The Awl-Nighter

We're Moving!

2016-04-06T19:39:00.003-07:00

Yes! We're moving to a new website which will be up shortly!

In the meantime, go ahead and bookmark the new site

www.awlnighter.com

Quick Tip: Thread Wrapping?

2016-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today's quick tip is about how to deal with slippery threads that wrap around the spool pin while you're sewing!

These snags can cause your machine to seize up and stop sewing. It can also cause poor tension, thread and needle breakage, and most importantly a ruined sewing/embroidery project. To stop this from happening, simply pick up a couple thread nets online or in craft stores and slip them over your spool of thread.

Quick Tip: Better Pattern Layout

2016-03-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

For better marker making, lay your largest pattern pieces first! If you have pattern pieces that need to be placed in a specific place for a print, lay those pieces first as well! Then, you can lay your smaller pieces in the leftover gaps.

Quick Tip: Cutting Slippery Fabrics

2016-03-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

Being the lingerie lover that I am, most of my sewing projects include the use of one slippery fabric or the other. Cutting has always been my most hated task when it comes to sewing. When dealing with slippery fabrics, it's so easy for a piece to get off grain and skew your entire project. And cutting bias strips? Forget about it. Wobbly and crooked edges aren't what I'm going for.

Recently, I learned from a fabric cutter that if you put paper underneath your fabric and patterns it's much easier to cut. All you do is pin your pattern to your fabric and paper, and cutting is a breeze. Don't worry about dulling your scissors with the paper either. Somehow, my scissors are as sharp as ever. It doesn't necessarily matter what kind of paper, but I've seen people use tissue paper, shipping/craft paper, and alphanumeric paper. Above I'm using craft paper under my fabric, but I suggest using something that is no heavier than regular printing paper as pinning will be a bit easier.

Do you have any tips for cutting slippery fabrics?

Quick Tip: Change Your Needle!

2016-03-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to change your needle every 6-8 hours of active sewing!

Signs you need to change your needle:

Your fabric has runs or snags

Your needle thread keeps breaking or shredding

Your machine won't make a stitch

YOU CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU CHANGED YOUR NEEDLE!!!

Technique Tuesday: How To Use A Ruffler Foot

2016-03-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! How many of you guys have heard about this nifty invention? When I saw this attachment in action, I knew it was going to save me some serious time!

Here's the ruffler foot in it's full glory. It may look a little intimidating at first, but I promise it's very easy to use! To start off, you'll want to thread your needle before putting the foot on your machine as it is a bit difficult to do after the fact.

When attaching this foot to your machine, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

This particular foot required me to remove not only my regular foot but also the shank or "ankle" and replace my shank screw with a special screw that came with the foot.

On the other side of the ruffler foot, is a little fork that will go around your needle screw. The fork allows the foot to count the number of stitches which is important because we will be telling the foot how many stitches are between each pleat.

On the top of this ruffler foot are options for how often you want your fabric pleated. For this post, I chose to do 1 pleat every 6 stitches.

If you're working with only 1 layer of fabric, simply place your fabric under the foot and in the guide to the right of the foot. Be sure your fabric is past the needle a bit.

Set your machine to a straight stitch with a width of 0. I set my stitch length to 2.5, but you can play this number to change the distance between pleats.

Now you can start stitching!

To ruffle a piece of fabric to another, place the fabric not being ruffled under the foot.

The fabric you want to be ruffled will go in the same place as before. Be sure to line up the edges of the 2 fabrics. Go slowly at first as controlling both fabrics at the same time can be tricky.

And voila! Perfectly pleated fabric!

How great would this be for a skirt or pillow!? I love that this foot completely eliminates the need to press and pin all of your pleats in place.

Quick Tip: Better Buttonholes

2016-03-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today's quick tip is about buttonholes! If you've ever made and buttonhole and it didn't turn out quite as nice as you would like, there's an easy fix! Use a scrap of stabilizer behind your fabric while sewing your buttonholes. I think tear away stabilizer works just fine for this. If working with a knit fabric, experiment with using tear away as well as cut away stabilizer.

