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 Not Your
Gran’s
Sewing
Book
Easy Alterations
for the Perfect Fit
at Any Size
Allie Luecke
Creator of Allie Upcycles

[Link]
 Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

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The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your
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 DEDICATION

For my first sewing teacher, personal childhood seamstress, and forever

cheerleader: my mom
[Link]
[Link]
 What We’re Doing Here
Oh hey, fancy meeting you here in this sewing book I wrote. So, why are
you here? Why am I here? Why are any of us here? Why did the chicken
cross the road?
The simple answer: We are here to make our clothes fit better and have fun
doing it, regardless of where you are in your sewing journey.
(Unfortunately, my expertise does not extend to philosophy or traveling
poultry.)
Maybe your mom taught you how to sew, but it was an indefinite number of
years ago. Maybe nobody taught you how to sew. Maybe you learned how
to sew in school but were too busy trying to navigate if your best friend
hated you or not to retain anything. Regardless of how you got here, I’m so
stoked to be part of your sewing journey.
I got into sewing as a kid. The very first garment I remember making was a
blue camo fleece hoodie when I was around 11 (I had a huge camo phase as
a kid). My next project was a pair of blue fleece pajama pants covered in
frogs that were definitely too bulky to wear under my school uniform skirt
in the winter, but I wore anyway. That same year, I sewed fleece winter hats
to sell at our local craft fair to raise money to attend summer camp.
Seriously, do we think I had enough fleece in middle school?
My mom taught me how to sew, and my grandma on my dad’s side made
incredible quilts for everyone in the family, so I was lucky to have good
genetics on both sides. My mom taught me sewing basics before becoming
my personal seamstress for every community theater production and school
dance that followed. But as she will tell you, in adulthood I really took
sewing and ran with it.
Some of you may know me from my Instagram account @[Link].
On my account, I take old or thrifted clothes and give them a new life. I
teach people how to make their clothes fit better while never taking
anything too seriously. I also remain incredibly honest about the bits of
sewing that can be boring or annoying.
I learned a lot of my more advanced sewing skills from watching online
tutorials. Now hang on, don’t go returning this book and jumping on
YouTube! The internet is a fantastic free resource for sewing, but because
it’s free, we have to accept that beggars can’t be choosers. Many online
sewing tutorials are made by very lovely older women who, while they
have an absolute wealth of knowledge, don’t always deliver their lessons in
the most engaging or relatable manner. I have loved sewing since I was a
kid and want everyone else to love it (or at least learn it) too. It’s such an
invaluable life skill for people of every age that I want to make sure no one
writes it off as a “grandma hobby.”
Sewing has been cool on the internet for years now, so I’m not out here
pretending I’m revolutionary in making it relatable for younger generations.
But as much as I loved seeing my peers’ creations and youthful spins on
sewing, there was just one problem—none of these creators looked like me.
Viral sewing videos of thin women with small chests taking baggy clothes
and cutting off half the fabric to make something skintight are the norm.
But where were the people those baggy, oversized clothes normally fit?
Where were the thrift-flippers who could barely find anything cute in their
size in the thrift store to begin with, let alone something cute twice their
size? Where were the people whose boobs took up an entire shirt while the
viral videos were showing T-shirts transformed into cute little bikini-and-
skirt combos?
Well, you know what they say: Be the change you want to see in the world.
After years of hemming and hawing, I put my fears aside and made a
sewing Instagram account sharing my very average U.S. size–10–14 body. I
was terrified people would make fun of me, but instead, I turned out to be
just what a lot of people were looking for (please know I’m squirming
writing this as I try not to sound too full of myself). The thing I have been
most grateful for with my sewing Instagram has been seeing comments and
messages from people of all sizes telling me they’re so excited to see
someone who looks like them or that they’re inspired to dust off their old
sewing machine. The only thing I want is for everyone to feel like they can
sew. That, and world peace.
I’m taking this sewing book in a different direction than other sewing how-
tos. As with any hobby, I have found there can sometimes be a real air of
superiority around sewing. I distinctly remember, early in my adult sewing
career, reading an article titled something like “10 Ways Your Sewing
Looks Amateur.” The article was full of jabs about things I—and I’m sure
many others—did as a beginner sewist that made my clothes look “frumpy”
and “handmade.”
There are SO many levels of sewing and so many different reasons a person
needs to sew. Maybe you just need to know how to repair a pocket to save a
pair of pants from the landfill. Maybe clothing stores don’t carry dresses
that fit your chest. Maybe, and I know this sounds wild in today’s society,
you just want to try a fun new hobby you may not be great at.
This book is for everyone who wants to sew. You don’t need to be thin, you
don’t need to own all the finest sewing tools, and you don’t need to be
training for Project Runway. You just need to be someone who would love
to make their clothes fit a bit better and have a laugh doing it.

[Link]
Starting Strong
Anytime someone learns I can sew, the first thing they say is, “I wish I
could sew!” To that, I always respond, “You can! I’ll teach you!” I’m still
waiting on someone to take me up on that offer. That’s where you come in,
dear reader.
The growing popularity of sewing, upcycling, and thrift-flipping on social
media is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s incredible to be inspired
by the countless people making or transforming their clothes and sharing
the excitement of sewing with the world. On the other hand, incredible
transformations shared only in an under-three-minute video can make
people feel like sewing is complicated and unattainable. The reality is that
you can make practically anything with a couple of stitch types and the
right presser foot.
If those terms already feel far beyond your sewing knowledge, you’re in
luck! In this chapter, we’re pulling back the curtain (which in my case is
made of random swatches of scrap fabric) to demystify the art of sewing.
I’ll tell you the easiest types of fabric to work with as a beginner, teach you
about the only stitches you’ll ever need, and hold your hand through basic
sewing principles. You will be on the receiving end of lots of new words
and terms in this chapter, but have no fear! You can always find a quick
definition in the glossary on here.
[Link]
 You’ve Got the Skill (Level)
Every project in this book has a recommended skill level: Beginner,
Confident Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
In this book, I’m assuming you’re coming to me with an understanding of
how to turn on, thread, and begin stitching on your sewing machine. If that
is the extent of your sewing knowledge, that’s absolutely fine! Honestly,
I’m so proud of you for picking up this book and trying something new!

Even if you’re new to sewing, I’m confident you will be able to complete
all of these projects—yes, even the advanced one! I just recommend you
build up your skills on the beginner projects before plunging into the more
advanced ones. That said, I am not a good example of this—I always want
to be challenged, and I always want to be great at things straightaway
(which I assure you is in no way a problem and never leads to
disappointment of any kind). To those of you readers like me, I salute you
and wish you the best.
Here’s what you can expect from each skill level in this book:

BEGINNER
These are the building blocks you will need to tackle any garment. We’re
focusing purely on the basics you will need to follow the rest of the tutorials
in this book. Expect tips on measuring, creating and sewing straight lines,
and all things seams.

CONFIDENT BEGINNER
Let’s get into bigger projects! We’ll start adding some elements like pockets
(here) and gussets (here) to our clothes, but everything is going to be made
of straight lines and stitches, so hopefully nothing should feel daunting.

INTERMEDIATE
Now we’re cooking with gas! In these projects, we’ll start adding bigger
elements to our clothes, like sleeves. I’ll introduce some more complex
techniques like gathering (here) and facing (here). When I say complex, I
really mean there’s just more instructions that require more focus. There’s
also more math in these. Sorry.
ADVANCED
The big kahuna! There is only one project in the book I’ve classified as
advanced, and it involves, dun dun dun, adding a zipper (here). This project
will involve a lot of folding and turning of fabric, and it can take a decent
bit of brainpower to comprehend. You’ll still only use straight lines, but
your stitching will need to be much more precise. But even if it isn’t precise
the first time, you can always seam rip and try again—there’s no pressure
here!
[Link]
 Love It or Leave It: Sewing Tools
A common misconception about sewing is that it’s the cheap alternative to
buying clothes. While you can absolutely learn to upcycle and thrift-flip
clothing to make budget-friendly fashion, there are a fair few tools you need
to make this happen. As with most things in life, there’s a cheap way and an
expensive way to sew, and I’m here to tell you the cheap way.
I am a saver, seldom a spender. I’ve put off buying items I’ve needed for
years because the one day I saw it at the store, it was five dollars more than
I’d budgeted for. While this can sometimes be a detriment to me, it’s a real
benefit to you. I will be completely honest with you about the sewing items
you need and those you can survive without.

Bobbins baby, bobbins.

Bobbins
If you’ve seen any sewing content online, chances are you’ve seen one of
the countless videos and memes depicting someone crying with the caption
“When your bobbin runs out and you realize you’ve been sewing air for
five minutes.” Is the meme played out? A bit. Is it still accurate? Extremely.
A bobbin is a miniature spool of thread that lives in your machine, just
below your needle. Every time the needle lowers inside your machine, a
piece of thread from the bobbin loops around the top thread—the thread
you’ve put through the eye of your sewing machine needle. The bobbin
thread wrapping around the top thread is what holds everything in place.
The problem every sewist faces is that eventually, that mini spool of bobbin
thread runs out, and if you don’t notice in the moment, you will just keep
sewing with absolutely nothing to hold your top thread in place. Before I
start any project, I like to wind a few bobbins that are all the same color as
the top thread I’m using. This way I can quickly reload whenever my
bobbin runs out—otherwise I run the very real risk of giving up the project
for, well, longer than I care to admit.
It’s great to have as many bobbins as you have thread colors. That way you
can always have a bobbin on hand that matches your thread. The important
thing when purchasing bobbins is that you’re buying the same brand and
type that your machine requires (they should tell you in the manual). If your
machine breaks from using a different brand of bobbin, it can nullify your
sewing machine warranty. Rude, I know.
Bobbins come in both plastic and steel varieties. I’ve personally always
used plastic and have never had a problem other than the occasional chip,
but most things in my life are slightly broken, so I’m unbothered!
So how do you wind these bobbins? Each sewing machine is different, but
they all create bobbins in a similar way. I’ll break the process down for you,
but you will also need to have your sewing machine manual handy.

STEP 1: PULL THE THREAD TAUT AND THREAD THE

BOBBIN
Place your standard spool of thread on the long plastic or steel dowel on the
top of your sewing machine (this is called the thread holder or spool pin, if
you’re feeling fancy). Pull the end of the thread and wrap it around the one
or two small steel cylinders on the top of your machine. These are called
bobbin tension guides, and your machine’s manual will tell you exactly how
you need to wrap the thread around them. Finally, you’ll continue pulling
the thread to the top right of your machine where a final steel dowel will be
waiting for you. This is the bobbin winder, a.k.a. where you’ll place your
empty bobbin.
Identify one of the small holes on the top of your bobbin, then take the end
of your top thread and thread it through the open hole, starting from the
inside of the bobbin so your thread comes out the top of the hole. Once
you’ve pulled the thread through the top of the bobbin about 2 inches (5
cm), place the bobbin on the bobbin winder.

STEP 2: WIND THE BOBBIN

Now the magic happens! You will likely need to push the dowel holding
your bobbin to the right—this alerts your machine that it’s bobbin-windin’
time, not sewing time. Pinch the thread sticking out of the top of your
bobbin between two fingers, then slowly press down on your sewing
machine pedal. You’ll see the thread from the standard spool start to wrap
around the bobbin, like wrapping someone in toilet paper to turn them into
a mummy.
Once you’re confident the end of the thread won’t slip out of the hole at the
top of the bobbin, you can release the thread you were pinching. Now you
can put the pedal to the metal and watch the thread start wrapping around
your bobbin at breakneck speed.
I consider a bobbin full when there’s about ⅛ inch (3 mm) between the edge
of the wrapped thread and the edge of the bobbin. Once your bobbin is full,
just snip the thread, push your bobbin and the dowel holding it to the left,
and remove your bobbin. Now you’re ready to slip it into its compartment
under your sewing needle, making sure you’re following your machine’s
instructions for which direction to insert it in, and get to sewing!

Chalk or Washable Marker

We’re constantly tracing patterns, drawing seam allowances, or marking
adjustments in sewing, so we need writing utensils. Of course, we don’t
want these marks to live on our clothes forever, so chalk or washable
markers will be your best friends. Technically speaking, you could use pins
for all your marking if you really want chalk or washable markers to be the
hill you die on, but I promise your sewing life will be infinitely easier with
a writing implement.
You can pay a pretty penny for specialty tailor’s chalk or disappearing ink
markers in a sewing store. Or you can stock up any time there’s a sale on
school supplies. For years I subsisted on a box of white teacher’s chalk
someone left out on the curb. As for washable markers, they’ve been
making them for children for decades, and there’s no reason you can’t use
them too. I personally prefer chalk to markers so I can just rub out lines that
I’ve drawn incorrectly and avoid the fear of accidentally staining my
clothes by ironing over marker and making it permanent.
If you are willing to spend a little more money, I highly recommend a
Chaco Pen from Clover or Birch Creative. They’re little pens filled with
chalk that allow you to draw super-precise lines.

A Chaco Pen (above) and white teacher’s chalk (below).

Iron
You have to have an iron, and chances are you already own one. Don’t go
out and buy a specialty iron just to alter your clothes. As long as the iron
has multiple heat settings and the ability to turn the steam function on and
off, you’re golden.

Ironing Board
It is useful to have a proper ironing board but not a necessity. In place of an
ironing board, grab a bath or beach towel, fold it over itself a few times, and
place it on a table or on the floor. You can now iron garments or fabric on
top of this towel. This is what my mom always does in winter when it’s too
cold to iron clothes downstairs in the basement with the ironing board.
Your towel should always be on a hard surface like a table or the floor.
Never iron directly onto a surface; I know someone who cracked their
kitchen counters doing this. You also should never iron directly onto your
carpet, because you can melt the fibers. I’ve never done this, but it was a
strict clause that my property manager really emphasized in one of my
apartment rental contracts—he must have sensed my chaotic sewing
tendencies.
Having an actual ironing board is most helpful when you want to iron one
side of a garment without worrying you’ll accidentally press creases into
the other side simultaneously. It also serves as an extra table for all my
unfinished projects. If you don’t have the space to fit a full-sized ironing
board, consider getting a cheap mini tabletop one to help you press your
sleeves, collars, and any other cylindrical garments.

Measuring Tape
It’s definitely worth buying this. You can usually find a cheap measuring
tape in any drugstore. If you absolutely refuse to buy one but have some
nonstretch string or yarn hanging around, you can use this as a makeshift
measuring tape. Wrap the string around you like you would with a
measuring tape and pinch the string where your measurement ends, then use
a ruler to measure from the end of the string to the pinched place. Just make
sure the string isn’t stretching when you wrap it around you, or your
measurement may be off.

Pins
No avoiding this one—you need to have pins. Without pins, you’ll do hours
of prep work with nothing to make your fabric stay in place. There are
countless types of pins on the market, and honestly, the decision as to which
ones you use ultimately lies with you. Each sewist has a very personal
opinion on the best type of pins. I love fine stainless steel pins but
constantly see online comments from other sewists bashing them. Weird,
considering I thought I was the pinnacle of sewing knowledge.
Personally, I recommend having a set of long pins and a set of short. I love
my long yellow glass head quilting pins (the ones my mom proudly called
“the good pins” when she gave me a sewing kit for Christmas). These are a
little under 2 inches (5 cm) long and work for practically everything. As I
mentioned, I also love stainless steel pins with flat heads, measuring around
1 inch (2.5 cm) long. I find short pins are great for tighter or more delicate
sewing.

Long glass head pins.

Flat head stainless steel pins.

There are two pin types I would avoid: flat flower head and plastic head.
Flat flower head pins are great in theory. They lay completely flat, so your
fabric isn’t warped like it can be when you’re using large round head pins.
Unfortunately, I find the actual pin tips don’t stab through fabric effectively.
I thought I just got a bad batch in Australia, until months later, unprompted,
my mom told me about the exact same experience she had with these pins
in the United States. Scientific experiment concluded.
The other pins to avoid are plastic head pins. If you iron over one of these,
you will be left with a Jackson Pollock–esque melted mess on your fabric
and your iron.

Avoid these! While excellent in theory, I’ve had bad luck with these flower head pins.
 Quilting ruler.

Ruler
Sewing involves a lot of measuring, so apologies if you hate math. There
are lots of specialty sewing rulers on the market, but you certainly don’t
need them. Until a couple years ago, I just used various rulers I found
kicking around in drawers of old school supplies. That said, when I finally
upgraded to a quilting ruler, I was beyond grateful I finally made the
investment.
Quilting or patchwork rulers are much wider than school rulers, which
makes it a heck of a lot easier to press down and hold your fabric in place
while measuring, drawing, and cutting lines. These rulers are clear and have
countless marks for different lengths and widths running every which way.
This may make it sound like they are impossible to read, and admittedly
you need to really focus sometimes, but the benefit is immense. All the
markings make measuring and drawing seam allowances, hem lines, and
any other measurements a breeze.

Seam Ripper
A seam ripper is perhaps the most important tool you can have in sewing.
It’s so important that most machines and sewing kits will come with one.
Almost every single tutorial in this book will call for a seam ripper, and I
assure you that virtually all your future sewing will too.
I’m a cheapskate, so I understand the desire to just use whatever scissors
you have on hand to open a seam. I promise you it’s not worth it. Seam
rippers are a few dollars, and you can get them at craft or sewing stores,
online, and at plenty of grocery stores or drugstores. Even the thinnest
scissors, such as nail or embroidery scissors, are not thin enough to get
through short stitch lengths.

Your trusty seam ripper. Get acquainted—you’ll spend a lot of time together.

Any seam ripper is better than no seam ripper, but I’d caution against the
compact ones that have a little cap. These ones just aren’t as strong or
comfortable to hold as the full-sized ones. I also recommend buying the
brightest color seam ripper you can find because the only thing more
frustrating than needing to seam rip is not being able to find your seam
ripper.

Sewing Scissors
You’re going to cut so much fabric in your sewing journey, and you need a
decently sharp pair of scissors to do this. Sewing scissors can be shockingly
expensive, but don’t let this be the item that deters you from starting. If you
can find a pair of large kitchen or paper scissors, you’ll be able to get by
when first starting out. You should definitely avoid using kids’ scissors,
though. Your hands will be absolutely miserable trying to get them through
lots of fabric.
Learn from my mistakes and buy sewing scissors with plastic handles. Do
not be lured in by pretty scissors with big gold handles—I promise they are
much heavier than you expect, and your hand will hurt.
I recommend having two pairs of scissors, one large and one tiny. Tiny
scissors are so useful when you’re snipping thread because they’re so much
easier to control and get into tight spaces. You can buy embroidery scissors
or just pick up a cheap pair of nail scissors at your local drugstore.

Sewing Machine
Any sewing machine will do. It doesn’t matter if it’s brand new, a hand-me-
down from your aunt, or purchased for ten dollars at a thrift store. As long
your machine turns on and off, has a straight and zigzag stitch, has
adjustable stitch lengths, and can sew forward and in reverse, you can sew
absolutely anything!

Thread
When you’re first starting out with sewing, there can be a lot of start-up
costs, and thread is one of them. As a self-proclaimed penny-pincher, I
spent ages subsisting on black and white thread alone. As much as I tried to
tell myself otherwise, this was a mistake. When you’re new to sewing, a lot
of your stitches will be a bit messy, a bit wavy, and really just a bit off.
Which is absolutely fine and part of the fun of learning! If these wonky
stitches are in a thread color that matches your fabric, people won’t notice
them unless their eyes are inches from your garment. But if your threads
starkly contrast with your fabric, people can easily spot your mistakes
(despite me pretending for years they couldn’t).
You don’t need to buy perfectly matching thread for every garment, but I
suggest looking at your wardrobe, identifying the colors you wear the most,
and buying a few spools of thread in your color palette. There are countless
types of thread on the market for every specialty project, but just stick to
sew-all polyester thread and you’ll be fine.
[Link]
 The (Fabric) Choice Is Yours
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve chosen the wrong fabric for a
project. Fabric shopping for me used to just mean “see something funky
looking, buy it, and hope for the best.” Okay, it was only because the fabric
looked cool a few times—most of the time it was because it was the scrap
fabric in the discount bin. Either way, I’ve ended up with a lot of fabric that
I’ve realized too late will be a beast to sew or become a super-
uncomfortable garment.
There are two kinds of fabric: woven and knit. Destined from birth to be
mortal enemies. Or at the very least, destined to not work well together on
group projects. So, what makes woven and knit fabrics so different?

Woven fabric is not stretchy; it’s easy to create a sharp crease by ironing; and the raw edges fray
easily.

If you loved visiting historical reenactment sites as a kid, you’ve probably

seen someone working a loom, weaving threads back and forth across
vertical lines of yarn. Aside from surely being the coolest kid in your
school, you were witnessing the creation of woven fabric. Woven fabric is
essentially a grid of threads created on a loom. This makes it extremely
sturdy; easy to cut, fold, and sew straight; and not very stretchy or flexible.
If, instead of visiting Colonial Williamsburg, you spent your summers
learning how to knit, you were probably the second coolest kid in school
and know a thing or two about knit fabrics. Knit fabrics are made from
looping one thread around another. This makes it soft, stretchy in all
directions, easy to form to your curves, and difficult to keep in place while
cutting, folding, or sewing.

Knit fabric is stretchy and difficult to iron in place, and the raw edges curl inward but don’t fray.

If you were on a reality dating show, woven fabric would be the dependable
guy you can always rely on, but you fear life with him would be too rigid
and predictable. Knit fabric, on the other hand, is the adventurous guy
who’s stretching himself thin making bonds with every contestant, but he
makes you feel good, and you like a challenge. Even though nine out of ten
times I know you’re going to walk away with the latter, I’m screaming at
you through my TV to just pick the reliable one!
Common woven and knit fabrics you’ll encounter in your clothes are:
WOVEN: KNIT:
• denim • jersey
• linen • lycra
• gingham • spandex
• muslin • mesh
• silk • lace
• satin • fleece
• twill • crepe
• drill • ponte
• corduroy • scuba
• flannel • terry cloth

If you’re new to sewing, I highly encourage you to work exclusively with

woven fabrics. They will create a much easier environment for practicing
all your new skills. Of course, you can’t avoid knits—plenty of your clothes
are made from them. Just know that you will need to be a lot more careful
and calculated with your sewing when using knits. Any pulling or stretching
of your fabric while you sew, even if you swear you weren’t stretching it,
can result in wavy, misshapen seams. I certainly don’t want you to be afraid
to work with knits! I just want you to have all the information up front.
Throughout the book, I’ll offer suggested fabrics for each project. For every
single project, it’s a given that I suggest you use woven fabric.

Working with Knit Fabrics

If you are determined to work with knit fabrics, one, you’re just as
rebellious as me, and two, we’d better get you set up for success. The
important tools to have on hand are a stretch needle, a walking foot, and
patience.
A stretch needle is a sewing machine needle with a slightly rounded tip.
This tip lets the needle sneak between the knit threads instead of stabbing
and potentially snagging or ripping them. You can buy a five-pack of stretch
needles for under ten dollars from any sewing store or website.
 Your new best friends, you rebel: a stretch needle (left) and a walking foot (right).

I also recommend using a walking foot (don’t worry, you’ll learn more
about this shortly on here). Knit fabrics easily pucker and become wavy as
you sew them. Imagine that knits are a punching bag. The trainer, i.e., the
presser foot, holds the punching bag in place while you, the needle, punch it
and leave a dent. The way a standard presser foot holds knit fabrics allows
the needle to push the fabric into the bottom of the machine, resulting in
puckers and waves.
To remedy this, switch out your standard presser foot for a walking foot
(see Presser Feet, here). The walking foot feeds your fabric more evenly
through your machine without applying misplaced pressure.
Finally, sewing knit fabrics takes lots and lots of patience (something I
lack). I’d love to tell you that you’ll be great at sewing knits as soon as you
try. I’d also love to tell you that the Earth isn’t heating each year. But knits
are tricky and global warming is real. (Luckily, you’re helping to fight
climate change by reworking instead of replacing your clothes!)
 Left: A knit fabric that has been tugged and stitched with too small a stitch length. Right: A knit
fabric sewn to perfection (pats self on back) without stretching and with a longer stitch length.

Keep things under control! Use your right hand to slowly push your fabric forward while using your
left hand to stabilize and guide it as you sew.

Go slowly as you sew knit fabrics and use longer stitch lengths. Tugging or
stretching the fabric as you sew is going to result in misshapen seams and a
lot of cursing your machine. I like to lay my hands flat on my knit fabric as
I sew, with my left hand directly to the left of the presser foot and my right
hand a few inches in front of my presser foot. This allows me to slowly
push the fabric forward with my right hand while stabilizing and guiding it
with my left. Longer stitch lengths allow your fabric to stretch more after
it’s sewn. With stretchy knit fabrics, a short stitch length will cause
puckering and prevent your clothes from stretching. For more information
on stitch lengths, see here.
I hope this section either gives you the confidence to go forth and sew with
knits, or the warning that you should really start by practicing on woven
fabrics. Either way I’m coming out of here victorious!

I pretty much always use a medium-weight fusible interfacing like this one.

Interfacing
If you’re working with any fabric—woven or knit—that needs to be
sturdier, let me introduce you to your new best friend: interfacing.
Interfacing is a special fabric you add to the wrong side (here) of your
sewing fabric. It’s used to make things like waistbands, cuffs, collars, and
welted pockets stiffer and more pronounced. It can also be used on knits
along seams and zippers to prevent them from stretching where they need to
be structured.
Just like fabric, there are many versions of interfacing. For your everyday
use, I suggest getting a nonwoven or woven interfacing that is medium
weight and fusible. Fusible interfacing has a heat-activated glue on one side
that allows you to iron it onto your fabric and save yourself the hassle of
having to sew it on. Any fabric store should have multiple brands and types
of interfacing available. Honestly, I just buy the cheapest one, and I’ve
never had an issue!
Some interfacing comes with its own instructions for how to adhere it to
your fabric, but if yours doesn’t, use mine!

STEP 1: PLACE THE FUSIBLE INTERFACING ON YOUR

FABRIC
Check which side of your interfacing has the heat-activated adhesive—this
will be the shinier, coated side. Lay the adhesive face down on your fabric’s
wrong side. The wrong side of your fabric is the side that people won’t see.
For printed or patterned fabrics, this could be the uncoated or unpatterned
side of the fabric. For solid-colored fabrics, you get to choose the right and
wrong sides.
To keep both fabrics in place, you may want to stick a couple of flat head
steel pins through the interfacing, fabric, and your ironing board so that the
pinheads are flush with your fabric.
Place another piece of fabric on top of the interfacing—I usually use scraps
from an old bedsheet or pillowcase. This additional layer of fabric will both
help with the fusing process and prevent the interfacing from getting stuck
to the iron.

STEP 2: IRON YOUR INTERFACING

Set your iron to the highest heat setting and turn off the steam function.
Using the button on your iron that squirts water, spray a layer of water all
over your scrap fabric. Now slowly iron the scrap fabric until it’s dry (many
instructions will say to just hold your iron in place for 15 seconds, but I’m
always afraid this will burn a hole through the fabric, so I just iron super
slowly). The steam created from ironing the damp scrap fabric helps melt
the glue and fuse the fabrics together. Lift your scrap fabric to reveal that
your interfacing is now magically glued to your fabric.
[Link]
 Meet Your Sewing Machine
If you’re brand-new to sewing, learning to sew can feel intimidating for one
big reason: the large, foreign object with knobs and needles sitting in front
of you. While a sewing machine may look intimidating, it’s just here to
make your life easier. Allow me to introduce you to your sewing machine
and teach you the basics that will get you through any sewing project.
On any sewing machine you’ll select two important things—stitch length
and stitch type.

