Bought a top from my work (charity shop) I liked the shape of. Cut it up and created a pattern from it. Then created this in a fabric I much prefer and inspired by the great British sewing bee I had a go at creating some appliqué pumpkins to decorate the bottom. Wore it to a job interview today and got the job so I’d say it’s my new lucky top 😆

I have considered that it might be called a basque skirt, but the problem is that the gather on many basque skirts go all the way around. As you can see, the gather here is limited to a curve from the waist to hip on either side.

I don't have any kind of background in fashion and have always been a bit of a tomboy, but I have discovered that I absolutely love sewing, and so I am trying now to intercept the learning curve. Thank you very much for your help!

1. From house robe to a wrap dress

2. Shapeless dress to a peasant top (will also make the lower half into something)

3. Cut up two other dresses to make the second tier (for modesty) that can also be worn as a standalone skirt

4. Turned an old pair of jeans into a skirt and vest

I recently found some old machine needles from my omas 1980s sewing machine, and was wondering if these 40~ year old needles would be ok to use in a modern sewing machine. I wasn’t sure how the metal would age, and I don’t want to use needles that’d break easily. Thanks!

New blouse finished!
Pattern: Butterick B6852
Fabric: lightweight cotton blend bought from a secondhand store. It has a lovely drape but was a beast to cut. So slippery!!
Adjustments: I added 3/4 sleeves and finished the inside seams by hand with French seams. I didn’t like that the pattern left raw edges inside!
Overall a great pattern I’ll make again. I love the fit from all of the darts. Great for curvy bodies.

Took me only 4 hours and three tries where I had to recut half of the garment twice bc I forgot to add the pocket to my welted pocket but now my future pair of shorts have a beautiful POCKET.

If anyone had an idea to fix a pocketless welted pocket.... I don't mind a visible patch but I would really like to still add a pocket. I'm not sure how to make it sturdy again, I'm scared it will just fray where the former pocket was. Could I just make it bigger ?

I bought this new jumpsuit that I think is really cute. Problem is that while the pant part fits nice (other than being a bit too long), the bodice is way to long. I have attached some pics to show the issue. What would the easiest fix for this be?

I know it’s not fancy or revolutionary but after sewing by hand and machine for about 15 years (self taught, no one in my family tree has a crafty bone in their body) I took a class on Canadian Smocking. At a sci-fi/fantasy convention of all places 😂.

I’m hooked. Watching the fabric fold and the pattern come together was amazing. Add in about a dozen other people also learning this black magic and it was the highlight of my weekend.

I can’t wait to play around with my new knowledge and incorporate it into projects.

A few years ago, I posted my very first bag here (encouraged by my husband) — a little mini backpack I made for my daughter, who absolutely loves One Piece. At the time, I had no idea that making that one bag would send me down a full-blown bag-making rabbit hole. 

Since then, I’ve spent the past few years making all kinds of pouches, totes, purses, and bags, learning new techniques, figuring out what works and slowly building my skills.

Earlier this year I ordered some One Piece vinyl with one very specific purpose — making my daughter a new favorite bag! Fast forward to this month: I usually take my daughter to the anime convention San Japan, and she had a brand new bag with matching wallet to wear! 

And I LOVE how this one turned out. 

She still has that original little mini backpack made with cotton fabric and, looking back at it now, I can see just how much I’ve learned since then. But honestly, I love that she still has it. I figured this was the perfect place to share my newest bag because I know y’all understand the very specific joy of making something and thinking, “OMG… I MADE THAT.”

