Helen Spencer from HelloSewing.com shares what not to do when making your own clothes!
Handmade stuff is great, there’s no doubt about it. Handmade candy, handmade meals, handmade crafts, and handmade clothes all have that certain quality you can’t find in mass-produced products. Clothes you make on your own are basically perfect since you made them ideal for you in every way. But just because they’re handmade, doesn’t mean that your clothes should have a homemade look. Instead, they ought to seem like they were professionally made. What makes a difference though? Helen shares 8 sewing mistakes that make your garment look homemade, and how can you can make sure that they don’t?
Avoiding making these following mistakes should pretty much do the trick and give you a professional finish:
1.Not adjusting the pattern to your needs
This is especially important if your body size isn’t exactly in the so-called standard pattern size. If you are blessed with a bit more curves or if you are a bit more on the thin, modelish size, chances are, that very few sewing patterns will be adequate for your clothes if you don’t alter them.
If you leave the pattern as it is, your clothing will not have that professional look and they won’t fit you properly. To avoid this, alter the pattern first and do a trial run. Make a test garment out of muslin, and if it fits you the way it’s supposed to, move on to using the fabric you intended for your new piece of clothing.
2. Choosing the wrong fabric
Not all types of fabric are adequate for all kinds of clothing. Some fabrics tend to hold their form better than the others, some wrinkle more or less, some don’t possess the durability you need for certain garments and so on.
Before you decide on using a specific fabric, make sure that it has the characteristics you expect your new handmade garment to have as well. If you go with a material that doesn’t stretch but you need it to stretch, it will just tear instead. Always choose appropriate fabrics to avoid you garments looking homeade! A sewing pattern will always include the fabric suggestions on the pattern envelope that have been tried and tested.
3. Cutting fabric before making sure that the pattern is straight
This one is pretty self-explanatory, right? If your pattern is not straight, you will end up cutting fabric into pieces that are also not straight. A garment that has been put together from misshaped fabric pieces will not simply look homemade, it will most likely look terribly out of shape as well.
4. Not using interfacing or using the wrong one
Interfacing might seem unnecessary sometimes, but it really isn’t. It’s important because it gives your garments the exact shape you want, strength in certain areas that need extra durability, and that true ‘this was made by a professional’ look. If you use the wrong interfacing or no interfacing at all, your clothes could end up looking poorly made or getting damaged way too quickly.
5. Not pressing as you go
There’s a reason why you should always use an iron to press the fabric while you’re sewing. You make it less bulky, give it the shape it should have, and make the entire sewing process far easier. Skipping this process will guarantee that your garment ends up looking homemade in the worst possible way.
6. Not using facing or bias binding
If you turn around a curved seam allowance and topstitch a neckline or armholes, don’t expect your garment to look professionally made. The way you’re supposed to do it is to add facing or bias binding instead. Yes, it is more time consuming but it’s worth the extra effort!
7. Leaving seams unfinished
Seams that aren’t finished properly look awful, but they also can become a problem actually. Such seams tend to start unraveling, and as the unraveling continues, your garment is getting closer and closer to suffering a wardrobe malfunction. Before you know it, a hole will appear at the seam in question.
Even if the seam is on the inside and it isn’t visible, always finish it adequately. If you don’t own a serger/overlocker and don’t plan to get a new one, you can just zigzag over the raw edge.
8. Using the wrong hem finish
Wrong hem finish can really ruin the overall look of your new garment. Most sewists use topstitching for finishing, but that isn’t always the right choice. The smart thing to do here would be to either sew the hem by hand or to get a blind hemmer instead.
Have you made some of these mistakes? We hope you liked the article and find it useful?
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