Stitch Length
Your stitch length refers to how long each stitch is, which is determined by
how far your needle moves between each stitch. On a typical sewing
machine, 0 is the shortest stitch length (so short your needle just stitches in
the same place) and 4 or 5 is the longest stitch length.
Your stitch length determines how tightly or loosely your fabric will be held
together. The shorter the stitch length, the stronger the hold. You may be
thinking, “Well surely I’d only use short stitch lengths then,” but long
stitches have a place too! A great rule of thumb when selecting your stitch
length is: the stretchier the fabric, the longer the stitch length. Your fabric
can only stretch as far as each stitch length, so if you use a short stitch
length, your garment can’t stretch. It’s like taking some delicious, stretchy
mozzarella and cutting it to bits. Conversely, stiff fabric doesn’t stretch, so
you have the freedom to play with short or long stitch lengths. Long stitches
are also perfect for basting or gathering fabric (we’ll practice this in
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves, here).
Throughout this book, I’ll refer to short, medium, and long stitch lengths.
When I say this, I mean:
Short: 0.5–2.5
Medium: 2.5–3.5
Long: 3.5–5
I live my life in a medium stitch length. I find a 2.5 stitch length is perfect
for creating a secure stitch that I’m confident will hold my clothes together
through thick and thin. At the same time, it’s not so tight the fabric starts to
pucker.
From left to right: A short, medium, and long stitch length.
 From left to right, zigzag stitches with: wide and medium length, narrow and medium length, and
wide and short length.

Stitch Types
The stitch type refers to the direction of your needle and the thread pattern
it creates. The two stitch types you need to create absolutely anything are
the straight stitch and the zigzag stitch. So no matter if you’re using a
machine with a handful or a wheelbarrow-full of stitch options, you can sew
anything in this book.

STRAIGHT STITCH
A straight stitch is the almighty creator of the sewing world. Garments can’t
exist without straight stitches. Look at any garment you own and you’ll see
a straight stitch holding it all together (the same thing I try to make people
believe I’m doing).
There are typically two straight stitches you can choose from on your
machine—the only difference is the needle position. You can select a
straight stitch where the needle is smack in the center of your presser foot
or a straight stitch where the needle is positioned slightly to the left. Unless
I say otherwise, assume I am always referring to a straight stitch with the
needle centered.

ZIGZAG STITCH
A zigzag stitch is the second most important stitch on a sewing machine
(always the bridesmaid, never the bride). It has two primary purposes:
finishing seams and sewing elastic and stretchy fabrics.
When you use a zigzag stitch, your needle will move back and forth, left
and right. If the needle is to the left, that’s the zig, and if the needle is to the
right, that’s the zag. At least in my brain it is. These are not technical terms,
but this is my book, so zig is left and zag is right.
On a standard sewing machine, you can adjust the length between your
zigzag stitches, and on some machines, you can also adjust how wide or
narrow the zigzag is.
Even when you’re using a short stitch length, zigzag stitches don’t have the
same strength as straight stitches. If I’m using a zigzag stitch, I like to start
and end by backstitching with a straight stitch before I switch to the zigzag
stitch. This makes my looser zigzags less likely to unravel.

BACKSTITCHING
Almost every line of stitching you’ll follow in this book begins and ends
with backstitching. Backstitching is what locks our stitches into place. If
you were hand stitching, you’d tie a knot at the beginning and end of each
stitch line to secure it. But we have places to be and lives to live, so we
won’t be hand stitching here.
To backstitch, sew forward two to three stitches. Then hold down the
reverse button on your sewing machine and sew two to three stitches
backward, retracing the stitches you’ve just sewn. Now you can move on
with your sewing and just continue sewing forward.
You should always backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching
unless you are basting, gathering, or sewing a dart. Kind of like “i before e
except after c,” but this time you’re worried about your clothes falling apart
instead of a spelling test. Honestly, I don’t know which scares me more
after relying on autocorrect for half my life.

Backstitching at the beginning and end of a line of straight stitches.

Backstitching with a straight stitch at the beginning and end of a zigzag stitch is optional, but I find it
holds the stitching more securely than backstitching with a zigzag.

Left to right: Standard presser foot, zipper foot, and walking foot.
 Standard presser foot.

Zipper foot.

Presser Feet
Look at where the needle is on your sewing machine. You see that flat silver
thing attached below the needle? That’s the presser foot. The presser foot is
a 1-ish-inch (2.5-ish-cm) piece of metal that holds your fabric in place
while you sew.
Your machine has a small lever that allows you to move the presser foot up
or down. This is likely located either to the right of or directly behind your
presser foot. When you’re not sewing, your presser foot will be lifted,
hovering above your machine’s baseplate. When you’re ready to begin
sewing, place your fabric below the presser foot, press the lever down, and
lower the presser foot so it holds your fabric in place. Whenever you finish
sewing, simply lift the lever and raise that presser foot back up so you can
remove your fabric.
Nowadays, it feels like there are as many different presser feet as there are
mascaras in a drugstore. You of course have your standard foot but also
your zipper foot, button foot, edgestitching foot, walking foot, blind hem
foot, roller foot, and more. Sure, each does something slightly different, but
at the end of the day, aren’t they all serving the exact same purpose? Sort
of. While all presser feet hold your fabric in place, their differences allow
you to create different stitches.
There are two presser feet you’ll need to make any garment in this book.
First, there’s the standard flat presser foot that comes attached to any
machine. You can make countless garments armed with nothing but this
foot. Your needle sits directly in the center of this foot, and the sides of the
foot keep your garment flat as you perform straight and zigzag stitches.
The second most important presser foot, in my opinion, is the zipper foot.
The zipper foot sits to the left or right of your needle, making it possible to
sew riiight next to a zipper. This foot doesn’t need to be exclusive to
zippers, though! I use my zipper foot all the time to sew in hard-to-reach
places.

CHANGING YOUR PRESSER FOOT

Changing a presser foot is simple but a little fiddly. Toward the back of each
presser foot, you’ll see a thin bar. On the steel bar hanging down from your
machine, there will be a small lever that activates a latch with a tiny hook
that holds on to this bar, like a claw machine grabbing a prize.
To remove the presser foot attached to your machine, press on the small
lever, and watch the latch unceremoniously release the presser foot and
drop it to the ground. Now to attach the new presser foot. While pressing
that same lever down, put the new presser foot into position and release the
lever. This should allow the hook to latch into place around the tiny bar on
the new presser foot.
There is a third presser foot that should be in my rotation much more often
than it is, but it’s more annoying to change. You can call this the “nothing
that’s worth doing is easy” presser foot, more formally known as the
walking foot. A walking foot is brilliant for sewing bulky fabric, like when
you’re attaching pockets, belt loops, or any other stacks of fabric.
To change almost any presser foot, push the little button on the back of the presser foot holder to
unlatch the old, then latch onto the new presser foot.

Walking foot.
To attach a walking foot, grab your screwdriver! Unscrew the presser foot holder, pop on the walking
foot, and use the same screw to screw the walking foot in place.

A walking foot attached to a machine and ready to take on bulky fabrics and knits!

The walking foot is much larger than a standard presser foot because it
contains a lot of mechanics. Typically it will come with your machine,
packed in a separate box about 3 inches (8 cm) tall. Each machine and
walking foot is different, so you’ll need to read your machine’s instructions
(sorry, I hate doing that too) to learn exactly how to attach it. For any
walking foot, though, expect to grab a screwdriver to remove the part of
your machine that holds all your standard presser feet (hence why I put off
using a walking foot until I absolutely must).
This meet-cute is now complete! I look forward to the complicated,
beautiful love-hate relationship you and your sewing machine will have
moving forward. Some days you’ll work together as one perfect unit. Some
days she’ll make mistakes and you’ll say things to her you don’t mean. At
the end of the day, remember you’re both working toward one common
goal: making you look incredible in your clothes.

[Link]
 Finishing Seams
If you’re new to sewing, you don’t know this yet, but finishing seams is
going to occupy so much of your sewing time. I used to never finish seams
because it totally interrupted my sewing groove. I just wanted to make
things, not waste my time on mundane, trivial tasks! What was the worst
that could happen if I didn’t finish seams? Well, turns out, your garments
fall apart.
Why do your garments fall apart? Chances are, at some point you’ve
yanked a garment on or off and heard a thread snap. When you only have a
single line of stitching holding everything together, there’s no second line of
defense once that snapped thread snowballs into an unraveled line of
stitching. This is true for both woven and knit fabrics.
Woven fabrics, for all their positives, fall apart even more easily if you
don’t finish the seams. Any time you’re cutting fabric to assemble a
garment, you’re creating a raw edge. Woven fabric is made by tightly
weaving together lots of threads, so when you cut fabric, all the threads are
now free to begin unraveling. If you sew a seam together but leave the edge
raw, it can literally fray itself out of your stitching like a magician escaping
handcuffs. And no one likes a cheeky magician. To remedy this, every raw
edge must be finished with an overlocking or zigzag stitch, or else folded
underneath and stitched in place.
 A raw, unfinished seam allowance.

I don’t want you to spend days sewing a garment only to have the seams
fray and fall apart the first time you wash it (I may or may not have avoided
ever washing certain me-made garments for this reason). Instead, use these
simple methods to finish your seams and make your hard work last.
A seam finished with an overlocking stitch.
 An overlocker/serger.

Overlocker/Serger
An overlocking stitch is a magical stitch that uses two to four separate
threads to finish a seam in one fell swoop. If you look at any T-shirt in your
closet (or on that chair that holds all your clothes), you’ll see an
overlocking stitch on the side seams.
To perform an overlocking stitch, you’ll need a second machine separate
from your sewing machine called either an overlocker or a serger. An
overlocker/serger can sew two parallel lines of straight stitching while
looping two different threads around the raw edge of fabric. It does all this
while simultaneously trimming off your extra seam allowance. This
machine is the greatest gift I ever gave myself.
That said, I’m a huge penny-pincher, so please know you don’t need to buy
one of these machines to make your own clothes. However, if you believe
time is money, then spending a few hundred dollars on an overlocker is
actually saving you thousands of dollars in time.

Zigzag Stitch
The zigzag stitch is the frugal person’s overlocking stitch. The zigzag stitch
is available on practically any standard sewing machine, which means you
don’t need to find extra cash or space to add an overlocker to your machine
collection. You can achieve the exact same benefits of an overlocker with a
zigzag stitch; it’s just going to take more time.

STEP 1: SEW YOUR SEAM AND TRIM THE SEAM

ALLOWANCE
Before you can finish a seam, you have to make one. A seam is created by
sewing two pieces of fabric together, typically with a straight stitch. Most
modern patterns will instruct you to sew ⅝ inch (1.6 cm) in from the raw
edge of your fabric (I like to use ½ inch [1.3 cm] when making my own
patterns because I’m defiant). This extra fabric on the edge is called your
seam allowance.
Once you’ve sewn your seam, you can trim off some of the excess seam
allowance. I recommend keeping your seam allowance to ⅜ inch (1 cm)
wide.

STEP 2: ZIGZAG STITCH ALONG THE RAW EDGE

Now let’s head back to our sewing machine to mimic the overlocking stitch.
Select a medium-length zigzag stitch on your machine. If you have the
option to select the width of the stitch, choose the wide option. The needle
will move to the left and right with this stitch, and we want to begin with
the needle positioned on the left. Your machine should do this for you when
you select the zigzag stitch.

Place your seam allowance under your needle with the raw edge facing to
the right. Begin sewing at the end of your seam, backstitching at the
beginning (see here for a reminder on backstitching). When your needle is
on the left, it should stitch into the seam allowance. When your needle is on
the right, it should stitch directly beside the raw edge of your fabric. That
means we’re truly just sewing air on the right side of the fabric. Sew the
entire length of your seam allowance, and backstitch to finish things off.
All of the air stitches will result in your thread wrapping around the raw
edges of the fabric and tucking them in like a loosely swaddled mummy.
[Link]
 Let ‘Er Rip: Seam Ripping
There are only three guarantees in life as a sewist: death, taxes, and seam
ripping. If you’re new to sewing, you are probably living in ignorant bliss
that the thing you’ll soon be doing most is sewing. Unfortunately, you’ll
quickly learn that seam ripping is in fact the most prominent aspect of
sewing, especially when you’re altering clothes.
Seam ripping, as the name suggests, is when you rip out the threads of a
seam to undo the stitching. This can be done for many reasons. If you’re
like me (and most sewists, even if they try to deny it), the most common
reason is because you’ve made a mistake. For our purposes, we’ll be seam
ripping the parts of our clothes that don’t suit us so we can fix them. For
this book and all sewing ventures, seam ripping is a nonnegotiable skill.

My trusty seam ripper.

Choose Your Method
There are countless seam ripping methods, many of which I wish I’d known
about way earlier in my sewing career. You can seam rip the outside or the
inside of a seam. When I refer to seam ripping the outside of the seam, I
mean ripping the threads that you can see. When I refer to seam ripping the
inside of the seam, I mean putting your seam ripper between the two
attached pieces of fabric and “blindly” ripping the threads.

OUTSIDE OF THE SEAM: EVERY FEW STITCHES

I prefer the outside-of-the-seam method for delicate fabric. It’s a bit slower
than other methods, but it allows you a lot more control and a much lower
risk of accidentally ripping your fabric. If you’re using this method to
remove topstitching, like on a hem or a pocket, always turn your garment
inside out and seam rip the thread from the inside of the garment. This is a
precaution in case you accidentally pull or rip one of the woven/knit threads
of your fabric—if it happens on the inside, it can just be our little secret.
On one side of your seam, slip the tip of your rip(per) under a single stitch.
Either pull the ripper up or slide it forward quickly to rip the thread. Repeat
this every four or so stitches along your entire seam.
Flip your fabric over so you can see the thread on the other side of the
seam. The thread on this side will all still be intact. Using your fingers or
the flat edge of your seam ripper, pull up on the center of the thread. As you
pull, this thread will start pulling through all the pieces of ripped thread
from the other side.
 With your seam ripper, rip one stitch for every four or so stitches.

Flip your fabric over to reveal the other side of the stitching is still intact—magic! Pull the center of
this thread and watch as all the ripped threads pull through your fabric and the seam is undone.
Stick the pointed end of your seam ripper between your two pieces of fabric and rip the first few
threads of the seam.

Flip your seam ripper so the tip with the ball is inside the seam and the sharp point is outside the
seam. Push the seam ripper forward and watch it mow through the stitches with ease.
INSIDE OF THE SEAM: BALL INSIDE AND GLIDE
In my experience, the inside-the-seam method is the quickest seam ripping
method. It can work on all fabric types, but I would avoid using it on
delicate or super-stretchy fabrics. Not to scare you, but it’s highly possible
that you’ll accidentally rip the fabric using this method if you’re not careful
(it’s even more highly possible that I’ve done this a thousand times—learn
from my mistakes).
We want the two pieces of fabric that are sewn together at this seam to be
lying flat on top of each other. Starting at the end of the seam, carefully
stick the pointed end of your ripper between the two pieces of fabric, under
the first few stitches, and pull up to rip them open. We need to open the
seam just enough to allow us to slip the ripper in between the two pieces of
fabric and create a sandwich of fabric and seam ripper. The part of the seam
ripper with the little ball on the end should be inside the seam, situated
below the thread, and the sharp point of the seam ripper should be outside
the seam, above the thread. We’re going to slide our seam ripper through
the seam, so if you have the sharp point inside, you run the very real risk of
it becoming a jousting lance that rips open its opponent—the fabric—as you
go.
Slowly guide your seam ripper along the inside of the seam. I like to lightly
pinch this seam-ripper sandwich together as I go as a way of guiding the
seam ripper. You’ll feel invincible as the seam ripper mows through the
threads with ease.
This method can feel dangerously simple, so I implore you not to get too
cocky and start pushing the seam ripper through at breakneck speed. It only
takes one slightly stubborn thread to throw your seam ripper off course. If
you reach any resistance, take a breath and pull out your seam ripper.
Gently pull the two sides of the seam apart to see if that loosens the thread,
and if that doesn’t do the trick, use the sharp end of the seam ripper to rip a
couple of threads. After this, you’re good to reinsert the ball of the seam
ripper and return to your regularly scheduled ripping.

OVERLOCKED STITCHES
If you’re altering any store-bought clothes, there’s an extremely high
likelihood you’ll need to rip open overlocked stitches. Because you’re
working with two to four threads, it can feel like the simplest plan of action
is to attack any thread you can see with the seam ripper and hope the seam
comes apart (unless that’s just an ADHD thing and other people actually
plan things before doing them). Luckily, you have me to tell you which
threads to pull to bring this whole wall of thread tumbling down.
Each side of an overlocked seam will look different because of the way the
different threads loop. On one side the looped threads look like teardrops or
0s, and on the other side they look like Ys. On both sides you’ll see a
straight stitch running along the bottom of these shapes. Sometimes you’ll
also see a second straight stitch running through the middle of the shapes,
though this is less common.

For overlocked seams, rip one stitch at the beginning and end of the bottom line of straight stitching.
On one end of your seam, shuffle your seam ripper down a few stitches. Gently pull up on the thread
until its tail comes loose from the teardrop-shaped threads.

Grab the tail of the loose straight-stitch thread and pull the entire thread loose.
 Revel in the satisfaction of easily pulling away all the now-loose looping threads.

All our seam ripping is going to take place on the side of the seam with the
teardrop/0-shaped loops. We’re going to exclusively seam rip the straight
stitch. It can be difficult to differentiate between the straight stitch and the
bottom of the teardrop loop, like finding a needle in a haystack. The bit
we’re seam ripping is the stitch between two adjacent teardrops. Rip this
stitch at the beginning and end of the seam you’re ripping. Then, focusing
on just one end of your seam, shuffle your seam ripper down a few
teardrops. Instead of ripping this straight stitch, use your seam ripper to
gently pull up on the thread until its tail comes loose.
Now grab this tail with your fingers and pull. You should be able to pull the
entire straight-stitch thread out. If it gets stuck somewhere, seam rip the
straight stitch at the point of tension and just repeat this process in smaller
chunks along your seam. If you have a second line of straight stitching,
replicate the process on this line.
Once your straight stitch is removed, it’s time for what is hands down the
most satisfying aspect of sewing—pulling out the looping thread. The
looping thread has nothing anchoring it to your garment anymore, so give it
one pull and watch this whole line of stitching unravel. It should release a
similar chemical in your brain as when you peel an apple in one singular,
spiraling strip.
You’re now ready to conquer any seam that comes your way. Clothing is
defenseless against you and your desire to alter it!
[Link]
 Let’s Get One Thing Straight
Do you, like me, struggle to draw a straight line even when using a ruler?
Every time I think I’ve finally conquered the pen, I get too cocky and
immediately knock my own hand to the side, and suddenly it’s squiggle
city. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you’re not
alone! The bad news is it’s me you’re not alone with. Just kidding—the bad
news is that sewing requires a lot of straight lines. But have no fear! I’ll get
you ready to create straight lines in your measuring, cutting, ironing, and
stitching.
If you also had to use a ridiculously expensive graphing calculator in high
school, you may remember a thing or two about creating a line. A line is
when you connect any two dots in any plane of existence. You only need
two dot points to make a line, but you need three or more dot points to
confirm your line is heading in the correct direction. Okay, I feel your eyes
glazing over; let’s hurry up and relate math class back to the real world.

Marking a Straight Line

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Anything you’ve got! You’ll need to do this on pretty much anything you
ever sew.

MATERIALS
Ruler
Chalk or washable marker
Step 1: Measure and Mark Multiple Points

Determine what part of your fabric or stitching your straight line needs to
match up with. You might be creating a hem, sewing one row of stitching
parallel to another, or cutting your fabric a specific distance away from
another element.
For this example, imagine we need to create a straight line of stitching
exactly 2 inches (5 cm) away from a raw edge. Line up the butt of your
ruler with the raw edge and draw a mark at 2 inches (5 cm) using chalk or a
marker.
Shimmy your ruler several inches further along, measure again, and mark 2
inches (5 cm). Continue this process until you’ve gone as far your new line
needs to extend.

Step 2: Connect Your Marks with a Ruler

Line up your ruler with at least three marks at a time. If one of those three
marks seems way out of line with the others, it probably is. That’s why we
made so many marks—to indicate when something seems a bit wonky! If a
mark seems out of place, measure and mark again.
Trace along your ruler to connect all the marks. By the end, it should look
like the world’s lamest connect-the-dots drawing. But lame is A-OK
because we now have a perfectly straight line that we can cut, stitch, hem,
or iron along.

Ironing a Straight Edge

An extremely important note on pins: It is crucial that you use pins that
have a flat, steel head or a glass head. Do not, I repeat, do not use pins with
colorful heads made of plastic. You will end up with these colorful plastic
bits melted onto your iron and fabric.

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Anything you’ve got, though it will be way easier to practice this on woven
fabric first.

MATERIALS
Ruler
Chalk or washable marker
Pins—steel or glass head
Iron

Step 1: Measure and Mark Multiple Points with Pins

First up, you need to know the width of the fabric you’re going to fold over
and iron in place (don’t worry, we’ll cover this in future tutorials like
Hemming & Hawing, here). In this example, let’s imagine we need to fold
over 1-inch (2.5-cm) of fabric.
Lay your fabric right side down on an ironing board. If the fabric is slipping
off your ironing board, place a chair or any random boxes behind your
ironing board so the fabric can rest on it. Stop gravity from taking control!
Line up the butt of your ruler with the edge of your fabric. Measure and
mark a dot that’s twice the width of your future fold. In this example, that
means we’re measuring 2 inches (5 cm) in from the fabric’s edge. We
measure twice the width of our final fold because our fabric is currently
unfolded, so once it’s folded the measurement will be cut in half.
Take a sewing pin and stab it through your fabric and ironing board at the 2-
inch (5-cm) mark. Shuffle a few inches down the fabric with your ruler and
place another pin exactly 2 inches (5 cm) in from the fabric’s edge.
Continue with this until you’ve reached the extent of your ironing board.

Step 2: Fold Fabric to Pins

Grab the edge of the fabric directly below one of your pins and fold it up so
the edge kisses the pin. Place a new pin just below this one, this time
pinning through both layers of fabric and the ironing board. Once again,
repeat this pinning process all the way down your fabric. Once you’ve
pinned your fold in place, you don’t need the old pin you were using as a
guide, so feel free to pull those out as you go. You should now have a
stunningly straight fold, ready to be pressed into place.

Step 3: Iron Your Fold in Place

Time to secure this fold! We have two options for protecting our irons from
getting any scratches from the pins.
Option one: Push your pins all the way through your ironing board so the
heads are flush with the board. Then take a piece of scrap fabric (I like to
use an old bedsheet) and lay it on top of your pins and folded fabric. Iron
the fold into place with confidence, knowing you’ve added a layer of
protection between your iron and those scratchy pins.
Option two: Your pins can be pushed all the way through your board or still
standing up straight. Iron only along the fold of the fabric, being careful not
to reach the pins with your iron. Your fold will be held securely enough in
place that you can then remove the pins and give a final official press across
the entirety of the folded fabric.
Option three is to just not care if your iron gets scratched, but that’s the
chaotic gremlin in me speaking, and I’m trying to listen to her less.
Now you have a straight, crispy edge, and you’re ready to take on any fold
or hem!
[Link]
 Hemming & Hawing
So, you’re too short to wear pants off the rack without mopping up
every bit of rainwater you walk past. Or that bandage dress you bought
for homecoming a decade ago isn’t exactly gliding over your luscious
hips anymore, but you know you could chop off the bottom and rock it
as a shirt. No matter who you are, you will need your clothes hemmed
at some point in your life. You could pay the cost of this book to get a
single pair of pants hemmed at the alterations shop in the airport, or
you could just spend a bit of your afternoon hanging out with an iron, a
ruler, and some pins. You will, however, need to get your Toblerone® fix
elsewhere.

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
If you’re new to sewing, choose a garment made with sturdy fabric, like
dress pants or a woven cotton dress. Hemming stretchy knit garments like
T-shirts takes some practice to avoid getting a wavy hemline.

MATERIALS
Garment that needs shortening
Pins
Chalk or washable marker (optional)
Ruler
Scissors
Iron
Thread
Sewing Machine
Heads-up: Your garment will be inside out during this entire process, even
when you’re trying it on.

Step 1: Mark Your New Length and Choose Your Hem Width

We start by making two non-life-altering decisions: Where do you want the

new hem of your garment, and how wide do you want said hem to be?
If you’re hemming pants or long skirts and dresses, make sure to try them
on with the typical shoes you’d wear with them. If you’re hemming a shirt,
put on bottoms that are the rise you typically wear. When deciding on the
length of your shirt hem, you should love the length when it’s untucked, but
also make sure it will still be long enough to stay tucked in if you don’t
want to exist solely in crop tops. Like Sisyphus with his boulder, I have
condemned myself to a life of retucking shirts I hemmed juuust too short,
so please, do as I say, not as I do.
Once you’ve decided where you want your garment to end, mark this spot
with a pin, chalk, or washable marker.
As for the width of the hem, I’d say the sky’s the limit, but your fate is
determined by how much fabric you have to work with. Fabric permitting,
you can do anything from a micro-hem to a 7-inch (18-cm) hem if that’s
your vibe. A micro-hem is typically used for flowy silk and satin garments
or sheer fabric and is more advanced (read: annoying to feed through your
sewing machine). A wide hem is best suited to boxy tops and dresses or
wide-legged pants as it helps create balance. For most projects, especially
when you’re first starting out, a ½- to 1-inch (1.3- to 2.5-cm) hem will work
perfectly—it’s simple to measure, easy to feed through your sewing
machine, and mimics the hem of most of your clothes.

Step 2: Cut Off Excess Fabric

Now let’s cut off any excess fabric. How much fabric can you cut off while
still having enough fabric for the hem? To answer that, we need to do the
simplest bit of math:
Desired width of hem + ¼ inch (6.5 mm)
For example, if you want a 1-inch (2.5-cm) hem, measure 1¼ inches (3.2
cm) below your new hem mark, and cut off any excess fabric below that. If
you want tips on cutting a straight line, head on back to Let’s Get One
Thing Straight (here).

Step 3: Iron Your New Hem

To the ironing board! We’re going to do two bits of ironing to prepare the
hem for sewing, which if you had asked me at age 21 would have been
three too many times to be forced to iron.
With your garment inside out, take the bottom ¼ inch (6.5 mm) of fabric,
fold it up, and iron it flat into place. Now, chances are you can’t fold and
iron the entirety of the hem all at once. Just fold your fabric up, iron the
length of the fabric that fits on your ironing board, then shuffle the fabric
along and repeat. Fold, iron, shuffle, fold, iron, shuffle, and so on until you
get back to where you started.
Now for that second bit of ironing I promised you. With the bottom ¼ inch
(6.5 mm) of fabric still folded up, fold the new bottom of your fabric up. If
you want a 1-inch (2.5-cm) hem, fold up 1 inch (2.5 cm) of fabric. A 2-inch
(5-cm) hem, 2 inches (5 cm) of fabric. You get the idea. Iron this fold into
place.
Because we folded up ¼ inch (6.5 mm) of fabric and then folded our fabric
again, the raw edge of the fabric is now fully enclosed.
Step 4: Pin Your Hem in Place

We are just minutes away from sewing this bad boy! The last bit of prep
work is to pin your hem in place. Even though we’ve ironed everything into
position, we want to reinforce these folds by placing a pin every few inches
along the hem. This will prevent our fabric from shifting out of place while
we sew. Think of it like JELL-O®. The ironing is the gelatin and the pins
are the mold. When you take JELL-O out of a mold, the gelatin holds the
JELL-O’s shape, but without the mold, the shapely JELL-O is free to
wiggle about. And sewing JELL-O is hard.