Believe it or not these 2 buttonhole were created with the sewing machine set to the same size. You can see on the left buttonhole, there is quite a bit of puckering happening all around the buttonhole. You can also tell that the stitches are pulling so much that they are appearing more narrow and creating a channeling effect under the stitches. The right buttonhole is laying perfectly flat, has nice wide stitches, and an opening in the center large enough to cut.

Here is the back side of the buttonholes. Now I did use a contrasting bobbin thread, but you can see it's the same story on the underside. If you compare the above picture with this one, you'll notice that the right side (the one using stabilizer) has balanced stitches between top and bottom. What I mean by this is the density of stitches is about the same on both sides, whereas the left buttonhole is dense on top and sparse on the underside.

Technique Tuesday: How To Use A Stitch-In-Ditch Foot

2016-03-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today, we're going to learn how to use the stitch-in-ditch foot. This foot has saved me time but it has saved me even more frustration. This foot is used for stitching directly on a seam. When done properly, the stitching won't even be visible.

Here you can see that this foot has a metal guide in the center. Something to note about this foot is the shape of the needle opening. There is no room side to side so be sure you are only using a straight stitch; otherwise, you will break your needle and possibly even crack the foot.

To start, you will need to have already stitched your seam and pressed the seam allowance. Place your fabric under the foot so that the metal guide is right in the seam.

If you notice your stitching moving off the seam, you can gently pull the fabric on either side of the seam to help the foot remain in the valley of the seam.

Here 's what the seam looks like after! You can barely see any of the black thread that I used, and if I had matched it to the fabric it would be invisible.

Books I Read: February

2016-03-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

As you guys know, I've been doing quite a bit of taste testing when it comes to all these free books I've been reading since signing up with Bookbub. Don't worry guys, I've found some great series through this site that I'm going to share with you guys in next month's book post! I'll still be writing reviews for some of the random books I read throughout the month, but there are some great stories that I want to finish to the end!

15 minutes is a great story following a young girl as she tries to correct the past. As the story progresses, the plot becomes more and more interesting. By the end of the book, I was ready to read the next in the series as the story and ideas the author built became more interesting than I anticipated. This book is 100% about the main protagonist, and while that's okay, I hope the author works to round out the other characters in future books.

As you no doubt know by now, I love a good dystopian plot. The author made the main character of the story an unlikely young overweight guy who loves video games. I really appreciated the different angle for this type of story...until I realized it was a typical nerdy guy gets the hot girl story. A ridiculous amount of the book was spent with the main character ogling his female companions. While this isn't a usual turnoff for me in a book, the serious lack of personality of the female characters was. If the relationships were meant to be casual, a lack of interest in personality on the main characters part isn't a problem. That being said, the main character was portrayed as being practically in love with this girl, but I don't think there was ever any mention of what he actually liked about her other than her boobs. It's really a shame because the story itself wasn't half bad.

So, my question to you is, What's your biggest turnoffs in a book?

Quick Tip: Is Your Machine In Tension???

2016-03-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Want to know if your machine is in tension? Today, I have 2 ways you can check! When you're machine is not in tension, you may get thread bunching under your fabric or your machine may not even make a stitch. Read below to learn how to check your needle thread tension and bobbin thread tension.

Once your machine has been completely threaded, lower your presser foot, and give your needle thread a light tug. If your needle thread is in tension, your thread shouldn't have much give at all.

Once you pull your bobbin thread through the stitch plate, you can see if your bobbin thread is in tension. If you have a top loading bobbin, you should be able to look through the plastic window. You'll know your bobbin is in tension if your thread cuts right through the middle.

Above is a picture of a bobbin that is NOT in tension. If you don't see your bobbin thread cutting across the top, check your manual to be sure you are inserting the bobbin correctly.

Technique Tuesdays: How to Use a Roll Hem Foot

2016-03-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

For this week's Technique Tuesday, I wanted to talk to you guys about another sewing machine foot that is going to save you tons of time!

This weird looking foot is called a roll hem foot. I love using this foot when hemming lightweight fabrics. Slippery fabrics like chiffon, organza, lining material, and silks are always giving me problems. Before I discovered this nifty foot, I would have to do quite a bit of ironing, pinning, and ripping out seams before getting a nice hem. Alot of the time, it still wouldn't come out very nice looking, and I would usually burn myself from the steam of the iron!

