DIY - How to Make a Pattern from a Sketch

How to make a sewing pattern from an idea or sketch - Step by step Tutorial with Pictures

One of the most essential skills of sewing is being able to make your own pattern from an idea. In this post I will take you through the basic steps involved in creating your own pattern from a sketch. This tutorial will be best if you are an intermediate to advanced seamstress.

The original idea I had for a fun yet responsible looking shirt

Sometimes the idea comes first and the fabric must be sought out, other times I see certain fabrics that scream "MAKE ME INTO SOMETHING AMAZING!!!" Either way you need to start out with a loose plan. I sketched out an idea I had for a professional looking yet fun top as my first step. When drawing the idea I thought about things like shape and the way the fabric might fit after being sewn. All patterns are basic geometric shapes. Keep that in mind when you create your drawing. Also remember to be flexible, especial on your first few attempts to do this. My shirt varied slightly from my plan because I changed small things as I went in order to save time or simplify certain steps.

Old Men's Dress Shirts before being upcycled into a sexy Woman's business shirt.

 My next step was to pick the fabric that would become my top. I had saved several of my grandfather's old dress shirts when he passed away thinking that I could re-purpose them later. I chose Grey, Pink, and a fancy white and silver one. The combination of colors reminded me of a tie my husband had from probably before I was born that would work well with the theme of my shirt: responsible yet sexy.

Old Sports Bra being recycled to make a sewing pattern.

Now that I had all my supplies gathered it was time to start making my one dimensional drawing into a pattern that would create a three dimensional object. A very easy way to start is to choose an old article of clothing with a similar fit to what you want that you don't mind chopping up. I saved this sports bra with stains and holes for this purpose. I put the bra on and decided where I wanted the seams to be in the chest area. I then marked exactly where those seams would be with a sharpie. I took the bra off and chopped along the lines. The resulting bits and pieces are what I would later use to make the actual pattern. (Yes, this bra is just a precursor to the actual pattern.)

To make the official pattern I laid the cut up bra pieces on top of some junk mail and traced around them making sure to leave 1/4" to 1/2" inch of extra space around the edge for seam allowance and/or hemming. This only gave me the pattern for the bust of the shirt though. To design the body of the shirt I matched the waist pieces to the bust parts so they were the same width. I decided length by measuring from the bottom of where the bust would be to the place I wanted the bottom hem to lay around my hips. I then added seam allowance where needed. To get the shape of the sides I simply drew a rectangle that matched up to the width of the side bust piece and the length of the center body piece. I then trimmed it to look like an hourglass shape. If the hourglass isn't perfectly shaped for your body don't worry too much. There are ways to take it in later that will save frustration and brain cells. It just needs to be close to correct at this point (error on the side of too large.)


Lay your pattern on a flat surface in the way that it will be sewn together. This will allow you to see if there are any big mistakes before you cut into fabric. When you are sure it looks like what you want transfer your pattern onto the fabric you intend to use. If you are worried about mistakes or wasting expensive fabric I suggest buying some muslin or linen to make a tester.


At this point you will need to decide what order to sew the parts in. Think about what will fit easily on your machine without a lot of bunching in the arm. Also consider where the various seams will join up. There's almost nothing worse than a seam that doesn't line up right. For the shirt I made as an example I joined the upper and lower parts first, then sewed the vertical panels together. I hemmed everything after joining so that they were all a consistent size. I did some decorative top-stitching on the gray panels at this point to make the shirt lay nicer when worn and because it makes the seams more sturdy.

My last step was to attach an old men's tie I was going to reuse for the straps. I had my hubby help me with this because it was late at night, I was getting lazy, and my girl friend was on her way to pick me up so we could go out ( I really wanted to wear this.) I sewed the small end of the tie where I wanted it to hold up the front and threw the extra over my shoulder. I told my hubby to snip the tie parallel to the upper back hem of the blouse and to leave me at least half an inch for the seam. The second strap was easier - I sewed the snipped portion of the tie opposite the other strap on the back, threw on the shirt, and marked where the excess portion of the tie fell on the front. I then took the shirt off and sewed the fat part of the tie in a decorative manner on the front. Voila! A brand new and completely unique piece of clothing for me to wear!

I tried the shirt on and noticed that there was extra space in the waist area. This is the simple fix I was telling you about: Mark with straight pins or a light pencil mark how much extra room there is in the areas needing adjusting. Turn the clothing inside out and add another row of stitches further in where you marked. Turn right side out and try on again. Repeat this step if needed - I had to take the shirt in twice after I finished it. I have since altered my pattern to save me this trouble if I ever make this shirt again.