Step 5: Sew Your Hem

To the sewing machine, Batman!
If you’re sewing a pant hem, the bottom of the pants may be too small to fit
around your sewing machine, but don’t worry, sewing machine
manufacturers have accounted for this! The front few inches of a modern
sewing machine base should be detachable, so you can just slide it right off
and hopefully fit your small textile cylinder. I say hopefully because there
are skinny jeans in this world too skinny for any machine.
Now let’s set our stitch type and length. Select a straight stitch and choose a
medium–long stitch length. I personally always select a 3 to 3.5 stitch
length for hems. This stitch is going to be fully visible on the outside of
your garment, and honestly a longer stitch length just looks way nicer and
neater. We also don’t need a super-short, tight stitch because this isn’t a
seam that’s going to receive a lot of strain (like every chest seam on my
shirts); we’re just holding some folded fabric in place.
Now. Finally. Let’s sew! We’re going to edgestitch this hem into place,
meaning we’re going to stitch as close as we can to the top of the hem. If
I’m hemming pants or shorts,
I like to begin sewing several stitch lengths in front of the inseam (the seam
between your legs). This is because we need to backstitch (here) at the
beginning and end of our hem. Sometimes this makes the thread more
noticeable, so I try to keep it as hidden as possible. Keep sewing all the way
around your hem until you’re right back where you started. Backstitch
again at the end to pop and lock that thread into place.
As you’re sewing, go as slooowly as you need. Because this is such a
visible stitch, we really want to ensure the stitching is as straight and neat as
possible. Sewing fast may feel great in the moment, but talk to me after you
realize the stitching is super wonky and you have to seam rip it all out and
do it all over again. As someone who’s done this a thousand times, I can
confirm the need for speed is never worth it.

Step 6: Iron Once More with Feeling

With the stitching done, there’s just one step left that’s so small it’s only one
sentence: Iron the hem one last time to make it extra crisp.
Now give yourself a pat on the back and go enjoy your perfectly hemmed
garment!
[Link]
 Get This Party Darted
Have you ever had gaping clothes? Maybe the waist of your pants
always sits an inch away from your body. Or your tank tops always
leave a weird peekaboo to your bra. If gaping is the problem, darts are
the solution. Darts take a piece of flat, 2-D fabric and transform it into
a 3-D garment designed to perfectly shape to your curves. If you’re
unfamiliar with darts as a sewing term and have instead believed this
whole time I was talking about darts you throw at a board in a bar,
things can only make more sense from here.
Darts are pivotal to making your clothing fit better, so there’s no one
place for this tutorial to live. As well as being everywhere, darts are
deceptively difficult to master. Sewing a straight line is about as basic
as you can get, but even though a dart is essentially just a straight line,
there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the basics of creating a dart on a
flat surface. I encourage you to follow along and practice this a few
times on a piece of scrap fabric before adding darts to your clothes.
That said, if your brain is wired like mine and demands more
dopamine at every second, I won’t hold it against you if you skip the
practice and dive headfirst into the real thing.
In that case, you may want to flip to The Real World: Dart Edition
(here).
LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Use a stiff woven fabric to practice. It should be around 4 x 8 inches (10 x
20 cm) minimum.
MATERIALS
Scrap fabric
Iron
Ruler
Chalk or washable marker
Pins
Thread
Sewing machine
Heads-up: The measurements we’re using for this dart are just to make
practicing easy. Your darts will vary in width and length depending on your
garments and body.

Step 1: Measure and Mark Your Dart

Take a flat piece of fabric and fold it in half with the right sides touching.
Grab your iron and press the fold flat. When you’re using this method on a
garment, you’ll press the fold only where your dart will go, but it will make
the whole practice process easier to have everything pressed flat.
Line up the butt of your ruler with the folded edge and the measuring side
of your ruler with the raw edge at the top of your fabric. Measure ¾ inch
(1.9 cm) in from the fold and mark it with chalk or a marker. Now line up
the measuring side of your ruler with the fold, measure 5 inches (13 cm)
down from the top raw edge, and make another mark. Using chalk or a
marker, draw a straight line to connect your two marks.
You have two options for pinning your dart to make it sewing machine–
ready. You can place pins perpendicular to your folded edge, ensuring the
final pin lines up exactly with the tip of your dart, also called the dart point.
Alternatively, you can trace the line we just drew, also called the dart leg,
by placing your pins along the line. The points of your pins should be
facing the fabric’s top raw edge. With this method, you should still place a
final pin perpendicular to the fold at the dart point. This is the method I’ve
used in this example.

Step 2: Sew Your Dart

Let’s sew this dart (if you prefer playing darts, you’re welcome to grab a
beer and stand on a sticky floor while you sew to give yourself a similar
experience). Set your sewing machine to a short–medium length straight
stitch. Place your fabric on your machine so that the fold is on the right side
of your presser foot and the top raw edge is at, well, the top.
When sewing a dart, you always start stitching from the top of the fabric,
never from the dart point. I learned this after starting many a dart from the
dart point and ending up with a knotted, puckered mess. Backstitch at the
top of the dart and then continue sewing along the line you’ve drawn or
pinned. Regardless of the way in which you’ve pinned your dart, make sure
you remove the pins as you go before you sew over them.
As your stitching nears the dart point (about 1 inch [2.5 cm] away),
approach the line the same way my hometown approaches speed limits:
merely as a guide, not as a rule. Instead of sewing the end of the line
perfectly straight, we’re going to stitch it at a slight curve. This is going to
make the dart better suited for fitting our bodies, since we have curves
instead of sharp angles. Very gently pull your fabric toward the left as you
continue sewing straight. Your stitching will curve slightly as your needle
creeps closer and closer to the fold of your fabric.
When you reach the edge of your fold, continue sewing a few more stitches
until your needle is no longer sewing through your fabric but is instead
stitching the air to the right of your fold. Your needle should be just grazing
the fabric with the final stitches, catching mere fibers until there’s nothing
left to catch, and it looks as if your stitches have melted off the folded edge.
Do not cut your thread yet.

Step 3: Tie Off Your Dart

Now place your needle in the up position, lift your presser foot, and pull
your fabric away from the machine until you’ve pulled out a bobbin-thread
and top-thread tail of about 4 inches (10 cm) each. Snip your thread at the
machine, keeping your garment’s tail long.
Tie the top and bobbin thread into a simple, tight double knot at the dart
point. Snip your remaining thread tails to about ½ inch (1.3 cm) long. The
tail just needs to be long enough that your knot isn’t at risk of unraveling
(like me when I’m trying to remember where I put my phone when I’m
already three minutes late leaving for my train).

Step 4: Press Your Dart

Finally, we need to iron our dart. Unfold your fabric, lay your dart on one
side of the seam, and iron it flat along the seam, stopping an inch (2.5 cm)
above the dart point.
Because our fabric is now 3-D, the dart point will be curved, meaning we
can’t just iron it flat the way we would a standard seam. When pressing a
dart, you’re supposed to use a tailor’s ham to press the curve. A tailor’s ham
is a small rectangular pillow with completely curved edges and corners. The
ham functions as a curved ironing board to help create the perfect shape in
your dart.
I do not own a tailor’s ham. It’s one of those things that looks super easy to
make, so I’ve never bought one, but then I have also never gotten around to
making one. Instead, to press the tip of my dart, I bring it to the very edge
of my ironing board where the board curves slightly and press along that
edge.
You can also ball up a plain T-shirt and place it under your dart as a
makeshift tailor’s ham. Just make sure there are no screen-printed graphics
on the T-shirt—you don’t want to melt the graphics onto your dart and ruin
two garments at once. Or maybe you do; who am I to deny you your
destructive tendencies?
When your dart is properly sewn and pressed, it will just blend into the rest
of the fabric with the dart point practically indiscernible from the fabric
below it. The dart will just blend into the rest of your fabric. If your dart
doesn’t look like this, please don’t fret! Sewing darts sounds like it should
be so simple, but the reality is that it takes a lot of practice to get a perfect
dart point.

Troubleshooting
If your dart point ends in a little divot or dimple once it’s pressed, there are
a couple ways you can try to remedy this. The first is to continue pressing it
—once more with feeling! You may need to gently pull apart the fabric on
both sides of the dart to make sure it is as smooth as possible while you
continue pressing on a curved surface.
If the dimple still doesn’t disappear, you may need to resew the dart. You
may have sewn at too sharp of an angle when approaching the folded edge.
In this case you’ll need to ensure you’re gradually creating a more curved
line as you approach the fold. Alternatively, you may not have sewn all the
way to the very edge of the fold, in which case you’ll need to ensure you’re
sewing past the fold of your garment, stitching nothing but air at the end.
I have complete faith that with practice, you’ll master this! And if you don’t
quite master it and your dart still has a dimple, guess what? You can still
wear it because dimples are adorable.

A dart dimple.
 A dart sewn at too sharp an angle.

A dart where the stitching doesn’t extend far enough to the edge.

[Link]
 The Real World: Dart Edition
Now let’s find out what happens when we stop practicing darts on
scrap fabric and start getting real. Time to gather your garments that
need darts!
Darts can be added virtually anywhere you need to fit a garment
around your curves. The key places you’ll use them on a dress or shirt
will be at the bust and waist, and the key places you’ll use them on a
skirt, shorts, or pants will be around the waist.

LEVEL
Confident Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
A top where the armhole is gaping or bottoms with a loose waistband.

MATERIALS
Gaping garment
Pins
Ruler
Chalk or washable marker
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Step 1: Try On Your Garment and Pin Your Darts
Try on your gaping clothes inside out. You should be able to easily see
where your clothes are sticking out from your body. If you’re adding darts
to armhole openings, you’ll pinch the fabric so that the top of the dart lines
up with your armpit fat. See, armpit fat isn’t entirely useless—it officially
has one single purpose. If you’re adding darts to the waistband on pants,
your darts should line up roughly with the center of each back pocket (or
where pockets would be if you’re forced to play make believe).
Along the top of this opening, use your fingers to pinch the gaping fabric
and pin it together. Your pin should be flat against your body, creating the
first part of your dart leg.
Continuing along the same line, keep pinching and pinning your fabric
together until you reach the point where your garment naturally sits flush on
your body. Make sure the head of your final pin is exactly where the dart
naturally ends. Repeat this process on the opposite side of your garment.

Step 2: Fix Up and Sew Your Darts

Pinning a garment on your own body is always going to be a bit tricky and
end up a little bit wonky. So, let’s fix up these darts.
Ever so gently take off your garment. It’s crucial you don’t dislodge these
pins and preferable that you don’t prick yourself with them. But in my
experience, you haven’t finished a garment until you’ve yelled an expletive
at a pin that’s just stabbed you.
Lay down your inside-out garment. Make sure that where the very top of
your dart is pinned along the leg, the edges of the fabric on each side of the
dart are perfectly lined up. If one side is sitting lower than the other, your
finished dart will jut out a bit on one side of the dart’s seam instead of
creating an unbroken line.
Line up a ruler or straightedge with the top and bottom of your pinned dart
leg. Some of your pins are probably skewed along this line, but that’s A-
OK. Trace along the ruler with chalk or a marker to make your official dart
leg and adjust your pins accordingly. Repeat this on any other darts. I
recommend placing your pins vertically along the dart legs. This way you
can gently try this garment back on and make sure the darts are still lying
correctly post-adjustment.
Once you’re happy with your dart adjustments, sew these bad boys in place
following the instructions in the previous tutorial, Get This Party Darted
(here).

Step 3: Press Your Dart

When it’s time to press your darts, review the dart ironing instructions in
the previous tutorial on here. I always press waistband darts in toward the
center and armhole darts upward.
Simple, right? For the most part, but any preexisting garment that you add
darts to will come with its own unique challenges.

How a dart from a pattern looks before it’s sewn.

The Challenges
When you’re sewing a dart from scratch on a pattern, the top of the dart is
shaped a bit differently than when you add it to a finished garment. On a
pattern, the distance between the tops of the two dart legs isn’t a straight
line. Instead, the fabric curves upward from each dart leg and these curved
lines meet in a point above the center of the dart.
The fabric curves in this way so that once the dart is folded to one side, the
top edge curves along the same line as the rest of your fabric.
Obviously, it isn’t possible to replicate this when you’re adding a dart along
an existing garment line. I promise we’ll all be OK though. This perfect
alignment of your dart with the edge of your fabric is most important when
this edge is going to be hemmed or attached to another piece of fabric. But
seeing as we’re not doing either of these things, this is a moot point!

A waistband dart that extends down behind an external pocket, ending before it reaches the bottom of
the pocket.

ADDING DARTS TO A WAISTBAND

The biggest problem you’ll run into when adding darts to a waistband on
pants, shorts, or skirts is the back pockets. I know, who knew pockets could
ever be the problem?
Unfortunately, if your garment has welted back pockets (the kind you
usually find on the back of dress pants where the opening is marked by a
narrow rectangle that sits flush with the rest of the garment), it can be
difficult to add darts along your waistband. Your dart has to end before it
hits the welt, but that dart will probably be too shallow to lay properly if
you do this. The only real work-around to this is to fold the welted pocket
opening into your dart and turn this into a—shudder—fake pocket. If you
must succumb to this fate, I recommend heading to The Outsider: External
Pockets (here) to replace what you’ve just lost.
If your garment just has external pockets on the back, that’s fine! You just
need to be careful to pull the pocket away from your dart as you pin and
sew it. You’re fine to extend your dart behind your pocket—just make sure
the dart ends before the bottom of the pocket. This shouldn’t be a problem,
as I’ve never seen a dart extend further than the bottom of a back pocket.
[Link]
Under an Hour
When I started writing this book, I was focused on big, transformative
projects. I’ve been sewing since I was a kid and have been sharing tutorials
online for years. All the while, I’ve been one of those overachieving
perfectionists. I always assume people want something bigger and better
from me and forget that a lot of you out there just need someone to gently
guide you through the basics. Sometimes you want to turn a sleeping bag
into a puffer jacket. Sometimes you just need your favorite T-shirt to be one
size smaller.
Our bodies and styles are always changing, which means the way our
wardrobe fits us is too. We all have a pair of shorts we’ve owned since high
school that has gotten just a bit too tight. Or a dress that fit perfectly when
we bought it, but between washing, wearing, and stretching, it’s now
running big. Or a T-shirt that we’ve been rocking as a sleep shirt but have
recently decided it’s time to rock in the outside world.
These just-a-bit-off garments are the perfect quick and easy introductory
projects for honing your new sewing skills. I’m notorious for saying, “Oh,
this will only take 30 minutes,” right before spending 3 days on a project.
However, I’m confident that you can achieve these simple clothing-fit
upgrades in under an hour, even as a brand new sewist.
[Link]
Let It All Out
Sometimes letting go can be tough. But letting your clothes out—that’s
easy. All you need is a seam ripper, a straight stitch, and a garment
with a bit of seam allowance.
I quickly discovered as a 14-year-old that clothes in the teen section
were not designed for someone with DD cups. Every time I found
something that was perfect everywhere except the chest, I distinctly
remember my mom saying, “Let me see how much seam allowance
there is.” If there was enough, we could buy the top, and my mom
would let out the seams. Now the sacred seam ripper has passed to my
hands, and I’m the one stalking the aisles of thrift stores whispering to
myself, “Let’s see how much seam allowance there is.”

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Any garment with at least one vertical seam. The seam needs to have
allowance between the straight stitch and zigzag or overlocking stitch—
seams finished exclusively with overlocking can’t be made bigger, I’m
afraid!

MATERIALS
Too-tight garment with seam allowance
Seam ripper
Ruler or measuring tape
Thread
Sewing machine

Step 1: Check the Seam Allowance

First let’s see how much seam allowance we’re working with. The seam
allowance is the distance between the straight stitch that attaches two pieces
of fabric and the edge of the fabric. Nearly every garment has seams, but
the seam allowance can differ drastically. The bigger the seam allowance,
the more you can increase the size of your garment.
As you’ll remember from Finishing Seams on here (or as you’re about to
remember when you scurry back and read it before I notice you didn’t),
seam allowance edges are finished with a zigzag or overlocking stitch. For
this project, we’re going to keep the overlocking stitches intact, so we’re
really checking how much space there is between the straight seam stitches
and the bottom edge of the overlocking threads. This distance needs to be
about ¼ inch (6.5 mm) minimum for this tutorial to be effective in
increasing your garment’s size.
For most garments, you’ll probably let out the side seams, but you don’t
need to restrict yourself to side seams alone! Garments that are more
structured will typically have additional seams like front, back, or princess
seams, which shape a garment along your chest and waist. The more seams
your garment has, the more you can increase the size. The most important
thing to remember when selecting a seam to let out is to also rip the
identical seam on the other half of your garment.
Generally speaking, the more expensive the garment, the more seam
allowance you have. Those among us that don’t need to check price tags on
clothes (unrelatable, as I scrutinize a nine-dollar thrift store tag) are more
likely to be able to afford getting their clothes tailored. The designer thus
gives you extra fabric on the seam so you can get it altered to fit you
perfectly.
Conversely, cheaper garments often have smaller seam allowances. Smaller
seam allowances mean less fabric used for the garment, which means lower
costs to produce.
In many T-shirts or other stretchy knit garments, there is virtually no seam
allowance. Instead, the seam is sewn solely with an overlocker, no straight
stitch in sight. Alas, there’s no expanding these garments without adding
more fabric (or putting your arms inside and trying to push through the shirt
to stretch it as much as possible).

Oh hey!
If you do in fact need to add fabric to the sides of your shirt, I recommend
reading Grow a Pair of Pants (here). The tutorial focuses on pants, but I
have faith that big brain of yours will be able to adapt the same principles
to increasing garments of any kind!

Step 2: Seam Rip Part of the Hem

This step is the only somewhat annoying part of this project. To access and
open your entire seam, you will need to partially open any hems that are
folded over these seams. But don’t worry, we’re only opening a small
incision before we sew it back up. And after this you can contact your local
hospital and see if they have any surgeon positions open—you’re now
qualified.
Seam rip your hem about 1 inch (2.5 cm) on each side of the seam you’re
letting out. You just need to open the hem enough that you can access the
seam with your seam ripper in Step 3 and sewing machine in Step 4.

Step 3: Seam Rip the Existing Seam

Now let’s get ripping! Grab your seam ripper and remove the straight stitch
on each seam you’re letting out. Make sure to leave the
zigzagged/overlocked finishing stitch fully intact—we still need its support!
If your garment has sleeves and you’d like to let those out as well, just
continue seam ripping from the torso up through the sleeve. The torso side
seam and the sleeve’s underarm seam are typically sewn as one long seam.
This means you shouldn’t encounter any roadblocks in your seam ripping
journey when moving from the torso to the sleeve.
Once you’ve seam ripped both side seams (or another set of matching
seams), you’ll have likely gained between ¾ to 1 inch (1.9 to 2.5 cm) of
extra breathing room around your garment.

Step 4: Sew the Seam Allowance Narrower

Now we just need to build back up the seam we just tore down. That sounds
like we’re gaslighting this seam, but really we’re just going to replace the
straight stitch we ripped with another one closer to the finished edge. We’re
going to sew about ⅛ inch (3 mm) away from the overlocking stitch. You
are more than welcome to measure and mark this, but I wouldn’t waste your
time. All you need to do is place your needle a hair to the side of the
overlocking stitch and maintain that same distance the whole time you
resew the seam. I have total faith that even as a new sewist, you will be able
to eyeball this. Using a short–medium straight stitch, sew from one end of
the ripped seam to the other, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and
end.

Step 5: Resew the Hem and Iron

To finish off this short project, we just need to put the hem right back where
we found it. Follow the creases that are already in your unrolled hem and
fold it back up. Make sure your seam allowance is all laying on one side of
the seam as you fold.
Now with the raw edges tucked back in and ready for bed, use a medium–
long straight stitch to sew the hem back together where you seam ripped it.
When you’re backstitching at the beginning and end, make sure you
backstitch over the last three stitches of the thread still holding the rest of
your hem together. This will help prevent any more of the hem from coming
undone like a toddler who’s skipped nap time.
Finally, it’s time to give everything a good ol’ fashioned press. Iron your
new seam and hem flat. The fold of the original seam can be a bit stubborn
to press flat, like that one bit of hair you accidentally crimped that now just
refuses to straighten. I like to lightly tug the fabric on each side of the seam
outward as I iron it to encourage the new seam to lay flat.
Now you can put your garment back on and exhale at last because you no
longer have to suck anything in to fit in it. Go forth and be comfortable.
[Link]
 Take It All In
Sometimes the garment you love is only available one size larger than
you need. Maybe oversized clothes were all the rage, but you’ve
decided you prefer a more tailored wardrobe. Or maybe you’re going
to a Spice Girls–themed party and you don’t have a single top tiny
enough to be any of them (a real situation I recently found myself in).
Luckily, reducing the size of a garment is simple. If you can follow a
line, you can take in a garment.

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Any garment! It’s best if the garment has at least one vertical seam that you
can follow with your stitching. If you’re feeling a bit rebellious, there’s no
reason you can’t follow these same steps with a seamless garment! Avoid
ribbed fabric—the ribs can often lie really weirdly if you sew two pieces
together at a curve or angle.

MATERIALS
Too-big garment
Similar garment you like the fit of
Chalk or washable marker
Ruler
Pins
Scissors
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Step 1: Pin the Garment Smaller
The simplest way to determine how much smaller this garment needs to be
is to grab a similar garment with a fit you already love. This just-right
garment is going to serve as our pattern. Turn your too-big garment inside
out and keep your just-right garment right side out. Make sure any flies,
zippers, buttons, etc. are closed on both. Lay your just-right garment on top
of your too-big garment.
Match up and pin together parts of each garment to serve as anchor points.
If you’re trying to shrink a shirt or dress, line up the shoulder seams,
matching up the top edge of the right-side-out top with the seam of the
inside-out top. If you’re trying to shrink shorts, pants, or a skirt, match up
the top edges of the waistbands. For all garments, ensure the just-right
garment is horizontally smack in the center of the too-big garment.
Now grab your chalk or washable marker and draw on your too-big
garment, tracing the outer edge of your just-right garment. If your just-right
garment is shorter than your too-big garment, that’s fine! Line up a ruler
with the last several inches of the lines you’ve drawn, and just continue
drawing the line in that same direction until you reach the end of your
garment.
Once you’ve finished tracing, you can throw that just-right garment to the
side—there’s about to be a new just-right garment in town. Pin both sides of
your fabric together along the lines you’ve drawn on your too-big garment.
If you’d like to try on this garment and be absolutely sure it fits the way you
like before you sew, place your pins vertically along the lines you’ve
drawn. Then ever so gently try on the garment and check out your new fit in
the mirror.

Step 2: Seam Rip Parts of Your Hem

k
Chances are high that the end of the seam you’re about to alter is enclosed
in a hem. If you want your altered seam to also be enclosed in a hem, you
need to seam rip open parts of the current hem. It’s like cleaning your room
—it has to get even messier before it gets clean.
Seam rip your hem, beginning 1 inch (2.5 cm) to the left of your traced
seam and ending 1 inch (2.5 cm) to the right. You just need to open the hem
enough that you can sew along your new side seam. Repeat this on any
hems that will be impacted (for instance, the sleeves and bottom of a shirt
or dress).
In defense of lazy sewing: Sometimes I think the final product looks better
without this step. I absolutely recommend following this step if you will be
taking in each seam by a considerable amount—around 1½ inches (3.8 cm)
or more. That amount of seam allowance will create visible bulk in your
clothing, so you will definitely want to trim, finish, and hide that seam in a
hem in the next step.
If, however, you are taking this garment in by less than 1½ inches (3.8 cm),
you can take it or leave it with this step. If you’re working with a small
seam allowance and a knit or delicate fabric, ripping and redoing the hem
could leave you with a visible hole or two, so you’re better off leaving the
hem intact and proceeding to Step 3.
 A seam that has been trimmed, refinished, and enclosed inside a hem.

A seam that has been sewn smaller without taking out the original hem or trimming and refinishing
the seam.

Oh hey!
What if your too-big garment is only too big in some places but perfect in
others? No worries! Begin sewing ½ inch (1.3 cm) above where you will
start taking your seam in. We want to stitch exactly along the existing seam,
backstitching at the beginning. Sew a few stitches down your existing seam,
then gently start to pull your fabric to one side, allowing the needle to
slowly drift away from the original seam line and start angling toward the
new seam line. Think of this like carefully pulling a blanket away from a
sleeping partner or pet rather than yanking a tablecloth away to leave all
the dishes magically in place.
Step 3: Sew and Finish Your New Seam
It’s time to sew! Select a short-medium straight stitch on your machine and
stitch the two sides of your fabric together along the new seam line that
you’ve drawn. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.
If your new seam is more than ¼ to ½ inch (6.5 mm to 1.3 cm) from your
old seam, you’ll want to trim the seam allowance and refinish the edges.
And even if your new seam isn’t far from the old, you’re still free to do
this! Trim your new seam allowances between ⅜ to ⅝ inch (1 to 1.6 cm)
wide, then finish the edges with a zigzag or overlocking stitch (see
Finishing Seams, here).

Step 4: Finish Your Hems and Iron Your Seams

If you needed to rip any hems open to create your new seams, now is the
time to close them back up. Fold them back up following the existing folds,
then iron, pin, and sew them in place using a medium–long stitch length and
backstitching at the beginning and end. Begin and end your restitching
about ¼ inch (6.5 mm) along the original hem’s topstitching to ensure
you’ve secured the ends of the stitches we loosened by seam ripping.
Now give your seams and hems a good press with your iron, and you’re
done! In under an hour, you’ve transformed a baggy garment into one that
fits you like a dream!

[Link]
 Let’s Crop About It: Cropping T-Shirts
Will the crop top ever go out of style? I hope not. And I hope that I still
hope this decades from now. They pair great with high-waisted jeans,
they’re ideal for an ‘80s aerobics Halloween costume, and they’re the
best way to disguise stains on the bottom of your T-shirt.
Cropping a T-shirt or sweatshirt seems so simple: cut a straight line
across the bottom and voilà! Right? Wrong. Most people who have
cropped a shirt know how similar it is to the first time you cut your
own bangs: “Hm, still too long, I’ll just cut a bit more. Nah, still too
long, I’ll do a bigger cut this time.” And suddenly your bangs are at the
top of your forehead and your crop top is nothing but a collar and
sleeves. I can’t help you with your bangs, but I can save you and your
shirts from the overcrop.

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Any top you’d prefer to show off more midriff in. Knits are best if you
don’t want to hem your cropped shirt. See? I’m not totally against working
with knits as a beginner! (Only because we’re not sewing this.)

MATERIALS
Shirt, sweatshirt, or dress
Belt
Chalk or washable marker
Ruler or measuring tape
Pins
Scissors
Step 1: Belt and Trace around Your Garment
Turn the garment you’re cropping inside out and put it on. Pair it with
something on your bottom half that is the typical rise of the bottoms you’ll
wear with this top. If your typical rise is not high-waisted, I will be
supportive but confused—like a mom dropping their teenager off at a
screamo concert.
As if we’re back in the early 2000s, we’re going to put a belt on over our
top. Line up the top of your belt with where you’d like your top cropped.
Now grab your chalk or marker and trace along the top of your belt,
drawing on your garment. You’ll see in Step 2 that technically you only
need to do this on one-half of your body—from belly button to center back
—but I always just go all the way around.
WARNING: If you’re a bit chaotic like me and sometimes use
nonwashable markers or pens to draw on your fabric, this is not the time.
We’re going to cut below this line, so even though it’s on the inside of the
garment, make sure you’re using something that can easily wipe off or wash
out.

Step 2: Cut the Traced Line

Remove the belt because, unlike in the late 2000s, we’re not going to wear
this out in public with a fedora and call it fashion. Also take off the garment
while you’re at it and lay it down on a flat surface. If you have boobs of any
kind, it’s likely the line you drew on the front of your garment is not
straight like you expected, but creates a downward curve in the center. This
is exactly what we want. Your shirt needs to be longer in the front than the
back to create the appearance of a straight hem. It takes more fabric to go
out and over your chest than it does to fall straight down your back, so
keeping your shirt longer in the front creates the illusion of a straight line.
Now to crop this bad boy. To create symmetrical cuts, we’re going to fold
the shirt in half, but probably not in the way you’re thinking.
Pinch the center front of your shirt’s collar and hem, one in each hand, and
pick up your shirt so everything falls below where you’re pinching. Now
lay your shirt flat. The fabric that covers the right half of your torso (front
and back) should be laying on top of the fabric that covers the left half of
your torso. The right and left side seams will be in the center of all of this,
laying on top of each other. If your shirt doesn’t have side seams, match up
the armpits. Pin the shirt together a few times along the side seams or
armpits to keep your fold in place.
As I mentioned, the line you traced will likely be curved at the center front
of the shirt, but it will straighten out toward the side and back. By the time
the line reaches the side seam, it will likely be parallel to the bottom hem if
not slightly angled up.
Now let’s cut 1 inch (2.5 cm) below the line that you traced. I guess you
could say this tutorial is a bit … ahem … below the belt (ba dum tss).

