Fabric Labels

I have been trying to work out the best way to add a fabric label to my bags and thought I would share the things I have tried. 

I bought these many years ago for putting on knitted items which I had made, they work fine but I wanted something with a bit more impact.

 I got these ones from an ebay sellar, they work really well as they can be folded over to sew into the seam, but you have to use a stock image and I wanted something more personal.

I found loads of differant ideas on Pinterest and saved them all to this Board so you can see all the directions, so I won't go over them again.

I first tried using rubber stamps and Stazon ink on Cotton Webbing which took ages to do and it was quite hard not to get the ink from the edge of the stamp on the webbing as you can see above.

Next I tried some iron-on transfer paper and made my own design in Word - it was quite a simple design and worked ok on both webbing and gosgrain ribbon. The main thing is to remember to reverse the image before printing. 

 
I then got my new logo and wanted to use this for labels, again I printed it off the computer using transfer paper from crafty computer paper who have a fantastic range of transfer papers, again you need to remember to reverse the image before printing as above. I then cut the page into lots of individual squares and tried to iron them on !

As you can see the image is quite dense and doesn't work very well on the cotton webbing as it has too much texture so it was difficult to get an even label.

Next I tried gosgrain ribbon which was a little better but still not as even.

Finally I tried satin ribbon and found this much easier to get an effect - I have tried it on narrower and wider ribbon and both work well.

The wider ribbon can be folded over and sewn into the seam as above, this one is a little close to the seam so I just need to get the hang of spacing. I've also played with sewing the narrower ones on in differant ways, it tends to pucker a little and catch on the transfer if I use zig zag all the way round, but if I just straight stitch across each end it seems to look a little better.

I plan to try another couple of the ideas on the pinterest board - there is an interesting idea which lets you print direct onto fabric using freezer paper, I also plan to order some fabric from Spoonflower and will get some labels printed from there too - I will update you when I have tried these methods.

More Dressmaking

I have manged a bit more dressmaking this week - my daughter chose this fabric herself and I finally got it made - just in time for the rain !

She was very pleased with the dress but I did the one thing you shouldn't do with a pattern and just went off her age rather than getting the tape measure out. Luckily due to the style of this its not a problem - the top is long enough to wear as a dress this summer and she can wear it with leggings as a top next summer - means she will get loads of wear out of it.

The matching hairband is a hit and I can see a few more of those being made !

This was the pattern I made it from - I didn't bother with the ruffles on the shoulder straps as she wasn't too keen on them. The pattern was fairly easy to follow, although I managed to miss cutting one piece out, still not sure how I managed that but there was plenty of fabric so it wasn't a problem

Here is a hint for storing your dressmaking patterns - the A5 size Zip bags which you can get at office suppy shops are the perfect size for storing patterns, it meant I could put the pattern piece I wasn't using for this item back in the paper envelope which storing the ones in use in the plastic wallet for easy access, then when it is all finished I can just put everything away in the plastic wallet.

I also stapled a sample of the fabric on a piece of card along with the size and which view I made, as I know that next time I come to make this top I'll forget what I made so hopefully this should help.

My top 5 favourite sewing books

Like many crafters, I have a large collection of craft books, my sewing collection in particular seems to have grown recently so I thought I would share my top 5 with you

1. The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam,this is my favourite book, although I had made a couple of bags before I got this book, they had all been from patterns this book gave me the skill and confidence to start designing and adapting my own bags, she has a new book coming out later in the year along with a useful Blog and Shop

2. The Fabric Selector by Dana Willard. This is a recent purchase but one which I am really enjoying too, its good to actually learn what I 'should' be doing with fabric rather than my usual making it up as I go along ! Dana also has a fantastic Blog

3. I'm going to cheat for number 3 and have two books both by Pam and Nicky Lintott - Jelly Roll Quilts and Layer Cake Jelly roll and Charm Quilts. I love working with Jelly Rolls as all the cutting and matching has already been done so that I can just get on with sewing and creating - I have made one Quilt from these books and plan to make some more.

