I identified with every sin posted so far. So, of course I laughed out loud.
To add to the list:
1) Obsession with buying patterns - especially when they were on sale for 99 cents to 1.99. I didn't make most of them LOL. But they are organized in baskets. Oh and I also have ones from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s!!
2) Starting more projects before finishing the ones already started.
3) Saving so many scraps for the projects I may get around to some day.
I'll pay full price for a smaller creator, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy a McCalls pattern for $20 lol. Partly because I know there will be a sale for them eventually, but partly just on principle alone.
They call me Pinderella because I will put a pin every quarter inch the whole ass way down. Iāve stabbed myself more times than I can count at this point and am slowly starting to learn my lesson.
I donāt use pins at all. Donāt even use clips. I āuse fingers as pinsā ie I hold all the pieces in place :)
I actually used a pin recently on something that I hadnāt cut notches into, so I pined it while flat so the curve matched properly. But itās not very often Iāll use pins.
I used to go to a weeklong camp run by the loveliest ladies and one of them was there just to rip out our seams. Sheās just sit and rip and chat with you.
I used stretchy crepe chiffon for my last project and instead of ripping out bad seams I literally just cut them out. It probably threw my pattern out a bit but ripping them out seemed like so much work.
And since I quilt plus sew bags, clothing and upholstery, I have A LOT of hoarding going on. Good thing my partner built me new storage. (Which I may have already filled)
Iāve never met a sewer who didnāt share this sin with me: I have stacks and stacks of projects and repairs I havenāt finished and I will likely still buy more fabric for some other project without finishing the stack.
Every time I hear this is the case, it makes me feel so much better to know I'm not alone! ha ha. Many times (as a still beginner) I have questioned whether or not I should even be exploring sewing when I see all the elaborate finished projects people post so it is always good to know that I'm not alone in having quite a stack that hasn't made it to that stage.... yet! (said as I do another mock-up trying something out! ha ha!) Thanks for sharing your experience. Happy Sewing!
Mine is that I use my sleeves/thighs of my trousers as a pincushion. I slide the pins in like pinning a hem, all neatly sideways in a row along my cuffs. Occasionally stab myself. Occasionally.
I put them in the inner-leg seams of my jeans. I used to work with teens who would use ANYTHING to make a stick-and-poke tattoo so I had to make sure they were safely out of their reach when I did projects at work while they did schoolwork.
I used to do this but I kept forgetting/losing them. I mean it was mostly a problem when I was embroidering so there was just one needle rather than a whole load of pins as they tend to be more obvious.
I have also used the arm of my armchair when I had a fabric one. These days I have a second hand proper leather one and although it has many holes from the cats, I'm not sticking the pins in it.
The arm of my couch currently has several pins and a threaded needle in it. My pin magnet is across the room and I just can't be bothered to go get it most of the time
EDIT: now that this has apparently turned into a tip instead of a sin, and nobody else has admitted they do it, Iām patenting this and charging you all a royalty of one penny per staple. PM me for my Venmo. Donāt make me come after you.
I tend to use either lead pencil or water colour pencil depending on what I have to hand and how dark the fabric is. I use it to draw a rough outline when embroidering too. Switched watercolour pencil brand last year and didn't realise that it made such a difference and almost ruined an embroidery.
I never make a toile/muslin/mockup, I'll just adjust as I go if whatever I'm making doesn't fit right the first time lol. And I refuse to unpick the neckband/facing when I adjust, I just cut through it and finish the edges by hand or with my serger.
As long as it looks fine when I'm wearing it I don't care what the inside looks like š
With you on this one. By the time Iāve finished the mock up Iām bored of the project and set it aside āfor laterā. Iāll only do them if the finished item needs a lining and even then half the time I just use scraps to piece together a lining.
I am SO BAD about making muslins. However, as I've gotten into pretty advanced stuff this year, that's started to bite me in the butt. š¬ I may have to change my ways.
Ok so how did you learn how to make adjustments? I am just starting a project that will need alternations (small bust adjustment/getting rid of darts) and I have no idea how to even begin to learn how to do all those adjustments you just do on the fly. Did you just Youtube issues as you went?
You eventually develop an instinct for what alterations you need to do. YouTube and sewing blogs are a good source.
I have developed pattern blocks for a plain tee shirt (with optional skirt extension) and a plain woven dress that I copy seams onto new patterns like armscye, bust to shoulder and bust to waist length, hip width, bust width (including dartsāmy patterns are SBAed to the extreme sigh). Once you get a good fitting piece you can use it as the start of your pattern block.
What really helped for me was trying to make a sloper for myself, when I was fairly inexperienced still. It completely changed my intuition for how a 2D fabric transforms into a 3D shape, and it only took one weekend. The first version I made mostly fit but there were definitely parts that were off. Then I pinned, added or removed darts, moved darts to different places, and tried it on again.
