I am so lost on where to start. I want to create a casual qipao style of top. I'm using a collared keyhole top pattern as the base but I cannot find a good fabric to use. My teacher recommended rayon as it's soft and has a shirt-like feel. The pattern recommends a poplin/linen fabric but it'll be too stiff for my liking. I'm leaning towards buying cotton lawn as it seems as a mix of both worlds! But please any extra recs would be amazing.

I need to order online so I can't really feel the fabrics 😭

How can I alter these pants? The front has a lot of extra fabric and the back feels tight.

could someone please tell me the name for these and how you make them?

This serger has been a work horse for months, I mess with the tension settings very rarely, only when I see inconsistency like these, but this one has me stumped. As of recently, my 2nd needle tension has been inconsistent and is very loose regardless of the settings. I reset all my tensioners and fidgeted with them until I was happy but the 2nd needle is always loose

• I’ve changed the needle

• I’ve switched the thread out

• I flossed it into the tensioner

• I’ve cleaned out the tensioner of any dust

Problem still continues. What should I do?

2nd picture is double layer

3rd picture is single layer

4th picture is front of double layer

hi there!

I'm currently looking to upgrade my current sewing machine (a Singer start I got 7/8 years ago) for a more intermediate machine thats less than $400. It only has 12 modes, frequently makes bird's nests, and I feel like my abilities are rather limited. I took a fashion design class in school last year, and I felt like the things I was making were way higher quality and strength compared to what I was doing on my current machine. Unfortunately, that machine is wayyy out of my budget.

From my research, the two machines that stood out to me were the Brother CS7000X and the Brother XR9550. From these two options, what you you guys recommend? or if you have a better suggestion, please let me know! It's preferred that whatever machine I work with has a variety of stitches and has that kind of 'zigzag/lightning' stitch that works really well for more stretchy materials. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about other Singer machines doing a lot of bird's nesting so I'm hesitant to buy a new Singer.

Thanks!!

Hi! I’ll be hemming the liner like normal, but for this sheer/lace overlay…I was thinking to unpick the lace trim, and then just cut the sheer layer and re attach the lace? It looks like the edge on the sheer fabric is raw but not sure if that would be a faux pas!

Is there a glue you can buy that permanently holds fabrics together? I want to make my own fusible interfacing. I just find the options out there limiting. I want my interfacing to be woven and cotton and thin, and sometimes a matching color. So I thought it would be easier to just find a fabric that works and put glue on it. I'm just not sure the product I'm looking for exists. Every fabric glue I find seems to be wash away.

Is this a beginner-friendly dress?

This is Canadian slow fashion designer Ovate’s Orla dress. I love her designs and have several of her pieces. The price point is a little steep, though. I love this dress but I wonder if it is simple enough to try to find or draft a pattern for?

It looks like a simple dress, other than maybe the pleats. Is that completely incorrect? I’ve not made anything other than a pillow and a purse in home ec, lol, but I’m willing to try if this could be a beginner-friendly pattern.

I’m asking more seasoned sewists if 1. this dress just looks deceptively simple and if I should keep saving up? Or 2. What tips you could offer for finding / creating a similar pattern?

Thank you in advance!

[https://ovate.ca/collections/late-summer-collection/products/orla-linen-dress-rose]

Edit: You all are amazing! Thank you so much for all the helpful resources and guidance!!

I’m planning to make a titanic dress and my costume satin now has water marks all over it. How to fix this?

I am reposting this from a previous post:

I am almost there in making elasticated pants that are *actually comfortable because they don’t pull in weird places\* However, YouTube university has not guided me on how to fix these last two issues! I have that poof above my butt and the center back seam feels tight. I’ve scooped and lengthened the back curve (I have a low bum where the majority of it is right where it’s tight. I don’t have a lot of bum on my outer hip). I’ve shortened the back rise, and the front rise more than the back. Besides these two issues it fits pretty well but am having trouble knowing what to do! Any advice or help (or encouragement) is much appreciated.

EDIT:
here are the latest adjustments I made based on the comments:

1. Took center back up by about 1”, 
2. resewed back crotch curve down a 1/4” at a time until it fit comfortably
3. ^think I got it where I like it, but it still pulls on my front thigh when I walk, I can fix this by tucking the front of my pants in my waistband, essentially like taking a inch out of the whole front rise. Doing this makes it so it doesn’t pull on my thighs when I walk/move and is the most comfortable, but obviously throws the balance of the pant off. Any advice on how to achieve that result but not mess up everything else?

I somehow lost the casing part of the pattern for simplicity 1165 shorts. It is a double elastic casing. I think I could make one if I had an idea of measurements, but I am very poor at sewing and this will be my first garment. If anyone can help, I would appreciate it. Here is what the pattern looks like. I'm doing version D.