If you are having problems with a pattern take a deep breath and remember to reduce all of it to simple shapes. It's just geometry wrapped around your body.

Thanks for reading! For more DIY articles by Tiny Tipis click here.

 Tiny Tipis is a small handmade company providing environmentally friendly products to help customers reduce their carbon footprint. We focus on using high quality materials with attention to detail and running our company as close to zero waste as we possibly can. All shipping materials are recyclable, compostable, and/or biodegradable. See more of what Tiny Tipis does for our planet at any of the links below: 

 

facebook.com/TinyTipis

pinterest.com/TinyTipis
TinyTipis.blogspot.com

instagram.com/tinytipis/
TinyTipis.etsy.com

 

 Thank you for being environmentally responsible!!!

DIY Tie Dye with Red Wine

Easy Do It Yourself Dye

 I'm obsessed with Fabric, especially canvas. It's natural, it's strong, it has more uses than a swiss army knife... and it can be a challenge to Dye. There's nothing I love more than a challenge. 

I also love red wine. 

Here is how I use Red Wine to Dye Fabric, including so-called "non-dye-able" Canvas, and a shirt I never wore:

Supplies: 

White or light colored fabric (I used cotton)

2+ cups Red Wine

Rubber Bands or Hemp Twine

Oven

Clean Baking Pan

Jar or Bucket 

Iron

An Old Towel

Supplies laid out ready to start dying fabric

 Step 1: Tie up items to be dyed. If you bind it with more wrinkles you will end up with more light colored areas after you are done. The tighter you tie or band it up the more areas of light color will remain as well.

Cotton articles tied up and ready to be Dyed with Red Wine

  Step 2: Steep the items in the Red Wine for at least 2 hours. I let mine soak for 4 hours.

A white shirt after soaking in red wine for 4 hours

Step 3: Squeeze the wine out of the fabric. Leftover wine can be saved to re-use next time you want to dye but the color won't be quite as strong. For really dark dye wring until no liquid drips. For lighter dye wring as much out as possible.

Wine Dyed items being laid flat to dry in the oven

 Step 4: Lay items as flat as possible on your clean baking sheet. Try not to let them touch or overlap so the color doesn't bleed from one article to another. Your baking sheet must be clean or you risk discoloring your dyed items. I covered mine with foil just to be safe.

Wine Dyed clothing and fabric drying in an oven

 Step 5: Set oven at 170 to 180 Fahrenheit with damp dyed items inside. The combination of heat and drying with the wine pigment still on the fabric helps set the color. Make sure to set a timer so you don't start a fire. I checked on my items every 10 minutes. The small items took about 20 minutes to dry fully while the shirt took over an hour. I didn't want to put freshly dyed items in the dryer in case it might leave color behind which is why I chose to do it in the oven.

Check your items every 10 minutes: Safety First!

Step 6: (This step is optional. I did it to make sure the color was fully set.) Lay your old towel on an ironing board. Iron dyed items as you normally would. The heat will help set the color so it won't fade with washing. The towel prevents your ironing board cover from getting any color on it if your dyed articles aren't fully dry yet.

Small test items in a Red Wine Dye Project

Step 7: Hand wash dyed clothing and fabric in warm water to get rid of any pigment that didn't set. This way the color won't spread to items you don't intend to dye when you wash it after regular use. After dying an article you should avoid washing it in hot water to keep the colors bright.

Gorgeous color and pattern from Red Wine Tie Dye

 And the finished product... 

I like this shirt so much better with the natural earthy rouge dye than I did when it was plain white. I think I'll actually wear it now!

Thanks for reading!!!

Click here for more great DIY ideas or visit the other Tiny Tipis Blog to learn about recycled urban gardening.

 Tiny Tipis is a small handmade company providing environmentally friendly products to help customers reduce their carbon footprint. We focus on using high quality materials with attention to detail and running our company as close to zero waste as we possibly can. All shipping materials are recyclable, compostable, and/or biodegradable. See more of what Tiny Tipis does for our planet at any of the links below: 

 

facebook.com/TinyTipis

pinterest.com/TinyTipis
TinyTipis.blogspot.com

instagram.com/tinytipis/
TinyTipis.etsy.com

 Thank you for being environmentally responsible!!!