Now the foot I'm using makes hems that are 5 mm in width (a bit less than 1/4") which I think is a great size for most projects. This size is also much easier to use than some of the smaller hemmers (some are as small as 2 mm!).

While this foot is easy to use, there are a couple of things I like to do to ensure that I get the best results! The first trick I learned to help the roll hem foot get started is to double fold your hem the width it should finish. I usually give it a little press, but this time I just finger pressed my fold into place.

Once my fabric is folded, I set my machine to a regular straight stitch. Then, I line up the fabric under my presser foot and lower my presser foot to hold the fabric in place. I then turn the hand wheel until my needle goes through the fabric and raise the presser foot back up.

If you look closely at your roll hem foot, you will notice it is shaped like a spiral and there is actually a small metal piece in the center that helps to roll the fabric on top of itself.

Now with the needle still down, we can unfold the remaining part of our fabric and lift it up and over the metal piece in the center.

Lower your presser foot and we can start sewing!

While sewing this hem, try not to tug too much on the fabric so the foot can do it job! If your hem needs a little help in rolling over, you can rotate the fabric a bit while it is feeding into the foot. I like to keep the raw edge of the fabric resting against the center metal piece of the foot.

Here's what my finished hem looks like!

Let me know, what are some of your favorite sewing machine feet?

Needles 101

2016-02-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Today, I wanted to clear up some of the confusion surrounding sewing machine needles. Using the right kind of needle is detrimental to the quality of your sewing project! Below are some of the most common types of needles and their uses.

Universal Needles: The first and most well known type of needle is the universal needle. Universal needles will work for many different types of fabric. The tip of the needle is sharp enough for woven fabrics and rounded enough for some knit fabrics. When in doubt, a universal needle will usually get the job done, but sometimes there are better options for tricky fabrics.

Embroidery needles: Embroidery needles aren't just for embroidery! The eye of the needle is wider than a universal needle which allows decorative or embroidery thread to pass through without the thread snapping or shredding. If you notice that you're using a decorative thread that keeps shredding, try switching to an embroidery needle.

Microtex Needles: Microtex needles are very sharp and are most useful when sewing with a fabric that pulls or gets runs easily. This needle is more precise than most and is great for topstitching as your stitches will be straighter.

Ballpoint Needles: Ballpoint needles are the ideal needle when sewing with knits. This type of needle has a rounded point which pushes the fibers aside. This is important because any hole in a knit fabric will grow until you can know longer use it.

Stretch Needles: Stretch needles are very similar to ballpoint needles, but for very stretchy fabrics, lightweight knits, and swimsuit knits the stretch needle is ideal if you notice skipped stitches using a ballpoint needle.

Titanium Needles: Embroidery needles and universal needles both come with a titanium option. These needles are made out of titanium because they don't heat up the same way a traditional needle does. This is great for those times you are sewing something with adhesive. After sewing for a long period of time a regular needle will heat up and the adhesive will eventually gum up your needle, cause runs in the fabric, and break your thread.

Topstitch Needles: Topstitch needles have a longer eye which allows you to use heavy threads as well as more than one thread.

Quilting Needles: Quilting needles are specifically made for quilting. This needle helps reduce skipped stitches by having better fabric penetration.

Leather Needles: Leather needles have a tip that cuts the leather to allow the needle to penetrate fabric as it sews.

Denim Needles: Denim needles are thicker and stronger than most needles which allows you to sew through multiple layers of heavyweight fabric.

Needles come in sizes from 60 to 120. Size 60 needles are for the lightest weight fabrics. I use this size needles for chiffon, organza, etc. Size 120 is the exact opposite. So, heavyweight fabrics like home decor fabrics, heavy denim, etc. For most medium weight fabrics, you'll need to use around a size 80 or 90 needle, and this is what will come with your machine.

Quick Tip: How To Use A Needle Threader

2016-02-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

Have one of these guys on your sewing machine? This little guy has a tiny hook that passes through our needle eye and pulls our thread through for us!

Here's a closeup of that threading hook going through the eye of the needle.

To start off we're going to thread the top of the machine and make sure to thread the hook above the needle as well.

Turn the handwheel until the needle is the highest position possible. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER! If you skip this step, you could accidentally bend the needle threader and make it unusable.

Next, push the needle threader down until it is butted against your needle. If it's in the correct position, the hook will have passed through the eye of the needle.

