Seven Day Sewing Challenge Continued...

Day 3

Side Seams and Necklines

Today is day three of my seven day sewing challenge.  You're probably wondering what happened to day one and two. Well getting started takes a lot out of you, and to be honest it's really hard to take pics, post, sew, and take care of my family all at the same time.  Trying to find a happy medium is HARD!

In the past three days, I've gotten all the side seems sewn with a French seam. (If you are a Sewing Newbie, a French seam is when you sew the right sides together, press with iron, then turn the seams inside out so that the seam will be on the inside, and sew again.)  I love doing French seams because it makes the seam look really polished in the end without having all the raw edges tucked inside. If you're anything like me, I can't stand to find threads from raw edges hanging from my clothes.  It gets to be a nuisance to clip them all the time, plus they itch or tickle at the worst time. This bright floral that I have used here is a rayon fabric.  As you can see the edges are very raw and will unravel, so a French seam is perfect for my anti-string obsession.  (If you are a Sewing Newbie, I would suggest using cottons first. They don't slip and slide as much as the slinky rayon fabrics.

After the side seam is sewn, take it to the ironing board. When you sew, it is a must to iron those seams.  If there's anything that I've learned from my Mama about sewing, ironing seams is one of the most important things about making something awesome (besides using my machine, of course.)  A seam that is not pressed is like cake without frosting.  It has zero appeal and will not look professional.  You want others to say about your garment, "Where'd you buy that?," not "Did your Mama make that for you?" (No offense to all my Mamas out there!)

After sewing all the side seams, I moved on to creating the neckline.  This became time consuming because I wanted to pick the best line that would fit the shape of the fabric so that it would drape well on the body. For the short kimonos, I chose to do a boat neck and v-neck.  For the longer ones, I chose the open jacket.  This worked especially well for the long rayon prints because of the flow and drape of the fabric.

For some of the neckline seams, I chose to use bias tape.  (If you are a Sewing Newbie, bias tape is a long strip of folded fabric that is sewn to the raw edge of the garment. This makes a polished seam.) I think I might save bias tape for a later post because I could talk all day about that!  When the necklines of all my kimonos are finished, the next step is to sew the hems on the sleeves and around the bottom.  

I hope you continue with me through my Seven Day Sewing Challenge.  Check back to see my next post about bias tape.  It's going to be a doosie.  Onward we go!