A view from the back—the line along the back is straight while the front is curved.

Even if you think you drew the crop exactly where you want it, heed my
warning and give yourself an extra inch. If you’re hemming this top, you’ll
need the extra inch for hemming allowance. If you’re not hemming it, you
need to account for when you throw this top in the wash and the bottom
inevitably rolls up.
You can, of course, use a ruler and measure exactly 1 inch (2.5 cm) below
the line you drew (see Let’s Get One Thing Straight, here), but I always
eyeball it. Who really wants a perfect cropped shirt, anyway? You can
choose your own level of comfort/danger. Following this real or imagined
lower line with your scissors, cut through both layers of your garment until
you’ve completely chopped off the bottom.

Step 3: Admire Your Handiwork or Make Adjustments

If you’d like a finished hem, go ahead and do that now (see Hemming &
Hawing, here). If you’re going for the classic crop top and leaving the hem
raw, turn your newly cropped top right side out and try it on! If it’s blatantly
too long for your liking, repeat Steps 1 through 3 to crop it further. If the
top is just a little bit too long, I strongly encourage you to wash and dry it
once to let it reveal its true final length to you before you hack away at it
further.
Now match your new crop top with a leotard and leg warmers, and you’re
ready to throw on some Jane Fonda workouts.

[Link]
Let’s Get Waisted
I highly doubt I’m alone in having a complicated relationship with my
waist. Growing up, the words “Show off that tiny waist!” rang through
every episode of What Not to Wear, every movie makeover montage of the
frumpy girl, and every bra-fitting appointment I endured as an
uncomfortable 17-year-old. With so much focus on showing off the smallest
part of my body, it’s no wonder I became obsessed with always wearing
belts around my waist. While I’ve tried to repress the memory, I am
confident that on multiple occasions I paired a skinny belt with a T-shirt and
athletic shorts.
Luckily, the world has shifted away from all tiny waists all the time. And
while you don’t need to put all your focus on looking your smallest at all
times, there are definitely garments a lot of us would prefer to fit our waists
better.
I personally never had to struggle with pants being too loose around my
waist—honestly, the opposite has always been true. But I have worn many a
tent dress in my day. If, like me, some part of your body has prevented you
from buying clothes that fit your waist the way they’re designed to, this
chapter is your opportunity to take the power of fit into your own hands.
In this chapter, I’ll teach you how to add waist definition to your clothes
without needing to always have a belt within arm’s reach. We’ll take
advantage of elastic and ties for everything, meaning you’ll have the option
to make things as tight or loose as you please. So, grab your elastic and let’s
get waisted.

[Link]
Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands
If you always find yourself in the center of the dance circle during the
opening verse of “Baby Got Back,” chances are pants fit either your
waist or your hips, but never both. I have a wider-than-average waist
(thanks for pointing it out, every size chart ever), so I can’t say I relate
to this problem. But even when I can’t relate, I can commiserate, and
probably more importantly, I can teach you how to fix the problem.
We’re going to add elastic to the back of your waistband to cinch in
your clothes while still keeping them stretchy and comfortable.

LEVEL
Confident Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Shorts, pants, or a skirt with a stiff waistband (preferably with belt loops)
that does not have a center seam at the back. You’ll also need elastic
roughly ¼ inch (6.5 mm) narrower than your waistband.

MATERIALS
Shorts, pants, or skirt with a loose waistband
Chalk or washable marker
Scissors
Seam ripper
Elastic
Ruler or measuring tape
Matches, lighter, or candle
Safety pin
Pins
Thread
Sewing machine

Step 1: Cut Open Your Inner Waistband

Identify the belt loops on either side of that darned center-back belt loop
you always miss when putting on your belt. On the inside of your
waistband, use chalk or a marker to mark a vertical line where these two
belt loops are. These will become the entry and exit points for our elastic, so
make sure the lines are the height of the elastic, if not a hair taller.
Now to play surgeon and make two precision cuts on the inside of your
waistband only. Pinch the inside of your waistband and pull it away from
the outside of your waistband so we don’t accidentally cut it. Snip the inner
waistband right at the top of the line you drew, insert your scissors into this
entry point, and cut along the entire line. Once you’ve sliced open both
lines, you will have created a channel to guide your elastic through.

Step 2: Seam Rip Your Back Belt Loops

Directing your attention to the outside of the waistband, seam rip just the
bottoms of the belt loops that are directly to the left and right of center. Your
belt loops should now be dangling, only attached on the top. We’re going to
reattach these at the end of the project, so don’t make more work for
yourself by ripping off the top as well.
You may have belt loops that have been attached in two points at the
bottom, which is fantastic—for everything except when you’re trying to
detach the bottom of your belt loops. A super-secure belt loop will be
inserted and sewn underneath the exterior waistband and then stitched again
at a point ⅜ inch (1 cm) or so below the waistband. If this is the case for
you, seam rip the place it’s stitched below the waistband. Then use scissors
to cut the belt loop as close as physically possible to where it’s connected to
the waistband. When we reattach this later, we won’t be stitching it back
under the waistband, but that’s OK. Look at other pairs of pants you own,
and I guarantee you will see loads of belt loops with raw edges.

Step 3: Thread Your Elastic through Your Waistband

Grab your elastic. It can be an entire roll for now; we’ll only cut the elastic
once we’ve attached one side to our pants. For now, we’ll measure and
mark the elastic for the maximum amount you’ll need. Measure the distance
between your two waistband cuts. At most, your elastic will be 75 percent
of this distance, but it will probably be even less. Using this formula,
multiply the amount in the parentheses first, then add ½ inch (1.3 cm) to
account for the “seam allowance” on both ends (there’s not actually a seam,
it just needs to extend slightly beyond your open cuts).
(Distance between two cuts x 0.75) + ½ inch (1.3 cm)
Starting at the end of your elastic, measure the result of this formula and
mark it on your elastic. Now you’ll have a solid jumping-off point when
you decide your official elastic length later.
For all you pyromaniacs out there, I have incredible news. It’s time to grab
a match, lighter, or candle. We’re melting elastic. Elastic is made of plastic
threads that very easily come unraveled (relatable). To prevent the
unraveling
(I take medication for mine), slowly guide the end of your elastic back and
forth once in front of an open flame. This will melt the ends of the elastic
shut—just make sure you don’t hold it too close to the flame, because it can
catch fire. And if that happens, you’re banned from singing “We Didn’t
Start the Fire” for a whole month. Those are just the rules.
Attach a safety pin to the end of your elastic. This pin is going to serve as
the elastic’s headlamp as we take it on a caving expedition through the
waistband channel. Put the elastic in one of the open cuts and thread it
through your waistband channel until you can pull it out of the open cut on
the other side. Once it’s all the way through, you can take off the safety pin
and, if you’re like me, put it down and promptly lose it forever.
If you pull out bits of thin fabric from your waistband with your elastic and
safety pin, don’t panic. This is interfacing that was attached to your
waistband to make it sturdier. But have no fear—your waistband is going to
be even sturdier now that there’s elastic in there. It’s that whole “one door
closes and another opens” thing.

Step 4: Sew One End of the Elastic in Place

Until further notice, when I refer to the end of the elastic and the open cut, I
am talking exclusively about the side we just pulled the safety-pinned end of
the elastic to. Just leave the other end of the elastic be—its time will come.
The end of your elastic should be ¼ inch (6.5 mm) beyond the open cut, but
still inside the waistband. Pin the elastic in place along the open cut and sew
it in place. When sewing this at your machine, make sure to pull the
detached belt loop out and away from where you’re stitching. Using a
straight stitch and a short stitch length, sew from the top to the bottom of
the elastic along the center of the open cut. Your stitch should be going
through the elastic and the outside of the waistband.
Now to close the opening you cut. Lay the edges of your cut flat so that
they’re kissing. Then yell, “Get a room!” On your sewing machine, select
the zigzag stitch and a maximum stitch length of 1. If your zigzag stitches
come in multiple widths, choose the wider option. We’re going to use this
stitch to close the open side of the cut and completely cover the raw edges
we’ve created. Once again, we’re stitching through both layers of the
waistband, making sure the detached belt loop is safely removed from the
line of fire (stitching). Starting from one end of the cut, sew along the entire
opening, starting and stopping around ⅛ inch (3 mm) beyond the ends and
backstitching at the beginning and end. As you sew, the zig should be on
one side of the cut and the zag on the other. Or in layman’s terms, the
needle should alternate sewing on the left and right sides of the opening.

Step 5: Attach the Other Side of the Elastic

It is officially further notice. I’m now referring to the other end of the
elastic and open cut.
Time to switch our attention to the unattached end of the elastic. This
portion of the project is a bit of an exercise in guessing and testing. Pull the
elastic tight until the mark we made in Step 3 matches up with the center of
the open cut and pin it in place. But don’t you dare cut that excess elastic
off yet.
If you’re working with a long roll of elastic, hold the excess in your hand
while trying on your garment, and see if the waistband is tight enough (or
too tight). If the fit isn’t perfect yet, take the garment off and either tighten
or loosen the elastic further. Then try the garment back on until your inner
Goldilocks finds the fit just right. I personally always find it best to pull the
elastic a little bit tighter than you think is comfortable because chances are
it will stretch out once you’re wearing your garment.
Once you’re pleased with the tightness of the waistband, you can trim off
the excess elastic, leaving ¼ inch (6.5 mm) additional elastic to extend
beyond the cut. Get your flame back out, melt this end of the elastic
(ensuring you’ve pulled the end far away from your flammable garment),
and repeat Step 4 to attach it and close the opening.

Step 6: Reattach the Belt Loops

Now to pull an All-American Rejects and keep this elastic our dirty little
secret. We’re going to hide our elastic-securing stitches by sewing the
bottoms of the belt loops back in place. You should be able to easily see
where the belt loops were originally attached because they will have left
prominent stitch marks.
The belt loop fabric will probably be too bulky and the surface area too
small to pin the belt loops in place. You can get by stitching them without
pinning in place, but if you need that security, pin the center of the belt loop
down to help you keep the bottom of the loop straight.
Using a medium–long straight stitch, sew across the bottoms of your belt
loops two to three times. Because belt loops are a bit bulky, it can be
difficult to force them through your home sewing machine. I find it easier to
feed them through the machine by manually turning the handwheel instead
of using the foot pedal. Alternatively, if you have the patience to switch
your presser foot to a walking foot (see Presser Feet, here), you’ll have a
much easier time feeding this through.
You’re now left with a waistband that’s as snatched as you but still stretches
when you sit down, eat bread, drink anything with bubbles, or generally
exist.

[Link]
 Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops
If you want waist definition but also want to be able to go out for pizza
and beer and not be suffocated by your top or dress while you’re sitting
down, elastic is your best friend. The best thing about adding elastic to
your clothes is that the customization possibilities are endless! You can
add a single strip of elastic to the front of your top to make a cute little
gather. You can add elastic just to the sides to cinch everything in. Or
you can add several strips of elastic around the entire circumference of
your top for a cute smocked effect.
In this tutorial, we’re going to make a fully cinched waist using encased
elastic. We’re focusing on the waist in this tutorial, but you can take
these skills and add encased elastic to sleeves and pant cuffs as well.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
You’ll need a piece of elastic about ¼ to 1½ inches (6.5 mm to 3.8 cm)
wide that’s long enough to wrap around your waist. We’ll thread the elastic
through a channel of fabric inside the garment. The fabric won’t be seen, so
it doesn’t need to match your garment’s color—meaning this is a great
project to use up the fabric you bought impulsively that you don’t actually
like that much. I suggest using a woven fabric that is incredibly easy to
iron. You’ll need a lot of length, which you’ll learn more about in Step 2.
MATERIALS
Flowy or baggy dress, shirt, or jumpsuit
Elastic
Scissors
Chalk or washable marker
Ruler and measuring tape
Elastic channel fabric
Pins
Iron
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Matches, lighter, or candle
Safety pin
Sticky tape
Make it your own: There’s no need to stop at just one elastic band! I love
the look of multiple lines of narrow elastic wrapped around the waist, so I
added a second line at the end of this project. If you want to replicate this,
just repeat all the steps as you go. Just make sure to wait until you’ve
finished sewing absolutely everything else before you thread any elastic
through. Otherwise, it will make it very tricky for you to repeat all the
steps!
 Top: Ribbed elastic. Bottom: Woven elastic.

Step 1: Prepare Your Elastic

Determine the width of your elastic to best fit your body and aesthetic. I
recommend keeping the width between ¼ inch to 1½ inches (6.5 mm to 3.8
cm)—any wider and I think it becomes uncomfortable, but you do you. My
favorite type of elastic is ribbed elastic because it’s resistant to rolling and
twisting. A basic braided or woven elastic will also do the trick just fine but
is more prone to rolling or folding over, especially when it’s wider.
To figure out the length of your elastic, it’s best to wrap the elastic around
your waist until it fits perfectly comfortably. However, if you don’t feel like
guessing and testing, a great guideline is that your elastic should be 75
percent of your waist circumference. This will give you a piece of elastic
that cinches you without squeezing you. To calculate your elastic length,
measure around your waist, multiply by 0.75, and add an inch (2.5 cm) to
account for a ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam allowance on each side.
(Waist measure x 0.75) + 1-inch (2.5-cm) total seam allowance
Now to determine the placement of the elastic. Try on your flowy dress,
shirt, or jumpsuit inside out. Grab your elastic, wrap it around your waist,
look in the mirror, give yourself a wink, and adjust the elastic until it’s
positioned just to your liking. Using chalk or a marker, mark the garment at
the top of the elastic in four spots: center front, center back, and on each
side.

Step 2: Prepare the External Fabric for Your Channel

Our elastic is going to be fully encased in a fabric channel, kind of like a

sausage but with a wildly different flavor profile. To pave the way for this
channel, use a ruler and chalk or a marker to draw a line connecting the four
marks you’ve just drawn. This line should go around the circumference of
your garment and will serve as a guide for pinning the fabric channel.
The fabric channel will be sewn to the inside of the garment. To ensure this
encasing fabric doesn’t have any raw edges that can unravel with wear and
tear, we’ll be folding under and ironing all of the edges before we sew it
onto the garment. If you’re keeping score, you’ve figured out that this is
going to require a fair bit of prep work.
To determine how long your encasing fabric needs to be, grab your
measuring tape and measure the length of the line you’ve just drawn around
your garment. Add an additional 1 inch (2.5 cm) to this measurement to
allot for folding the ends under, and you have the length of your encasing
fabric:
Garment circumference + 1 inch (2.5 cm)
The width of your encasing fabric should be about ¼ inch (6.5 mm) wider
than your elastic, plus another ½ inch (1.3 cm) wider to account for the
fabric we need to fold under and iron. So, your encasing fabric width
formula is:
Width of elastic + ¾ inch (1.9 cm)
Now cut out a rectangle of encasing fabric that is the length and width you
calculated.

Step 3: Iron the Encasing Fabric

Using a little something I prepared earlier—Let’s Get One Thing Straight

(here)—as a guide, fold and iron your excess fabric. With the right side of
your encasing fabric facing down, fold over and iron ¼ inch (6.5 mm) on
each of your long sides of fabric. This is a great time to listen to a podcast,
practice saying the alphabet backward, or contemplate the meaning of life,
because this ironing can take a while.
Once you’ve completed more ironing than I did in all my teenage years
combined, fold over ½ inch (1.3 cm) on each of the short sides of the fabric
and iron these down as well.

Step 4: Pin the Encasing Fabric to Your Garment

The prep work is almost over! Right after we do this entire other step of
prep work. Sorry, I wanted you to feel joy for a moment. Did it work?
With your garment inside out, take your encasing fabric and lay it down so
all the edges are folded underneath. Line up the fabric’s top folded edge
with the line you drew around the circumference. Line up the short end of
your fabric with one of your garment’s side seams.
Now wrap the fabric around the garment, line up the other short end so it’s
flush with the first one, and pin it in place. With a starting and ending point
established, we’re ready to pin the rest of the encasing fabric. Pin your
fabric to your garment every few inches, always lining up the fabric’s top
fold with the line you drew. Be careful not to accidentally pin through both
sides of the garment at once, or getting in and out will become very tricky.

Step 5: Sew the Encasing Fabric to Your Garment

Now this time we’re really finished with the prep work and ready to get on
with sewing! Select a medium-length straight stitch and thread that matches
your garment. This thread will be fully visible on the outside of your
garment, so make sure you like the way it looks.
With your garment still inside out, edgestitch along the top and bottom of
the encasing fabric, backstitching at the beginning and end. Your stitching
should start and end at the side seams where the ends of your encasing
fabric are pinned. Do not sew these short ends closed. Just like with
pinning, make sure you’re only sewing the fabric to a single layer of your
garment.
Your construction of the fabric tunnel is complete! The openings along the
short ends are the entrance and exit to this tunnel, where the only tolls are
those on your fingers as you thread the elastic through. Okay, it’s not that
dramatic, but your fingers may get a bit tired in Step 6.

Step 6: Thread the Elastic through the Fabric Tunnel

Finally, let’s add this elastic to our garment. For my favorite prep step in
sewing, grab your elastic and some source of flame—a match, lighter, or
candle. You’ll likely see that your elastic has frayed a bit (or a lot) where
it’s been cut, and if it hasn’t, it will soon. To prevent the fray (not the band),
slowly guide the end of your elastic back and forth once in front of an open
flame. Elastic is made of plastic, so the flame will melt the ends together.
Just be careful not to hold it too close to the flame for too long! Otherwise,
your elastic will catch fire and you’ll have to answer “What’s burning?”
questions from anyone you live with.
Once your elastic edges are melted shut, attach a safety pin to one end. The
safety pin functions as a dull needle to thread your elastic through the fabric
tunnel. I highly encourage you to actually get a safety pin for this instead of
using what you have lying around the house. There are only so many times
a girl can try to rewrap a piece of elastic around a bobby pin while it’s
trapped in the middle of a fabric tunnel. I also strongly recommend
wrapping a piece of tape around the safety pin’s closure to prevent it from
opening inside the channel.
Threading the elastic through the fabric tunnel can feel like being stuck in a
traffic jam. Put on your favorite podcast and go slowly as you push your
safety pin forward, push a chunk of fabric onto it, and then pinch the safety
pin as you pull the gathered fabric down the elastic.
Once you’ve pulled the elastic far enough through the tunnel that the other
end of elastic has finally reached the opening, make sure to pin it securely
to the opening. If you don’t, you’ll be trying to fish the elastic back out of
the tunnel.
Continue pulling the elastic until it comes out the other end of the tunnel.
Hooray! You made it through! Pull both ends of elastic a couple inches out
of their respective tunnel openings so we can sew the ends together.
Oh hey!
Sometimes all the prep work in the world can’t prevent a traffic jam in the
fabric tunnel. If your safety pin in some way comes loose and causes a
traffic jam of elastic and sharp pin in your fabric tunnel, don’t panic. The
more you panic, the more you’ll stab yourself with the pin and accidentally
drop blood on your garment (this has happened to me more than once). You
just have to perform some minor surgery.
Grab your seam ripper and remove several of the stitches along the tunnel
where the safety pin is stuck. Once you’ve removed enough stitching, you’ll
be able to pull the safety pin and the end of the elastic through the opening
and reattach or replace the problem safety pin. Then pop it back through
the opening and continue guiding it through the tunnel. You’ll just need to
go back and straight stitch over the bit you ripped open. Luckily, the way
the fabric will bunch together once it’s elasticated will camouflage the bit
you have to resew.

Step 7: Sew the Seams Closed

Take the last ½ inch (1.3 cm) of each end of the elastic, lay them flat on top
of each other, and pin them together. By stacking the seam allowance, we
avoid creating any extra bulk in the elastic.
Using a medium-length straight stitch, we’re going to sew together our
seam allowance with a square. Starting in one corner of the elastic that’s
lying on top, stitch down the edge of the elastic, turn your elastic 90
degrees, sew down the next side, and so on until you’re back at the start.
When you’re back to the beginning, turn the elastic 45 degrees and stitch a
diagonal line through the box, backstitching at the end. Now you have a
flat, secure seam allowance that isn’t going to pull apart when your elastic
stretches. Stretch your garment along the elastic to suck any elastic hanging
outside of the tunnel back inside.
Clearly, it doesn’t have to look pretty; it just needs to hold the elastic
together.
Finally, we can close up the openings to the tunnel. If you want a super-
clean finish, you can hand stitch the two open ends together just on the
inside of the garment. For those of us that can’t be bothered with hand
stitching, select a medium-length straight stitch on your machine.
Edgestitch each of the short ends closed, backstitching at the beginning and
end.
With the tunnel officially closed to all vehicles, your elastic waistband is
complete! Now you’re ready to repeat this process on sleeves, pants,
scrunchies, or whatever else you dream of elasticating.
[Link]
All Tied Up
I grew up with a huge chest that made every shirt, dress, and jumpsuit
look like a tent because the fabric would just take a vertical cliff dive
off the tip of my tits. I was desperate to give myself any waist definition,
and thus entered my wardrobe staple: the belt. You could not find me
wearing a dress in the 2010s without an accompanying skinny belt.
Nowadays I can survive without a belt glued to my waist, but I do still
love a garment with a tasteful tie.
Adding a tie to your garment can be a game changer. You have the
option to tie it as loosely or tightly as you want, completely controlling
the amount of waist definition. It also visually trumps a belt, in my
humble opinion. Perhaps my biggest qualm with adding an external
belt to an outfit is that it can visually cut you in half. With a tie, you can
visually create a longer line, either by choosing an identical fabric or by
tying the garment just in the back so the front is an unbroken line.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
You’ll need looong pieces of fabric to create your ties for this one!
Depending on your aesthetic, you can choose fabric in an identical or wildly
different color to your garment. If you’re desperate to work with knit
fabrics, this is a good project to try it on. You’ll need to do minimal sewing
on the flowy/baggy garment itself, and the ties will be wrapped around your
body and knotted or tied in a bow, so it won’t be as noticeable if you end up
with wavy seams.

MATERIALS
Flowy or baggy top, dress, or jumpsuit
Tie fabric
Measuring tape and ruler
Chalk or washable marker
Scissors
Pins
Thread
Sewing machine
Straw and chopstick or loop turner
Iron
Seam ripper
Positive attitude toward math
Heads-up: If you plan to make a skinny tie (similar to a spaghetti strap in
width), and you’ve never loop turned before, read Step 4 first so you know
what you’re in for. I always encourage you to try something new and
challenging, but I want you to have all the facts up front!

Step 1: Determine the Length and Width of Your Tie

Decide how skinny or thick you’d like your ties to be. A skinny tie is a good
option if you want this tie to be primarily functional without drawing much
attention (like the way I hoped nobody would ever notice I replaced a
broken buckle on my black boots with a bulldog clip I found at work). If
you want the tie to be a feature of your outfit, opt for something at least 2
inches (5 cm) thick. There are dresses on the market with solid 6- to 8-inch
(15.5- to 20.5-cm) waist ties, so don’t be afraid to go big or go home with
this!
Next up, let’s decide the length of the tie. I’ll tell you this up front—this tie
needs to be longer than you think. I’ve made many a tie too short in my life,
beginning way back when I first cut ribbon to tie up a present without my
mom’s help. I don’t think the “bow” on that present could fit any dictionary
definition of a bow.
Do you intend to tie this tie into a bow or a knot, or both, depending on
your mood? Will you tie it solely in the front or back of your garment, or do
you want to wrap it around the circumference of your waist before tying it?
How far do you want the ends to hang down once it’s tied—just a few
inches, a whole foot, past the bottom hem of your garment? Is anybody else
suddenly singing “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”
The formula to find the length of each of your two ties is:
Distance around the body + length to tie the knot/bow + length below
the knot/bow
To find the distance around the body:
• Measure the circumference of your waist with a tape measure.
• If you’re tying this just in the front or back, divide the circumference by 4.
• If you’re tying this across your front and then tying in the back (or vice
versa), multiply the circumference by 0.75.
• If you’re tying this across your front, then back, then tying in the front (or
vice versa), multiply the circumference by 1.25.
To find the length to tie the knot/bow:
• If you’re tying this in a knot, add 3.5 inches (9 cm).
• If you’re tying this in a bow, add 8.5 inches (22 cm). (This will give you a
2.5-inch [6.4-cm] long bow, so if you want a bigger bow, add more
length.)
To find the length below the knot/bow:
• This is entirely up to you! If you’re not sure, I recommend 12 inches (31
cm). Don’t forget, you can always shorten this later!

Step 2: Cut Out Your Ties

It’s been fun having you along for this book, but it’s time to cut ties. (Please
keep reading this book and my sewing puns.) Grab your tie fabric and fold
it in half so we can cut both ties at the same time. On one side of your
fabric, you’ll need to draw a rectangle.
Rectangle length:
Tie length from Step 1 + 1 inch (2.5 cm)
Rectangle width:
(Desired tie width x 2) + 1 inch (2.5 cm)
The extra inch on each side will account for a ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam
allowance. Cut your rectangle out of both layers of fabric.
If your tie is 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) wide, a plain rectangle of fabric will
serve you perfectly. If your tie is any wider than 3 inches (8 cm), I’d
recommend making it narrower at the end of the tie. To do this, take one of
your rectangles, fold it in half lengthwise, and pin it in several spots to
prevent it from moving around.
Decide how narrow you’d like your tie to be at the end. I recommend
between 50 to 75 percent of the width of the other end of your tie. On one
end of the folded rectangle, measure up from the fold and mark how narrow
you’d like it to be. Measure ½ inch (1.3 cm) up from this mark and mark
again to account for the seam allowance. Using a straightedge, draw a line
from this mark to the top corner of the other end of your rectangle. Cut
along this line through both layers of your rectangle, then repeat on your
second rectangle.

Step 3: Sew Your Rectangles into Ties

Time to sew these rectangles! Fold the rectangle lengthwise with the right
sides touching. Line up the raw edges of the rectangle and pin them
together. We’re going to sew the long edge and the short edge at the end of
the tie. We’ll keep the edge of the rectangle that attaches to the garment
open.
Select a short straight stitch on your sewing machine. You’re going to pull
these ties a lot when you wear this garment, so we need a small stitch length
to keep these seams tight and secure. Start sewing the long edge of the
rectangle from the edge that will attach to the garment, leaving a ½-inch
(1.3-cm) seam allowance and backstitching at the beginning. Sew a straight
line down the long edge until you’re ½ inch (1.3 cm) from the rectangle
corner. Turn your fabric 90 degrees, then continue sewing all the way down
the short edge of the rectangle, again with ½ inch (1.3 cm) seam allowance.
Backstitch at the end.
Now we just need to finish these seams. First, clip the two corners on the
stitched short edge of your rectangle. To clip the corners, cut off a triangle
of seam allowance on the outside of the stitched corner. This will prevent
the points of our ties from being bulky when we turn the ties right side out.
Finish the seams on the two sewn edges with a zigzag stitch or overlocker.
If you’re making a skinny tie, before you finish the seams, you’ll need to
trim down your seam allowance until it’s narrower than your folded
rectangle.

Step 4: Turn the Rectangles Right Side Out

Now for a task that makes me feel the same way seam ripping does: loop
turning. Loop turning is when you take an inside-out tube of fabric and turn
it right side out. It is also my Achilles’ heel. Don’t be afraid though—so
many sewists are great at loop turning. It’s just one of those things I’ll never
be good at (like knowing when to stop oversharing when I meet a new
person).
The wider your rectangle, the easier it will be to loop turn. Which sadly
means that the narrower the rectangle, the harder it is to loop turn. Our
work starts at the short edge of the rectangle that is stitched closed. We need
to push this end down inside the stitched rectangle.

