Dressmaker techniques

I have around 4 quilt tops ready to be quilted and free motion quilting abilities that are faltering due to aching thumbs and wrists (probably arthritis) SO I am shifting focus.  I have long been intimidated by garment sewing so that's what I'm conquering next!

My first project?  A See and Sew pair of pajama pants.  

Very basic, very easy.  Elasticized waist without pockets.  Next time, I'll add pockets. 

First, the finished product:

I'm going to show some techniques that run contrary to what many bloggers and YouTubers demonstrate so let me share my credentials (or rather, the credentials of those who taught me.)  My mother, who taught me, paid for a long series of sewing lessons from a professionally trained, high-end clothier.  She passed many of those dressmaker tips on to me while she taught me to sew.  Her hopes of giving me a practical and creative outlet failed for decades because I was too fixated on perfection.  (Thank you Jenny Doan and other quilters for helping shift that paradigm!)  However, I never forgot those tips because I used them to discern high quality clothing vs. stuff that would make it through the summer on my kids but no further.  And now finally I'm trying my hand at sewing again.

First, the cutting.  A cutting blade or scissors?  I initially thought a blade would be easier.

That lasted for a short time.  It has advantages, but this was thick flannel and my blade was apparently not new.  (I think it was Easy Spirit.) 

So after cutting and recutting multiple times, I tossed that away and went back to my Gingher shears.  Tip:  To eliminate the problem of the bottom layer being slighter wider than the top layer, hold the paper down with your other hand while cutting.  I'm right handed so I held down the left side where the bulk of the pattern was.  I pity left handers trying to sew and highly recommend another needle art.  The odds are stacked against you!  I think that's why Jenny Doan is ambidextrous.  She sewed enough that she had to adapt to a right-hander's world.

My main beef is next.  I know a lot of YouTubers and bloggers pin patterns and fabrics running parallel to cut lines, but I was taught to pin the pattern onto the fabric by poking the pins in a perpendicular fashion to the cut line.  That keeps the pattern from sliding.  The same thing goes for the straight-of-grain lines.

When turning under fabric 1/4" for a hem or something, I sew along the line and then press the edge over.  It's a lot smoother, gives a sharper fold, and helps me NOT stretch the fabric as I'm fighting to stitch it down.  It also gives extra protection against fraying fabric through multiple laundry sessions. (Not nearly as big of a concern for quilters!) 

I also pink the seams to retard fraying.  Always. I use Fiskars pinking shears because Ginghers are terribly expensive, and they aren't the spring loaded ones.  I wish they were.  Then I press the seams open.  The seams are 5/8" so burned fingers aren't an issue like they are when I occasionally pressed seams open on quilt blocks.

Next, I slash the notches.  I know, I know, there are times and fabrics when you would use other techniques, but PJs are not one of those times!

Again, I pin the fabrics together to join them with the pins running perpendicular to the cut line.  I'm right handed, my sewing machine is right handed, and I keep my pincushion to the right side of my sewing so the fabric doesn't sweep it off the table.  It goes for a far smoother and efficient motion to easily remove the pins without stopping your machine, AND if you occasionally sew over pins, it isn't as deadly to your machine.  Your chance of the needle sliding over one pin is reasonably good, but if it has the entire pin in front of the needle, you have a better chance of breaking your needle and/or jamming your machine. Don't even start me on pointing the head of the pin toward the needle.  I watched a YouTube video yesterday where the sewist did exactly that, and it looked painfully awkward!

I admit that, as a beginning sewist, I often stop when removing pins because frankly I'm readjusting something at the same time, but I don't have to and often don't.  My mother almost never stops her machine but flies through every seam.  I hope to get that fast!

My husband took this shot where I didn't stop my machine to snap the picture:

So here are some of the most common dressmaker techniques as taught by some of the best dressmaker schools.  I hope they help someone else too.