First Lesson

Today was my first official sewing lesson and I liked loved it!

Typical me.. I chose a very complicated pattern for a beginner so I didn't get to the actual sewing today, but I will in my next lesson.

Basically, today I retraced the pattern on a fabric called 'Vilene paper'. You use this to retrace your patterns in your actual size. It is also a lot easier to work with than the normal tissue paper patterns that can so easily rip or get lost.

                                          Original Pattern: Tracing Paper (very thin)

                                          Traced Out Pattern: Vilene (Thicker and easier to fold etc.)

Make sure when you are retracing your pattern that you draw every line shown and also write down everything that is shown on your original pattern, i.e. :"central fold here" "Gradient Line" etc. You don't want to get confused where to cut later on!

Once I retraced the pattern, I cut each retraced part out and pined them to my fabric ( which you have to first fold over with the 'right' sides touching each other on the inside and the 'wrong' sides facing the outside, i.e, you will see the wrong side and be pinning your pattern onto the wrong side.) Depending on your design, you will have certain areas that need to be on the 'centre fold' (Where you have folded your fabric/ the centre of your fabric) etc.

                                                                      Right Side
                                     

Wrong Side

Once you have done this, check that each pattern has been pinned on straight and not skew as this can mess with the way your finished product fits. ALSO make sure you pin/cut on the length of the fabric.

Once you have done this- Cut out around each pattern piece, making sure you are cutting both sides of the fabric at the same time.

               
                                          This is how your fabric should look before pinning it:
                                          right side on the inner and wrong side on the outer.

Make sure you have a sharp pair of scissors- even if they are expensive, IT IS WORTH IT! blunt scissors will take forever to cut through your fabric and will also leave your fabric looking like it has been eaten by a shark (untidy edges)... O.o

So thats Basically all I got to today, but I have just booked another lesson for tomorrow, where I will finally sew :D


Loving it so far!

X Vicky