Some suggested tools for this step. Left to right: A loop-turner, chopstick, and straw.
For a wider rectangle, pinch each side of your folded rectangle and pull
the sides away from each other. Then find a spare finger to push the edge of
the rectangle into the space you’ve created. From here, grab a long narrow
object like a chopstick or a straw. Stick this object into the turned-in end of
the rectangle, then stand the object up on a flat surface.
Use your thumb and index finger to slide the inside-out fabric down the
object. Keep wiggling this fabric down until the short edge of the rectangle
births itself from the other end of the rectangle. At this point, use your
object to gently poke out the corners of the rectangle’s short end.
From here, you can forgo the object. Hold on to the right-side-out end of the
rectangle with one hand while continuing to pull down the inside-out fabric
with your other hand. Continue until the whole rectangle is right side out.
For a narrow rectangle, grab a straight straw and a narrow object like a
chopstick or skewer that can fit all the way through the straw. Stand the
straw up on a flat surface and pull the inside-out rectangle onto the straw.
You’ll need to scrunch the fabric to get it all to fit on the straw. Or combine
multiple straws together like a kid making a wildly impractical megastraw.
Once you’ve pulled the fabric all the way around the straw with the sewn
short edge right at the top, take your chopstick or skewer to push the short
edge inside the straw. Continue pushing the fabric into the straw while
simultaneously sliding the rest of the inside-out fabric onto the chopstick or
skewer. Be gentle with this process to avoid poking a hole through the short
edge of your rectangle.

Keep wiggling this fabric down until the short edge of the rectangle appears
right side out on the other end of the straw.
At this point, use your object to gently poke out the corners of the
rectangle’s short end. From here, you can forgo your chopstick or similar
object. Pinch the right-side-out end of your rectangle and pull it through
your straw, while using your other hand to shimmy any still inside-out
fabric up the straw.
Wide and narrow rectangles: Once both your ties are turned right side
out, lay them down with the seam on one side, and iron the ties flat.
As an optional final step to prepare the ties, topstitch along your ties ⅛ inch
(3 mm) in from the seam.

Step 5: Attach the Ties to Your Garment

Let’s tie this project up! Grab some pins and your garment—it’s time to
play “Guess and Test.” Try on your garment right side out and pin your ties
to your side seams where you think they’ll work best. If you accidentally
stick your side with a pin while attaching these, consider this your tetanus
shot reminder. With the ties pinned, try all the ways you plan to tie this
garment to make sure the ties are exactly where you need them. If they
don’t work where you first pinned them, pin, pin again until you get your
perfect fit.
Once you’ve found the ideal placement for your ties, take your garment off
so we can get seam ripping. Mark on your garment’s side seam where the
top and bottom of your ties are so you can unpin them from your garment.
Now seam rip your garment between the two marks (Let ‘Er Rip, here).
Put the unstitched end of your tie through the garment’s new opening. My
preference is to have the seam of the tie facing down so it’s less noticeable
on the finished garment. There’s nothing wrong with the seam being visible
though, if that’s your vibe! Now turn the garment inside out so we can give
all our attention to the seam.
Line up the edge of the tie with the edge of the garment seam and pin it in
place. On your sewing machine, select a short straight stitch. We’re going to
sew the seam closed following the exact stitch line we just ripped, just with
the tie inside this time. Start stitching along the last inch (2.5 cm) of the
garment’s seam allowance, backstitching at the beginning. This helps us
keep the garment seam from unraveling now that it’s been seam ripped.
Continue sewing along the seam, finishing about an inch (2.5 cm) below the
tie with a backstitch. All that’s left is to finish your seam allowance with a
zigzag stitch or overlocker, again starting and ending an inch beyond your
tie.
You’re all done! Go put on your garment, wait for someone to ask if you’re
free, and respond, “Sorry, I’m all tied up!” But maybe test that line first on
someone whose friendship you don’t mind losing.
[Link]
We’re Busting Outta Here
Upsizing clothing is near and dear to my heart. By age 14, I had DD boobs,
which meant clothes shopping was pure hell. It primarily consisted of going
to Kohl’s® with my mom, trying on everything in the teen section, crying
because none of it fit, and then being forced to shop from the women’s
section—then crying even more because everything looked so matronly on
me. The clothes in my closet weren’t things I liked wearing; they were just
the few items I could find that fit my chest.
To remedy all of this, my mom became my alterations specialist, taking
dresses two sizes too large in everywhere but my chest to fit the rest of me.
From that young age, I knew alterations were going to be a staple in my
life.
If any of this sounds familiar, it’s time to meet your new best friend:
upsizing. In this chapter, we’ll tackle gaping button-down tops, shorts that
fit like sausage casings, and jeans that just don’t want to fit you anymore.
Needing to upsize your clothing instead of just finding clothes that fit can
be infuriating. But so many of us are in this boat because brands refuse to
create clothes that fit our boobs, hips, thighs, stomachs, etc., so I want to
make this process as enjoyable as possible for you! This is your chance to
completely customize your clothing. Gone will be your days of hunting for
the one item that fits your body and maybe half fits your style. It’s your turn
to be the trendsetter who gets to coyly tuck your hair behind your ear and
say, “Thanks, it’s one of a kind.”
[Link]
Mind the (Button) Gap
Oh, the button-down shirt. It will be a part of our lives forever—from
school to work uniforms and everywhere in between. The button-down
is a staple, but if you’re like me, it’s a staple that’s barely keeping its
grip on the stack of paper that is your chest. If you’ve ever had a friend
frantically mouth “your button” at you right before you notice your
bra is out on show for the world, this hack is for you.

LEVEL
Beginner

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Any button-down, any fabric (but you know I’m going to suggest it be a
woven fabric).

MATERIALS
Button-down garment
Pins
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Zipper foot or edgestitching foot
Heads-up: If ever there was a project where your thread should perfectly
match your garment, it’s this one!

Step 1: Close the Buttons That Run Along Your Chest

Put on your button-down garment and close just the buttons over your
chest, otherwise known as The Troublemakers. With only these buttons
closed, take the garment off over your head to make sure your head doesn’t
get stuck. Then try pulling the garment back on, making sure you can still
slide the bottom half of the garment over your chest. If the garment gets
stuck, see if you can undo just one button at the top or bottom of your chest.
Your chest is often the part of your torso that sticks out the farthest, so I
don’t expect you’ll have an issue.
Once you’ve closed the necessary buttons, lay your garment with the
placket (the part of your garment with the buttonholes) perfectly flat. Pin
the edges of the placket in place, only between the buttons that are going to
remain permanently closed.
Step 2: Attach Your Zipper Foot
Time to pick the right presser foot. You can use a zipper foot or an
edgestitching foot. Your machine most likely comes with a zipper foot, so
this will be our focus. A zipper foot is designed to allow your needle to sew
as close as possible to a zipper, but in this instance, we’re using it to sew as
close as possible to our buttons. Your standard presser foot has about ¼ inch
(6.5 mm) of steel on each side of the needle. A zipper foot, on the other
hand (or foot), can be placed entirely on the right or left of your needle,
leaving the needle free to get as close as possible to its target.

If you’ve never changed a presser foot before, don’t panic! It’s very simple.
Just head back to Presser Feet (here) for the lowdown. If you’re sewing a
“female” garment, attach the zipper foot on the right side of the needle, and
vice versa if you’re sewing a “male” garment. Of course, clothing doesn’t
have gender, but because of outdated historical practices when women were
dressed by others, buttons are placed on different sides depending on what
sex the garment was designed for. And thus, zipper foot placement matters.

Step 3: Edgestitch the Placket Closed

With the chest buttons closed, take the garment to the sewing machine.
When you lay your garment down on your machine, the top of the garment
should be facing up. If you’re sewing a female-designed garment, the
placket will open on the right when it’s laying down like this and vice versa
for a male-designed garment.
Position your needle on the edge of the placket in line with the center of the
first closed button. Using a straight stitch and a medium–long stitch length,
sew from your first closed button down to your last closed button,
backstitching at the beginning and end. If your placket has a line of straight
stitching along the edge already, perfect! Just sew over this line. If it
doesn’t, just sew as close to the edge as possible.
And that’s it! Once you’re finished sewing, throw on your garment and
marvel at the fact you can’t see through to your bra. Buttons 0—Boobs 1.
[Link]
Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie
As Shakira told us, “Hips don’t lie,” and unfortunately, they don’t
always fit in off-the-rack clothing either. Same goes for my fellow thick-
thighs-save-lives advocates. If you’ve been blessed with some extra
junk in the trunk, hips, or thighs, you’re used to the bottom of your
shorts, dresses, and long shirts feeling more restrictive than a juice
cleanse. It’s time to give that hot bod of yours some breathing room by
adding slits to those too-tight clothes. You can also use this same
method to create decorative slits in other garments like skirts or
sleeves.
For this project, we’re utilizing facing. Facing is used to conceal raw
edges, like a fancier version of a hem. Instead of folding the edges over
twice and sewing them in place, facing is a completely separate piece of
fabric that encloses the raw edge. It’s the go-to method to create any
type of cutout in your clothes.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Your garment should preferably have side seams. Grab scrap fabric that is
similar to your garment in color and type. For the easiest time sewing, err
on the sturdier side for your scrap fabric. The fabric only needs to be 2½
inches (6.4 cm) wide. You’ll figure out how long it needs to be in Step 1.

MATERIALS
Any garment where the hem is too tight
Pins
Chalk or washable marker
Ruler or measuring tape
Facing fabric
Seam ripper
Scissors
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Heads-up: This tutorial is designed for a garment where the top half fits
fine but the bottom half can’t contain your curves. If your garment fits just
fine at the bottom once it’s on but you struggle to pull it on over all your
curves, head on down to Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah (here).

Step 1: Measure and Cut Your Facing

First up, we need to determine how long of a slit we need to create and how
much facing we’ll need to do that.
Try on your too-tight garment right side out and use a pin or some chalk to
mark where it starts getting tight. Ideally this will be on a side seam, but if
you have a seamless garment, you can choose your own adventure as to
where your new slit(s) will be.
Now take the garment off and measure from the bottom hem of the garment
up to your too-tight mark, then add 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) to that
measurement:
Distance from bottom of garment to too-tight mark + 1¾ inches (4.5
cm)
This will be the length of your facing fabric. This width of your facing
fabric will be 2½ inches (6.4 cm). (I’ve officially done the math for you one
time, so you can’t get upset with me for having to do math at any other
point in this book.)
For each slit you’re creating, grab a piece of fabric that’s at least this long
and wide and is similar in color and fabric type to your garment. If you
don’t have an exact match for the fabric type, err on the side of a stiffer
fabric. We want a decent color match because this fabric will be a little bit
visible when you move around in the garment, kind of like a zit you’ve
covered perfectly with your bangs until a gust of wind comes (but hopefully
you think the inside of your garment is cuter than a zit).
On the fabric, draw a rectangle that is 2½ inches (6.4 cm) wide and your
calculated length. Cut out one fabric rectangle for every slit you’re creating.

Step 2: Finish the Rectangle’s Edges

Now for a bit of boring work (I say as if cutting rectangles is riveting fun)
—let’s finish the edges of this rectangle. If you’re dedicated to always
cleanly finishing your raw edges (please tell me what being put together
feels like), hem all four edges of your rectangle by folding in each side ⅜
inch (1 cm). After you’ve folded in all the edges, fold just the bottom edge
over another ⅜ inch (1 cm). Iron and sew your hems in place (see Hemming
& Hawing, here).
If you own a serger and are lazy like me, just serge around all three sides
except the bottom edge. We are still going to hem the bottom edge of the
rectangle (yeah, I know you thought you could get out of it)—fold up ⅜
inch (1 cm) of fabric, then fold the fabric over another ⅜ inch (1 cm). Iron
and sew your bottom hem in place.
 Diagram of your stiching lines.

Step 3: Draw Your Stitching Lines

Take your now hemmed rectangle, or facing, and lay it right side down so
all the folds are visible. In the middle of our facing, we’re going to draw a
½-inch (1.3-cm)-wide rectangle that begins at the bottom hem and ends ⅝
inch (1.6 cm) below the top of the facing.
At the very bottom of your facing, mark the horizontal center, which is ⅞
inch (2.2 cm) in from either side. At ⅝ inch (1.6 cm) below the top of your
facing, mark the horizontal center again. Draw a straight line connecting
these two marks so they can meet up and each say, “Oh hi, Mark.” This line
is the center of your facing as well as the line that will match up with your
garment’s seam.
Now let’s draw the ½-inch (1.3-cm)-wide rectangle around this line. Draw a
straight line ¼ inch (6.5 mm) to each side of the center line, again ending ⅝
inch (1.6 cm) below the top of your facing. Connect these two lines at the
top.
Finally, measure ¼ inch (6.5 mm) down from the top of your center line and
draw a little mark. Draw a straight line from this mark to each of the
rectangle’s top corners to make a little triangle.
Whew, that was a lot of measuring. Take a breath, forgive me, and let’s
move forward to the fun part: sewing!

Step 4: Pin and Sew Your Facing to Your Garment

Lay your garment down right side up and lay your facing on top of it right
side down so the right sides are touching. Line up the hem of your garment
with the bottom hem of your facing, and line up your garment’s seam with
the center line of the facing. Pin your pieces together around the perimeter
of your facing.
At last, let’s sew the rectangle we just painstakingly measured and drew!
Well, really it’s more of a peninsula because we didn’t draw a line at the
bottom. Using a short–medium straight stitch, begin stitching from the
bottom hem and sew along the peninsula you drew, backstitching at the
beginning and end.
When you get to each corner of your rectangle, there’s no need to remove
your garment, cut the thread, and start stitching again on the next side.
Instead, when you reach a corner, place your needle in the down position so
it’s holding your fabric in place. Then lift your presser foot, rotate your
fabric 90 degrees so your next line is directly in front of your needle, lower
your presser foot, and keep stitching.

Step 5: Cut Your Slit

Finally, my favorite part—cutting it all up (does this say something about
me being a destructive person? Nah, surely not). Following your facing’s
center line/your garment’s seam with your scissors, cut through both layers
of fabric and STOP ¼ inch (6.5 mm) before you get to the top of your
stitched rectangle (that’s why we drew a little mark there). If your garment
has some bulky overlocked seam allowance left over on either side of your
cut, go ahead and trim that off.
Now we’re making two angled cuts. From the very top of your vertical cut,
cut to each top corner of your stitched rectangle, snipping as far into each
stitched corner as you can without cutting the stitches. (If you do
accidentally cut through them, you’re in great company. Many a time have I
had to go back and restitch the stitches I accidentally snipped).
Your stitched rectangle should now be sliced up into two symmetrical
trapezoids on the left and right and a triangle at the top.

Step 6: Fold, Iron, and Sew Your Facing

This is where the magic happens. We’re about to transform these weird cut-
up shapes into a cleanly finished slit. Fold the top and sides of your facing
to the inside of your garment by way of the cut you just made. Would you
look at that? You now have a ½-inch (1.3-cm)-wide opening in your
garment with beautifully finished edges. As someone who used to just slice
open all of my clothes with no regard for the raw edges, I feel like a prize-
winning architect when I look at the clean lines I create with facing.
On the inside of your garment, you’ll see that the trapezoids and triangle we
cut are tucked underneath the finished hem of your facing. Use an iron to
press your facing on the inside of your garment to make the slit’s seams
even sharper.
Finally, let’s sew one last rectangle (peninsula). We’re going to topstitch
around the three sides of our new opening to keep the facing in place and
any raw edges hidden. With your garment right side up, use a medium
straight stitch to sew a rectangular peninsula around the three sides of your
opening, stitching ¼ inch (6.5 mm) in from the seam. As always, backstitch
at the beginning and end.
Give everything a final press with your iron, and voilà—we’re finished!
With one side at least. If you’re replicating this on the other side of your
garment, finish that up and come back. I’ll hold the celebration just for you.
Now enjoy the freedom that is letting your hips and thighs breathe again in
your perfectly finished slits!
[Link]
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah
I can distinctly recall the terrifying time I got stuck in a shirt while
alone in a Plato’s Closet® dressing room at age 16. My pickings were
slim at teen-focused consignment stores, so I had to try on anything
that had even the slightest potential of fitting. After throwing a Hail
Mary and forcing on a shirt that I knew would look cute if I could just
get it over my chest, the panic set in. I realized I could not get the shirt
back off. I wondered what would be written on my tombstone after I
died of embarrassment in that changing room.
After much heavy breathing, sweating, a couple of tears, and squishing
my boobs every way imaginable, I managed to free myself from the top
with the sound of only a few snapped threads ringing in my ears. I
vowed never to get myself into that situation again.
If only 16-year-old me knew how to install zippers in her clothing.
Adding a zipper to an existing seam is an absolute game changer. This
project is designed to help those with large chests put on a top that’s
tight in the waist and stomach and those with wide hips who struggle to
pull on form-fitting skirts and dresses.

LEVEL
Advanced

SUGGESTED FABRIC
You’ll need a garment that you fear you won’t be able to get out of once it’s
on. We’re adding a zipper to this, which is about 15 times easier to do on a
woven fabric. If your garment is knit, you must use woven or nonwoven
interfacing along the seams to prevent pain and punishment of epic
proportions. As for the zipper, we’ll learn all about them in Step 3, so get
excited!

MATERIALS
Garment that reaches an impasse when you pull it on your body
Seam ripper
Thread
Sewing machine
Chalk or washable marker
Pins
Interfacing (optional)
Iron
Zipper
Zipper foot
Scissors
Heads-up: This tutorial is designed for a garment that fits just fine at the
bottom once it’s on, but you struggle to pull it on over all your curves. If the
top half fits fine but it can’t contain your curves on the bottom half (a.k.a.
you’re blessed with wide hips or thick thighs), head back to Hips & Thighs
Don’t Lie (here).

Step 1: Seam Rip Your Garment Open and Sew the Hem
Pick the seam where you’d like to add your zipper (I suggest a side seam)
and seam rip it open (see Let ‘Er Rip, here). You’ll need to rip open both the
seam and any overlocking stitches holding the seam together. Normally I’d
tell you to try on a garment to determine how large of an opening you’d
like, but I fear that once you try this garment on, you won’t be able to take
it off.
If you’re opening a side seam on a shirt, a safe bet is to open the seam from
the bottom hem up to an inch below the armpit. Don’t go all the way to the
armpit, or you’ll be walking around with the bottom of a zipper incessantly
poking you like a 2010 Facebook poke war. If you’re opening a seam on the
bottom of a dress or skirt, open the seam from the bottom hem up to the
widest part of the skirt or dress.
Even if you open the seam a bit wider than you intended, guess what? You
can just sew the seam closed again! It’s a much lower-stress situation than
getting stuck in a garment inside a changing room.
The tricky-ish part of this seam ripping is the hem. To access the seam
you’re opening, you’ll need to seam rip part of the garment’s hem. Open the
hem about 1½ inches (3.8 cm), with your seam in the center at the ¾ inch
(1.9 cm) mark.
As soon as you’ve finished fully ripping your seam open, you can resew the
hem on each side of the seam. Just fold the hem back up following the exact
same folds already in the fabric, but make sure the side seam allowance you
just opened remains unfolded. Pin the hem folds in place, select a medium–
long straight stitch, and re-sew the hem. Make sure to backstitch on top of
the last three stitches of thread where you seam ripped the hem; this ensures
the thread doesn’t come loose now that we’ve weakened it.
Once you’ve opened your seam and resewn your hems, try the garment on
to make sure the opening is large enough to overcome the impasse of your
curves. If you need a bit more wiggle room, just seam rip a bit higher!
After your seam is opened just right, mark the very top of this opening
where your seam reconnects with some chalk or a washable marker. Draw
these marks on each side of the seam allowance. Now rip your seam open
another ½ inch (1.3 cm) or so. This extra space will better allow us to reach
the very end of the zipper with our machine later.
Finally, if you had to seam rip the overlocking stitches that finished the
edge of your seam allowance, it’s time to redo all you’ve undone (I say as if
it’s your fault that you followed my instructions). Using a zigzag stitch or
overlocker, finish the edges of both seam-ripped seam allowances (see
Finishing Seams, here).

Step 2 (Optional): Iron Interfacing to Your Seam Allowance

This step is optional if your garment is made from a woven, sturdy fabric. If
your fabric is stretchy or lightweight (like linen), this step is nonnegotiable
—like exclaiming “Horses!” when you drive past a field of horses.
I can’t tell you how many times a wonky zipper has made me cry and doubt
all my sewing abilities. The reality is that even an advanced sewist will
struggle to attach a zipper to stretchy fabric if they haven’t prepped it
correctly. Zipper tape (which I’ll tell you more about in Step 3) is fairly
stiff, so we need our garment’s seam allowance to match.
Grab some sturdy iron-on interfacing and cut two pieces that are the length
(plus 1 inch [2.5 cm]) and width of your open seam allowance. Following
the instructions for your specific interfacing, iron one piece onto each of
your seam allowances. It doesn’t matter if the interfacing is on the right or
wrong side of your seam allowance. For more information on interfacing
and how to attach it, head back to The (Fabric) Choice Is Yours (here).

Step 3: Select Your Zipper

Once you’re happy with your seam opening, measure the distance from the
bottom of the hem to the mark you made at the top of your seam opening in
Step 1. This measurement will be the length of the zipper you need to buy
(or otherwise acquire; I don’t need to know your methods).
When shopping for a zipper, select the one that is advertised as being the
exact length of your measurement. For example, if you measure 10 inches
(26 cm), you need to buy a zipper that is labeled as being 10 inches (26
cm). The total length of the entire zipper will actually be closer to 12 inches
(31 cm). This is because a zipper is made up of the zipper teeth and the
zipper tape. The zipper tape is the fabric on either side of the teeth that we
sew directly onto the garment, and it typically extends around 1 inch (2.5
cm) above and below the zipper teeth.
Select a zipper that is the same color as your garment. If it’s a patterned
garment, lucky you! You have a range of colors to choose from! It’s
important to decide how visible you want your zipper to be. Do you want it
to become a design element, or do you want to keep your zipper a secret?
To make the zipper a design element, consider a metal or chunky plastic
zipper. If you want to keep things hush hush, use a nylon coil zipper. The
most hidden zipper of all is an invisible zipper, but these are built
differently and are super tricky to sew, so we’re going to forgo them here. A
nylon coil zipper will be hardly visible, and it’s easier to sew than an
invisible zipper.

Step 3.5: Have a Snack

You’ve just returned from the sewing supply store with your zipper, so
make sure you’ve washed your hands, had a glass of water, and eaten a
snack before carrying on with any zipper sewing. Zipper sewing can be
finicky, so it’s crucial you eliminate any risk of getting hangry during the
process.
Step 4: Attach One Side of the Zipper to the Open Seam
Now let’s zip through the rest of this project! (Pause for eruption of
laughter.) I always find it confusing figuring out which side of the zipper
should be on which side of the garment, so take my hand and trust the
process as I guide you through this. One thing to note: When I refer to the
right side of a zipper, I mean the side that the pull tab is on.
Place your garment right side up on a flat surface with the hem at the top.
Unfold your seam allowance so it’s fully visible. Lay your zipper right side
down, lining up the right edge of your zipper tape with the edge of the seam
allowance on the left side of the seam opening.
I know this looks and sounds incorrect, but it all has to do with the fact that
the seam allowance is currently unfolded, so just keep trusting me.
Now that you understand how the zipper should be positioned, you can
unzip it. We’ll be continuing to focus on the right half of the zipper and the
left side of the open seam.
Line up the very top of the zipper teeth with the folded edge of your hem.
There will be extra zipper tape dangling off the edge. The zipper teeth
should be facing toward the left, and the edge of the teeth should line up
with the fold where the seam allowance used to be pressed under.
Starting from the top, pin this side of the zipper in place. I find it easiest to
pin vertically along the zipper tape, with the sharp bit of the pin facing
toward the top. When pinning the top of the zipper in place, fold the
overhanging zipper tape back so it’s not visible beyond the hem of your
garment. You’ll need to angle this extra tape out slightly so it’s not folded
directly onto the zipper teeth.

Step 5: Sew One Side of the Zipper in Place

Off to the sewing machine! The zipper tape should be facing up, and we
will start sewing from the garment’s hem. Before we go any further, it’s
time to attach the zipper foot (see Presser Feet, here)! Because our zipper
teeth are facing left, we need to attach the foot to the right of the needle.
With a medium straight stitch and your needle centered, line up the left side
of your presser foot with the inside edge of the zipper teeth. I recommend
using your machine’s handwheel to slowly insert your needle into your
tape. This way you can make sure the needle is going into the zipper tape
directly to the side of your zipper teeth and not sewing into the zipper teeth.
If you sew directly into the zipper teeth, you are literally in for a bumpy
ride that will end in your zipper pull getting stuck on thread.
Once you’re confident your needle is in the correct place, use your pedal to
continue slowly stitching along your zipper, making sure to hug the inside
edge of the teeth like James Bond scaling the side of a building on a narrow
ledge.

As your stitching nears the end of the zipper teeth, you will need to move
your zipper pull to finish sewing down this side. Some people are really
talented at moving the pull without interrupting their sewing. I call this
witchcraft. To make your own magic, make sure your needle is down,
holding your garment in place. Lift your presser foot and pull the zipper tab
up past your needle, turning your fabric a bit if you need to.
I personally find I can rarely fit my zipper pull past my presser foot.
Instead, I sew as far as I can down my zipper then backstitch, cut my
thread, and remove my garment from the machine. Then I pull the zipper
tab up, return the garment to my machine like a mere mortal, and just restart
sewing directly in front of where I’ve just backstitched. Be mindful to not
backstitch over the same area twice, as we want to avoid creating too much
bulk along the zipper.
Continue sewing a few stitch lengths beyond the end of your zipper teeth,
then backstitch to finish. There will be about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of unattached
zipper tape at the end—that is completely normal and will never get
attached.

Step 6: Repeat Steps 4 & 5

Once more with feeling! We’re going to repeat Steps 4 and 5 with the other
side of the zipper, meaning you will need to mentally swap “left” and
“right” in all the instructions.
You’re probably asking how you’re meant to pin the left half of your zipper
to the right side of your open seam considering the direction your zipper is
sewn. If you’re not asking, I love and respect that confidence. Once again
lay your garment down right side up with the hem at the top. Take the left
half of the unzipped zipper, turn it one full rotation to the right, and lay it
down on the seam allowance on the right side of the open seam. There will
be a twist at the bottom of the zipper, but as soon as we fold both sides of
the seam allowance back under at the end, the zipper will lay flat.
Now continue repeating Step 4. Once you’re done pinning, zip your zipper
closed. Your garment’s hem on each side of your zipper should match up
perfectly. If it doesn’t, congratulations, you’re just like me on 90 percent of
my zipper projects. Just adjust and repin your zipper tape until it all
matches up.
After you’ve perfectly pinned the second half of your zipper, repeat Step 5,
ensuring you’re swapping your zipper presser foot to the other side of the
needle.
To more securely attach your zipper to your garment (which I absolutely
think you should do unless you need to run out of the door in this garment
this very second), you can sew the zipper tape to your seam allowance with
a second line of stitching. Position your needle in the middle of your zipper
tape and sew along the tape length using a short–medium straight stitch. It’s
always wise to have the safety net of an additional line of stitching for when
you inevitably get fabric caught in your zipper one day and pull on it too
hard in a state of hurry/fury.
Oh hey!
If your zipper is significantly longer than the length of your open seam, let’s
shorten it! Cut off the remainder of the zipper 1 inch (2.5 cm) below where
your zipper is sewn to the garment. Use non-fabric scissors for this bit so
you don’t damage them by cutting through the zipper teeth (even though this
is something I’m absolutely guilty of).
Now we’re going to cut the zipper tape away from the zipper teeth. Lining
up your scissors with the outside edge of the zipper teeth, cut ½ inch (1.3
cm) up into the tape, directly to the right and left of the teeth. Take one of
the flaps of zipper tape and fold it across the zipper teeth to the other side of
the tape. Using a short–medium straight stitch, sew the flap to the opposite
side of the tape. This does not have to be pretty. Just go over the flap a few
times with your machine until you feel it’s securely in place.
Repeat this process with the other zipper tape flap. You’ve now effectively
built a wall of zipper tape that will function as a stop for the zipper pull. Go
ahead and trim off the extra length of zipper teeth hanging below your tape.

