Strong Flat Seams Like Jeans Are Easy With Straight Stitch Sewing Machine

Make flat-felled seams for purses, totes and appliance covers with this easy straight stitch technique.

You see flat-felled seams every time you wear jeans, and you know there are no raw edges inside or outside, and they last forever because of the double-stitched technique. Flat felled seams are essential for strength and durability in some sewing, particularly crafts projects. If you want a seam to be smooth on both sides and not fray, a flat felled seam is the solution. The flat felled seam also adds strength to the area where the fabrics meet. Like jeans, you may wear out the fabric in the areas that get the roughest use, but the flat-felled seam still holds.

You can use the flat felled seam for any areas that require stitching two pieces of fabric together. If your pattern doesn't call for a flat felled seam, you can still use it with a 5/8 inch seam allowance, unless the fabric is a heavy corduroy or similar weight. In that case, you may need to add about 1/4 inch to the seam allowance so you'll have plenty of fabric to work with. For a 5/8 inch seam on the pattern, adding 1/4 inch would be a 7/8 inch seam allowance. With a heavy fabric, make a sample first as some fabrics are just too heavy to make a flat felled seam.

You can use your ordinary sewing machine and presser foot for a flat felled seam. You'll want to use a sewing machine needle for heavy fabric, as it sews through three layers of fabric for the flat felled seam. We use a seam gauge to measure the seam as we sew.

When you sew an ordinary seam, you stitch the WRONG side of the fabric, with RIGHT sides together. When stitching a flat-felled seam, place the WRONG sides of the fabric together and stitch on the RIGHT side. Stitch the 5/8 inch seam allowance on the right side with wrong sides together.

Stitch on the RIGHT side of Fabric

Open Fabric to RIGHT Side and Press

Trim ONE Side of the Seam Allowance to 1/4 inch

Open the fabric at the seam edge so you can work with a single layer. Trim ONE side ONLY of the seam allowance to about 1/4 inch from the seam.

Fold the seam allowance from the wide side of the seam under the trimmed seam allowance. Press or pin if necessary. Fold the fabric back so the uncut seam allowance is on the bottom and the cut seam allowance is at the top. Press the long edge to meet the cut edge, pressing the entire length of the seam. Flip the edge of the seam allowance over so the open edge is on the underside and flat. Press if necessary.

Folded Seam Allowance Meets the Trimmed Side

Here's what your completed flat-felled seam looks like on the front or top side:

Stitch Close to the Edge of the Folded Side

Wrong Side of Fabric is Flat

The back of the seam is smooth. This seam works well for purses, totes and handbags as well as kitchen items like toaster covers to make a neat inside appearance.

Happy stitching! I've been working on a quilt top this week, but I stopped to make eight washcloths from a towel that was fraying on the sides. I used a double zigzag stitch around the edge and washed them to see if they frayed. They didn't, so they should hold up for a long time.

Linda

cajunC

Sewing Dollhouse Accessories -- Mattress and Bedspread Easy Stitching

A Dollhouse Provides Hours of Fun for Small Children

We’re saps for the grandchildren, and Hubby recently built a dollhouse. I was to do the “decorating” with fabrics, but didn’t get it done before the grandkids came to visit. They liked the dollhouse, even without the fabric accessories, but the bed was a little uncomfortable since the action figures had to sleep on slats. I measured the bed before they left and promised that I’d make a mattress for it, and maybe a bedspread.

The Bed Needs a Mattress and Bedspread

If you want to accessorize your dollhouse, accessories are available at retail, but nothing is easier than making them, with some practical applications. Here’s how I made the mattress and pillows, all in one piece so they stay together and don’t get lost right away.

Heavy Cotton Fabric Makes Mattress

The bed is about 3 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches on the flat part, so I cut a piece of fabric folded at the top. I used a rotary cutter, but scissors work fine. The measurements for the fabric are 4 1/2 inches wide and 7 1/2 inches long. Since it’s folded at the top, that makes a piece of fabric that is 4 1/2 inches wide and 15 inches long, but we’ll work with it folded.

 I also cut some cotton batting that’s about 4 1/2 by 7 1/4 so it will end at the bottom before the fabric ends.

