Every spring, feel that sense of rebirth that often results in spring cleaning and in our case, spring spruce up in our closet. Take that basic jean jacket and add some pizzazz with Joanne Banko and three techniques for embroidery. Then meet Ellen Miller as she provides the formula for adding flounces to the front of your favorite tank or top for a fashion look.
Here is the official description of show 1811: Every spring, feel that sense of rebirth that often results in spring cleaning and in our case, spring spruce up in our closet. Take that basic jean jacket and add some pizzazz with Joanne Banko and three techniques for embroidery. Then meet Ellen Miller as she provides the formula for adding flounces to the front of your favorite tank or top for a fashion look. Yes, the theme of this show is spring spruce up, but it could easily be titles fashion for fall! A change of fabric and a color swap could make any of the ideas work for other seasons. I had the opportunity to share some of my favorite embroidery techniques in this show. It was a ton of fun decorating this ordinary white jean jacket and turning it into a work of art. While preparing for this segment, my ultimate goal was not just to produce a good-looking garment that would inspire you, but also to teach methods for placement that suit a wide variety of machine owners with various skill levels. No matter what capabilities your current machine has, you can learn and benefit from the techniques presented in show 1811. Three specific learning lessons are presented in this segment. #1: Learn to make lace appliqués you can stitch or fuse in place. #2: Learn to hoop awkward areas like this jean jacket back yoke. #3: See how a special application and a sticker work together to target a design in a precise spot. You'll find instructions for each of these methods HERE. Ellen takes over the second half of the show explaining the anatomy of a circular flounce with accuracy and great detail. Not surprising! Ellen is the master of detail, evidenced by all the intricate trims and techniques outlined in her Creating Couture Embellishment book. You may have heard me talk about Ellen and her book before. We had the chance to get aquatinted at the studio some time ago and I immediately ordered her book. This book is a stitchers delight and pretty enough to be worthy of display on the coffee table. Learn more about Ellen Miller and her book HERE. I hope you enjoyed this preview! Visit www.itsseweasytv.com to watch this show for free until noon EST September 4th.
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This show features versatile and fashionable garments, plus some exquisite appliques made with wool fabrics. Lindsey Marsh starts the show with a chic jacket. Her blazer is a great twist on a classic garment. I love the way it can be dressed up or down. As you'll see, you can give this jacket a variety of looks just with a change of fabric. Seeing the blank lapels on one of her sample jackets my thoughts immediately drifted to visions of machine embroidery in neat connected rows. I think this jacket has lots of potential for embellishments of all sorts, both on the embroidery and sewing side of the machine. You’re going to love her “burrito” method for finishing the jacket with a partial lining. Easy, neat, and oh so clever, I’ve never heard this called burrito style sewing but if the term fits, stitch it! Her step by step instructions will have you mastering this technique in no time flat. CLICK HERE and you’ll find a PDF of her instructions, which include graphics to help you along the way. You can purchase the featured Bespoke Blazer as a digital download on Lindsey's website. Mary Roediger from sewtruedesigns is up next with a really interesting project featuring wool appliqués. Mary provided a free pattern for the pincushion project she demonstrated in the show. When you see it I think you’ll agree that this block could be enlarged and used for a standard size pillow or even a patchwork quilt block. Since Mary is an expert in working with wool, she chose all wool for her fabric, but you could easily substitute any other ravel-proof fabric. She shows two ways to stitch appliques in place, by hand or by machine. Her blanket stitch tips for hand sewing are really practical and the results are beautiful. The pattern and instructions are HERE on the It's Sew Easy TV website. Angela makes an appearance at the end of the show to demonstrate her methods for belts and belt loops on her Chloe Trench coat. Her ideas for each of these are golden! You’ll find yourself using these ideas for other garments as well. I must say that watching her press with my favorite steam iron, the Reliable Velocity Vapor Generator iron, made me think I need to get some Dritz Thermal thimbles. That steam came awful close to her fingers! Has anyone reading this used these, or do you have another product for keeping fingers from contact with hot steam from an iron? I can’t believe I’ve gone all these years without some sort of protection while pressing intricate items during construction. Guess I’ve been fortunate. If you have any other ideas for keeping fingers protected while steaming and pressing small items, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Here's a sneak peek at one of the items you'll see next week: That wraps up my preview of It's Sew Easy TV show 1810. You'll find this show airing for free online at www.itsseweasytv.com until noon EST August 28. Enjoy!