Step 7: Finish Your Seams

Once you’ve sewn your zipper on each side, zip it up and watch the magic
of your seam allowances naturally folding back inside your garment. So
satisfying.
At the very bottom of your zipper, we need to do a final short line of
stitching. When you look at where your stitching on the bottom of your
zipper tape ends and where the seam we opened is still stitched together,
you should see a bit of unsewn no-man’s-land in between. Our mission is to
bridge that gap and visually blend the end of the zipper into the garment.
On your machine, place your zipper foot on the left side of your needle.
Turn your garment inside out with the hem and zipper opening at the
bottom, then close your zipper. Lay your garment on your machine so the
zipper is laying on the right side of your needle, then line up your needle
with the last ¼ inch (6.5 mm) of stitching on your garment’s original seam.
With a medium straight stitch, backstitch, then sew along the last ¼ inch
(6.5 mm) of your garment’s original seam and continue sewing straight,
following your garment’s original seam exactly. These stitches will be
parallel to those sewing your zipper in place, only a bit to the left. Once
your needle is in line with the end of your zipper tape stitching (but sitting
slightly to the left of it), sew three more stitches, then backstitch. Now your
seam won’t come undone, and the end of your zipper is tucked away in
your garment!
Finally, best practice is always to give these folds a final press, but be
careful! If you’ve used a plastic zipper, do not, I repeat, do not let your hot
iron touch the zipper. Otherwise, you run the very real risk of melting the
zipper teeth together, and you’ll be right back where you started!
At last, unzip your zipper and slip into your garment with an ease you’ve
never before experienced. Zip it closed around your curves with the
confidence that you can get back out of this without fear, tears, or scissors.
[Link]
Grow a Pair of Pants
Who hasn’t had a too-small pair of pants taunting them from their
closet? I remember how upset I was when I outgrew my favorite pair of
jeans after a certain global event kept me confined to my tiny
apartment for almost two years. I kept waiting for the day they would
fit me again. After months of feeling down on myself, I decided to cut
my losses—and the pants. I grabbed another pair of too-tight jeans and
got to work combining the two. And wouldn’t you know it, the new pair
of pants I created was way cooler and drew in far more compliments
than either of those old pairs.
Your body is going to change. That’s pretty much nonnegotiable. When
that happens, you can dwell on it or move forward. Personally, I’d
rather we move forward together and make some really sick new pants
for you.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
You’ll need two pairs of pants or shorts, ideally made from a similar type of
fabric, unless you’re going for the dress/athletic pant look (which you
genuinely might be, and if so, send pics of the final product!).

MATERIALS
Too-tight pair of pants or shorts
Additional pair of pants or shorts
Garment with waist size you like
Ruler or measuring tape
Scissors
Chalk or washable marker
Seam ripper
Pins
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Short piece of elastic

I’m using the red (left) as my primary pair of pants and the yellow (right) as my spare pair. The red
pair has a waistband without a side seam, and the yellow pair has a waistband with a side seam.
This will be important in future steps.

Step 1: Select Your Additional Pair of Pants

We’re going to combine two pairs of pants that don’t fit to make one single
pair that does. It’s easy to pick the main pair of pants you want to fix—
these are the ones that shrank in the wash or that you always said would fit
“one day” or that you bought before entering a healthy relationship with
food. We will be using the entirety of this primary pair of pants. As for the
secondary pair, we’re just using it for spare parts (this project really has
“heir and a spare” energy all over it). If you don’t have a second pair of
pants you’re willing to sacrifice, I recommend heading to your local thrift
store.
Remember when thrifting a second pair that you only need a few inches of
these pants, so please avoid purchasing them in a size with limited options.
Look for sizes that have ample pants available.
It’s important that the spare pair of pants is the same length or longer than
your primary pair, unless you plan to shorten the primary pair. Other than
that, run wild with the color and pattern combination!

Step 2: Measure and Cut Your Additional Fabric

Let’s first determine how much seam allowance we need for the additional
fabric. Measure the seam allowance on your primary pants’ side seam and
jot this number down—we’ll plug it into our formula in a moment.
The best way to figure out how much additional fabric you need to add to
your pants is to grab a pair of pants or shorts that fits you perfectly. We’re
going to measure the waistband of this well-fitting pair as a guide, so it’s
important that the top of the waistband hits the same point on your body as
your too-tight pants.
Close any flies or buttons on both pairs of pants. Use a measuring tape to
measure around the circumference of your too-small waistband and then
your just-right waistband. Subtract the smaller measurement from the
larger, and what you’re left with is the total amount of fabric you need to
add to your pants. Divide this number by 2, add the seam allowance for a
single seam, and you have the amount of fabric you need to add to each side
of your pants.
Additional fabric for each leg:
Take this measurement to your spare pair of pants. We’re going to harvest
our additional fabric along the side seam on the back pant legs. The front
pant legs likely have pockets (or fake pockets, booo) along the side seam,
and those will just get in the way. Line up a ruler or tape measure with the
side seam, and measure and mark the width we calculated. Mark this
measurement along the entire length of the back pant leg, then draw a line
attaching all the marks together. With your sewing scissors, cut along this
line from the hem through the waistband.
Repeat this on the second leg on your spare pants.
 Cut the line you drew starting from your hem and slicing all the way through your waistband.

Step 3: Seam Rip Both Pairs of Pants

Time to scrub in and get both pairs of pants ready for the transplant.
If you’re lucky, both your pants’ waistbands will have a side seam that lines
up with the leg side seams. Unfortunately, it’s more common that your
waistband won’t have a side seam at all. For all you unlucky ones, have no
fear—I’ve included instructions for both types of waistbands. You can even
combine one pair of pants with a seam-free waistband and one with a seam-
full waistband. That’s what I’ve done in this example to make all sides feel
represented.
If you don’t have a waistband side seam, first line up a ruler or straightedge
with the top of each side seam on each pair of pants. With chalk or a
washable marker, extend the seam line up through the top of the waistband.
If your waistband has side seams, just keep on trucking (to the next
paragraph—no marking necessary).
It’s time to let it rip. Seam rip the side seams of both pairs of pants. If your
pants are hemmed, you’ll need to seam rip the hem open at least an inch or
two (2.5 or 5 cm) to access the end of the side seam. I personally
recommend seam ripping the entire hem on your too-tight pair of pants so
we can hem both parts of the pants all together at the end.
Once you reach the waistband, grab your scissors again—unless you have a
side seam in your waistband, in which case just finish seam ripping up
through the waistband (no no, none of us are envious of you at all). Before
slicing straight through the waistband, it’s helpful to seam rip the bottom
edge a few stitches on either side of your legs’ side seams. The very top of
the seam allowance will be tucked under the waistband, and we want to free
that from the waistband before cutting it. Once you’ve opened the band a
bit, just wiggle the rest of the seam allowance out. Now you can cut straight
through the line we drew on the waistband.
Repeat this waistband opening process on all four pant legs. You should be
left with two long strips of fabric from the spare pants and one open pair of
pants that could only stay on your body if you used suspenders.
If your waistband does not have a side seam, line up a ruler with the pant leg seam and extend this
line onto the waistband with some chalk.

If your waistband does not have a side seam, seam rip the bottom of the waistband a bit and wriggle
out the pant leg seam allowance.
 If your waistband does not have a side seam, cut straight through the waistband.

Step 3.5: Remove a Small Piece of the Waistband (Side-Seamless

Waistbands Only)

Left: If your waistband did not have a side seam, the leg seam allowance extends beyond the end of
the waistband. Right: If your waistband did have a side seam, all the edges line up.
 A portion of the waistband removed so we can match up seam allowances with those from a side-
seamless waistband.

If your waistband didn’t have a side seam, you’ll notice after cutting and
seam ripping that the leg side seams extend further than the waistband.
Meanwhile, the edge of the waistband and the leg side seam line up
perfectly on the spare fabric that we cut from hem to waistband. The same
will also be true if your waistband had a side seam. (As you can see in the
photo above, my red pants didn’t have a waistband seam, and my yellow
pants did).
While people can come in all shapes and sizes, we really need our side
seams and waistbands to be uniform. Where the seam allowance and
waistband line up perfectly, we need to remove the very end of the
waistband to allow the seam allowance to extend beyond it. For example, if
your seam allowance is ½ inch (1.3 cm), you need to remove the final ½
inch (1.3 cm) of the waistband.
Measuring from the end of the spare fabric’s waistband, mark the seam
allowance measurement from Step 2. Seam rip the bottom of the waistband
from the raw edge to this mark, then cut off the excess waistband fabric at
the seam allowance mark.
Now all four seam allowances extend beyond the cut edge of the waistband.

Step 4: Attach the Spare Fabric to the Too-Tight Pants

 Finish your side seams or no dessert!

Press your side seams away from the spare fabric.

Turn your too-tight pants inside out and grab your spare fabric strips. As
you may have suspected, the fabric strip from the left leg of your spare
pants should be added to the left leg of your too-tight pants, and same for
the right leg.
With the right sides touching, match up your too-tight pants’ side seam
allowance with the spare fabric’s seam allowance and pin them together
along the entire seam. When you’re working on the seam that combines the
existing seam allowances from both the too-tight and the spare pants,
there’s a chance these seam allowances are a different width. If this is the
case, line up the folds where each seam was originally stitched together
rather than the raw edge of the seam allowance.
If your pants both came with waistband side seams, continue pinning the
seams together through the top of the waistband. If they didn’t, I’ve got
you. We have a whole separate step just for us! For now, just pin together
the leg seam allowances and leave the waistband for later.
After you’ve pinned one seam, use a short–medium straight stitch to sew
the entire seam, backstitching at the beginning and end. Finish the seam
allowance with a zigzag or overlocking stitch (see Finishing Seams, here).
Repeat this process on all four side seams. I can feel you suddenly longing
for the days when you thought pinning, sewing, and finishing just two side
seams was a lot of work. And to that I say, “I hear you.”
Keep your garment inside out after finishing the seams and grab your iron.
On each pant leg, fold both side seams away from the spare fabric and iron
them in place. Make sure you keep these seam allowances facing outward
when you finish your waistband (if you haven’t already) and hem your
pants.
If you were able to sew your waistband pieces together along the side seams
in this step, you are free to skip to Step 5. The rest of us are going to go to
this super-cool party at Step 4.5 though.

Step 4.5: Sew the Waistbands Together (Side-Seamless

Waistbands Only)
Now to tackle this pesky waistband. We don’t have any seam allowance to
attach the waistbands, and that’s usually what we rely on. Instead, we’re
going to get creative (in a sewing book? Revolutionary). We need to add
another piece of fabric to the inside of our waistband to create an anchor for
our stitches. I personally recommend using a piece of woven elastic.
Alternatively, you could use some wide leftover ribbon that probably came
wrapped around a seasonal bath set, or fold a piece of sturdy woven fabric
in half.
Whatever additional anchor fabric you select, it should be about ¼ inch (6.5
mm) narrower than your waistband and 1 inch (2.5 cm) longer than the
spare fabric’s waistband.
Slide the anchor fabric through the spare waistband, centering it vertically
and leaving ½ inch (1.3 cm) hanging out on each open side. Place a pin
through the center of the waistband to keep the anchor in place (anchoring
the anchor, as it were). Slip the ½ inch (1.3 cm) ends of the anchor into the
adjacent too-tight waistband openings.
Working on one seam at a time, push the raw waistband edges together so
they kiss. Then pin through the too-tight waistband and anchor fabric to
hold it all in place.
Before we sew both sides of the waistband together, make sure the top of
the leg seam allowances are tucked inside the waistband.
Now to seal the deal. Select a zigzag stitch and a short stitch length. If you
have multiple zigzag stitches, select the wider option. With each zig, the
needle will sew one side of the waistband, and with each zag, it will sew the
other. Back and forth until two waistbands become one—beautiful.
Starting at the top of the waistband, backstitch, then sew all the way down
the waistband seam. When you reach the bottom of the waistband, press the
reverse button on your machine and stitch backward all the way back up to
the top, then backstitch (technically forward stitch since we were sewing
backward). The short stitch length combined with two layers of zigzag
stitching should make it impossible for this waistband seam to pull apart.
Repeat this process on all the waistband seams.
Finally, with a long straight stitch, we’ll secure the bottom of the waistband
in place since we weakened it with our seam ripping in Step 3. Starting and
ending 1 inch (2.5 cm) outside the spare fabric waistband, edgestitch the
bottom of the waistband, backstitching at the beginning and end.

Step 5: Topstitch the Seams (Optional) and Hem the Pants

Just like our two separate waistbands, it’s great to have everyone back
together for this final step. It’s time to put the finishing touches on our new
perfectly fitting pants.
If you would like, topstitch all the side seam allowances in place. This step
isn’t necessary, but it can help your side seams lay flat and is aesthetically
pleasing. If you’re into it, keep your garment right side out, select a
medium–long straight stitch, and topstitch down each side seam. Make sure
that your seam allowances are both still facing outward and keep your
topstitching around ⅛ inch (3 mm) to the outside of the seam.
Let’s finish strong and hem these Frankensteined pants. If the spare fabric is
longer than the no-longer-too-tight pants, trim it now so it matches up with
the raw edge of your unhemmed pants. Finally, fold, iron, and hem both
pieces of the pants together as one cohesive unit (see Hemming & Hawing,
here).
At last, you can wear these pants! No more hiding them in the back of your
closet—it’s time to take them for a spin in the real world. You now have a
perfectly fitting, original pair of statement pants and plenty of scrap fabric
that you can turn into pockets, ruffles, ties, or any other buzzwords from the
project titles in this book!

At last—ketchup and mustard in pants form.

[Link]
Sleeves Please
There’s something just so fun about giving a garment new sleeves. In my
opinion, it’s the best and easiest place to add personality to a top or dress.
I adore a color-block moment, so I typically replace sleeves on my
garments to add a new color or two to my outfit. I also can’t stand super-
short sleeves (you’ll learn a lot more about my vendetta against cap sleeves
in this chapter), so I’m often looking for a way to lengthen them.
Sometimes I achieve this by adding a ruffle at the bottom, and sometimes I
just throw the whole sleeve out and create a new one (actually I save them
for scrap fabric, but that doesn’t sound as cool).
The appeal of adding new sleeves could be that you don’t love your upper
arms—yet; keep working on yourself, babe—you prefer more modest
outfits, your muscles are too amazing, or clothing manufacturers just have
not figured out how to make sleeves that don’t suffocate your upper arms.
Fair warning: Of all the things you’ll cut and sew, sleeves are probably the
most confusing. But don’t let that deter you! It’s not terribly hard to sew
sleeves, they just look weird because the opening of an armhole and the top
of a sleeve are each curved in opposite directions. When you first try to
figure out how these fit together, you might feel like a baby trying to force a
triangular block into a circular hole. But just like you did as a baby, you’ll
figure this out too, especially if you read Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves (here).
[Link]
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets
Do you have a top you love but know you’re one enthusiastic high five
away from ripping off the arm? Do you try to hunch your shoulders
and squeeze your arms in like a mischievous goblin to prevent your
chest from popping out? If so, shirt gussets are about to be your best
friend. These diamonds in the rough are added to your garment under
and along your arms to give your chest and arms some much-needed
breathing room (that diamond pun will make sense when you see the
shape of a gusset). This tutorial is designed for tops that are
uncomfortably tight in your armpits or around your upper arms or
that pull across your chest (or all three if you’re lucky!).
You don’t have to stop at adding gussets to tops, though! Gussets are
also ideal for bottoms that are too tight in the crotch and restrict
everyone’s everyday leg movements like squats and high kicks. In this
tutorial I’ll be focusing on shirt gussets, but if your pants are the
problem, you can use all these same techniques to fix them.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Your garment must have sleeves and side seams that run along the torso and
underarm. Your gussets will likely be fairly small, so this is a great scrap-
busting project! The gusset fabric should be the same type of fabric as your
garment and ideally a matching color. If you want to choose a different
color, might I suggest avoiding something that is almost identical but a
couple shades darker? Otherwise, it will look a bit like you have
permanently sweaty armpits (which, like, same).

MATERIALS
Garment with sleeves and seams
Seam ripper
Ruler or measuring tape
Paper
Scissors
Gusset fabric
Pins
Chalk or washable marker
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron
Heads-up: Make sure you’re repeating each step on your second sleeve as
you go.

Step 1: Seam Rip Along the Underarm

Try on your too-tight top inside out. Make sure to button, zip, or otherwise
close your garment the way you would normally wear it. You’ll be able to
see and feel where your top is pulling too tight. Use the pangs of pressure
and discomfort to fuel you through this project.
Take your garment off and begin seam ripping in the armpit at the cross
section where the sleeve and underarm/side seams meet. When I refer to the
sleeve seam, I mean the seam that wraps over your shoulder and attaches
your entire sleeve to the torso. When I refer to the underarm seam, I mean
the straight seam that runs along the bottom of your sleeve from the armpit
to the hem of the sleeve. The underarm seam eventually turns into the side
seam on the garment’s torso. If you were driving along the underarm seam,
your GPS would interrupt your music to tell you, “When you arrive at the
sleeve seam, continue straight,” and suddenly you’ve missed the beat drop
and you’re driving on the side seam.
As a jumping-off point, I recommend seam ripping the underarm seam 2
inches (5 cm) above the sleeve seam and the side seam 1 inch (2.5 cm)
below the sleeve seam. This is of course assuming you haven’t already
accidentally ripped the underarm seams open with a single misplaced arm
movement (don’t worry; we’ve all done it).
Try your garment back on. If your pits are comfy and the chest isn’t pulling,
congrats, you’re done seam ripping! If things are still too tight in places,
take your garment off and continue seam ripping a bit at a time until you’re
comfortable.
Once your armpits are free and in the breeze, stop for a moment to consider
the question “Could this be the new cold-shoulder top?”

Step 2: Make Your Gusset Pattern

With your seam-ripped garment on, grab a ruler in your dominant hand and
place your nondominant hand on your head. Now pat your head and rub
your tummy. Kidding. Unless you want to. This act will reveal an open
diamond shape that should resemble a kite in your armpit. The horizontal
points of the kite are where your underarm/side seams meet the sleeve
seam, and the vertical points are the ends of your seam ripping along the
underarm and side seams.
Grab a ruler and measure the distance between the two horizontal points.
Pay close attention to whether the kite’s seam allowance has unfolded itself
and is now visible. We’re measuring from the points where the
underarm/side seams were originally stitched together, not the raw edge of
the seam allowance. Jot down this measurement and take your garment off.
Let’s make our pattern! Grab a piece of paper like printer or notebook paper
(you can of course use official pattern paper, but it’s not necessary). In the
center of the paper, draw a horizontal line that’s the distance you’ve just
measured. Draw a mark in the exact center of this line.
Now we need to measure the kite’s vertical opening. Holding your open
seam closed along the vertical line, measure the distance from the sleeve
seam to the point your underarm seam reconnects. On your pattern, draw a
vertical line this length up from the center of the horizontal line. Now
repeat this process, this time measuring the distance from the sleeve seam
allowance down to where the side seam reconnects. Draw a vertical line this
length down from the center of the horizontal line.
Let’s play connect the dots to make our kite. Using a straightedge, draw
four diagonal lines to connect the adjacent tips of your cross.
A gusset pattern. The vertical line is the height of our sleeve opening, and the horizontal line is the
width. The dotted lines are where we will sew our seams, and everything outside of these lines is the
seam allowance.

Now we need to add seam allowance. Measure the width of your garment’s
seam allowance and add lines this distance to both ends of the horizontal
line. Because of geometry and mathematical theories (I assume), we can’t
just add the same seam allowance to each end of our vertical line—it won’t
be long enough.
To avoid understanding the math myself, we’re going to work around this.
Line up the butt of a ruler with the outside of one of the four diagonal lines
you drew. Measure and mark the seam allowance distance on two points
along this line. Then, place your ruler through these two marks and the tip
of the closest horizontal line, and draw a long straight line connecting them.
Repeat this on all four sides of the diamonds. Make sure you draw these
lines nice and long so they’re able to intersect above and below your kite
drawing. Now your seam allowances are all equal width and none of us had
to learn geometry!
Cut out your paper kite along the four outside lines. Feel free to cut multiple
in case you have a tiny animal that would look adorable in a photoshoot
pretend-flying a kite.
Whew, that was a lot of measuring and drawing straight lines. I applaud you
sticking it out. Things can only get more exciting from here!

Step 3: Prepare the Gussets

Grab your gusset fabric, fold it in half, and pin it together in a few places to
keep it in position while you cut. Pin or trace your paper kite onto your
fabric and cut through both fabric layers, creating two identical kites of
fabric.
On the wrong side of both fabric kites, we’re going to mark the seam
allowance. I like to do this by laying my pattern on top of the fabric and
grabbing four pins. Stick the pins in each of the four tips of the smaller kite
drawing so they go through the paper and into the fabric. Then slowly
remove the paper pattern, keeping the four pins in place, and voilà! You’ve
marked the four points you’ll need to match up with the open diamond on
your garment.
Turn your garment inside out and grab one fabric kite (gusset). We’ll use
the pins we put in our gusset to pin it to the garment. With right sides
touching, pin just one of your kite’s horizontal points to one of your
garment’s horizontal points. The raw edge of your kite should line up with
the raw edge of your garment’s seam allowance. Make sure your kite is
facing the correct direction so the length of the sides matches the length of
the open seam.
Next, pin the vertical points on the gusset and garment together. Continue
pinning the kite to your garment’s seam along one side—underarm seam
and side seam. I like to use different colored pins for the points to serve as a
warning to my sewing machine not to dare sew past these points.
I used my long yellow pins to mark the sewing guides on the corners, and used smaller pins to hold
the rest of the seam together.

Step 4: Sew the Gusset

Once you’ve finished pinning half of your gusset to your garment from
vertical point to vertical point, we’re off to the sewing machine! Select a
short–medium straight stitch and line up your needle with the pin on the top
point of your kite. Backstitch at the beginning, then continue sewing a
straight line to the horizontal point, ensuring you’re sewing at the seam
allowance you measured in Step 3.
At the horizontal point, keep your needle through your fabric, lift your
presser foot and turn your garment so you’re ready to stitch straight down
the next side. Lower your presser foot and continue sewing until you reach
the pin at the bottom tip and backstitch.
Remove your garment from the machine so that we can pin and sew the
next side of the gusset. Repeat the exact same process of pinning and
sewing on the other half of the gusset.
Once all four sides of the gusset are sewn to the garment, finish the seams
(Finishing Seams, here). If the vertical seam allowance on your gussets is a
bit long, feel free to trim off any excess before finishing the seams.

Step 5: Restrengthen Your Garment’s Seams

Let’s ensure we haven’t left any tiny open holes between the top and bottom
of our gusset and the garment’s original seams.
Flip your garment so the wrong side of your gusset is lying down on your
sewing machine and your garment’s side seam is facing up. Select a short–
medium straight stitch. Line up your needle with the last ½ inch (1.3 cm) of
stitching on your garment’s original seam. This seam should be perfectly in
line with the gusset’s seam. Backstitch and sew along the garment’s seam
and continue sewing straight along the first ¼ inch (6.5 mm) of the gusset
seam and backstitch. Repeat this process at the other end of the gusset.
At last, you can enjoy the comfort of wearing a top and having full range of
motion in your arms—revolutionary! This garment is officially ready for
you to stretch your arms above your head and go fly a kite.
[Link]
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves
Oh, cap sleeves. How you’ve made so many of our upper arms so
uncomfortable. If you lived through the early 2000s, you felt the wrath
of the cap sleeve. In the fight to end fashion waste, it can make things
tricky when you’re staring down the barrel of nothing but cap-sleeved
shirts and dresses at the thrift store. As vindicated as many of us might
feel seeing these all end up in the trash (incidentally the same way the
sleeves made me feel at age 14), it’s time for us to practice forgiveness
and give these tops a second shot at life.

LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Any garment with the dreaded cap sleeve! There’s a good chance you’re
using a cap-sleeved T-shirt, so this may be your chance to finally try sewing
knits. If you’re worried about wonky seams, consider adding fusible woven,
nonwoven, or knit interfacing along your seam allowance. For your new
sleeves, you can go for broke with colors and patterns! I personally love
contrasting sleeves, so this is a great chance to play with different colors
and fabric finishes (shiny, matte, etc.); just make sure that if your shirt is
woven, the sleeve is woven. Sleeves always take more fabric than you
think, so for each sleeve, grab fabric around 1½ feet (0.5 m) wide and 1 foot
(0.3 m) long.

MATERIALS
Cap-sleeved garment
Garment with a sleeve length you like
Seam ripper
Scissors
Chalk or washable marker
Pins
Iron
Ruler or measuring tape
Fabric of the same material as your garment
Thread
Sewing machine

Step 1: Seam Rip the Sleeves off the Garment

Grab your cap-sleeved garment and a garment that has the sleeve length
you’d prefer. Lay the cap-sleeved garment flat on top of the good-sleeved
garment, matching up the armpit seams of the sleeves. Using the bottom
seam of your sleeve as a guide, measure the distance from the bottom of
your cap sleeve to the bottom of the good sleeve. Write this measurement
down and save it for Step 2. Your good-sleeved garment has now served its
purpose and can be returned to your closet/the chair that you pile all your
clothes on.
Now take your cap-sleeved garment, curse it one final time, and then let out
a long breath as you release your anger toward it. All is about to be
forgiven.
Grab your scissors and turn your garment inside out. We’re going to snip
the sleeve seam in three places to use as guides when we attach the new,
better sleeve. Snip the seam allowances at the top of the sleeve and roughly
halfway down each side. Make sure not to cut the seam itself.
Seam rip the cap sleeves off the torso (see Let ‘Er Rip, here). We are going
to use these original sleeves as a pattern, so it’s important to resist all urges
to mangle them and instead keep them fully intact. There are a couple
different types of seams you’ll encounter with cap sleeves. Some sleeves
are first attached to the body of the garment with a straight stitch. Then the
seam allowance is overlocked and topstitched into place. If this is the case
for you, I recommend first seam ripping the topstitching, then the straight
stitch, and finally the overlocking.
If the garment is a stretchy T-shirt, there’s a good chance that the sleeve is
attached to the body of the garment exclusively with an overlocking stitch.
You’ll see this often with fast-fashion garments where the focus is quantity
over quality. The silver lining is that it’s quicker to undo, especially if the
seam has already started unraveling itself as is wont to happen with fast
fashion.

Once you’ve seam ripped the sleeve from the shirt, rip the underarm seam
open as well so the sleeve can lay flat.
You may encounter a bit of a bird’s nest where your torso side seam meets
the sleeve seam. A sleeve is typically sewn by first finishing the seam
around the shoulder opening, then sewing together the torso side seam and
the underarm seam of the sleeve in one fell swoop. Seam rip the sleeve’s
underarm seam (which is typically all of ½ inch [1.3 cm] long on a cap
sleeve).
When you get to the point where that seam turns into the side seam of the
torso, you may need to jump in there with some scissors and just snip the
sleeve free from the side seams that bind it. Sometimes trying to seam rip
that intersection of multiple seams can lead to more destruction than a little
snip will.