DIY Lace Patch for Clothes and Jeans

5 Simple Steps to Patch old Jeans with Lace

      Recently one of my favorite pairs of pants started ripping at the back. For a while I sucked it up and wore them with shorts underneath but the hole just kept getting worse every time I wore them so I decided to do something about it. In my massive piles of sewing odds and ends I happened to have lace... lots of lace (Thanks Grandma.) Follow along to see how I fixed my favorite pants to make them even better!

1) Lay clean pants on a flat surface with lace on top of the hole. My hole was big enough I needed two rows of lace to cover it. Cut the lace about an inch too long (1/2" extra for each side of the rip). If you don't cut the lace long enough your patch won't cover the entire hole and it will continue to rip further. 

2) Since my lace needed to be wider to cover the hole I just cut two pieces the same length and cut a piece of hemp cord (about 2" longer than lace segments) to use as a stabilizer for joining the lace. I then placed both lace segments back to back with the hemp in the middle. To join them I used the widest zig-zag stitch on my machine with a short stitch length for the maximum amount of strength in the seam. I stitched down the middle ensuring the hemp cord was captured inside the zig-zag and both pieces of lace were secured together. I decided to use hemp because I have it on hand, it is cheap, and I like the natural look of it with the lace. You could use any type of strong cord pretty much.

3) After joining my two lace segments I cut the hemp cord to be 1/4" longer than the lace on each side. I left the hemp longer so I would be able to turn it under and prevent unraveling. 

Broken needles happen... just make sure you pull out all the little metal pieces or it can really damage your machine. My needle broke while I was sewing around the extra thick seams in the crotch. If you advance the needle by hand in the thickest parts it's less likely to break.

4) (Showing stitches inside jeans) I first zig-zag stitched a big rectangle to secure the lace to the jeans. Make sure to turn your cording under and zig-zag over it extra well if you had to use it to stabilizer. If you don't the stabilizer cord will pull out and your patch will fail. I tried to only zig-zag on the busy parts of the lace to hide as much of my thread as possible on the visible side. The rectangle will keep the lace in place but you still need to sew down any ends that are loose so they don't stick out when you wear your pants. I did this by using a straight stitch to sew around the outer edges of the lace patch. You can see this in the photo above where the straight stitch makes little triangles outside of the zig-zagged rectangle. This way I don't have any loose lace bits flapping around on my butt.

 

 5) Last Step! Cut any loose thread ends and try pants on. Now brag because your favorite pants just got even better!

This took me about 30 minutes to do (even with taking photos) and maybe half a brain cell. When I wash these pants I try to turn them inside out to protect the lace from snagging on other clothes. So far the patch has held excellent with no damage. Let me know how your lace patches turn out!

 Tiny Tipis is a small handmade company providing environmentally friendly products to help customers reduce their carbon footprint. We focus on using high quality materials with attention to detail and running our company as close to zero waste as we possibly can. All shipping materials are recyclable, compostable, and/or biodegradable. See more of what Tiny Tipis does for our planet at any of the links below: 

 

facebook.com/TinyTipis

pinterest.com/TinyTipis
TinyTipis.blogspot.com

instagram.com/tinytipis/
TinyTipis.etsy.com

 

 Thank you for being environmentally responsible!!!

The Greatest Gift of All

Yep, you guessed it. It's that time of year again when the reindeer are out and Santa is about. People scurry to and fro to get the latest gadget to give them more mojo... and bloggers become poets who don't even know it. Oh my!

I'll keep this short, sweet, and to the point: COUPON CODES!!!

For 10% off your entire order from www.TinyTipis.etsy.com use HOLIDAY2012

If you prefer FREE SHIPPING check out the new Tiny Tipis Website! We just added the option to purchase directly from us and are offering free shipping through December 2012 on all orders.

BONUS!!! All orders shipped in December will be gift wrapped so you don't have to worry about it! Nothing says Christmas like a pretty present under a tree.

If there was ever a time to buy it is now! Shop happy, stay warm, and keep safe through this holiday season.  :)


To keep up on all the future sales follow Tiny Tipis on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TinyTipis

Find our inspiration on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/TinyTipis

And as always, Shop Tiny Tipis online in any of the following places:

www.TinyTipis.etsy.com

www.zibbet.com/TinyTipisLLC

www.eBay.com

Fabric Bowl Project Obsession

http://whipup.net/2008/09/20/how-to-fabric-bowl/

I've been a bit obsessed with fabric bowls this week. What a useful concept! They are washable, portable, and nearly unbreakable (perhaps the most useful feature for a stay at home mom.) I saw a picture on pinterest of a tutorial on how to crochet a sturdy bowl using multiple threads. When I clicked the link of course they wanted $4.99 for the "pattern" so as a seamstress/artist/creative type I stared at the picture for a moment and then set about making myself a bowl. I've since moved on to making nesting bowls for my husband and I's fifth wheel as these proved so nice.