The key to using a needle threader is to create a figure 8 with your thread. To do this, loop your thread under and over the left hook.

Bring your thread to the front of your needle and into the mouth to the right of the needle. Scoop your thread from the bottom of the mouth upward. If you are having trouble with your thread slipping, lower your presser foot to keep your thread taut. To check if your thread has been hooked, pull the thread towards you. It should stay caught on the needle.

Now, slowly release your hold on the needle threader while simultaneously giving your thread enough slack so you don't accidentally unthread the needle.

If done correctly, you'll have a small loop in the back of your needle which you can finish pulling through the eye.

Technique Tuesdays: How to Use an Overcast Foot

2016-02-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! For this week's Technique Tuesday, I have another time-saving sewing machine foot, the overcast foot. If you don't have a serger to finish off the raw edges of your fabric, this foot is a great alternative! I love using an overcast foot for small projects when I don't feel like pulling out my serger is worth it.

This is generally what an overcast foot looks like. The bar going through the center of the foot allows the stitch to go off the fabric and finish the raw edge.

On your sewing machine, there are usually a couple of options to choose from. I'm using a Viking sewing machine for this tutorial so my machine selected the left stitch for my fabric type. You can also use a plain zigzag stitch or 3-step zigzag stitch, but do a few turns with the hand wheel to be sure your needle won't hit the overcasting foot.

After selecting your stitch, line up your fabric edge with the overcasting bar.

Once your fabric is lined up you can start sewing. There are a few things to keep in mind while using this foot. One of the most common mistakes I see is not keeping the fabric edge lined up with the overcasting bar. If you allow your fabric to veer off track, the thread will not wrap around the edge of your fabric! Another thing to keep in mind is that you cannot do a reverse stitch. If your machine has a fix stitch, you can definitely use that, but DO NOT reverse. The thread will get tangled and stuck! Most of the time you will be using this stitch, your fabric ends will be sewn to something else which will keep the stitch from coming undone. The rest of the time you are using this stitch will probably be for hems. When using this stitch for hems, wait to use this stitch until your garment is sewn up. This way you will be sewing "in the round" and can overlap the beginning and end of your stitch.

Here is what my finished overcast looks like! If you are doing a very narrow seam, you can use the 4 stitches pictured earlier to an overcast with seam. The width of the seam you will be able to do will vary with each machine and foot so experiment a bit and see what you can come up with!

So tell me, what stitches on your machine do you usually avoid?

Quick Tip: Keeping Your Scissors Sharp

2016-02-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today's quick tip may be a basic for some you, but you wouldn't believe the number of people I know that don't use this tip! If you want to avoid have to get your scissors sharpened all the time, only use your fabric scissors for FABRIC!!! It is so frustrating to start a new project only to find that your scissors are so dull that it takes you twice as long to cut your fabric. I like to keep my scissors labeled so that nobody in my home has an excuse to use my scissors!

Technique Tuesdays: Blind Hems: Knits & Wovens

2016-02-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

For today's Technique Tuesday, we're going to tackle blind hems! This type of hem is usually used on dress slacks, skirts, or any time you don't want the stitching for your hem to be visible.

To accomplish this hem easily, you're going to need a blind hem foot. If you don't have one, you can still do create this hem with an all-purpose foot, but this hem is definitely easier to do with the correct foot.

To start, we're going to fold our hem as we usually would for a regular hem.

Then, we're going to fold our fabric back the opposite direction leaving the raw edge to stick out a 1/4". Pin this fold in place.

Next we're going to place our fabric under the presser foot. Depending on the foot that came with your machine, you will either have a solid edge to line the fold of your fabric up with or you will have a marking/opening to line it up to.

If you are using a knit fabric, you will select the stitch on the left. Notice that this stitch does a zigzag in-between the long prick stitches. This will allow your fabric to stretch without popping any stitches.

If you are using a woven fabric, you will select the right stitch. This stitch does a regular straight stitch between each prick stitch.

Once you've selected your stitch, you can sew your hem!!!

Here you can see the needle jumping from the single layer of fabric to make a stitch on the fold.

When your hem is complete, you will have a stitch running along the raw edge of your fabric that will jump to the left onto the fold of your fabric.