Step 2: Cut Out Your New Sleeves

Once your sleeves are free, you’ll probably feel a knot or two in your body
free up as well. This is your body releasing its past resentment toward this
garment.
Choose one of your cap sleeves to use as a pattern to create your new
sleeves. I recommend marking with some chalk or pins which side of the
sleeve attaches to the front of the shirt. The curve of a sleeve is slightly
different in the front and back, and if you’re like me, you always forget
which is which when it comes time to attach sleeves.
I also recommend ironing your sleeve flat. In some cases, your sleeve’s
seams have been attached for years, so they’re about as folded and creased
as my back after an entire day of sewing. Before you iron it flat, make sure
you measure the seam allowance of the underarm seam and jot this down.
We’ll need to replicate this seam allowance on the new sleeve in Step 3.
Grab the fabric you’ve chosen to become your new sleeves. Fold this fabric
in half with the right sides touching so we can cut out both new sleeves at
once. It’s best practice to pin both sides together in a few places so it
doesn’t slip around while you’re tracing and cutting. Place your now-flat
cap sleeve on top of your fabric. With chalk or a marker, trace all sides of
your cap sleeve except the bottom hem onto your fabric.
Next, we need to extend the length of the pattern so we can make the proper
sleeve that your arms always deserved! Take your measurement from Step 1
and make sure to calculate any additional length you’ll need to add to create
your hem (see Hemming & Hawing, here).
Using your ruler, extend the tiny line that was the underarm seam of your
cap sleeve. The length of this line should now be:
Underarm seam length + distance from Step 1 + hemming allowance
This line should follow the same angle of the side of your original cap
sleeve unless this sleeve was too tight. If this is the case, you can increase
the angle of your new line. Just make
sure this new line is still angled in—if it becomes straight up and down or
angled out, you’ll be creating an entirely different sleeve style. That’s not to
say you can’t do it, but I won’t be teaching it, so you’ll be fending for
yourself.
Once you’ve extended your line on each side, use your ruler to draw a line
connecting the bottoms of each of these lines. Your cap sleeve’s hem likely
curved upward, but since we’re making an anti–cap sleeve, your hem
should either be straight or curved slightly downward. You could get out a
compass to make a perfect curve, but I got rid of mine after fifth grade
math, so I just eyeball my curves.
Now cut out your new sleeves! Once you’ve cut them out, locate the three
places you snipped the original sleeve’s seam allowance. Make small cuts
on your new sleeves in those exact same places.

Step 3: Prepare Your Sleeves

Let’s get sewing! For this section, make sure you’re repeating every step on
the second sleeve.
Take one of your new sleeves and fold it in half with the right sides
touching. Line up the two underarm seams and pin them together. Using a
short–medium straight stitch, sew this seam using the seam allowance
measurement from Step 2. Finish this seam allowance in the method of your
choice (see Finishing Seams, here).
Now you’re ready to hem your sleeve (see Hemming & Hawing, here). I
always tend to leave this step until the end because I find hemming boring,
but this is one of those great moments to learn from my shortcomings. It’s
so much easier to hem a sleeve when it’s not attached to the rest of your
garment, so heed my warning and hem it now.
The scrap fabric I used for my new sleeve was already hemmed, so
technically I “hemmed” the sleeve before finishing the side seams. What
can I say? I’m a rebel.

Step 4: Pin and Sew Your New Sleeves to Your Garment

Let’s attach this new proper-length sleeve to your garment and finally let
your scorned soul rest.
Your garment should be inside out, and your sleeves should be right side
out. Put your sleeve into the armhole so the right sides of your sleeve and
garment are touching. It should look like your jacket when you’re trying to
throw it on in a hurry but you can’t put your arm through because the
sleeve’s facing the wrong way.
Match up the side seam of your garment with the underarm seam of your
sleeve and pin them together. Next, match up and pin together the three cuts
on your sleeve with the three cuts on your garment’s seam allowance. With
your anchor points in place, continue pinning your sleeve around the
perimeter of the armhole. Then switch over to your sewing machine.
Oh hey!
If you’ve never attached a sleeve before, you may be very confused as to
why the armhole is concave while the sleeve curve is convex. This confusion
is very normal, but I promise these pieces fit together even if it doesn’t look
like they do. Just go one inch (2.5 cm) at a time matching up and pinning
the edges of the sleeve and armhole, and you’ll be amazed to see that they
perfectly match up in the end.
You’ll likely need to remove the front piece of your sewing machine so you
can slide your whole sleeve around the machine. Using a short–medium
straight stitch, sew around the perimeter of the sleeve. On the shoulder
opening of your garment, you should be able to see where the original
sleeve was attached. Follow this line with your stitching to replicate the
original seam allowance. Finally, finish your seam allowance using either
an overlocker or zigzag stitch.
As always, best practice is to give your new seam a final press with your
iron. When ironing, your seam allowance should be facing in toward the
center of your shirt. This will help your sleeve lie properly.
Do you feel that? That’s the feeling of the top of your arm no longer being
pinched. It feels good, doesn’t it?
[Link]
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves
I’ll never forget the time I went to the four-story Forever 21® in Times
Square with my mom. I was in college on Staten Island and in need of
some new clothes. I was 19 years old, peak Forever 21 demographic.
Just one problem—I was also a U.S. size 14. My mom and I hunted the
racks for anything in my size—across four floors—and came up with
nothing. Finally on the bottom floor we discovered a literal corner of
the store with a hanging neon sign: Plus Size. Four stories and a single
corner for plus size.
Technically speaking, clothes exist for every size. But the pickings can
be extremely slim depending on your size. Sure, there are clothes that
fit you, but do they do anything to convey your personality or style? Or
are they all just variations on a single style that the clothing
manufacturer decided to grade to your size?
If you’re sick of boring clothes, adding ruffles could be just the cure.
They’re the perfect way to add a design element to a dull shirt or
lengthen a pair of shorts that are causing chub rub. We’ll focus on
adding ruffles to your sleeves in this tutorial, but it’s easy to adapt this
method to literally anything in need of the ol’ razzle dazzle.
LEVEL
Intermediate

SUGGESTED FABRIC
Your ruffle fabric will need to be several inches wide and a lot longer than
you first expect; you’ll get these measurements in Step 2. As always, the
extra fabric should be a similar type to your garment. The sturdier the
fabric, the more structured a ruffle you can create! You’ll need two spools
of thread for this project—one that matches your garment and one that
contrasts with it completely.

MATERIALS
Top in need of more exciting sleeves
Ruffle fabric
Ruler or measuring tape
Chalk or washable marker
Scissors
Pins
Iron
Seam ripper
Thread (two different colors)
Sewing machine

Step 1: Pick Your Shirt and Fabric

Which of your shirts or dresses is makeover ready? This could be a

sleeveless top or one with existing sleeves that need a bit of length or flair
(or both) at the bottom.
When selecting your fabric for your ruffles, as always, you’ll want
something that is a similar type to your garment. As for the color or pattern,
it’s entirely up to you! You decide if you want the ruffle to be the feature
presentation or a supporting character. The main thing to look for in your
fabric is length. Ruffles take a lot more fabric than you expect, just like
sewing always takes much longer than you bargain for.
My preferred method for fabric matching is to grab a top that’s at least a
foot longer than you’d like. Then chop off the bottom, following Let’s Crop
About It (here), and repurpose that fabric for matching ruffles. That’s what I
did for this example!
The other important thing to consider is the wrong side of your ruffle fabric.
Ruffles create lots of peaks and valleys, meaning there’s a strong possibility
the wrong side of your fabric will be visible in some places, especially if
you’re adding this to a sleeveless top. Lots of fabrics that have a design
screen-printed on the right side are just plain white on the wrong side. If the
white is going to totally clash with your garment, best to give the fabric a
pass for this project.

Step 2: Determine Your Ruffle Size

Now let’s play mathematician and collect some measurements so we can
cut out two fabric rectangles to turn into ruffles.
With your garment laid down, measure the circumference of your sleeve
opening. You can use a tape measure to measure all the way around the
sleeve’s hem by lining up the end of the tape with the underarm seam
allowance and measuring around until you’re back at the seam.
Alternatively, lay your sleeve flat with one side on top of the other and use
a ruler to measure from one side of the sleeve to the other, then multiply
this measurement by two. The width of your final ruffle needs to be twice
as long as your sleeve circumference to allow for maximum gathering, so
we’ll multiply the total circumference by two. Finally, add 1 inch (2.5 cm)
to this measurement to account for a ½ inch (1.3 cm) seam allowance on
each end. This will be the length of the rectangle of fabric we’re about to
cut.
(Circumference of sleeve opening x 2) + 1 inch (2.5 cm)
Next, decide how long you’d like the ruffle to be. You may want to put your
garment on, look in the mirror, and visualize your ideal length. Personally, I
like a 2-inch (5-cm) ruffle added to the bottom of a sleeve and a 3-inch (8-
cm) ruffle added to a sleeveless top. But you’ve spent enough of your life
letting clothing manufactures dictate what you wear, so don’t take my word
for it—make the ruffle length whatever your heart truly desires. In your
final measurement for the length of your ruffle, you need to account for
seam allowance and a hem, both of which we’ll need an extra ½ inch (1.3
cm) for. If you’re doing the math, you’ll realize we’ll be making a narrow
hem for this ruffle. The width of your fabric rectangle should be:
Desired length of ruffle + 1 inch (2.5 cm)
Your fact-finding mission is complete—you’re ready to cut out your fabric
rectangles. Fold your ruffle fabric in half lengthwise and draw a rectangle
that is the length and width we just calculated. Pin your folded fabric in
several places so it all stays in place while you cut it out. Speaking of
which, cut it out! Your fabric rectangles, that is.

Step 3: Iron the Rectangles’ Hems

Before we do anything else, we’re going to partially create the hem on the
bottom long edge of the rectangle. By that I mean we’re going to iron the
hem in place, but we won’t pin or stitch it yet. While you may think you can
skip this step, I promise it will be so much more annoying to do this later.
With the rectangle lying flat and the wrong side up, take one of the long
edges and fold over ¼ inch (6.5 mm) of fabric and iron it in place (see Let’s
Get One Thing Straight, here). Now for some déjà vu: fold this ironed edge
over another ¼ inch (6.5 mm) and iron it in place.
That’s it for now—no sewing the hem in place yet. So why did we do this?
Eventually, you are going to have to hem this ruffle, and it’s a lot more
difficult to iron a hem once one side of the rectangle is gathered. The hem
isn’t going to stay exactly in place without sewing it, but the pre-ironed
folds will make a world of difference when it does come time to sew.
Now let’s decide if we’re going to finish the other long edge of your
rectangle now or later (no, not finishing it at all is not an option). Because
you’ll be attaching this ruffle to your already hemmed garment, you need to
decide whether you want to leave your sleeve’s current hem intact or seam
rip it open so it lays flatter and doesn’t create a bulky seam. I always just
leave the original hem intact because I’m a lazy sewist, but you don’t need
to follow my example! If you want to seam rip the original hem of your
garment, go ahead and do that now (Let ‘Er Rip: Seam Ripping, here), and
then finish the seam in Step 7. If you’re like me and want to keep the
garment’s hem intact, finish out this step.
Using a zigzag or overlocking stitch, finish the long edge of the rectangle
that we didn’t just “hem” (Finishing Seams, here).

Step 4: Baste the Rectangles

Time to start creating the gathers! There are a few different methods to
create gathers, but I’m going to teach you the one I find to be the easiest
and most reliable. If your definition of basting revolves around a
Thanksgiving turkey, you may be confused when I tell you we’re going to
baste this rectangle. In sewing, basting is when we sew with our longest
stitch with the intention of removing this stitching later. Basting is typically
used to loosely hold together two pieces of fabric before finalizing the
stitching in a later step (so technically we could have basted the hem in Step
3, but I’m trying to keep the annoying steps to a minimum, and it’s really
not going to make much of a difference).
We’re going to use basting a bit differently for this tutorial. Select a thread
that is a completely different color than your garment, then set your
machine to a straight stitch with the longest possible stitch length. We’re
going to seam rip this thread out later, so don’t worry about anyone
witnessing the clash!
Lay your rectangle on your sewing machine with the unhemmed long edge
lined up with the right side of your presser foot. It doesn’t matter if the
wrong or right side is facing up. Start sewing as close as you can to the
short edge of the rectangle without getting the fabric stuck in your sewing
machine. Do not backstitch. We’re going to be pulling on these threads to
create the gathers, so the beginning and end need to remain as untethered as
a 20-something man whose ex-girlfriends are all “crazy.”
Sew a straight line all the way to the other end of the rectangle. When you
get to the other end, pull your fabric away from your sewing machine until
you have at least 3 inches (8 cm) of top and bobbin thread tailing behind
your rectangle, then snip the thread.

Now for round two déjà vu—Déjà Vu: Electric Boogaloo. We’re going to
sew an identical line of stitching immediately to the left of the first line.
Line up your first row of stitching with the right side of the presser foot and
replicate the entire stitching and thread-tail process.

Step 5: Gather the Rectangles

Now enough with the prep work, it’s time to get our hands dirty! (That’s a
figure of speech. If you have dirty hands, please wash them before touching
your fabric.)
Just like any stitch, your basting stitches are made up of stitching from your
top thread and your bobbin thread. We need to ensure that the tails of the
top threads are on top of the fabric and the tails of the bobbin threads are
underneath the fabric. If your top and bobbin threads are on the same side
of your fabric, grab your seam ripper and ever so gently use it to pull up on
the last stitch of the row to pull one of the tails to the other side of the
fabric.
Finally, let’s gather! On one end of your rectangle, take the two top thread
tails and tie them together in a knot. On the other end of the rectangle take
the two bobbin thread tails and tie them together in a knot.
This may be difficult for all you Speed Racers because this step should be
taken slowly. With one hand, hold on to one set of tied threads. Get your
other hand prepped for the assist by pinching the fabric next to the tied
threads with your thumb and index finger. Gently pull the tied threads while
using your other hand to shimmy the fabric away from the tied threads.
Sorry to sound like your mom, but you need to be gentle during this process
so as not to pull too hard and break the thread. However, if one of your
threads breaks, that’s OK! You can actually gather your fabric with a single
line of basting, but the second line acts as insurance if one thread breaks.
Once you’ve managed to gather about half of the length of your fabric
rectangle, you can start gathering from the other end. You can do all the
gathering from just one side, but I find it easier to gather from both and
meet in the middle. Your gathering is complete when the gathered edge is 1
inch (2.5 cm) longer than the length of your sleeve’s circumference. It’s OK
if your gathers aren’t evenly spaced at this point—we’ll adjust them in the
next step.

Step 6: Finish Your Ruffle Prep

Pin the short edges of the gathered rectangle together with the right sides
touching. Switch out the thread in your machine to one that matches your
garment. Using a short–medium straight stitch, sew the sides together with
a ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam allowance, backstitching at the beginning and end.
Make sure the thread tails from your gathering are extended over the seam
allowance as you sew so as not to tangle them in your stitching. Once the
seam is stitched together, you can trim your thread tails short. Finish this
seam with a zigzag or overlocking stitch.
Then we’re ready to even out the gathers. There’s not an exact science to
spacing your gathers, and if there is, I don’t want to know. We’re just going
to eyeball this. Slide your ruffles along your threads to evenly spread them
out along the circumference of the ruffle.
Now it’s time to choose your own adventure. Maybe not as exciting as
choosing which monster you’ll follow in a Goosebumps book, but you at
least get to choose if you’re going to hem your rectangle or attach your
gathers to your sleeve first. A pro for hemming first is that it’s always easier
to hem a sleeve when it doesn’t have a garment attached to the other end. A
pro for attaching the gathers first is that you don’t risk the gathers getting
loose or wonky while you sew the hem.
To finish the hem, refold the fabric following the creases we ironed earlier,
pin them in place, and edgestitch the hem in place with a medium straight
stitch. If you need a refresher, head back to Hemming & Hawing (here).
Alternatively, visit Step 7 and sew your gathers in place before returning
here for the hemming.

Step 7: Pin and Sew Your Ruffle to Your Garment

With your garment right side out, turn your ruffle inside out and line up the
gathered edge of your ruffle with the edge of your sleeve opening. The right
sides should be touching, and the body of your ruffle should be wrapped
around your sleeve, not hanging below it. If your garment doesn’t have
sleeves, line up the side seam of the ruffle with the underarm or armpit
seam. Pin the ruffle to the sleeve starting at the seams, then continue
pinning all the way around the sleeve’s perimeter.
Once more to the sewing machine with feeling. Place your sleeve around
your sewing machine with the ruffles facing up. Select a short–medium
straight stitch and place your needle ½ inch (1.3 cm) in from the
ruffle/garment edge.
Now we’re ready to sew around the circumference of the sleeve and ruffle!
Yet again, I recommend going slowly with this step. When
I first started sewing ruffles, I’d find that my presser foot would push all the
gathers forward as I sewed, leaving me with long stretches of no gathers
and then suddenly boom!—all the gathers shoved into one section. To
prevent this, use your fingers to hold the gathers in place as you gently push
your fabric through your machine. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning
and end and avoid sewing over the thread you used to gather the ruffle. It’s
not the end of the world if you stitch over these, but we’ll be seam ripping
these out imminently and it’s so irritating to do when your other stitching
overlaps.
Speak of the devil, it’s time to seam rip out the gathering stitches. If you
listened to my instructions at the beginning, you’ll be so grateful you
stitched with a contrasting color, making it easy to identify the stitching you
should remove. If you didn’t, well, then what did we learn?

Finally, one last stitch and we’re done! (Except for the fact that you
probably now need to repeat all of this on the other side of your garment.) If
you kept your garment’s hem intact and finished the raw edge of your ruffle
in Step 3, you need to add a second line of stitching along the seam
allowance. On your sewing machine, place your needle about ¼ inch (6.5
mm) to the side of your seam so it’s on the seam allowance. Use a medium
straight stitch to sew again around the circumference of your seam
allowance, backstitching at the beginning and end.
If you instead chose to seam rip your garment’s hem in Step 3, sew your
garment and ruffle seam allowance together with a zigzag or overlocking
stitch (Finishing Seams, here).

Step 8: Iron Your Seams

I know, I know; you did so much prep work for this project and you’re
ready to be finished. Just one small piece of post-work and we’re done! We
just need to iron the seam allowance so your ruffle lies correctly.
Turn your garment inside out, place your sleeve around the end of your
ironing board, and fold your seam allowance away from your ruffle. Iron
your seam allowance to this side along the ruffle’s circumference. Try to
avoid pressing on the actual gathers too much, as ruffles are meant to be
wild and free, not caged (or pressed in place).
You are also welcome to go one step further to keep your ruffle’s seam flat.
For this option, keep your seam allowance folded away from the ruffle and
turn your garment right side out. Use a medium–long straight stitch to
topstitch your seam allowance to your garment about ¼ inch (6.5 mm) up
from the seam. That said, this has been a long tutorial, and your ruffle will
be just fine if you don’t do this final step.
At last, we are finished giving your garment some much-needed personality
(as soon as you repeat all the steps on the other side). I challenge you to add
ruffles to the hems of as many boring garments as you can and really ruffle
the feathers of the fashion industry.
[Link]
Pick a Pocket or Two
Sometimes I make really clever jokes about altering clothes. Other times,
I’m just mad that the need to alter exists. Case in point: pockets. Why.
Don’t. Women. Have. Them. Luckily, I’ve spent years perfecting my pocket
game, and I’m here to bestow that knowledge upon you.
The reality is that pockets are quite easy to add to clothing. I know it’s
unfair that we have to do it ourselves, but think of the benefits! Our pockets
can be the exact shape and size we want—no more hoping our phones
won’t fall to the floor and smash. They can be any color or pattern we
desire, perfectly conveying our personality to the world. They can sit
exactly where we need them—no more awkwardly bending our arms for
pockets that are too high on our jackets.
By the end of this chapter, you’ll have so many pockets you won’t have a
clue which one you left your phone, keys, wallet, sunglasses, spare pen,
doggy bags, receipts, lip gloss, or seam ripper in. I don’t know about you,
but I’m going to lose all these things with or without pockets, so I’d rather
have enough pockets to take on the patriarchy while I do it.

[Link]
The Outsider: External Pockets
In my opinion, external pockets are the easiest pocket type to add to
your clothing. There’s no seam ripping, facing, or cutting of your
garment required—almost all of the work takes place before even
touching your garment. You can add external pockets well and truly
anywhere you want—pants, skirts, dresses, shirts, sleeves. You can even
sew one to your pet’s clothes if you are truly passionate about pocket
equality.
LEVEL
Confident Beginner
SUGGESTED FABRIC
100 percent of this pocket will be visible, so fabric choice is important. Do
you want it to stand out with highly contrasting colors as a blazing emblem
of the injustice that none of your clothes came with pockets? Or do you
want to fly under the radar, quietly plotting your overthrow of the patriarchy
with fabric that blends in with the rest of the garment? The fabric should be
woven, sturdy, and thick. Its entire purpose is to hold all our necessities in
place, so thin, stretchy fabrics won’t cut it here.

MATERIALS
Pocketless clothing
Pocket fabric
Ruler or measuring tape
Chalk or washable marker
Scissors
Iron
Thread
Sewing machine
Chopstick or similar-shaped object
Pins

Pocket (shape) options!

Step 1: Pick, Measure, and Cut Your Pocket

Let’s pick our pocket type and size! The mainstay shapes of the external
pocket game are rectangles, pentagons, and hexagons, but don’t limit
yourself if you’ve been dreaming of a decagonal pocket. That said, I
personally recommend choosing from the above options when you’re just
starting out.
The two most important measurements to take when making a pocket are
the width of your hand and the height of your phone. I mean, come on,
retailers—don’t act like you’ve done women a massive service by giving us
a pocket barely deep enough to cover our phone’s camera.
I like to make the opening of my pockets 1 inch (2.5 cm) wider than the
widest part of my hand (usually the distance between your bottom knuckles
on your pinkie and thumb) and 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) taller than my
phone. I’ve learned the hard way that making a pocket as deep as possible
to make up for decades of going without doesn’t actually solve anything; it
just means you have to awkwardly dig for your phone around your knees.

Once you’ve picked your shape, height, and width, cut out however many
pockets your heart desires. Include a 1-inch (2.5-cm) seam allowance on the
opening and ⅝-inch (1.6-cm) seam allowance on all other sides. If you own
pinking shears (or alarmingly sharp kids’ crazy scissors) I recommend using
them since you typically don’t finish every raw edge of pockets.

Oh hey!
Pinking shears are scissors that cut a zigzag pattern. Woven fabrics are
made of vertical and horizontal threads, so cutting straight on the grain line
means that all the threads parallel to the cut can just slip off. This is what
fraying is. When you use pinking shears to make angled cuts, the woven
threads can’t slip off as easily.

Step 2: Create the Pocket Opening

Off to the iron! If you have a wrong side of the fabric, place that face up
and give it its only moment to shine. Grab the edge of the fabric at the top
of your pocket, fold it over ¼ inch (6.5 mm), and iron it in place (see Let’s
Get One Thing Straight, here). This baby fold is responsible for hiding the
top raw edge in our final pocket. If I were writing a self-help book, this
would be the small-change-big-impact section.
Now flip the fabric over so the right side is facing up. With the baby fold
still folded under on the opposite side, fold the new top edge of the pocket
down ¾ inch (1.9 cm) and iron it in place. Your baby fold will now be at the
very bottom of this new fold.
Now we need to secure these folds in place, which is the same thing I say
when I put on rigid jeans over my stomach rolls. On your sewing machine,
line up your needle with the top of the pocket, ⅝ inch (1.6 cm) in from the
side. Using a medium straight stitch, sew a straight line down from the top
of the pocket to the bottom of the fold. Repeat this on the other side. It’s
OK if you sew a couple stitches beyond the bottom of the fold—this can
actually be helpful for what’s to come.
Time to turn these right side out! To make the top corners of our pocket nice
and sharp, we need to clip the corners at the very top of our seam
allowance. At the top of the pocket, make an angled cut that begins 1 to 2
millimeters to the outside of the stitches and extends to the fabric’s outer
edge. The cut should end roughly at the bottom of the folds. Avoid snipping
any of the stitches or you will be left with some tiny holes in the top corners
of your pockets. We clip the corners of the seam allowance so that our
pocket corners will be flat and sharp when they’re turned right-side out,
instead of bulky.
Now fold the top of the pocket right-side out. You’ll see the side seam
allowance naturally starts to turn under as well (this is where having those
extra stitches below the fold can help as a little folding guide).
Now the top of our pocket should look almost complete, but it probably has
some inward-turned corners. We want the corners to be as sharp as a good
cheddar, so we need to use a small object to poke out the corners. I typically
use a narrow chopstick or the tip of an unclicked ballpoint pen. Something
too thin and sharp like a seam ripper will poke a hole in your corner.
With that, you officially have the top of your pocket—congrats, babe!

Step 3: Fold and Iron the Pocket Sides

Now we need to get the other sides of the pocket ready. Luckily, this is
much simpler than prepping the opening.
With the wrong side of the pocket facing up, fold all remaining sides in ⅝
inch (1.6 cm) and iron them in place. Unlike the opening, we only need to
fold the edges in once—no extra baby folds. I don’t know who decided it’s
standard practice to keep the inside pocket edges raw, but my lazy bones
thank them.

Step 4: Topstitch the Top of Your Pocket

One last step before we’re ready to attach the pocket to our clothes! We
need to completely secure the top folds of the pocket opening. Topstitch
across the opening fold, sewing as close as you can to the bottom edge of
the fold.
Place your pocket on your machine wrong side up and line up your needle
with the bottom fold of your pocket opening. Select a medium-long stitch
length and edgestitch along the entire fold, backstitching at the beginning
and end. It’s imperative you do this before attaching the pocket to your
garment. If you try to do this when the pocket is on your garment, you’ll
end up sewing the pocket shut and participating in fake pockets, and is that
really the side of history you want to be on?
This is also the time that you can add any decorative stitching to your
pocket if you’re fancy or have been dying to test the embroidery stitches on
your sewing machine.

Step 5: Pin Your Pocket to Your Garment

Now we’re ready to attach the pocket to your garment and give your hand
the home it deserves! Even if you think you know exactly where you want
the pocket, make sure to pin it on your garment, try it on, and have a look in
the mirror. A pocket can look straight when it’s laying on a flat garment and
then surprise you by looking completely askew once your body’s curves get
involved. I have absolutely sewn pockets on super securely, looked in the
mirror after, and discovered that I was going to need to seam rip them off,
adjust the angle, and resew. Don’t be an Allie (do be an ally though).
Once you’ve got the angle right (or obtuse [Sorry, geometry joke]), finish
pinning all sides of your pocket to your garment.
Oh hey!
If you’re attaching this pocket to a stretchy garment, put on the garment,
place the pocket in your desired position and mark where each corner is
with a bit of chalk. Once you take the garment off, lay the pocket down on it
and see if the marks are narrower than the pocket. If they are, that’s fine!
Pin your pocket corners to the marks. When you’re sewing, you’ll need to
stretch your garment as you go so that the pocket lays flat on the garment.
If you just sew the pocket flat without stretching, you run the very real risk
of preventing your clothing from stretching and making it uncomfortably
tight in some places. Let’s not fix one problem just to make another!