First I would like to cover the various types of Cloth Bowls I saw. There are wrapped and sewn bowls, pattern sewn bowls (I call them petal bowls because of how the pattern looks before sewn), woven bowls, glue hardened bowls, and crocheted bowls. Of these types of handmade bowls the ones hardened with glue or fabric stiffener are the least portable. A soft bowl can be folded so that it fits in a small flat area and takes up less space - something I appreciate very much for storage space in the camper.

I decided to try the crocheted bowl since I had the materials readily available. Since there are two threads involved it makes the bowls a little stronger and more able to retain shape. The outer thread that is seen is plain yarn while the inner thread is an old t-shirt I cut into strips. The t-shirt yarn is thicker than the regular yarn so it gives the bowls the stability the standard yarn lacks. As you can see in the photo I used a single crochet and simply worked my stitch around the t-shirt yarn. When I've completed 10-15 stitches I gently tug the t-shirt yarn and it tightens everything. I repeat this the whole way through giving the bowl a more finished look. Don't tug too hard on the t-shirt yarn though or it will cause the prior stitches to buckle. 

I don't really have a formula or pattern I follow. I increase stitches and do my best to keep the first few rows flat and even because these become the base of the bowl. When I have the base 10% larger than looks needed I stop increasing so the sides will start to come in. I like to pull the sides of the  bowl in at the top as an extra stability feature. I do this by decreasing stitches on the top 2 rows only. I do the top 2 rows with a contrasting standard yarn and no t-shirt yarn filler. 

You can cut the t-shirt yarn and simply leave it loose in the stitches over it or you can pull it out and use it as a decorative stabilizer. I pulled my white t-shirt yarn out when the main bowl color ended and stitched it in swirls around the exterior of the bowl. This seemed to pull the various rows together even more and added a look I liked. 

The first bowl I made. It contains my husbands lighters on the counter.

There are no limits to these bowls except your ability and creativity. Crochet stitches come out so try something new. If you don't like it just pull it out!

To see other things I've made that are for sale or to request custom items and art visit my Etsy Page.

Curds and Whey

Little Miss Muffet 

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

I remember the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet from when I was a kid. My mom used to recite it to me while she bounced me on her leg and I always got so confused by the words. Who is Miss Muffet and what is a tuffet? And what are curds and whey? 

Curds and Whey is similar to cottage cheese. In fact cottage cheese IS curds and whey. Curds are the little globs of fat that form when milk begins to curdle and whey is what is left over after the curds are strained. In the case of cottage cheese some of the whey remains but is washed to remove the acidity. Making curds and whey isn't hard and I decided to try my hand at it late last night.

Click here for the instructions I kinda followed...

I started with 1 cup of milk even though the recipe called for two. I figured if I failed in my attempt I would waste less milk that way. I brought the milk to a boil in a pan on my stove, turned off the burner (leave the pan on the heating element after turning it off) and added 5 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar (it's all I could find in my messy pantry) and 2 tsp of garlic powder. I stirred the nasty looking liquid until it was mixed well and then let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool. 

After sitting for 10 minutes I strained the chunky liquid through several layers of cheese cloth. To do this I lined a colander with the cheese cloth and put a large bowl under the colander to catch the liquid that drained off (whey). It worked great and left me with a nice handful of curds that I then added a pinch of salt to and twisted tight to get the excess moisture out. I hung this curd ball in my fridge over the whey bowl over night and this morning I woke up to a beautiful ball of very balsamic smelling cheese. For lunch today I plan to fry this up (I believe it is called Paneer) with whatever I can find in my fridge. I also plan to try this again with a white vinegar to see how that effects the outcome.

I saved my whey of course as I have heard that it makes good bread. I've been making my own bread at home for almost a year now ($0.45 per loaf compared to $2-3 at the grocery store) and I am always looking for new recipes. If the bread and the paneer both turn out edible I know I will be repeating this process a lot. It's very quick and simple and would cut my grocery costs down even further. 

Now on to slice, dice, and fry some paneer! And as for Miss Muffet...

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away. 

Garden Girl

Project One

I've been constantly pinning lovely pictures full of ideas on how to plant useful greens in recycled things. These gardens are all very inventive in the ways that they find to transform ordinary trash into marvelous containers of life. They conjure up visions in my head of how I can transform an empty entry way, use recycle things from around the house, and save my family money on groceries. Today, all of these lovely visions saw a chance to bloom.