This is how your hem will look on the inside of your garment.

If you sewed your hem correctly, you will only be able to see very small vertical stitches on the right side of the fabric. If you match your thread to your fabric, you may not be able to see the stitches at all!

What are some things you do to save time while sewing?

What I Have Planned for 2016

2016-02-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

For 2016, I have quite a few series planned for you guys! I'm super excited to finally be able to write more posts and stay consistent! Read below for the weekly schedule.

Tuesday: Technique Tuesday. Technique Tuesday is a brand new series I have planned for you guys! Every Tuesday I'll be showing you guys a new technique! Hopefully, you guys will learn something new from this series!

Wednesday: Quick Tip Wednesday. Wednesdays will be for tips and tricks that I've picked up along the way and have saved my time and sewing projects so many times.

Friday: Feature Friday. Feature Fridays are reserved for sponsored posts, reviews (including book reviews), favorites, and anytime I want to feature a product, blogger, website, etc.

Saturday: Picture tutorial based off my weekly Youtube video

Any "extra" posts will be added to the blog on Mondays and Thursdays!

Books I Read: October

2015-11-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

These last couple months have been crazy! So, for this month I only have one book. I was actually sent this book for free from Goodreads! Based on your interests and the lists you create when you sign up for the site, Goodreads will send you giveaways for FREE books! I'm so happy I was lucky enough to win a giveaway. It's been a bit since I've picked up a book that wasn't digital, but if you're thinking of picking this book up it's free on Amazon right now!

The setting for this book was a bit typical as was the relationship between main character and love interest. I think YA authors need to be more careful as to how they are representing love and relationships to their young audience. I don't think it's cute how the romantic relationship initially formed in this book at all. I wouldn't want teens to think that an overbearing partner that doesn't respect your choices or space is what a healthy relationship looks like. That being said other than the way their relationship first formed (it did begin to level out), I did enjoy this book and will probably read the next one in the series.

So, my question to you is, What's your favorite genre to read?

Pattern Drafting: Back Bodice

2015-11-01T08:13:00.000-08:00

Next in our pattern drafting series, we're finishing our bodice draft with our back bodice piece. It's much easier to draft the front first. So if you haven't, go do so now! If you would rather watch this tutorial, there is video at the end of the post.

A few things we need to know about this pattern.

1. This block is made for woven fabrics (ie. non-stretchy fabrics)

2. This block stops at your natural waist (which is also where we will take measurements from)

3. The term "square out"/ "square down" means the line you are drawing will be at a 90 degree angle to the current line. You can use an L square or in a pinch you can use one of those clear rulers with eighth inch line markings.

3. You will need this block later on to create full length blouses, dresses, jackets, bras, swimsuits, and even to create our knit bodice block so you can make tees!

Let's get started!!!!

1. Our first measurement is going to be from the highest point on our shoulder to our back waist. Using this measurement, draw a straight on the left side of your paper.

2. At the top of that line we're going to square out the measurement from the nape of our neck at center back to our shoulder tip.

3. From the end of this line, square down three inches.

4. Next measure from center back at your neckline to center back waist and use that measurement to measure up on our first vertical line and make a mark

5. From that mark square out four inches.

6. Next we're going to take our back bust line measurement. Do this by measuring from center back across to the side seam and adding three quarters of an inch. If you're using a dress form
this is going to be two inches below the arm plate. Use this measurement to draw a horizontal line out from our first vertical line being sure that your drawing it at a 90 degree angle

7. At the end of that horizontal line, be sure to square up just like we did for the front of the bodice

8. Our next measurement is going to be from center back waist to our shoulder tip and we're going
to add one eighth of an inch to this measurement. Then, we're going to connect from the bottom left corner of our drawing and rotate that up until we hit that vertical line on the far right side.

9. Our next mark is going to be on our top horizontal line and it's going to be the measurement from our center back neck to our high point shoulder minus one eighth of an inch

10. Next we're going to take our shoulder length measurement and add half an inch. From the mark that we made on the top horizontal line we're going to use this measurement to draw a line through the point that we made earlier on the right vertical line This measurement may or may not go past the diagonal line that we made earlier.