Stitch Sides of Mattress with Cotton Batting

Turn the fabric so the right sides are together and wrong sides are out. Lay the batting on the outer fabric. Stitch down each side at about 3/8 inch width. Turn the fabric to the right side and stitch about 1 1/4 inch down from the top across the width. This will make the “pillows” connected to the mattress so they won’t get lost. Fold at the new stitching line. Stitch down the center to divide the pillows. I didn’t stitch the pillow sides -- the action figures might want to cover their eyes.

Stitch the bottom closed. I used a straight stitch and went back over it with a zigzag stitch. Be sure you remove all pins.

Completed Mattress with Connecting Pillows

Of course we needed a bedspread to go over the mattress. I chose a heavy fabric with a one-way design, and cut it so the swans on the pond would be the center. This is a fussy cut in quilting, where the center is a chosen shape or design. I added 4 inches to the size of the bed for the overhang. 

 

Heavy Cotton Fabric Child's Print for Bedspread

Dollhouse Has Some Furniture but no Fabrics

Fussy Cut Fabric for Dollhouse Bedspread

Cut Squares on Bottom Sides for Poster Bed or Bottom Foot Board

  

Measure the height from mattress to floor, since some beds are high. My cut rectangle is 7 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches. Because the bed has a wooden footboard, I cut about 2 inch squares out of each bottom corner so the bedspread can be used with a four-poster and will hang correctly with a foot board. I cut a diagonal slash at the inside angle so the seam would lie flat. A few stitches all the way around and the bedspread is ready to tuck in at the bottom of the mattress and pull over the "pillows." See you soon with more needlework or stitching.

Pillowcases with French Seams are Easy Sewing

Pillowcases are Useful as Well as Decorative

Make your own Pillowcases with French Seams

We purchased new pillows, and they are fatter than the pillowcases easily hold so after struggling a few weeks to shove the pillow into the case, I decided it was time to make some new pillowcases. Pillowcases are easy to make, but you need to use French seams to keep the cases from fraying and to make them easy to slide the pillows into the casing.

Cut two pieces of sheeting fabric in a size suitable for your pillows, plus 4 inches on the sides and 10 inches on the ends. Most sleeping pillows are about 20 inches wide and if you're using 45 inch wide fabric, it works out without any trimming. We like to cut off the selvage edge so it doesn't pucker the stitching. A standard pillow may be about 24 inches long; the king size may be 36 inches long. Measure your pillows around with a measuring tape just as you would measure your waist and divide by two, since you’re measuring all the way around. Alternatively, if you're using 44 or 45 inch fabric and have small pillows, you may not need to make any cuts on the side, as this makes a 22 inch pillow case.

Place the fabrics WRONG sides together (right sides out) and stitch a 5/8 inch seam on both sides and down one end. 

Stitch the Side or Sides and One End Closed

Trim the seam so that it’s smooth all around to prevent frayed areas from hanging out when you stitch it again.

Trim the Seam Allowance

Stitch all Around About 5/8 inch from First Stitching

Turn the pillowcase inside out and press. Stitch 5/8 of an inch from the edge all around the three sides, encasing the first stitching and the raw edge. Here's what the inside looks like with the stitching in place.

Turn the pillowcase so the right side is out and the stitching is inside the “bag.”  Here's what it looks like from the outside.

Seam From the Right Side

Fold the open end about 1/2 inch from the edge of the fabric and stitch as close to the edge as comfortable.

Inside View with French Seam and Edge Stitching

Turn the pillowcase inside out again.

Fold the open edge to the inside and press at the point you want the seam. Some pillowcases have 1 1/2 inch seams on the open end; others have as much as 4 1/2 inches. When making your own pillowcases, it’s your preference that determines how wide you want the seam. If you want to add decorative trim, you might want to make the seam about 1 1/2 inches so the decoration won’t interfere with your sleep. You also want to consider that you need the fabric to come well over the end of the pillow. Stitch the final seam and press your pillowcase.