As my mother and I shopped I told her about my dreams of having a tiny garden in my unused entry way. The small room is 5' x 8' and completely occupied by concrete stairs rendering it mostly storage right now. The windows are huge though and let in plenty of light and the walls are a lovely semi-flat white. I told my mom of 2-litter bottles turned into hanging planters and egg cartons used to start seeds. I talked of worn out bra's and rain boots with holes all filled to the brim with soil and plants.

"So buy some seeds and start a garden." Mom said.

"Alright, they sell seeds here. I will."

My husband agreed that if it gets too cold in the "green room" this winter we can find a small heater with an auto shut off feature to keep it warm. The electric bill shouldn't be nearly as much as our produce bill the last few months.

This afternoon I carefully set a bunch of tiny seeds into 1" tall Terra Cotta pots and set them in the window to grow. Tommorrow, I will take the 2-litters of Pepsi I saved and start prepping them for the next phase of growth. By the time my little herb garden is ready to transplant hopefully I will have plenty of hanging planters to put them in.

Current Project Expenses: $4.07  - seeds and starter soil

For more inspiration on your own garden or to see the photos that have inspired me follow me on Pinterest at pinterest.com/TinyTipis.

Shop Tiny Tipis creations on Etsy.

UPDATE!!!

Follow my Garden Girl updates on the Blog Recycled Urban Gardening! 

Personal Growth

Big Rig Jig by Mike Ross

I grew up with a wasteful attitude. I didn't know it, I was American. I lived life big, always wanted the newest and best of everything. Shopping used and recycled meant poor to me. I can remember ducking my head whenever mom wanted to shop at Goodwill just in case someone from school would see me. The word handmade was usually followed by the word "crap" when I was younger as I saw homemade gifts as cheap knock-offs. I stupidly thought as a child that people only move up in this world. Once a solid middle-class girl, now I am a struggling lower-class artist.

With age comes appreciation though. I live in a tiny house with a walk in closet for a nursery and an oven that is older than sin to cook on. One of our built-ins used to be a window and it never got properly sealed so if I forget to spray it with bug repellent I sometimes have the pleasure of fending off a line of ants that comes in the cracks. Eventually I will caulk it myself but at the present time I don't have money in my budget for even that.

My mom still can't believe I manage to buy groceries for three, diapers, and formula on a $300 per month budget. Sometimes I don't think I believe it either. The key to that is actually making sure to buy only what you need and NEVER waste. Single serving casserole dishes are a huge help as well as having access to a large freezer. I almost never buy meat at full price and instead make sure I get to the store early enough to have first pick of the sale items and then I can put them in my sub-zero freezer when I get home. After graphing my monthly food expenses I found that between non-obsessive coupon clipping, shopping sales, saving scraps, and doing the eCoupons through Safeway's website I can save myself an average of 30% of my bill. Potatoes that sprout no longer look like trash can liners to me. Shredded, soaked, and frozen between wax paper will save that bag of spuds and give me a side dish for breakfasts.

Recycling is not some lofty concept for me anymore. I can't afford new canvases to paint on which means I definitely can't afford a new frame to put it in. Instead I frequent Goodwill, the Arc, and other thrift stores. It feels better to only spend $5 and walk out of a store with 2 canvases and frames that fit. Then I watch out for free sample quarts of paint in the papers so when I redo the frames it costs me nothing but time. I make it a goal to only fill a bag a week with trash so the landfills aren't as filled by me. I started using Chickory in my coffee too which saves me a few bucks a week. Heaven help the world if I don't get my coffee.

The other day a friend of mine called to say he was moving and to see if I wanted anything from his house that he wasn't going to take. The old me would have scoffed at the food that wasn't directly from the supermarket, anything I already had, or something that I might need to wipe the dust off. I would have taken the office chair I'm sitting in and that's about it. The current me however took everything and then blushed as I said thank you. It still feels weird sometimes to take "handouts" but I just remind myself that it's better that I use it then it get tossed out. "It's not greedy if you use it, it's thrifty" I keep telling myself.

Never again, I promise myself, will I walk by a penny on the ground and kick it further into the street. Never again will I use a freezer bag once and toss it out because it has condensation droplets inside. For the days ahead; I hope to be thrifty while leaving a smaller footprint on the planet. It's not just necessity anymore. I feel a passion for living small and being within my means. Life is more rewarding when my waste is less.     :)