11. Using this line as a guide, we're going to square down to hit our second horizontal line on the left hand side.

12. Once again, we're going to decide where we want our dart to be at for our back bodice and we're going to measure from center back out on our pattern piece to create the mark that's going to end up being our first dart leg.

13. From that mark, we're going to measure out an inch and a half to the right for our other dart leg.

14. Mark the center of those two lines.

15. Along that same line, were going to measure out the from the center back on our paper the measurement from our center back waist to our side seam plus one and a half inches for the
dart intake plus a quarter-inch for our ease.

16. From that mark, we're going to square down three sixteenths of an inch.

17. Next, meausure your side seam. Take this measurement, and starting at the mark we just made, rotate it until it hits the right vertical line.

18. Our next line is going to be squared up from the center of our dart and it's going to be the same
measurement as our side seam minus one inch.

19. Now we're going to connect this line to the 2 marks that we made for our dart leg, and we're going to go past these two marks by one eighth of an inch.

20. to create our waistline we're going to draw slightly curved lines from our dart legs to our center back waist and to our side seam waist.

21. To create our shoulder seam, we're going to find the midpoint of this line and draw a three inch line out from there towards our dart point.

22. On either side of this line we're going to mark out one quarter of an inch

23. Draw the right dart leg connecting the three inch line to the right quarter inch mark going past one-eighth of an inch.

24. Take the measurement of this dart leg and use that measurement to draw the left dart leg going through that quarter-inch mark.

25. Finish making the shoulder seam by connecting the dart legs to the neckline
and to our shoulder tip.

26. Erase the old shoulder seam line, and this is what you should have.

27. Our next line is going to be drawn one fourth of the way from our neckline to our waistline

28. Square a line out from that point the measurement from center back to mid-armhole
plus one quarter of an inch.

29. Square up and down at the end of that line.

30. Now we can draw our armhole in using our French curve just like we did on the
front bodice.

31. To create our neckline, we're going to angle up a straight line three-eighths of an inch out from our intersecting lines that we have for it right now

32. Using our French curve again, create the neckline.

33. We're done! At this point, some people like to leave their block as is, but I personally like to add seam allowance, notches, punch holes, and true my seams and darts.

Whew!!! We're done with our bodice block! Before using your block to make anything, test out the fit by making a muslin. Don't forget to keep all of your measurements! You never know when you will need them, and I promise the second you do nobody will be around to help you!

Books I Read: September

2015-10-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Keeping with my monthly reading update, I thought I would tell you guys about the book I read this month. Yep, a very slow reading month for me!!!

The only book I read this month was After The Cure by Deirdre Gould. The book takes place in a world after a zombie infestation. At this point in the story, a cure had been found and what's left of the population is seeking justice against whoever caused the plague. Court psychologist, Nella Rider, and defense attorney, Frank Courtlen, work to uncover the truth.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. It's definitely not your typical zombie book, and I like that the author focused more on the psychological effects of a zombie plague and less on the action. Of course, there is definitely action in this story too!

I bought the Kindle version of this book on Amazon for FREE and will be buying the rest of the books in the series eventually as well.

So, how many books did you read this month?

My Favorite Book Websites

2015-09-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! If you read my last Feature Friday post, I talked about the different books I read in the month of August. Today, we're going to be talking about my 2 favorite websites I use for reading, and how I was able to get these books for free!

The first website I like to use is Goodreads! This is a great way to keep track of all the books you own or have read.

You can participate in book discussions, win FREE books, get book recommendations, and even make friends on this website.

Personally, I love this site to keep track of what book I am on in a series. I can't tell you how many times I'm about to buy a book and can't remember whether I have read it already (e.g. the Ender's Game series). Goodreads also has an app to make it even easier to access while you're away from home.

Bookbub is probably my favorite reading website! Bookbub is a website that alerts you when there are free or discounted books that match your interests.

To use the website, just enter your email address to start receiving notices for FREE books!!!

You choose as many genres as you want and can change them at anytime.

Through Bookbub's emails, I probably find at least one or two free books a day that interest me. As you can imagine, my reading queue has become ridiculously long.

Pattern Drafting: Front Bodice

2015-09-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Following up with our pattern drafting series, our next block is our bodice!!! Today, I'm only focusing on the front half of our bodice; otherwise, this post would be extremely long. If you would rather watch this tutorial, there is video at the end of the post.