Step 6: Sew the Pocket to Your Garment

We’re going to topstitch all the edges (except the opening, obviously). On
your sewing machine, select a medium straight stitch and line up your
needle with one of the far sides of your pocket opening. I suggest you begin
stitching ⅛ inch (3 mm) in from the side and top of your pocket.
When you reach the end of each edge with your machine, there’s no need to
completely stop and restart your sewing with a brand new line of stitching.
When you get ⅛ inch (3 mm) from the end of the line, place your needle
through your garment in the down position, lift your presser foot, turn your
garment to line up the next edge with your needle, place your presser foot
down, and keep on sewing!
You can stitch each edge just once, or double back and add a second line of
stitching roughly ⅛ inch (3 mm) away to give your pocket a stronger hold.
To do this, when you get all the way around the edges and back to the
opening, turn your pocket 90 degrees in toward the center, stitch two or
three stitches across the top of the pocket, then turn it a further 90 degrees
and start sewing along all the sides again. Finish by replicating those same
two to three stitches on the other side of the pocket. As always, backstitch at
the beginning and end.
If you opt for a single line of stitching, it’s important to reinforce the
stitching on the corners on either side of the opening. The openings of our
pockets receive a lot of action from pushing our hands and other objects
down, especially if, like me, you are always running late for your train and
shoving your keys, phone, cards, lip gloss, mascara, earrings, and a
necklace in them while flying out the door.
We’re going to sew a triangle on each side of the pocket opening to both
reinforce it and our relationship with the Illuminati. Shoot, I promised I
would stop telling people that. Once you’ve sewn around the edges and get
back to the opening, turn the pocket 90 degrees toward the center and sew
three to four stitches in toward the opening, then continue turning the
pocket another 45 degrees and sew until you hit the side stitches. Backstitch
in place, and voilà—a triangle!
Sewing the triangle on the final corner is pretty easy because we get to use
the perimeter stitch as a guide. Sewing the triangle on the first corner before
stitching the perimeter? That’s a bit trickier. The obvious solution is to mark
out the triangles with some chalk so you can just sew along the lines.
However, if you’re a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sewist like me, you can
either just wing it or return to the first corner after sewing the perimeter and
stitch in the triangle’s last two sides. I won’t tell anyone your secret.
Don’t stress if your triangles aren’t perfectly identical. Honestly, no one is
paying close attention to your pockets (unless they’re preparing to
pickpocket you, in which case do you really value their opinion?).
Whenever I sew these corners, they’re always sisters, but never twins.
At last! We have a pocket! For some of you, this could be your first one
ever. How do you feel? Ready for world domination? Good. We ride at
dawn.
[Link]
The Inside Job: Seam Pockets
Is there any greater feeling than trying on a dress that you look
incredible in and assuming it couldn’t get any better—until you place
your hands on your hips and find they slide into pockets? Actually,
finding affordable housing is a greater feeling, but let’s take what we
can get, yeah? This might make you mad knowing how many dresses
don’t come with pockets, but it’s seriously not difficult to add side seam
pockets.
My best foresight was adding seam pockets to my bridesmaid dress for
my best friend’s wedding. I found out at the rehearsal that I was
responsible for holding onto her soon-to-be-husband’s ring (no
pressure), but luckily, I had the perfect secret compartment to hold it.
Adding a side seam pocket isn’t exclusive to dresses. This same method
will work for pants, skirts, or shorts. A word of caution: this isn’t the
ideal method for jeans as they typically have a more complex side seam.
But also, jeans shouldn’t come without pockets. If they do, they should
be charged with a felony.
LEVEL
Intermediate
SUGGESTED FABRIC
As the title suggests, your pocketless garment needs to have a seam—
specifically a side seam. Your pocket should be a sturdier woven fabric so
that the pocket has the integrity to keep its shape and hold your stuff (which
is a lot more integrity than the people who keep making women’s clothes
without pockets have). This fabric will be minimally visible, so it doesn’t
need to be the matchiest of fabric to your garment. It will mostly only be
seen if you’re carrying something really heavy that pulls your seam open a
bit or if you turn your pockets out to illustrate that you have no money
because you had to spend it all on handbags.

MATERIALS
Pocketless garment with a side seam
Chalk or washable marker
Pins
Ruler or measuring tape
Scissors
Seam ripper
Pocket fabric
Thread
Sewing machine
Iron

Step 1: Open Your Seam Where Your Pocket Will Be

Try on your pocketless garment. Place your hands along the side seams in
the position that feels most comfortable when saying “Thanks, it has
pockets!” With chalk, markers, or pins, mark on the seam where the top and
bottom of your hand would enter this pocket. For this purpose, the bottom
of your hand is your lowest pinkie knuckle, and the top of your hand is your
lowest thumb knuckle.
Take your garment off. Mark 1 inch (2.5 cm) above your top mark and 1
inch (2.5 cm) below your bottom mark. This extra space is going to account
for our pocket’s seam allowance and any additional space you need to pull
your hand out when it’s balled in a fist around whatever you’re storing in
your pocket. Measure the distance between your two new marks and write it
down if you want to remember it (or don’t write it down if you want to be
scrambling for your tape measure again later like me).
Before you seam rip open the seam, use scissors to snip the seam allowance
in the same places you’ve marked the ends of your pocket. The easiest way
to line this up is to stick a pin straight through your mark on your right side,
then line up your cut with that pin on the wrong side. Don’t cut all the way
through the seam allowance to the seam. This cut is just a small mark that
we’ll use as a guide to line up our pocket patterns later.
Now seam rip open the side seam between the two marks.
Step 2: Cut Out Your Pocket Fabric
Let’s start making the pocket bag! A pocket bag looks like an ankle sock
turned 90 degrees. The ankle bit of the sock is the bit that we’ll attach to the
side seams of the garment. The foot bit of the sock is where you’ll store all
your stuff. (I’m suddenly inspired to turn all my socks into pockets.)
I’ve made a template for you based on the size of my hand and the height
and width of my phone. If your hand is the exact same size as mine, aren’t
you lucky? If it’s not, just adjust your pattern for your measurements.
Remember when I told you to write down the width of your hand? Well,
add 2 inches (5 cm) to that, and that’s how long the vertical line on your
pocket pattern needs to be:
Widest part of your hand + 2 inches (5 cm)

Yes, they do look like lungs.

The length and width of the pocket should be the size of your phone,
remembering to account for the ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam allowance that will
run the perimeter of your pocket bag. I’ve included this in my pattern.
Cut out two pieces of your pocket pattern for every pocket you’re adding.

Step 3: Attach Your Pocket to the Garment’s Seam

We’re going to add each side of the pocket bag one at a time to the garment.
With the front of your garment right side out, place one side of your pocket
bag right side down. Match up the straight line of your pocket bag with
your garment’s side seam, lining up the ends of the straight line edges of the
pocket bag with the seam allowance snips from Step 1.
If at any point you find your working space is too tight, you can seam rip
your garment’s seam open a bit further; we’ll just sew it closed later.
Using a short–medium straight stitch, stitch the pocket to the seam
allowance. Your stitch should follow exactly where the seam was originally
stitched together.
Repeat this process on the back half of the garment. On the back half of the
pocket bag only, sew another line of straight stitching along the seam
allowance ¼ inch (6.5 mm) away from your seam. We’re not going to
zigzag stitch or overlock this edge, so this second line of stitching is our
insurance in case your pocket starts to rip from all the heavy objects you’ll
probably start carrying around now just because you can.
Understitching on the wrong side of the pocket bag.

Step 4: Understitch the Front Piece of Your Pocket Bag

Now we’re going to understitch only the front piece of the pocket bag.
Understitching is used to keep facing or pocket fabric from revealing itself
to the outside world. It is a second straight stitch near a seam that prevents
the inside fabric from rolling outward. Essentially, understitching is a
secret-keeper.
To understitch, take the seam allowance of both the front pocket bag and the
garment and fold both toward the wrong side of the pocket bag. Using a
medium–long straight stitch, stitch both seam allowances to just the pocket
bag around ⅛ inch (3 mm) from the seam. I like to gently pull the two
pieces on either side of the seam apart as I understitch. This further
encourages the pocket fabric to stay hidden (can’t let the patriarchy know
we have pockets now or they’ll try to take them away).
Understitching on the right side of the pocket bag.

Oh hey!
Understitching can be used on many garments and other sewing projects—
like necklines with facing or jackets and shirts with plackets. The trickiest
thing is just remembering which side of the fabric to fold and stitch the
seam allowance to. The trick is to always fold and stitch onto the fabric that
should not be seen. We want the stitching and the inner fabric hidden from
view.

Step 5: Sew the Pocket Together

Now to sew everything together so this pocket can reach its full potential.
Put both sides of the pocket bag inside your garment, then turn the whole
garment inside out. Pin both sides of the pocket bag together with the right
sides touching. We’re going to stitch these together using a short–medium
straight stitch and a ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam allowance. Line up your needle
with the seam where the pocket bag is sewn to your garment. Continue
sewing around the entire perimeter of the bag until you reach the garment’s
side seam on the other side. Backstitch at the beginning and end.

Step 6: Finish the Seams

Let’s play doctor and stitch back up the garment seam we previously cut
open. With your garment inside out, place it on your sewing machine so the
pocket bag is to the right of the needle and all the seam allowances are
folded toward the pocket bag.
We’ll start by stitching along the garment’s original seam above the pocket.
I like to start restitching the garment seam about ½ inch (1.3 cm) above
where it’s seam ripped. This helps resecure the current seam stitches that we
weakened by ripping the rest of the seam. Using a short–medium straight
stitch, backstitch, then retrace the garment’s seam stitches exactly until you
get to your pocket bag.
When you reach the pocket bag, sew ever so slightly to the left of the
original seam allowance while giving your pocket a slight tug to the right.
This ensures that the pocket’s seam allowance doesn’t peek through to the
outside of the garment. Finish your stitch with a backstitch one or two
stitches beyond the pocket’s ½-inch (1.3-cm) seam allowance. Repeat this
process on the bottom of the pocket opening.
Now we just need to finish the seam allowance and you’ll have the pocket
of your dreams! Instead of sewing only the pocket seam allowance, I like to
finish the seam allowance starting along the last inch (2.5 cm) of the
garment’s seam allowance. This helps us keep the garment seam allowance
from unraveling now that it’s been seam ripped, and it gives us one more
way to secure the pocket to our garment.
Using a zigzag stitch or overlocker, sew along the last inch of the garment’s
seam allowance, then continue your stitch along the pocket bag seam
allowance and onto an inch (2.5 cm) of garment seam allowance on the
other side of the pocket. Backstitch at the beginning and end (see Finishing
Seams, here).
Now all that’s left is to turn your garment right side out, keeping the pocket
where it belongs inside the garment, and iron the seam flat. That and
repeating this entire process on the other side of your garment if you’re
adding a second pocket.
Put on that garment, slide your hands into those pockets, look to the skies,
and proudly proclaim, “Thanks, it has pockets!”

[Link]
 Glossary: Words You’ll Actually Use
Backstitch—A method to lock your stitching in place at the beginning and
end of sewing. Sew forward two to three stitches, then sew backward two to
three stitches, then continue sewing forward, all along the same line. You
can learn all about this in Meet Your Sewing Machine (here).
Basting—Sewing with your longest stitch length with the intention of
removing this stitching later. Basting is typically used to loosely hold
together two pieces of fabric before finalizing the stitching in a later step. It
is also used to assist in gathering fabric. You can give basting a try in
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves (here).
Bobbin—A small spool of thread that sits inside your sewing machine
below the needle. It catches the thread from the top of your machine and
holds the stitches in place. For more on winding your own bobbins, check
out here.
Clipping a Corner—Using scissors to cut a triangle of seam allowance off
a corner of fabric. This is done before turning the fabric right side out to
prevent any fabric from bulking up in the corner.
Dart—Folded fabric sewn together to create three-dimensional curves.
Often used to make garments fit better around your bust and waist. I’ll
teach you all about darts in Get This Party Darted (here) and The Real
World: Dart Edition (here).
Dart Legs—Two lines that meet in a point. These two lines are sewn
together to create a fold that makes fabric three-dimensional (a dart).
Dart Point—Where two dart legs meet at a tip.
Edgestitching—Using a straight stitch to sew as close to the edge of a
seam, hem, or fold as possible.
Facing—A separate piece of fabric used to finish a raw edge as an
alternative to hemming. Facing is sewn along the raw edge of a garment
with the right sides touching. It is then folded to the inside of the garment to
conceal the raw edge. We’ll utilize facing in Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie
(here).
Gathering—Bunching fabric together to create a ruffle or decorative
neckline, sleeve, etc. We’ll gather together to learn this in Ruffling Feathers
… and Sleeves (here).
Interfacing—A special fabric attached to the wrong side of a fabric to
make it stiffer/sturdier. It comes in fusible (iron-on) and nonfusible versions
in light, medium, and heavy weights. To learn how to add interfacing, head
on over to The (Fabric) Choice is Yours (here).
Overlocking Stitch—A stitch comprised of two to four separate threads
used to finish a raw edge. Some of the threads will create a straight stitch
and others will loop around the fabric’s edge. This stitch is only available
on an overlocker/serger, not a standard sewing machine.
Pinking Shears—Special scissors that cut a zigzag pattern. Pinking shears
are used to help prevent woven fabrics from unraveling or fraying like they
do when cut with straight scissors. To see what pinking shears look like,
check out The Outsider: External Pockets (here).
Pocket Bag—The part of your pocket that lives just inside the pocket
opening and holds all your stuff. It’s the bit of fabric you pull out to show
you don’t have any money. We’ll create and sew our own in The Inside Job:
Seam Pockets (here).
Presser Foot—A small piece of metal attached to your sewing machine that
holds the fabric flat and in place while you sew. The essential presser feet to
have on hand are the standard, zipper, and walking foot. I introduce you to
all of these feet in Meet Your Sewing Machine (here).
Quilting or Patchwork Ruler—A large, clear specialty ruler with lots of
additional markings. These rulers make it easy to measure seam allowances
and stitching lines. To cast your eyes upon one, check out Love It or Leave
It: Sewing Tools (here).
Raw Edge—An edge of fabric that has been cut or ripped, allowing the
threads that create the fabric to unravel over time.
Right Side—The side of your fabric that people will see. This could be the
side of your fabric that has a print or a coating. Solid-colored fabrics with
no special finish don’t technically have a right side; in these instances,
you’ll need to nominate one side as the right side. Just make sure you note
which side you’re selecting, as there are subtle differences in the two sides
like the direction of the weave, the sheen, or the way the raw edge rolls.
Seam—Where two or more pieces of fabric are sewn together, typically
with a straight stitch.
Seam Allowance—The distance between the seam and the edge of your
fabric. The raw edge of the seam allowance is finished with a zigzag or
overlocking stitch to help hold the seam together and prevent the fabric
from fraying. Read all about this in Finishing Seams (here).
Seam Ripper—A handheld tool with a sharp metal tip used to unpick
stitches. You’ll practice using a seam ripper first in Let ‘Er Rip (here) and
then every day you sew for the rest of your life.
Stretch Needle—A special needle designed for sewing knit fabrics. It has a
slightly rounded tip that helps prevent it from snagging or ripping knits. I’ll
give you the lowdown on sewing with knits in The (Fabric) Choice is Yours
(here).
Top Thread—The spool of thread that sits on the top of the sewing
machine. This is the thread that you will thread through your needle and see
while you’re stitching.
Topstitching—Stitching that will be visible on the right side of a garment.
Typically used to secure a hem or seam allowance.
Understitch—A straight stitch along a folded seam allowance to prevent
facing or pocket fabric from turning outward.
Walking Foot—A special presser foot used to sew through multiple layers
of fabric or bulky/tricky-to-sew fabrics. I personally love to use it for
sewing denim, waistbands, and pleather.
Wrong Side—The side of the fabric that people won’t see. This is the side
of the fabric that is not printed on or does not have a coating. In my case as
a thrift-flipper, it often also refers to the side that has stains on it. On solid-
colored fabrics, you get to choose which is the right and wrong side.
Zipper Foot—A presser foot used to sew zippers and the edges of fabric.
This foot sits directly to the left or right of your needle, allowing your
needle to get right up close to a zipper. It’s also ideal for sewing in any
tight, hard-to-reach places, zipper or no zipper!

[Link]
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri, Wadawurrung, and Bunurong
people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on
which this book was created. Aboriginal people were the first to create and
exchange knowledge on this land, and I acknowledge and thank their Elders
past and present.
Thank you to so many people:
My parents – for encouraging me through this entire process, reminding me
of what I could achieve, and understanding all the weekends I couldn’t call
because I was writing.
Kirra – for becoming far more than a photographer in this process, but also
a friend, cheerleader, and safe space. I’m so glad you complimented my me-
made shirt in Lush® that day.
My friends – for always hyping me up and liking, commenting on, and
sharing all my Instagram posts when I had no followers.
My dog Louie – for giving me kisses, understanding when I had to write
instead of take you for a walk, and being the real star of this book.
Louie’s dad – for encouraging me to take on this project when I didn’t
believe in myself.
My coworkers – for cheering me on and picking up the slack when I was
exhausted from late-night writing sessions.
All my incredible English teachers, especially Mrs. Ryan, Mrs.
Westmoreland, and Miss Lytton – for making writing a joy.
My Instagram sewing community – for creating a welcoming, encouraging
environment to share tips, successes, failures, and overwhelming
enthusiasm for this craft.
My followers – for sharing laughter, excitement, struggles, and yourselves
with me.
Sadie – for believing in me, being a support system, and making this entire
book possible.
The team at Page Street – for your incredible work, pure enthusiasm for
publishing, and most importantly, for always being understanding when I
was late replying to every email.
[Link]
About the Author

Allie has been sewing since she was a kid. Her sewing credentials include
her popular Instagram account @[Link], multiple Halloween contest
wins, costume designing for summer camp and independent theater
productions—and constant reminders from her mom that she’s a talented
sewist. While Allie is not a formally trained sewist, she has spent years
learning, failing, experimenting, and eventually succeeding.
Allie’s Instagram account gained popularity for showcasing sewing on an
average-sized curvy body, her comedic voice-overs, and her honest
approach to sewing and all the good and the bad it brings. Her Instagram
account was born from her lifelong passion for arts education. Allie
believes that sewing is for absolutely everyone, regardless of shape, size,
gender, or previous experience. Her goal is for everyone to learn how to
sew so they can hem their own pants instead of constantly asking her.
[Link]
Index
Note: the following notations indicate the recommended skill level of each
project: (B) Beginner; (CB) Confident Beginner; (I) Intermediate; (A)
Advanced.

A
advanced skill level
about
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah (A)
All Tied Up (I)
altering dresses
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding seam pockets
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
altering jumpsuits
adding elasticated waistbands
attaching ties
altering pants
adding darts
 adding seam pockets
attaching external pockets
elasticating waistbands
hemming
increasing size by adding fabric
letting out seams
taking in seams
altering shirts
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
altering shorts
adding darts
adding seam pockets
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
creating slits
elasticating waistbands
hemming
increasing size by adding fabric
letting out seams
taking in seams
altering skirts
adding darts
adding seam pockets
 adding zippers
attaching external pockets
creating slits
elasticating waistbands
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
altering tops
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
applying interfacing to fabrics
Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops (I)
author’s profile

B
backstitching
basting
beginner skill level
about
altering seams
cropping T-shirts
darts tutorial
fixing gaping buttons
 Get This Party Darted (B)
Hemming & Hawing (B)
ironing straight edges
Let It All Out (B)
Let’s Crop About It: Cropping
T-shirts (B)
Let’s Get One Thing Straight (B)
measuring and marking hems
measuring and marking straight
lines
Mind the (Button) Gap (B)
seams, altering
T-shirts, cropping
Take It All In (B)
belt loops
reattaching
seam ripping
bobbins
Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands (CB)
button-down garments, eliminating gaping

C
cap sleeves, replacing
Chaco Pen
chalk
changing presser feet
clipping corners of seams
confident beginner skill level
about
adding darts
attaching external pockets
Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands (CB)
 darts, adding
elasticating waistbands
Outsider: External Pockets, The (CB)
pockets, attaching externally
Real World: Dart Edition, The (CB)
waistbands, elasticating
cropping T-shirts

D
darts
about
in armhole openings
dart legs
dart points
dimples
Get This Party Darted (B)
measuring and marking
in pants waistbands
pinning
pressing
Real World: Dart Edition, The (CB)
sewing
troubleshooting
tutorials
tying off
dimples, dart
dresses
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding seam pockets
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
 attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams

E
edgestitching
elastic
adding, to dresses and tops
adding, to waistbands
encasing
melting ends of
types of
encasing elastic in fabric
external pockets, attaching

F
fabrics
about
interfacing
knit/stretchy
ribbed
right side of
stretchy
woven
wrong side of
facings
about
in creating slits
measuring fabric for
 pinning to garments
sewing to garments
“female” garment
finishing seams
flat head pins
flower head pins
fraying/unraveling, preventing
fusible interfacing

G
gaping button-down garments, fixing
gathering
Get This Party Darted (B)
glass head quilting pins
Grow a Pair of Pants (I)
guiding fabric while sewing
gussets

H
hemming cropped T-shirts
Hemming & Hawing (B)
Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie (I)

I
increasing garment size
by adding gussets
by combining similar garments
by creating slits
by letting out seams
Inside Job: Seam Pockets, The (I)
interfacing
intermediate skill level
 about
adding elasticated waistbands
adding gussets
adding seam pockets
All Tied Up (I)
Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops (I)
creating and attaching ruffles
creating and attaching ties
creating slits
encasing elastic
gathering ruffles
Grow a Pair of Pants (I)
gussets, adding
Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie (I)
increasing size of pants and shorts
Inside Job: Seam Pockets, The (I)
loop turning
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves (I)
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves (I)
seam pockets, adding
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets (I)
sleeves, replacing
upsizing pants and shorts
using facing for slits
ironing
along plastic zippers
altered seams
darts
hems
interfacing onto fabrics
ruffle seam allowances
sleeve seams
straight edges
irons/ironing boards

J
jumpsuits
adding elasticated waistbands
attaching ties

K
knit/stretchy fabrics

L
lengths of stitches
about
for hemming
for knit/stretchy fabrics
for zigzag stitches
Let It All Out (B)
Let’s Crop About It: Cropping
T-shirts (B)
Let’s Get One Thing Straight (B)
letting out garments
lines, marking
long stitch lengths
loop turner/turning

M
machines, sewing. See sewing
machines
“male” garment
markers, washable
marking straight lines
matching up and pinning similar
garments
measuring tapes
medium stitch lengths
melting elastic ends
Mind the (Button) Gap (B)

N
needles, stretch

O
Outsider: External Pockets, The (CB)
overlockers/overlocking stitch

P
pants
adding darts
adding seam pockets
attaching external pockets
elasticating waistbands
hemming
increasing size by adding fabric
letting out seams
taking in seams
patchwork rulers
pinking shears
pinning
additional fabric to seams
anchor fabric to waistbands
belt loops
darts
elastic encasing fabric
 external pockets
facings
gussets
hems
interfacing
and matching up similar garments
ruffles
sleeves to side seams
straight edges
ties to side seams
zippers
pins
plastic head pins
pocket bags
pockets
external, attaching
seam pockets
waistband darts and
presser feet
about
changing
standard
walking feet
zipper
pressing
along plastic zippers
altered seams
darts
hems
interfacing onto fabrics
ruffle seam allowances
sleeve seams
straight edges
profile of author
projects by name
All Tied Up (I)
Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops (I)
Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands (CB)
Get This Party Darted (B)
Grow a Pair of Pants (I)
Hemming & Hawing (B)
Inside Job: Seam Pockets, The (I)
Let It All Out (B)
Let’s Crop About It: Cropping T-shirts (B)
Let’s Get One Thing Straight (B)
Mind the (Button) Gap (B)
Outsider: External Pockets, The (CB)
Real World: Dart Edition, The (CB)
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves (I)
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves (I)
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets (I)
Take It All In (B)
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah (A)

Q
quilting pins
quilting rulers

R
raw edges
about
concealing, with facing
finishing
Real World: Dart Edition, The (CB)
reducing garment size
 by elasticating waistbands
by taking in seams
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves (I)
ribbed fabric, sewing
rippers, seam
ripping seams
about
of belt loops
of cap sleeves
of hems
inside-the-seam method
outside-of-the-seam method
overlocked seams
of sleeves
of waistbands
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves (I)
rulers

S
scissors for sewing
seam allowances
about
finishing
in hems
for letting out garments
seam rippers
seam ripping
about
belt loops
cap sleeves
hems
inside-the-seam method
 outside-of-the-seam method
overlocked seams
sleeves
waistbands
seams
clipping corners of
finishing
in knit/stretchy fabrics
unfinished
sergers
sewing machines
about
bobbins
needles
overlockers
presser feet
sergers
stitch lengths
stitch types
stretch needles
walking feet
zipper feet
sewing scissors
sewing skill levels
sewing tools
bobbins
Chaco Pen
chalk
irons/ironing boards
measuring tape
pinking shears
pins
rulers
 scissors
seam rippers
sewing machines
teacher’s chalk
thread
washable markers
shirts
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
short stitch lengths
shortening T-shirts
shorts
adding darts
adding seam pockets
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
creating slits
elasticating waistbands
hemming
increasing size by adding fabric
letting out seams
taking in seams
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets (I)
skill levels
skirts
adding darts
adding seam pockets
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
creating slits
elasticating waistbands
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
slacks. See pants
sleeves
adding gussets to
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
replacing
seam ripping
slits
spool pin
standard presser feet
step-by-step tutorials. See tutorials
stitch lengths
about
for hemming
for knit/stretchy fabrics
for zigzag stitches
stitch types
about
backstitch
basting
edgestitch
overlock
straight
 topstitch
understitch
zigzag
straight edges, ironing
straight lines, marking
straight stitch
stretch needles
stretchy fabrics

T
T-shirts, cropping
tailor’s chalk
tailor’s ham
Take It All In (B)
teacher’s chalk
thread
about
bobbin thread
thread holder
top thread
winding bobbins
threading elastic
ties
attaching to garments
cutting fabric for
determining measurements of
loop turning
sewing fabric for
tools for sewing
bobbins
Chaco Pen
chalk
 irons/ironing boards
measuring tape
pins
rulers
scissors
seam rippers
sewing machines
sewing scissors
teacher’s chalk
thread
washable markers
top thread
tops
adding darts
adding elasticated waistbands
adding zippers
attaching external pockets
attaching ruffles
attaching ties
creating slits
fixing gaping buttons
hemming
letting out seams
taking in seams
topstitching
trousers. See pants
tutorials
adding zippers
All Tied Up (I)
applying interfacing to fabrics
Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops (I)
attaching ruffles
bobbin threading
 Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands (CB)
creating darts
creating slits
Get This Party Darted (B)
Grow a Pair of Pants (I)
gussets, adding
Hemming & Hawing (B)
Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie (I)
Inside Job: Seam Pockets, The (I)
ironing straight edges
Let It All Out (B)
Let’s Crop About It: Cropping
T-shirts (B)
Let’s Get One Thing Straight (B)
marking straight lines
Mind the (Button) Gap (B)
Outsider: External Pockets, The (CB)
pockets, adding
Real World: Dart Edition, The (CB)
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves (I)
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves (I)
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets (I)
sleeves, replacing
Take It All In (B)
threading bobbins
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah (A)
tying off darts

U
understitching
unfinished seams
unraveling/fraying, preventing
upsizing garments
about
by combining similar garments
by creating slits
by fixing gaping buttons
by letting out seams

W
waistbands
adding darts to
elasticating
seam ripping
walking feet
washable markers
winding bobbins
woven fabrics
wrong side of fabrics

Z
zigzag stitch
zipper feet
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah (A)
zippers
plastic, ironing along
selecting proper length
sewing into garment
shortening
[Link]
 Thank you for buying this
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[Link]
 Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice

What We’re Doing Here

Starting Strong
You’ve Got the Skill (Level)
Love It or Leave It: Sewing Tools
The (Fabric) Choice Is Yours
Meet Your Sewing Machine
Finishing Seams
Let ‘Er Rip: Seam Ripping
Let’s Get One Thing Straight
Hemming & Hawing
Get This Party Darted
The Real World: Dart Edition

Under an Hour
Let It All Out
Take It All In
Let’s Crop About It: Cropping T-Shirts

Let’s Get Waisted

Bring It In: Elasticating Waistbands
Around the Bend: Elasticating Tops
 All Tied Up

We’re Busting Outta Here

Mind the (Button) Gap
Hips & Thighs Don’t Lie
Zipper-ty-Doo-Dah
Grow a Pair of Pants

Sleeves Please
Side Me Up: Shirt Gussets
Replacing C(r)ap Sleeves
Ruffling Feathers … and Sleeves

Pick a Pocket or Two

The Outsider: External Pockets
The Inside Job: Seam Pockets

Glossary: Words You’ll Actually Use

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
[Link]
Copyright © 2024 Allie Luecke

First published in 2024 by

Page Street Publishing Co.
27 Congress Street, Suite 1511
Salem, MA 01970
[Link]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used, in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Distributed by Macmillan, sales in Canada by The Canadian Manda Group.

eISBN: 9798890030269

Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact
the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension. 5442, or by
e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@[Link].

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023945027

Edited by Sadie Hofmeester

Cover and book design by Rosie Stewart for Page Street Publishing Co.
Photography by Kirra Jeram

[Link]