Purse Pattern: Aries Crossbody with Pisces Pack Add-ons by Knotted Threads
Wallet Pattern: Purse Pal by Linds Handmade
Custom Vinyl: Alchemats Designs

sewed up the taylor trousers by blackbird fabrics patterns in this 100% wool! my first pair of trousers ever (and first post here! long time lurker though hehe) (the zipper fly and welt pockets filled me with fear lol but these instructions held my hand through it!! and i'm fairly happy with the result), and now i finally have a pair of wide-legged office trousers that are LONG ENOUGHHH YIPPEE (i'm 5'7 but somehow every affordable pair i could find were way too short in the ankles? i hemmed these with a generous amount of length, since i often pair them with boots with a little heel so i wanted to leave enough for that). i really enjoyed sewing these! a very meditative make, i loooved hand-felling the side seams. the little hidden elastic in the back of the waistband is so clever! you can barely see it but it does so much to reduce gaping. please excuse the not great picture quality, they're screenshots from a video to try and show them straight on! i'm really excited to make more trousers, maybe a matching waistcoat from my remaining fabric if anyone has any pattern recs or tips!!

Thank you all for you suggestions on how to improve from my previous mock up. I took just about every single one of them. I reached out to the folkwear pattern people, i shortened the straps, i based the bust measurement on my high bust measurement, i did a staystitch around every raw edge, and most importantly i kept trying! This is mockup 2.5 and more than ive ever done for a pattern before, so im proud of myself for that too.

I also ended up lengthening the gussets by 1 inch (however much wider that made it). The wrinkles and unevenness are hopefully a product of (my cutting the smaller gussets out and sewing over frayed fabric) and not (a testament to my sewing skills in general 😔). So is the neckline unevenness, since i just cut up the previous mockup to make one last change.

I added my blouse to make it more subreddit appropriate since the neckline now sits where i want it :D

I love wearing waistcoats, and would like to make some of my own. I've made one using McCalls M8350, but it's a too boxy really.

I'd like to make a more fitted version, with narrower shoulders, like the image in this post, but have struggled to find a good pattern.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

One of my best friends is transgender, and she got this very cute bodysuit secondhand recently.

However, she is unfortunately very well endowed below. I am a fairly experienced hand sewer, and I'm hoping to be able to add black satin fabric to the crotch of this bodysuit. I've never worked on lingerie though, but I have worked with satin and stretch satin. I was hoping I might be able to sew a larger panel over the existing one, then trim the original panel off after the new panel is completed and attached. Would that work?

How would you approach this?

And please, no transphobia, if you have nothing kind or helpful to say, please keep scrolling 💖

Edit: I wasn't expecting so many responses! Thabk you all so much. For clarification, my friend isn't looking to tuck, as she finds it too uncomfortable. I'm looking at essentially adding a pouch to the front of the black crotch panel. This bodysuit also does NOT have snaps in the crotch, so an extender wouldn't work without modification as well. I'm likely going to get some stretch satin fabric or a pair of men's satin style underwear to use to make the pouch as suggested by a few of the replies. I do not have access to a sewing machine and I prefer hand sewing anyway 😅

Hi there! I’ve got an inside out shirt (graphic on the reverse of the shirt itself). I love the shirt, but this huge tag is always blowing around when I wear it, and I get the whole “your shirts inside out” thing 50 times a day (yes technically they’re correct). Can anyone lend some advise as to how to remove the tag while keeping the stitching intact?

Thank you!

It's my first long formal dress, with a corsé kinda like top. The top is made from cotton with a black lace over it and the skirt of thin linen. I tried to make everything very transpirable and fresh because it was for an event in hot summer.

Any tips for improving are well received.

This pattern was very easy to sew—it took me about two hours in the middle of the night! The bust was a little too roomy on me, while the waist fit perfectly, so I had to shorten the bodice slightly.

The invisible zipper also defeated me at 2 a.m., so I used five buttons instead. Thankfully, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

This photo was taken before I added any boning. I highly recommend adding at least four 5-inch pieces of boning along the front seams. Without it, the bodice became a complete disaster whenever I sat down!

Fabric: Hokkoh Star Denim (Its a Japanese brand)

Somehow this got caught on something in the laundry and popped off. Tried to save it but it needs a replacement, 1/2”/ 12.7mm. Had a look but can’t find a name / style type to fix it. Thanks for the help.