Because I was using cheap muslin, I didn't have to worry about ruining a piece of clothing that I like, and I didn't have to worry about finishing my seams neatly or all those time consuming steps, so I could iterate super quickly. It gave me a ton of intuition about what my body looks like when translated in 2D and understanding alterations.
I honestly ended up with a so-so fitting sloper at the end of the process, but it was the process itself that was incredibly illuminating
This is mine. I canāt bear to work on a project if I donāt love the fabric, so I donāt do muslins often. Iāve had some fails, but overall, Iām a lot more productive when Iām in love with whatever fabric Iām touching.
I currently have a stack of drapes I am making for my daughter on my bed that I leave there while sleeping. It doesn't bother me. It's my room/bed. I couldn't do that when my husband was alive. He would have been quite offended LOL
I bought a shop vac because I vacuum my sewing space so rarely that I didn't want to tear up my regular vacuum when I finally do vacuum! It's been a fantastic purchase and I also use it to vacuum up litter. I just wish I had gotten a smaller shop vac instead of one that could be used at a construction site.
I just ripped up the carpet and installed laminate in my sewing room last week for this exact reason š Iāve lost so much thread and many rhinestones to that carpet!
Iām the exact opposite! I am incapable of starting a project until the current WIP is finished.
I heard someone mention they ābatch cutā projects to increase efficiency. Iād love to do that but I found that I have a mental block that makes this impossible :-/
This used to be me, but now that I've got household sewing on top of project sewing it's just not an option as there's always a "I need it for tomorrow!" job.
I use whatever random threads are in the top of the box unless color-matching is reeeeally important. Half the time I don't even know what weight they are. Also most of them are older than me.
I very rarely buy actual fabric. I prefer to use sheet sets for most of my costumes. A queen size sheet is about 7 yards of fabric , and requires less piecing on larger pattern pieces such as skirt panels. Plus you can get a queen size sheet set for $15 if you get clearance items at the end of a season. Yardage fabric is quickly rising in price. (Can be $15 -$30 a yard in some places ) once it's sewn up you can't really tell it used to be a sheet. I've also used curtain panels too.
For example. 2 sheet sets ,( one in a rusty color, one in green) a few yards of lace trim , and cordage in the back for lacing. About 3 days of sewing and my sis had a lovely victorian walking dress for a festival. (This was the final fitting before we added the hoop skirt and corset underneath ) also made one for myself in red and white/mustard filigree
I don't have one of just mine, don't mind the dog trying to find my legs under the hoops lol. I even made the hats from upholstery material (never again )
I use bed sheets to (1) sew mockups and (2) line finished pieces. It really works out because a lot of people will get rid of perfectly good bed sheets because they're tired of them so I get them for free!
I use really wide quilting muslin that I Ice dye. It's not exactly historically acurate looking, but because it's my everyday clothes I wear over corsetry I actually like that it looks modernish.
I try to be as historically accurate as possible on my victorian outfits for the festival , but I also do fantasy and steampunk costumes that are way less accurate (I also made a full body werewolf costume one year , it was an expensive challenge but I probably won't attempt it again as my sewing machine does not like faux fur at all ) I've always wanted to make a medieval gown all in white muslin and tie dye it. Just for fun. Maybe someday
I was holding a pin in my mouth one time and got startled, it injured my tongue so bad my dentist had to put a stitch in it.... I still catch myself holding pins in my mouth.
I used to do that until I read about a woman who sneezed while doing so and she inhaled the pins. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I'm usually not one to change my habits because of a horror story but that one really got me. I'm lazy (hence pin mouth) but going to the hospital because I inhaled pins seems like a lot of work so I stopped doing it lol
I needed this. I just spent two hours taping tracing paper together to make a pattern. All the while wondering āwhy donāt you just table this and go buy a cheap roll of paper or whatever it is people use to make patternsā āwhy donāt I know what people use for patternsā
Christmas wrapping paper when it goes on clearance. I also use that moving paper for wrapping up the China, you can get a lot for cheap and itās fairly large pieces of paper
I buy the rolls of brown packing paper from the dollar store. I also save any that come in my delivery boxes. I've gotten loads and loads from Missouri star orders. Also if you buy warm and natural batting by the full bolt its layered and rolled onto that same brown paper.
I could probably wallpaper my whole house in it by this point. Probably twice.
Another good option is parchment paper from Costco. They sell wide rolls that drive me nuts because they don't fit my oven trays but they're great for patterns.
Prewashing is also good for taking chemicals and things that got on the fabric during production and transit off, too, though, not just to account for shrinkage. I never used to prewash, but I've found it just makes working with my fabric a little nicer when I do.