A few things we need to know about this pattern.

1. This block is made for woven fabrics (ie. non-stretchy fabrics)

2. This block stops at your natural waist (which is also where we will take measurements from)

3. You will need this block later on to create full length blouses, dresses, jackets, bras, swimsuits, and even to create our knit bodice block so you can make tees!

Let's get started!!!!

1. To start off, we're going to draw a straight line measuring the length from the highest point on our shoulder straight down to our waist.

2. From the top of that line we are going to square out using measurement from the pit of our neck to our shoulder tip.

3. Then from the end of a that line we're going to square down three inches.

4. Next, we're going to take the measurement from the pit of our neck to our waist, and we're going to measure up from the very first vertical line that we drew. From there, we're going to square out four inches.

5. Next we're going to measure from center front over over our apex to our side seam. If you're using a dress form that's going to be about two inches below your arm plate. Using that measurement we're
going to square out from our first vertical line adding a quarter of an inch for ease.

6. From the end of that line, we're going to square up about 11 inches.

7. Next we're going to measure from our shoulder tip to our center front waist and add one eighth of an inch. Using that measurement we're going to draw a straight line starting from our bottom right corner and rotating that line until it touches our shorter three inch line at the top left corner.

8. From the end of our diagonal line, we're going to draw a second line that's going to
measure the length of our shoulder, and we're going to rotate that until it touches our top horizontal line.

9. From there, we're going to square down until it touches our other horizontal line directly below it.

10. Starting from the top of our diagonal line, we're going to measure down the distance from our shoulder tip to our apex.

11. Then take your measurement from apex to apex and divide by two and add one
quarter of an inch. Using that measurement we're going to square out from center front and go through the mark that we made on the diagonal line. Your measurements may or may not go past that diagonal line.

12. Next we're going to measure from center front across our chest to our mid armhole and add a quarter of an inch. Half way between our top two horizontal lines we're going to use this measurement to square out from center front.

13. then square up and down at the
end of that line.

14. Next we're going to find our dart placement, which is usually about halfway between your center front and your side seam and directly below your bust point. Use this measurement to make a mark on
your center front waist.

15. Then, square down three sixteenths of an inch.

16. Next, we're going to take our strap measurement and this is going to be from our highest point on our shoulder to our side seams plus three eighths of an inch. Using this measurement, we're going to draw a line starting at the intersection of our shoulder and neck line and rotating it until it hits our far left vertical line.

17. Next, we're going to take our side seam measurement, and we're going to draw a line that starts at the intersection of our last line that we drew and the vertical line, and we're going to swing that out until the bottom of that line is one and one quarter inch away from that vertical line.

18. Now connect the end of that line to our dart placement line that we drew earlier.

19. Now, we're going to take our center front waist to side seam measurement, add one quarter of an inch, and subtract our dart placement measurement.Using this measurement
we're going to measure out from our dart placement line along our diagonal line
that's connecting to our side seam.

20. Draw a straight line from your apex to your first dart placement point, and measure. This is going to be our first dart leg.

21. To create our second dart leg we're going to take that measurement and we're going to draw a second line from our apex to our other point that we just created along that waistline. Because our waist lines are curved, this new line will probably go past the diagonal line that we drew from our side seam to our dart placement point.

22. Now since we don't want to sew a dart all the way up to our apex, we are going to find the center of these two dart leg points and we are going to draw a line from that center point up to our apex and then along that point we're going to measure down from the apex on that line five eighths of an inch. This is going to be our new dart point.

23. So you can go ahead and connect the lines from our two dart legs to that dart point and that is what we are going to be sewing.

24. Now to create our waistline, we're going to connect our side seam line to our new dart leg point and it's probably going to be curved since our waist lines are curve

25. and we're also going to connect our center front to our right dart leg.

26. To make our neck line we're going to lower it by three-eighths of an inch and square out about a quarter of an inch along center front, and we're going to use a French curve to connect our shoulder seam to this line making sure that we bump it out towards the left one eighth of an inch.

27. To draw our armhole we're going to do the same thing by making sure that our French curve does not go past our vertical guideline that we created at our mid armhole, and then it's going to
connect from our shoulder tip to our side seam.

28. We're done! At this point, some people like to leave their block as is, but I personally like to add seam allowance, notches, punch holes, and true my seams and darts.