4.  The sewing machine accesory Bible by Wendy Gardiner, a great little book which has helped me to get full use of my machine by figuring out what all those fancy feet actually DO !

5. Free and easy Stitch Style by Poppy Treffry - I love the machine applique and free style embroidery in this book, one of my sewing resolutions for this year is to teach myself how to this - keep reading to see if I manage it !

Sewing oilcloth

When I first started sewing with oilcloth, I was really wary - I read loads about ways to make it easy so assumed it was really hard, but in fact I've been really pleased with how easy it is to do. I thought I would share my tips of what works for me.

This is my machine - it is a Janome DXL603.

I've never tried oilcloth on anything else so obviously everything relates to this machine. Despite hints and tips I have read, I've found I don't need to adjust tension or any other adjustment. When making bags the vast majority of the time I am sewing on the reverse of the fabric (the only time I sew on the shiny side is the handles or for topstitching) so it sews no problem. The only time it gets harder is if you are sewing on the 'shiny' side of the fabric - in this case you need to use a Teflon foot, otherwise the foot will stick to the fabric as you go along - I got quite a cheap foot from Ebay but you can get them most places, when sewing on the reverse then a normal foot works ok. If the shiny side of the fabric is running over the base of the machine,then it can stick there too. When I am top-stitching on oilcloth, I find that it looks better and sews well if I make the stitches a little longer - I have them at 3.5 on my machine.

I have seen a suggestion of using masking tape to fasten a piece of oilcloth shiny side down to the base so the fabric will just roll over the machine

However on my machine I can remove the front piece so I just take that off when sewing oilcloth to prevent sticking.

I always use a denim or Leather needle when sewing oilcloth, if you have to take any stitching out of oilcloth, it will leave a 'scar' on the fabric so I try to avoid it as much as possible. For this reason you shouldn't use pins - when cutting out the fabric I use Pattern weights, 

When I First started sewing oilcloth I used these binder clips to hold the fabric as I sewed, they work great and if that is what you have around will do the job, however I did find them quite bulky so I wanted to try something else.

I now use these Clover Wonder Clips and they are much better, there only seems to be a couple of places in the UK which sell them (I had them posted from the States) but they were well worth it. 

I have also heard of people using paper clips which I have never tried.

Oilcloth fabrics and how to recognise them

As you can see from all my bags, I love sewing with oilcloth - when I first started I really struggled to find the differance between all the types of fabric - lots of descriptions but no pictures so I thought I would do my own pictures - I get most of my oilcloth from Norfolk textiles, they have a great selection.

The pink spotty fabric is a PVC/Vinyl fabric, the Blue spot is oilcloth and the one with the leaves is a matt oilcloth - this looks the same on the back as the usual oilcloth but just has a matt sheen instead of the usual shiny finish

This is a normal oilcloth - as you can see the back has quite a course finish but has a definate fabric weave effect

I think (feel free to correct me !) this is a laminated cotton - I bought it from Laura Ashley, it is sold as PVC Cotton fabric, it still has the plastic feel but is a little softer and drapes a little more. The reverse of the fabric still has a definate weave but it is much finer - not quite as fine as a quilting cotton but softer than the usual oilcloth.

This is a much cheaper fabric - it is more of a Vinyl/PVC it is a softer fabric and the rear doesn't have a weave, it is more of a synthetic back. This fabric is great for tablecloths as it drapes well but it isn't as strong as oilcloth. I have used it to make a bag but found that the handles quickly started to come off - sewing the seam basically perforated the fabric so it started to tear across the seam. I think it would still make little cases but its not so good for bag handles !

Hope this all helps and please feel free to let me know any mistakes - I've just figured this all out myself, although I have seen this Fabric Selector book on Amazon which is now on my Wish List !