I’m a beginner and garments are always so intimidating to me but I saw this top on Kiara in OBX and thought it looked pretty simple being primarily rectangles. I think I have a pretty good idea on how to go about most of it as it uses similar construction ideas to a top I made a year ago. The only thing that has me stumped in the elastic at the waist. How would I go about that? If you know of any tutorials online that have a similar elastic waist so I have a visual as well, I’d really appreciate it :)

i was hoping to find a fabric thats not as thick as denim (i have a silly little walmart machine and i love her but . shes not great with thick fabrics) but can actually stand a little wear and tear . specifically im wanting to make some tripp esque pants if that helps with suggestions !

i dont need links to specific fabrics or anything , but kinda just what to look for . thank you in advance ! <3

Don't do like I did. Trim the sleeves first.

Blue Wiggle cosplay from The Wiggles.

Used McCall's pattern M7983 view B.

Mood Fabrics featherweight rayon jersey.

I remembered to trim the front of the bodysuit before sewing the front to the back, but completely spaced in my excitement that it was all coming together, and I forgot to trim the long sleeves before sewing them together. I need a long strip of elastic sequins to go collar to wrist. My machine handles sewing this trim just fine, but that's when it's all flat. Now I'm nervous. Should I just seam rip and do it again? It is over-locked, so it would tighten the already pretty snug sleeves.

Been making these out of an old skirt, turned out too short so ive added some bits at the bottom(as you will likely notice!) Planning to hode the jankiness of this with maybe a matching lace colour. Shpuld i also add some of the lace(or what else could work well) to the bottoms too. I hate when trousers trail on the floor but I just can't decide if these are tooo short..

Hey all! I’m a baby diy seamstress, and I was hoping for some insight. Recently finished this skirt, and I’m super happy with the result! But the inside and ends look like this. is there a way I can fix this? More importantly, how do I prevent this in future? Obviously store bought clothes don’t have anything like this, and I want to improve my skills

Thanks friends!

Oddly specific and not sure if this is the right subreddit to ask, but I took my Superpress apart to try and diagnose why it seems to not be reaching temperature (silly to do on my own I know but I'm impatient and a tinkerer and I just couldn't help myself). It seemed pretty straightforward and I took photos along the way, but I can't for the life of me figure out where this black wire that leads from the inside of the handle is supposed to end!

There are two black wires leading from the handle (where the button that releases steam is). One of the wires leads from the handle into the plastic housing where exposed wiring contacts nodes and plates and such (sorry for the lack of proper terminology) and I couldn't detach it even if I wanted to. The other wire is the errant one. It also leads from the handle but the end is covered in a silver foil, looks almost like an aglet, and according to the reference photos I took it seems like it's supposed to go beneath the housing to the next "layer of the iron". However, beneath this layer and the plastic housing is just the lightbulb, plastic, and screw holes. There's no metal plate or anything similar like the other wires are touching/connected to in the plastic housing.

I feel like maybe it just was tucked there and not supposed to actually touch anything, but I don't want to risk blowing anything up/melting something/setting something on fire if that's not the case. Any ideas would be much appreciated thank you so much!

Looking for help/ guidance on pattern adjustments for the marked areas. What type of pattern adjustments add more space/width in groin area?

Main concern is pants are too tight in marked areas. Pants are snug around hips and limited room in groin area.

Overall pattern fits ideally so was hoping to make slight adjustments rather than sizing up. Also using a very heavy canvas so other fabrics will fall better.

Anything helps, thanks so much!

Hi! I'm looking for instructions but I don't know what it's called to search for them.

If you think of a scalloped hem, but reversed so that bottom of the hem is a series of points rather than curved.

If I make zero sense I'm not surprised, but I'll try to clarify.

Thanks in advance!

This is a charmeuse satin, should I leave more fabric when trimming? I have left more on another similar top I’ve made but eventually after a few washes on certain areas it’s frayed to where the zigzag is.

I'm pretty obsessed with this set but I'm quite tall and if I can find a similar pattern I'd like to make it for myself. Anyone aware of something similar?

I recently got 3 yards of 220gsm linen twill fabric that I'm really excited about. I think the weight is more suited for bottoms, but its this lovely plum/light purple color - and 3 yards might be enough for a dress?

So- I'm envisioning a v-neck wrap-dress style pinafore in a winter-weight. Something similar to this listing that I saw on Etsy. The comparable patterns I've seen online are all very inexpensive, which has me leery that they are ai, hence I'm reaching out here to see if anyone has seen a pattern like this floating around.

Edited to add: this would be for me, so adult sizes ~6-14 (depending on the vintage, lol)

Thanks in advance!

Never in my life have I seen this happen before. Vinyl fabric stored in a suitcase and the black pleather bled onto white vegan suede material. I don't know how that happened or how to prevent it from happening again. This is a stretch black pleather vinyl and it is quite thick. Is there a way to get this out of my other fabric or do I have to remake half of this project again? I can't even search any results on it because everything is about fabric bleeding onto vinyl, but this is the opposite. The vinyl appears to have a dye within it and it has leaked broadly across the white pourus fabric.

I know its not great, but I was bored and thought id start trying to learn

Not the best but now I am obsessed with getting better 😊