There's a slight chill in the air and it's time to cuddle up with cozy fabrics! Let's start with a cozy baby blanket made form Minky like fabric. I'm sure many of you will agree, babies are a big reason so many people either start to sew or renew their interest in sewing so they can make something special for a much-loved baby. I’ve never had a baby of my own, but I’ve spent many hours happily sewing baby items for others. One of my favorite things to make is a simple blanket trimmed with satin binding. With a vision for a neatly finished “blankie with all four corners neatly mitered, I set out to find a way to make it easy, with four perfectly mitered corners. What you see on this show is a result of my quest for the perfect satin trimmed baby blanket. Note: As an option, you can consider using fleece or even a pre-quilted blanket, adding an embroidered name before you finish the edges with the satin trim. This segment of the show will give you the basic method for sewing the binding, but I encourage you to view the downloadable instructions HERE, where you’ll see still shots of each and every step from start to finish. I hope you’ll give this method a try! If you do, please leave your comments in the comment box at the end of this blog. You can CLICK HERE to watch this video again and again while you review the instructions. If you have friends that would like to see this, you could also send them HERE to watch the video on my YouTube channel. In the next segment Emily Thompson of Life Sew Savory shows how make a hooded cape, complete with many fashion options depending on the fabric you choose. From terry cloth to heavy flannel shirting or even wool and washable wool, this is an item suitable for adults and children alike. Sewing it on the serger keeps the ravels at bay and means you can complete this project with a small investment in time. You'll find a link to Emily's instructions HERE. Last but not least, Angela Wolf sews the sleeves on her Chloe trench coat. From stabilizing the sleeve pieces to stitching the hem, her steps for the two-piece sleeve can be applied to many other jacket patterns. The techniques she shows will lead to successfully sewing sleeves in garments with more detailed style lines.
By the way, two-piece sleeves are not only a sign of a quality garment, they afford a much better fit than a standard sleeve. The slight curve in the seam is actually the spot where a dart would normally be at the elbow. Why would you need a dart at the elbow? Well, think about your normal posture. You would rarely stand or sit for that matter, with your arms perfectly straight at your sides. The curve at the elbow not only provides comfort, this type of sleeve will hang in such a way that designates a sure sign of a quality fit. You'll find this show airing for free online at www.itsseweasytv.com until noon EST August 21. Enjoy! In this show you'll see something for summer fun, bags fit for any season, and another installment in the Angela Wolf trench coat series. First up, Emily Thompson shows you how to create a fabulous family sized towel tote. You’ll see that it's actually a towel and a tote, all wrapped up into one clever item. You'll find it handy for trips to the beach, the pool, or even the backyard! If any of my long-time local students are reading this, you may remember a similar project I demonstrated eons ago. I still have "my own towel in a tote" sample where I embroidered the words Splish Splash, time for a swim on the outer pocket. Emily is using terry cloth yardage for this project. If you’ve never made something with this fabric, I will tell you that it ravels like crazy. You may be inclined to use your serger for edge finishing and that is fine. If you are hemming the edge after serging it will be quite secure. However, for standard serger seams on terry cloth, consider going over the serged stitch with a triple zigzag on your sewing machine for extra security. I’ve made several baby and toddler bathrobes with terry cloth and found that my serged seams needed reinforcement. As always, Emily provides good instructions for her show projects. CLICK HERE to find her file for this segment. Rebecca kemp Brent is up next with zippered accessory bags, perfect for summer or any other season. Can you ever get enough bags, pouches, and totes?!? I think not! You’ll see cork and batik fabric featured in her boxed bag samples. In this show Rebecca shows three ways to box the bag bottoms. I love her third version. It is nifty and different from what you might expect. provided full instructions and a free pattern for her rounded zippered pouch. You'll find the pattern and instructions HERE. If you own one of the Brother ScanNCut digital cutting machines you could print the pattern halves, tape them together, scan, and then cut them all out on the ScanNCut mat. You’ll see how easy it is on the show. Rebecca always has lots of tips. I love her trick for fusing two pieces of fabric together to give it more body. I’ve done that multiple times myself. Speaking of pouches, if you missed my August Brother Free design blog post, you can CLICK HERE and view or download instructions for yet another type of zippered pouch. This one sports a golf theme but you could easily change out the design and fabric to make something else that suits your style. In the last segment Angela sews the lined back flap on her Chloe trench coat. For me personally, that’s my favorite style element on the coat. Having extra fabric over the shoulder is a great design element. In practical terms, it helps shelter the shoulder area from the weather, providing extra warmth and protection from rain soaking through to the inside.
