markings on the pattern pieces.

• Pattern layout: The layout shows you how to lay out the pattern pieces on the fabric yardage for each view.

• Step-by-step instructions on how to put the project together: Instructions are written in various degrees of clarity depending on your knowledge of sewing.

The project instructions may run more than one page. If they do, staple the pages together in the upper-left corner and post them in front of you as you sew. Then you can easily check off each step as you finish it. If you don't have a place to post the sheet, set it next to your sewing machine, folded to the section you're working on, for a handy reference.

How to Choose Sewing Patterns for Wedding Dresses

How to Choose Sewing Patterns for Wedding Dresses

Sleek Gossip features a great article today on how to choose sewing patterns for wedding dresses.

Making a wedding dress is a big task, but some people choose to do it. It’s cheaper than buying a dress, and it allows the dress to be designed more for the individual. However, some have no idea where to begin to find patterns for their wedding dresses. 

This is a great article with clear step-by-step instructions to finding the perfect pattern - and not always where you would think to look!

Vintage Sewing Pattern Wall Art

I am crazy about vintage sewing pattern art! 

I have been looking for ideas to showcase the artwork from my collection of vintage sewing patterns and display them so that I can enjoy them more. 

The blog,  Shelly Inspired, features a tutorial on framing actual pattern envelopes, but you could also scan and print the envelopes for framing, or work up a cool collage of scanned pattern images from different envelopes.  

Such a cute idea to turn those pattern envelopes into wall art. 

Organizing Sewing & Craft Supplies

How to Organize Sewing and Craft Supplies

Sewing and craft supplies are easy to misplace and lose. Get it all under control with easy and interesting ways to organize all your sewing and hobby items.

Sewing supplies as well as arts and crafts needs are not just always, in demand but also, always getting misplaced, resulting in panic, stress and buying things that you’re bound to find someday. The easy solution to this chaos is to organize all your sewing and crafts supplies so that each time anyone in the family needs to sew or make a school project, they’d know where to look. Moreover, you would be able to keep a tab on what needs to be bought or replaced, making a big difference to the family budget.

Collect Everything Together

The first thing to do would be to gather all your sewing and craft supplies and place them in front of you. Start putting them together into neat piles-colors, paint, glue guns and tubes, threads, needles, wool, cotton, buttons, trims, lace and anything and everything that you would use for sewing or arts and crafts. Take a good look at the piles you’ve made and see how many containers you would need for them. This would take you to the next step.

Use Divided Clear Containers

Since most of your sewing and craft supplies would include a lot of tiny stuff that would often, disappear when you need it the most, it would be a good idea to invest in a couple or more of divided clear containers. Use these containers to store all those sewing and crafts supplies that get lost when shoved into drawers or closets or large boxes.

• Use separate containers for sewing and craft supplies.
• In one divided container store all your buttons, hooks, lace, trim, ribbon and ribbon roses, thimbles, spare buttons that you get with your clothes, needles, tape measure and all other small sewing supplies. Also, put in a pair of scissors.
• For threads, use clear containers that come with spindles to hold sewing machine threads and invest in a plastic container that comes especially to store embroidery threads.
• Put all crafts supplies into another divided, clear container. Glitter, motifs, ribbons, and anything else that you use for school and crafts projects should go in here. Put a separate pair of scissors, a child-friendly one, in this container. Tubes of paint or glue can also, go into clear jars.
• If you do a lot of sewing and craft work, it would be a good idea to organize your supplies according to type- cross stitch, fabric paint, everyday sewing, quilting, knitting and so on.

Storing Paper and Cloth

Paper and cloth of all kinds is used for both sewing and creating crafts, so it is important that these be stored along with your other craft and sewing supplies. Both cloth and paper should be stored either rolled up and tied loosely or spread flat and smoothed out. If rolling it up, store it all in a tall container. You could use an old jar for this.

If spreading paper or cloth flat for storing, slide them into folders such as a CD folder or even, large Ziploc pouches, and label them, identifying what kind of paper or cloth they hold. So, when you’re looking for them, you wouldn’t have to open half a dozen folders.

Organize Storage Space

Once you have everything sorted, you would need to identify a proper space to store your sewing and crafts supplies. Wherever you decide to store them, ensure that you keep all of them together. So, your clear containers, paper and cloth rolls as well as folders should all be together in one place.

Keep a few small empty containers to hold any miscellaneous stuff. Store in a cabinet or closet or even, on a shelf but remember to put up a pen and paper to jot down anything that needs to be replaced to save you time and effort from going through everything when you’re about to leave for the store.

Keeping all your sewing and crafts supplies in an organized manner would save you a lot of time, effort and money. Knowing that you have everything at hand would prevent undue stress and bother over school projects, missing buttons or torn shirts.

So, take out some time now and organize all your sewing and crafts supplies to enjoy the results later.

I Finally Did It!

Yes - I finally did it! 

Here is (or soon will be) all of Carol's Tag Sale - from across the web to this one compact site. 

There is lots more to come soon! 

Right now, http://www.carolstagsale.com/ is still directed to my About Me page on eBay.  Before this blog, it was the only site with links to all my selling venues.  Believe me, this blog will be even better!  The hub of activity for Carol's Tag Sale - posting to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, pattern & crafts listings on eBay and Etsy.  And - on the subject of Facebook - I'm setting up a real page.  I have been busy!   

