Resources

The best thing about home sewing in the Internet Age is that we're not doing this in a vacuum!  There are so many great blogs and sites out there that it really pays to look around for information to help your sewing so we don't all end up reinventing the wheel.  Even better, we're now able to order fabric from almost anywhere in the world, giving us a much wider variety to work with so we're not stuck with just what the local Jo-Ann's is carrying.  I will list some of my favorite guides and sources here, to make your search easier :)  If you guys come across any pages that you think ought to be added to this list, please post the link in a comment on this page!

Pattern drafting/alterations

Just the essentials:

Full Bust Adjustment (bodice with darts)
Full Bust Adjustment (princess seams)
Small Bust Adjustment (bodice with darts)

In-depth resources

Madalynne - An enormous font of information on working with patterns.  Check out her tutorial on how to draft a bodice sloper
Texas A&M University Extension - A collection of pdf guides to common pattern fitting alterations.
In-House Patterns - Pattern vendor with a collection of posts on pattern fitting alterations.
Megan Nielsen - Collected posts from sew-along's she's hosted, which includes several tutorials on pattern alteration.
Sewaholic - More sew-along posts with technical info embedded
Stitches and Seams - a variety of tutorials from her blog
So-So Sewist - A post that delves into the technical aspects of Full Bust Adjustments

Sewing tips and tricks

Press your seams - When I first started sewing I didn't believe that pressing was important.  I didn't even know the difference between pressing and ironing!  Avoid my mistakes and take heed of this great post!
Gelatin your chiffon - A way to make your unruly fabrics behave better.
Cutting with tissue paper - Another way to make your unruly fabrics behave better.
Iron with vinegar - Help with stubborn wrinkles.
Make continuous bias strips - A very detailed tutorial on how to make your own continuous bias.  This method takes longer than the quick-and-dirty cutting method but it saves you from having to sew all the individual strips together.


Buying Fabric

This list is primarily US-based and includes some of my favorites from the NY garment district:

Mood - The ultra-famous store featured in Project Runway.  For once, the hype is justified!
B and J - High quality fabric for high-ish prices, lots of Liberty prints in stock.
Fabrics and Fabrics - Another high-end fabric seller with prices to match.
Elliott Berman - Snazzy European imports for very reasonable prices.
Paron's - my go-to place for quality fabrics at good prices, I get a lot of my wardrobe basics there.
SuperBuzzy - Mainly Japanese imports, best selection of Nani Iro for the US.
MissMatatabi on Etsy - More Japanese fabric, though shipping from Japan.
Purl - Even though the physical store is in SoHo, New York, the online shop ships from Los Angeles, so the stock in the store is different than the stock online.  Mostly quilting-weight fabrics but also carries Liberty and a few Nani Iro fabrics.
Fabricworm - Main focus is quilting-weight fabrics, also stocks some Japanese double gauze.

Buying Trimming and Notions

Pacific Trimming - My all-time favorite non-fabric store in the NY garment district!  They have lots of cute buttons, trim, and hardware (buckles, accessory-making findings, etc.) for really great prices.  Also make sure you check out their 99-cent YKK invisible zippers!  You can order specific numbers from the whole color chart, so stop over-paying at Jo-Ann's!
M&J Trimming - A very well-designed website with a large selection of high-quality trim (hand-dyed silk ribbons, anyone?).  Since adding trim can turn your garment into either amateur-project or designer-chic, you want to make sure you use tasteful, well-made trim, and M&J will always have something appropriate.  Whenever I have something specific in mind, I usually stop by M&J's physical store in the NY garment district because I know they will have something that fits the bill.  Their prices are higher than Pacific Trimming but their selection in certain areas is wider and spans a higher-end range.
amazon.com - A surprisingly great source for sewing notions.  A wide variety of Clover notions are available at great prices, as well as Gingher shears.  Once you know what you need, check prices on Amazon first.
Fashion Sewing Supply - Interfacing and buttons.  They have a wide selection of interfacing for almost every application I can think of.  I love using their products and the prices are amazing when you realize that their interfacing by the yard is 60" wide, while most packaged interfacing is like 24" or narrower.
Bolt Depot - I bought my giant washers that I use as pattern weights from this place.  I absolutely love them: nice and heavy, and I can stack or unstack them depending on how securely I need to hold a particular spot down.  Much cheaper than the retail packaged pattern weights and much more useful.  Some people like to decorate the washers by wrapping them in ribbons or fabric, but I don't mind the bare metal and I like how they lie flat against each other.
GS Direct - Art supply store with the best prices on tracing paper I was able to find.  That link goes to the parchment paper product page, but if you want a cheaper alternative, here's the page for sketching paper.  I like 36" wide rolls best, since it is wide enough for almost every type of pattern, but the paper is available in narrower widths as well.  Amazon also has sketching and parchment paper and it might be worth seeing if the width you want might be cheaper there.
Swedish Tracing Paper - I personally haven't used this but a lot of home sewers love it.  It seems kind of pricey to me (it costs more per yard than normal tracing paper and muslin combined) so I stick to normal tracing paper.

1 comment:

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