I don't know about you, but when I experience cold shoulders the rest of me gets throughly chilled. That's why I'm such a fan of wraps. I often wear a Polar Fleece wrap over my coat for an extra layer of cozy comfort. When cooler weather arrives, I promise to take a photo to show you. My favorite (easy to make) fleece wrap was featured on a previous It's Sew Easy TV show. You can watch this fleece wrap segment HERE on my YouTube channel. If you've been following Angela on the trench coat journey you are well on your way to finishing the coat. If you're in the process of making one for yourself or already have done so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Send me some photos via [email protected] and I’ll post it in the grand finale blog post for the ISE1800 series! Ready to go an watch the show? You'll find this show airing for free online at www.itsseweasytv.com until noon EST August 14th. Enjoy! This show features garments and accessories that will round out any packing list as you plan for a future trip. No intentions for traveling? No problem! You'll find each and every project on this show well suited for far away trips and trips that keep you close to home. This show starts with my mini capsule wardrobe made from dress weight knit fabric. I made four simple pieces, top with short sleeves, sleeveless top, skirt, and loose-fitting wide leg pants, all from a rayon, poly, spandex knit. Add a few additional staple pieces and some accessories and you're good to go for a short trip or some quick grab and go clothes for your regular activities close to home. Quick to sew patterns are the key to getting this capsule stitched in a jiffy. I used (tank top) New Look 6608 for the tank top, (pants) Simplicity 8378 for the pants, and New Look 6735 for the short sleeve top and skirt. Note: You can use your own favorites if you like but if you opt for the same type of knit be sure to choose patterns with some fullness for the bottoms. For the tops, you’ll want to choose a pattern with a gently curved neckline so you can take advantage of the neckline technique demonstrated in the show and outline in my instructions HERE. I packed a lot of knit tips into this segment, including ideas for sewing seams and finishing hems. Speaking of techniques, CLICK HERE and you'll see a similar neckline idea you can use to transform a ready made crew neck T-shirt into a feminine top with a polished neckline. ![]() My friend Reen Wilcoxson from Embroidery Garden.com is up next with one of her fabulous zippered bags. Reen is known for her ingenious embroidery design collections. A well known In-The-Hoop embroidery artist, her designs are crafted with care and her instructions are geared for successful stitching. CLICK HERE and you'll see Reen's written instructions for the zipper bag featured on show 1807, along with a link for purchasing information. If you'd like to hurry up and grab the design she used on the show you you''l find it HERE. Here is an example of more zipper bags she has for sale on her site. By the way, she sells cork and cork panels too!
I hope you enjoyed my preview of this show. You'll find this show airing for free online at www.itsseweasytv.com until noon EST August 7th. Enjoy! |
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Each week at noon a new show airs online at itsseweasytv.com. This blog features a preview of each weekly show. Author:Joanne Banko Archives
March 2021
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