Sewing terms that are odd

Almost every hobby has a few technical terms that are often confusing, odd and just plain awful; sewing is no different. I guess most of the stranger terms come from times before electricity or from other languages.

One term that can be confusing is the word "baste." To cooks that means to spoon juices over a main dish while cooking it. To those who sew is means to use long straight stitches to attach one piece of fabric to another to hold those fabrics in place before permanent stitching is done. Basting is also used to produce gathers too.

A term that often makes me cringe is the word "frock." In England the word frock is used to describe a dress. In the nineteenth century the word frock was used to describe a man's hunting/riding jacket. Whenever I hear the word frock it conjurers up visuals of peasant garb of the 1700's, which is one of the original meanings of the word. The word frock is rarely used in the USA, I wonder why.

Next up is the term "overcast." To us that sew, to overcast is to sew the edges of the fabric with a whip stitch to prevent unraveling of the fabric. Overcast to non-sewing savvy people is what the weather is when it is cloudy.

Terms are also being introduced into sewing as technology progresses. Digitizing for example for those sew is what is done to turn a photo, drawing or other artwork into a digital file so that an embroidery machine can understand it and sew out a pattern from it. To those who are just artists, it means to take a drawing or work of art and just make it into a computer file for display on a screen.

I would love to read about what terms are confusing to you or what you have found odd in the world of sewing. Leave a comment.

A reminder to newsletter subscribers

This is a quick reminder to all of you that clicked on the link to subscribe to my email newsletter, you need to confirm your email address in order to get the free item and start receiving the newsletter. Even though the current newsletter list is over 80 subscribers there are another 30 people who did not confirm their email addresses. You might want to check your email junk inbox to make sure the confirmation email did not end up there.

I would also like to send out a BIG thank you to all who have subscribed so far. Since this is my first attempt at a newsletter of any kind it has been fun to put together. I also know that most of you are reading it since the opening rate is well over 85% so far. I have been limiting the send out to just one newsletter every 2 weeks. I hope that is just fine with everyone. I am also on the look out for some more freebies to put in the next newsletter which should be sent out this coming week.

Tired of regular pumpkin designs this year, try a quilt

Here is something for those of you wanting some fresh ideas for Halloween decoration. The video below shows an interesting way to "sew" your pumpkins.

Using giveaways to promote your sewing business

You have often seen people handing out pens, refrigerator magnets and other small promotional items to advertise their business at conventions and the like. Are you doing that for your sewing business?

Do you have a wedding gown design business? Have you thought about giving away free cheap wedding invitations with an estimate of the gown? How about doggy treats with every dog bed or dog jacket you sell? I know one woman that repairs horse blankets and gives out coupons for horse feed to every client. Are you doing the same thing for your clients?

You have to make your business stand out from all the others by either doing exceptional, high quality work or by attracting attention to the business. Think about what you can do, your business may depend on it.

Photo transfers for fabric

One of the many types of fabric decoration that eludes me is using those photo transfers to put photos on fabric. I think I must have tried at least 3 different methods and various products but as yet I have not gotten the results that I like.

One of the messiest was using this goop that you put on the photo and then place the photo on the fabric and iron away. The goop was suppose to loosen the print off of the photo and transfer it to the fabric. That didn't work at all and I think I still have a half of bottle of the stuff somewhere. The next one I tried was those sheets you put through your printer and then use them as iron on's. The results were not very good. I don't know if it was my printer or the fabric or that maybe the iron was not hot enough. The transfer came out like an antique picture, cracked looking and faded. I also have a small package of fabric sheets that you put into your printer and the printer just prints directly to it. The printed fabric is then removed from the paper backing and you use the fabric with the photo printed on it just like regular fabric. I have not tried that one yet.

I guess I am always getting disappointed at the results. Here is a product that I want my photo fabric transfers to look like - Photo Blanket. If I could only get just a decent looking photo transfer for quilt squares I would be happy.

My email newsletter

I am so thrilled that my newsletter is so well received by you, my readers. I would also like to remind those of you just signing up, that you will need to confirm the subscription before your are added to the email group. I use an email service that has a double opt-in way of signing up my subscribers. It is the only method I will use since I hate spam email and I will not be a party to sending out emails unless someone wants them.

Again I would like to thank everyone that have signed up. I hope you liked the links to the free patterns and software. I might even make that a regular feature in every newsletter.

Using your regular sewing machine to create embroidery

Did you know that you can use your regular sewing machine to create fantastic embroidery creations? I bet you didn't. I had known this since I was little but apparently it is not common knowledge. There was a discussion on this message forum that went into some detail about it. They even mentioned a book. I found the book they were all talking about and here it is:

According to the discussion you can make lace with your regular sewing machine. That was something I had not heard of before. The book was first published in 1911 and has detailed instructions for making lace and doing embroidery on the old style treadle machine. It is still widely available and I have added it to my store. Singer Embroidery Book

If you wanted a little adventure, try machine embroidery the old fashioned way, without computerization.

Free dress patterns

It is time to get your sewing into high gear with some free dress patterns. I have found one of the biggest websites on the internet that has literally 100's of free dress and accessory patterns. Here is just an example of 2 of them:




The website you can find them at is BurdaStyle. Of course the free down loadable patterns will only work if you print them out on your printer. Just be warned that you will need to piece the pattern pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle before laying them all out on the fabric, but for free, heck it is worth the try.

T-shirt fun

Since I do lots of machine embroidery I love to decorate t-shirts. My daughter has one that is decorated with buttons. She has also stenciled one with several rows of hearts, one the front, all the same color and one odd ball colored one with a crazy face on it.

I buy many different t shirt shapes since not everyone wants the straight mens, baggy look. The french cut ones with the narrow waist and the small capped sleeves are a favorite of young women.

If you decorate t-shirts then try to obtain the different styles of t-shirts. You might find your sales could go up.

Ideas for Halloween costumes

Here is a list of Halloween costumes that you can get some design ideas from. There are about 5+ pages to browse through. I am sure you can find something that appeals to your sewing talent. All of the costumes are ready made but you can get a good idea of colors and shape.

Edited to add: I just checked Google Trends and found out that one of the top 50 searches today on Google was for Halloween costumes for couples. It looks like people plan on spending some money this Halloween, even in a tight economy.

Football season is also a great sewing season

Football in the USA is now underway. Even if you don't like football it doesn't mean you can't make money from it. Take for example the fleecy headband I made last year and the how-to I posted. If you missed it here is the link. Many items can be customized or fashioned using preprinted NFL fabric or your own design. A word of caution regarding selling more than a few items with team logos on them that you designed, if they are exactly like the logo and you might or might not be sued for copywrite infringement. Several machine embroidery companies sell the patterns for NFL logos with the stipulation that it is for limited personal use. I don't think those companies would come after you for selling a few items at a local craft fair, how would they know? Use your own judgment regarding NFL logos.

Other items that would be very welcome are high school football team items. You can even contact the local schools in you area and see if they need anything made. Find out their school colors and mascots and take something over to the school to see if you can drum up a sale.