This week I am helping out at Savannahred‘s Studio.  It has been a blast.  As an untrained seamstress, I took on the extra work to work with fabrics I don’t normally use and to brush up on technique. I also got to work on plus sized clothing and work with awesome designers,

For those of you who haven’t worked on plus-sized clothes, especially tailored plus-sized clothes, there are A LOT of curves. My advice to you is ease your seams.  Most of the time you end up pinning two pieces together and one will be longer than the other.  Start pinning from the straightaway and ease around the curve like you would for an inset sleeve.   Savannahred’s curves weren’t that dangerous.  Check out what Threads Magazine had to say on princess seams.

Now for the tricky fabrics.  Somehow I was tasked with finishing the edges on some beaded lace.  Don’t try this with a serger boys and girls.  It won’t work.  The best way to finish the seams would be to do a french seam.  The second best way would be a double stitched seam.  This way you won’t have excess visible threads.  Check out what Sew Stylish Magazine has to say on finishing sheer fabrics.

One last tip.  Mind your threads.  If you unpick seams, use a lint roller to clean up before you stitch.  It will save you time later.  Clip threads as you go to avoid missing them when the garment is finished.

So I went into Octane with Em the other day. My jeans look just as good as their jeans do. Em suggested that I skinny the jeans up a bit and leave them long. I have also been experimenting with chunky topstitching.

Making skinny jeans was easier than I thought.  I did all of the alterations on the outer leg seam.  I found the point on the thigh where the jeans couldn’t be taken in and measured how wide I wanted the rest of the leg.  I used an existing pair of jeans as a template but this could easily be accomplished with a hip curve.