Until this all gets set up, you know that you can still visit me at http://www.etsy.carolstagsale.com/ and http://www.ecrater.carolstagsale.com/ and http://www.ebay.carolstagsale.com/ for great deals on new and vintage sewing patterns and crafts. 

NEWS:  I have lots of new and gently used costume sewing patterns to list this next week.  You can see the costume patterns I have for sale right now on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/CarolsTagSale?section_id=7216682.  

If you are looking for a certain costume, just convo me through Etsy and I will see if I have it. 

See you soon!

The Cooking of Canton

Its name comes from the port city of Canton, capital of Kwangtung province in southeastern China. Of all the styles of Chinese cooking, Cantonese food is probably the most familiar to Americans.

From Canton came waves of immigrants in the 19th century, who introduced Chinese cooking to the United States. Many of the Chinese restaurants that first opened in America served not what they thought was best, but what they thought would appeal most to the local clientele - which was basic, simple Cantonese food, often enjoyed as much for its low price as its taste appeal.

With the popularity of more regional Chinese restaurants in the United States, Cantonese food has lost some of its appeal. It is time to think beyond chop suey and chow mein and explore the many delicious Cantonese dishes which show the greatest variety and depth of any of the regional Chinese cuisines.

Southeastern China has an unusual abundance of good food to cook. Its moist, tropical climate provides a long growing season for rice, vegetables and fruits, and the 1,000 mile coastline is rich with fish and shellfish. Fresh ingredients need few frills: Cantonese food is light and generally mild, with the emphasis on pure natural flavors.

Other influences upon the cooking of Canton through the centuries is from migrations from northern China during times of political turmoil, and also by commerce with the Portuguese, Dutch and other Western traders who first established contact with the Chinese, introducing foods such as peanuts, corn, tomatoes and white potatoes.

World-wide, Cantonese cooks have become popular for their wide variety of stir-fried dishes and for their expertise in preparing a multitude of snack foods. from fried noodles to steamed dim sum. Their favorite seasonings include Black Bean Sauce, Oyster Sauce and Lobster Sauce.

Wok this Way! (Part 4 of 5) Cleaning and Caring for Your Wok

Wok this Way! (Part 4 of 5) Cleaning and Caring for Your Wok
By Helen Fan

Non-stick woks do not require seasoning, and come with simple cleaning instructions from the manufacturers, while steel carbon and iron woks require seasoning. Cleaning a seasoned wok is a lot different than a non-stick wok, and this is what we will cover here.

We will start with an important reminder: Do NOT use a steel wool scouring pad (or any abrasive product) on a seasoned wok, EVER! It will waste all the effort you put forth in seasoning your wok, and will require you to re-season it again.

A freshly seasoned wok will need some extra tender-loving-care. Immediately after cooking each dish, rinse the wok with plain hot water only. It is important to not use any other cleaning product to avoid damaging the seasoning. Often, there will be some bits and pieces of food particles stuck on the surface of a freshly seasoned wok. To remove them, gently lift them off with a bamboo brush (highly recommended), or a non-metallic scrubber. Then rinse the wok once more with plain hot water. To dry the wok, instead of wiping it dry, put the wet wok on the stove and set it on high heat. Heat the wok until a faint smoke arises from the bottom, then either let it cool and store it away, or continue to cook another dish. It is a common practice for chefs in Chinese restaurants to immediately put the wok back on the stove, pour hot water into the wok, scrub it quickly with a bamboo brush, dump out the water, and then place the wok back on the hot stove while he/she prepares another dish. By the time he/she is ready to cook the next dish, the wok is already hot, dry, and primed to go. It takes literally seconds to go through the drill once you get some practice. This process allows the traces of grease from the last dish to settle into the carbon steel's pores, further seasoning the wok.

After you are finished cooking a meal, cleaning the wok, and ready to put the wok away, it is always a good practice to apply another thin coat of cooking oil. Store it in a dry, airy spot until you use it again (hopefully, very soon). Once the wok is well-seasoned, it becomes self-sufficient, and will not require re-coating again. As mentioned before, It takes time, care, and regular use before a wok develops a patina, where the wok becomes virtually non-stick, and the dishes impart that elusive “wok hay”. In addition, clean-up and care will be easy, requiring little time and effort, often only involves rinsing it with plain hot water and little scrubbing, as none of the food should stick to the wok.

As the black patina develops from frequent repeated use, it will also appear on the bottom exterior. It is also a layer of carbon from cooking at a high heat. In a household kitchen, where the stove does not reach as high a temperature as it does in a restaurant, this is actually a good thing. It helps conduct the heat faster, concentrates the heat to the bottom of the wok, and brings the wok to an even higher temperature. A nice bonus is that it also enhances the flavor of the dish. So, there is no need to scrub the exterior of the wok, either. Just a simple hot water rinse after cooking should be enough.

In Part 5, we'll talk about all the nice little friends that you can get along with your wok, the accessories.

Helen Fan grew up in a family that has owned various Asian restaurants all over North America, from Vancouver (Canada), Houston (Texas), Decatur (Illinois), to Chicago (Illinois). She, and the rest of the Fan family are now sharing their decades of knowledge on the art of Chinese cuisine at http://www.chinesehomecooking.com/

You can read more of our articles at

http://www.ChineseHomeCooking.Com/resources/resources.htm

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