Completed French Seam from the Inside

Try the pillowcase on your pillow to be sure it fits, and make another one just like this one. Making a pillowcase is quick and easy and probably much less expensive than purchased pillowcases. Also, you can make them so they fit your pillows. They can be made of printed fabrics, or silk or satin. The French seam has many uses, including garment construction as well as purses, handbags and crafts. 

See you soon!  It's spring in Texas and the birds are already coming to the fountain for water.

Doves at the Fountain Last Year

 See you soon!

Linda
cajunC

Using Checks or Stripes for Quilting - Tips for Success

 

 

Using stripes or checks for quilt blocks can create designs you may have missed in your quilting adventures. For a different look, it's interesting to see what works. If you haven't tried it, here are a few issues to watch for from my practice blocks:

 

Use only fabrics that are woven checks or woven stripes. Printed designs aren't accurate enough for quilting. Here's how you can tell the difference: a woven fabric shows the design on both sides, although one side may look like the reverse. The printed fabric isn't printed on the backside, so the checks or stripes are only on one side. The blue fabric here is woven; the red fabric is printed. 

 

Woven checks have colored threads

Printed checkered fabrics show from the backside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trim the selvedge edge off the area you want to use. Then cut the fabric at any stripe or check line close to the 10 1/4 inch size. Lay it on the cutting board and rotary cut it to the 10 1/4 by 10 1/4 inch size.

 

Stripes and checks require exact squares or the design will look like it goes uphill or downhill. Check your work by folding it diagonally to see if the tips meet with no excess on the side. If not, go back and measure again. If it folds into a diagonal with no extension on the side, you should have a perfect square.

 

A folded square will make a perfect triangle

 

Match background colors. Stripes and checks together can work, but the real key to making it attractive is to have the same color background on each piece. (Ours don't match well here.) If your backgrounds aren't similar shades of white, ecru, or gray, the colors never look as good as those that match.

 

 

Quarter triangle practice block shows problems

Practice with stripes or checks. What happens when you use a stripe to make a quarter-square triangle block? I made a couple of samples, starting with a 10 1/4 inch square. This will create a 9 inch block when finished.

 

Once you have a 10 1/4 inch square, cut it on the diagonal to make four individual triangles. You'll see that the triangles will fit together to make a square, but the design won't be attractive without cutting another square and dividing it into triangles the same way. Cut a solid color, a print, or even a checkered fabric for the second fabric for your quilt block.

 

Alternate the two sets of triangles, making sure that if you're using stripes, the two triangles you use go in the same direction. (You'll have two horizontal pieces and two vertical stripes.) Press the blocks and trim the corners. Press your pieces to one side, not open like regular sewing. I always try to press toward the darker fabric so the dark doesn't show through a light one. This is especially important if you're working with polyester and cotton. 100 percent cotton is a little heavier, so the seams don't show through as much.

 

Here's another sample with stripes only, all going in the same direction. The stripes were cut horizontally, but when made into the quarter-triangle block, show as diagonals.

 

Quarter triangle block with stripes

 

 

When you use stripes or checks, the quilt blocks seldom look attractive side by side, even if you use a solid color for alternates in the blocks. Solve this with sashing or a strip of fabric dividing the blocks so the eyes see each block individually. I left a space between blocks here so you can see how they would look with a strip between, but you can also see that they don't please the eye side by side.

 

Imagine a solid strip between blocks

 

 

Half-square triangle blocks make interesting designs with stripes, particularly when using four squares together to make a pinwheel.

 

Here's a much better look. The white background of the stripe matches the white of the solid fabric. The design doesn't flow over from one piece to the other, and you can turn the stripes in different directions for other effects. This block has a problem, though. The bottom left striped piece should be a horizontal stripe to create alternating vertical and horizontal stripes. These are the kinds of issues you can learn about from making a few practice blocks.

 

Effect of using white between stripes

 

 

White background quilts are fashionable today, much like they were in the early 20th century. We're seeing white backgrounds on quilts shown on several of the 2014 quilt magazines, so don't hesitate to use white when it works to please the eye.

Have you seen this quilt? You may be able to solve a murder mystery.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/08/newser-quilt-cold-case-murder/5312917/

 

Until next time, enjoy crafts while the weather is cold. Make the best of your time indoors.

 

Linda

cajunC.com