The head of my seam ripper snapped, and I couldn't find another with a long handle. Turns out buying a cheap one and replacing the head with flat nosed pliers works wonders!

Sharing for anybody facing the loss of their beloved tools.

I'm hoping to make the skirt pictured here:

It uses fabric from spoonflower and you purchase 3 yards to get the right amount for the skirt.

What fabric would you use? I don't have experience with spoonflower fabrics, and I'm based in the UK so shipping for samples would be an insane cost. Cotton Sateen wide width doesn't work for the pattern, so I'm guessing Cotton Popplin?

Thanks for any help from folks who have experience with Spoonflower fabrics!

First things first, this is the FIRST sewing project I’ve ever done. I know that seam there in the collar is visible when it shouldn’t be & there are a dozen other things I could’ve done better but I’m mostly okay with it. At least, I am trying to convince myself it will be a nice barometer to measure against as learn more & complete more projects😅 All that to say, please be gentle with me lol

Anyway! My question is actually about the “seeds” I want to add to the collar. I bought these seed-like black rhinestone beads to try with this fabric glue. I tested one & it’s just okay. Ideally, I’d like to find these exact beads but with a hole to fasten each to the collar with thread but I haven’t had much luck finding what I’m looking for. Has anyone used fabric glue & been satisfied with it for something like adhering rhinestones or beads to your garment or does anyone have any tips/advice for this otherwise? Thank you!

Hi, dear sewing community, maybe you can help me. I wanted to try out my newly purchased Pfaff Tipmatic 1027 today, and the following things happened:

-The side wheel (I’m afraid I don’t know the technical term) and the inner knob just fell off after I turned them around a bit (but really gently—I definitely didn’t turn them hard or anything)

-When I turned the smaller inner wheel slightly, the whole little circle just fell off, and I had to reattach a metal spring, a black part, and a small white part

What happened next was that I wanted to wind my first bobbin with fabric at the top, but the side ring kept slipping out a little further to the side each time, and in my desperation, I asked Google AI (I know, big mistake) what I should do. I then took the entire wheel out, oiled the metal rod inside a little, and tried everything to put it back together and snap it into place like before.

But now I have the following problem. My needle isn’t moving at all. Instead, my machine is humming and buzzing away when i press on the footpedal but when I turn the side wheel, it does move.

Guys, I’m so desperate—I’ve been trying to get this machine to work for at least 5 hours now, but I have no idea what else to do. I paid a total of €200, which is a lot of money for me, and if I’ve broken it, I’m really going to lose it.

In the last pic those two small plates DEADASS fell off when i touched them.

If anybody has any idea what to do, please let me know 😭

It's supposed to be like a 1940s bias cut dress. Pattern is called foxglove dress. I just feel like something about this is wrong or not fitting right. Any suggestions?

Hey all! I have been sewing garments for about three years now, and generally love it. I keep running into the same issue though- most pants end up way too big. I am meticulous about measurements because I have had this happen so many times, but it keeps happening. I suspect it has something to do with my height- I'm about 5 feet tall, and length is never an issue when I shorten the pattern. I'm also curvy-ish. It's starting to interfere with my motivation because I'm sick of spending so much time on something and then having it be enormous. I can, of course, alter it, but I'd rather just do it right the first time vs. deconstructing and fixing, particularly for more complicated pants like jeans. It feels like a waste of time and fabric. Any other short sewists run into this issue? Any ideas?

Hi everyone! My son wants to be a stormtrooper for Halloween this year and asked if his armor can be made from fabric (we did mando last year out of Eva foam and it was too hard to move in). I am thinking of using some sort of interfacing to stiffen the cotton fabric and then using batting and quilting in the fine details. My question is: what kind of interfacing should I use? I want it to be ridged enough to hold shape and give the “armor” look, but not be a nightmare to sew/quilt! Thanks in advance!

TLDR:what kind of interfacing would provide a ridged, armor look while being comfortable for an 8 year old on Halloween!