Category Archives: SEWING ESSENTIALS

Darts are one of the most basic structural elements in dressmaking and garment construction. They are folds of fabric used for shaping and removing excess volume for a better fit. The female body is not a simple flat cylinder, it has all kinds of curves, dipping valleys and rising hills. In order to make a fitted…

An all-in-one facing (also known as a combined neck and armhole facing) is a clean and simple finish for a sleeveless garment. It creates a neat and supportive finish at the neckline and the armhole edges. Many sleeveless dress and top patterns call for separately faced neckline and armholes. However, in some cases, especially when…

A notched collar (or «tailored collar») is mainly used on tailored jackets and coats. However, this collar style became so popular that today that it is often seen on all sorts of garments – vests, dresses, shirts and pyjama tops. A notched collar is composed of an upper collar, an under collar and two lapels. And…

Chances are that you’ve seen elastic shirring on many dresses and skirts in store this summer. This sewing technique is quite popular in women’s wear this season, but did you know you could do it yourself? It’s quick and easy and all you need is an elastic thread in the bobbin of your sewing machine…

Remember that fold-down casing method we talked about in our recent tutorial? So while this information is still fresh we thought we would show you two techniques for adding a drawstring to a waistband: you will learn how to sew a basic drawstring waistband and an elastic drawstring waistband. Basically, you can use a drawstring instead…

For many people, elastic waistband is a synonym of comfort. Most commonly seen on skirts, pants and dresses, a garment with elasticized waist is easy to pull on, will stay in place all day and live with your body. Elastic waistbands also allow for small variations in fit and work great for most body types….

Today we are going to show you how to draft, form and sew box pleats. After knife pleats, discussed in our previous tutorial, box pleats are the second most common type of pleats you are likely to use when sewing garments. Just as with knife pleats, they are used to add volume, take in fullness…

Pleats are folds of fabric that are made to add volume, take in fullness and add interest to the silhouette of a garment. They can be used as decorative features on sleeves and blouses as well as in home decor. However, pleats are most commonly seen on skirts and dresses to take in a full…

Today’s tutorial is about one of the most common patternmaking techniques: neckline alteration. Changing the shape of a neckline is one of the easiest ways to vary the style of a garment. In this tutorial, we will show you how to do a basic alteration to an existing pattern in order to achieve a design…

Welcome back to our pocket workshop! After inseam pockets, patch pockets and cargo patch pockets, we want to show you how to sew single welt pockets. The main characteristic of this type of pocket is that in a welt pocket the actual pocket is on the inside of the garment, with a strip of fabric…

Today we are going to show you how to sew a vent (sometimes called a split). It is a part of functional design that allows for the ease of movement (walking or sitting) within a garment. All vents are positioned in the seams and are most commonly seen at the back of classic style skirts,…

One way of adding fullness to a particular area of your garment, for example, a hemline on a skirt or a back of a dress or even the bottom of a sleeve, is by inserting panels of fabric which are commonly known as godets. A godet is usually triangular in shape (but not necessarily) and…

Today’s tutorial is a quick tip on how to finish the hem of a curved edge (a circle skirt or a rounded bottom hem of a shirt, for example). Since the curved raw edge is fuller than what you are trying to hem it into, the standard turned up twice technique is not ideal for…

A yoke is the upper part of a garment that fits the shoulder area. It consists of two separate pieces of fabric (an inside and an outside yoke) that are attached to the front and the back of the garment. Since all the raw edges are concealed within the two yoke pieces, you get a…

Today we wanted to show you how to sew another type of a sleeve placket – a continuous bound placket. It is called like this because it’s made from one piece of fabric that is used to bind a slash opening in the sleeve. This method is much easier than the traditional shirt sleeve and…