Whew!!! We're done with the front! I know there are several steps, but I promise it doesn't take nearly as long as you would think. Don't forget to keep all of your measurements! You never know when you will need them, and I promise the second you do nobody will be around to help you!

Books I Read: August

2015-09-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This will be the first post in a new series I plan to continue for the rest of this year. Everyone month I'll share with you the books I read the previous month and whether or not I liked them. This month I kept myself entertained with a few YA books.

The first book I read was Andromeda by Amy Bartelloni. It's a dystopian YA book centering around 2 young girls, Jade and Sera, and 2 boys, Anyon and Malachi and their journey to find one another after an attack on their camp separates them.

I bought the Kindle version of this book on Amazon for FREE and will be buying the rest of the books in the series eventually as well.

The Sorcery Code by Dima Zales was the second book I read this month. Blaise, a powerful sorcerer, creates Gala in an effort to create an object that will allow the lower class of non-magic users to cast spells. The story of this book centers around Gala and Blaise and their struggles to overcome the sorcery elites who view Gala as an abomination or a tool to use for their own gain. This book definitely has this fairy tale nostalgia to it that reminds me of Ella Enchanted or Just Ella that I read when I was much younger.

I bought the free Kindle version of this book on Amazon for FREE as well, and I think

I'll be buying the rest of the books in the series eventually too.

The third book of the month was The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton. I also picked up this book while it had promotional pricing so I paid NOTHING for it!

This book is about a young high school girl named Cameron who has the ability to read minds. She's been kept away from other people like her except for her protective grandmother who chooses to keep them isolated in order to protect Cameron from those who may want to harm her. Cameron's whole world is turned upside down when she meets Lewis, a boy with the same ability, and the possibility of learning more about her gift becomes too tempting to ignore.

It was definitely a light reading month for me so stay tuned for further installments of this series if you want to see more!

So, my question to you is, what books did you read this month?

DIY Custom Planner Stickers

2015-08-10T22:28:00.002-07:00

Hey Everyone! With the new school year coming closer, I wanted to create an easy DIY that we can use to stay organized! While searching the web for stickers that I could use to keep me on top of my uploading days for this blog as well as my Youtube channel, I noticed a few things.

1. There wasn't a great selection.
2. Everything seemed way overpriced.
3. I didn't love any.
4. I wanted the stickers to fit perfectly between the lines of my planner!

So, I decided to take it upon myself to create some stickers that I actually liked at an affordable price. I managed to fit 238 stickers on one page (and they probably were spaced the most efficiently)! Not including ink (because I have no idea how to factor the ink into the cost), I ended up spending less than a cent per sticker, and it would have been even cheaper if I bought my sticker paper online. Don't make the same mistake I did!!!!!

You can buy online here, here, and here.

There are links below to the sticker template I made. The first one you can edit if you have Photoshop.

Editable Photoshop Template
Jpeg Template

Death Note NB

2015-07-29T01:11:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone! Today, I bring you an easy back-to-school project! Death Note is one of my favorite animes to date. I binge watched the heck out of this anime so it seemed like an obvious choice when thinking about what to make next. Of course, you can use this tutorial to stencil on any design of your choice!

Supplies:

Death Note Template
Notebook
Black acrylic paint
White acrylic paint or paint pen
Clear packing tape
X-acto knife

Step 1. Paint your notebook with black paint. It may take a few coats to cover the entire notebook.

Step 2. Print your stencil out and cover the front and back with a strip of clear packing tape. This will keep the paper from absorbing any paint and ruining your design!*

Step 3. Cut out your stencil making sure to keep the inside pieces of the D, A, and O.

Step 4. Position your stencil on your notebook. I like to tape the sides down to the table I'm working on to be sure it doesn't move around while I'm painting.

Step 5. Use white acrylic paint or a paint pen to fill in the stencil. Use dabbing motions to prevent smudging.*

Step 6. Once dry, carefully remove your stencil.

Step 7. Clean up any smudging or bleeding with some extra black paint.

Step 8. Use to take notes of your most hated class! :)

***To further prevent bleeding, you can paint a layer of Mod Podge or black paint in your stencil before adding your layers of white paint.

Watch the video below for full instructions.