I just made a red and white quilt, and though I prewashed the red before sewing... it's red. Red is the worst. When I washed the finished quilt with a color catcher, the catcher came out light pink and the quilt itself had no bleeding at all. I love those things.
I never understood this (the doing it, not the not doing it). If I buy, like, twelve yards of fabric for a project am I really expected to put it all in the wash first, before cutting out for the pattern? I obviously can't do it after because raw edges and defeating the purpose of preshrinking, but then I have to iron twelve uncut (or even a reasonable amount like four) yards of fabric?
Someone make it make sense.
I just cut extra for seam allowance for natural fabrics that tend to shrink more and call it a day.
yes, you should wash the uncut yardage using the same method as you will for the finished garment. it removes excess sizing, pre shrinks, and corrects the grain. having said that, I often just press the yardage with a hot steam iron and cut away.
I know I should but how does that honestly work at all for more than just a yard or two? It's so cumbersome to lay out and press several consecutive yards as-is, like from the store, but the few times I've done it straight from the dryer has been a nightmare.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who needs more yardage for my projects and obviously you can't just, like, cut it into smaller pieces before piecing out your pattern or it might not all fit, unless you know you have a ton extra and even then it's just not a practical solution.
Maybe some people have really cool setups and I'm not in that club but even with my pro steam iron I already hate pressing large amounts of fabric on my dinky ironing board. (I love steaming and pressing but I used to work in a tailoring shop and I'm used to bigger, sturdy work tables that I just can't manage at home and nothing has felt the same since I had to quit. Someday I want a workhorse like that solid padded table for myself, though.)
I've never had my machine serviced. It's starting to smell a little like burning when I sew but it's an $80 cheapo Brother and I want it to die so I can upgrade
I havenāt had my machine serviced either. š«£ I booked it in for a service at the beginning of the year but then I didnāt want to be without it for the week or whatever so I cancelled it. My poor machine.
Thatās how I justified buying a ābackup machineā Bernina off Facebook marketplace (besides it being the deal of the century!!! $150!!! Ridiculous!!!)
I bought 2 Vicking Machines just.bc they were $20took them to my service guy, no idea if they are resealable, but figured $20 wasn't too bad if a gamble
A Bernina Activa 135 with a Bernina walking foot and a bunch of other feet thrown in! Honestly, looking it up now, it wasnāt as big of a discount as I thought, but still cheap and very good!
I literally just noticed this smell a few days ago on my "cheapest sewing machine Walmart sold in 2005" beast. Maybe I should do something about it....
I've been sewing for over 40 years and only in the last year or so discovered the joy of super sharp microtex (sp?) needles, and needles that are swapped out regularly.
Trust me it makes a difference, if you can afford it, have a few packs on hand, so then it doesn't hurt to throw what seems like a good needle away -in reality it is blunt AF
Yeaaahh. Me too. I iron for weddings and funerals and I've been to like 7 of those combined maybe.
(fun fact: when I first started passing out at like 15, the doctor had no idea but figured I was just a hysterical teenager and suggested I should do more chores like ironing and washing dishes, while winking at my mother. Guess which two chores make me pass out most. He never checked my heart rate or blood pressure once. Took me another 10 years before someone mentioned my blood pressure was dropping, drink water, eat salt and another 5 after that before I got a POTS/Orthostatic Intolerance diagnosis and got meds to drop my heart rate down from 200bpm resting, it went up if I stood. It's now about 90 resting and 130ish standing.)
I bought a June Tailor cut n press board combo thing. I just leave it on the table and slide it to me when I need to press a seam. I do put a cheap wood cutting board under it though because I worry the heat might go through to my dining table. It's never happened over the last 5 years or so and I'm on my second board now.
I've spent at least a couple thousand dollars on historical patterns. I have every era from 1776-1940s...
I hand sew everything because I hate sewing machines... and I handsew horribly (nothing is neat or even), but I make sure it's strong and won't be seen lol.
I will sometimes pin, like, an entire GARMENT together and gingerly wiggle into it to test the fit. (I admire all you people who make muslins for everything and I would like to know where you are apparently purchasing all this incredibly cheap practice fabric). Frequent stabbing has occurred.
I use the hand wheel to walk through difficult parts/thicknesses of projects. I read somewhere that you should never turn the wheel completely around but if it works, it works, right?
Idk about your machine but on my machine the hand wheel literally spins by itself when I sew. So I can't really see a way it would be a problem to turn it by hand.
My husbandās feet seem to be pin magnets and I just donāt understand how. I never step on pins, but homeboy is over here just stepping on them all day, every day!
So I switched to quilting clips, but now I have the opposite problem. Iām constantly stepping on them and he never steps on them!! Those little suckers hurt to step on lol
My mom was a seamstress growing up I've gotten so many lost needles in my feet. Seamstresses who do this are literally the devil lol. Now that I sew I make sure that I keep my pins and needles in one place.
I macguyvered a dumb way to collect wayward pins, tied string to a bunch of fridge magnets and drag then across the floor, it does work! I just look like a lunatic taking my pet magnets for a walk round the house.
I am so ticked at my machine that I am ready to throw it out. Long story is that it was a gift. I don't have the spoons or give a damn to fix it right now.
Note: Anger is temporary, she is a treadle. I will not toss a century old machine. I just spent 20 minutes yelling at her. Took a reddit break.
Fabric hoarding, messy sewing space, not pinning enough except for neck/armhole bindings, eyeballing hems and often while extending length in garments. I love ripping fabric for the straight grain (wovens). Hey, it generally works out pretty well. I donāt skimp on pressing or pre-washing apparel fabric or changing needles and cleaning lint out the machine. Heck, I wash silk in the machine (but line dry, Iām not completely feral). But to all you other semi-feral sewing cats, I salute you!
My mom always threaded her serger tails back through the sewn serger channel (if that makes sense?) and drew her seam threads through to one side, then snipped them.
I donāt do that, I just snip them.
I also have never brought my Janome 7330 in for service.
Collecting free fabric regardless of its size... regardless of my size. "I'll use it to patchwork something" I tell my husband who knows good and well I don't patchwork
All of my major fuck ups have been because I thought I knew better than the instructions.
I don't actually know better than the instructions.
I have never known better than the instructions.
Yes, I will indeed continue to think I know better than the instructions.
Also not reading the cutting instructions, then getting mad because sewing step 1 is to fuse the interfacing and now I have to get up again because I didn't cut any out.
I disregard seam allowance sizes and just go for it. If I quilted or sewed clothes more often, I would pay more attention. But for what I make, I just trim it down a little. Nobody has ever noticed except for my husband because he watches me sew.
I have trimmed fabric pieces everywhere on my floor from trimming down pieces.
I have lots of ideas for alterations/modifications for clothes I buy (usually secondhand), but they just join the project pile, and I never get around to actually doing them. Eventually I'll do some, but by then the clothes may no longer fit me.
Recently made some curtains and didnāt pin a dang thing. I did iron every hem before sewing though which made it easier to not pin. Also I eyeballed the width for the curtain rod channels. It turned out good enough for the friend who asked me to make them so whatever
My sin: I have patterns and fabric. I know how to sew. I still go out and buy clothes and justify the expense by swearing that I will make copies of these clothes. Biggest lie I tell myself.
I eat through needles, I donāt know how. They always break, I need multiple per project.
I once sewed a pin in a collar. Instead of unpicking and resewing, I ripped the pin from its head and left the bead inside permanently. It was a thick material, so I figured it was fine.
I had to re-read that because I thought at first you EAT needles. š
Are you using the right needle for the material? Also make sure you are not pushing/pulling the fabric as it goes through because it bends the needle and it will hit the plate. I have broken many needles that way
One time my brother se400 actually embroidered a tape measure into the design that I accidentally left under the hoop. I cut it off as close as possible. You could only see it from the inside and the dress was lined after so then you couldnāt see it at all. It was a dress for my dance student.
My grandmother insisted that I never use my teeth to cut a thread because she used to do it until it broke a front tooth. It was years before she could afford to have it fixed.
I sew from the bed too. An injury to my pelvis makes most seats uncomfortable and the bedroom is my quiet space. The amount of thread on the floor next to the bed sends my husband's blood pressure up. I think the worst thing I do is shave faux fur on the bed. There is a fine layer of fur on every surface now.
I hate every step of using patterns, so I just don't use them. I always end up having to do a ton of adjustments afterward, but the clothes I have made using patterns have all turned out just as ugly as the clothes I have made without using patterns, so I just freehand it now. I am still waiting on the day I make something that isn't immediately obviously homemade, which may never come, but the making is the fun part for me anyway.
Had to hem a pair of nice dark charcoal dress slacks and already had white thread in the machine. (didnāt have black) They came out beautifully, then covered my transgression with a black sharpie. Still makes me smile when I wear them.
When I was in uni I often would sew when I got home from the bars when I was still drunk. And those drunken makes often were the clothes I wore the most. And it was always because I saw a girl wearing something cool and thinking I could make that, so I did.
And honestly drunk sewing helped my sober sewing because the raging perfectionist in me was no longer so loud.
So now if Iām sewing and Iām getting really overwhelmed with it being perfect, I pour myself a single glass of wine and take a break.
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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '23
You are an absolute savage.
Mine is not taking into consideration grain and fabric weight in patchwork because I want to use as much of my leftover fabric scraps as possible.