Love to Sew

A person sits in a chair with their legs crossed. They wear light-wash jeans and snakeskin boots.

Why do your pants ride up when you sit down? 🤔⁠
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When you're standing, pants hang pretty much straight down from your waist. When you sit, because of the bends in your hips and knees and the difference in flesh distribution, the same length of fabric has farther to travel.

Thank you ❤️❤️

Helen wears a long sleeve knit sheath dress in a blue and yellow jersey print fabric.

Sleeves on your knit garment too tight? It might be due to the DoGS! 🐕⁠
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DoGS = direction of greatest stretch. And it's as important for sewing knits as the grainline is for sewing wovens!

In this week's call-in episode, we chat about this and lots of other topics!

🎉❤️

A teal rotary telephone. The text reads: "Episode 287: Sewing Help Line 4.0" next to the Love to Sew logo.

We're BACK! 🎉🎉🎉⁠
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Our first episode of the fall season is a brand-new call-in episode! We answer sewing questions from our listeners: how to choose your size based on your fabric’s stretch percentage, what patterns to pick for a work capsule wardrobe, how to sew a curved French seam, and lots more!

A dark wash, heavyweight denim fabric.

Denim is an amazing fabric - it's somehow both traditional AND cool! But it can be a little scary if you've never worked with it, especially in the heavier weights. Have no fear! In Episode 107: Denim, we talk about how to shop for it, how to sew with it, and what patterns to pick.

Helen wears a loose striped top with jeans and styles it alternately with an open cardigan and big scarf.⁠

Caroline wears a brick-coloured tunic top with jeans and styles it alternately with a denim quilted jacket.

Episode 15: Capsule Wardrobe Challenge is a fun blast from the past - and there's some great info, too!⁠
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Back in November 2017, we tried the 10x10 capsule challenge: 10 pieces, 10 days. We chose a (mostly me-made) capsule, styled it, wore it, and talked about the whole thing! ⁠

An ironing board with a sleeve board, sleeve roll, tailor’s ham, iron, and jug with iron water by a window.

The BEST water for your iron is...

Filtered tap water! If you have a filter pitcher, tap filter, or fridge filter, that's what you want. The goal is to remove minerals that might gunk up the inside of your iron without changing the water all that much. Check out Love to Sew Episode 174: Pressing!

Pink, red, and green floral print Tencel fabric draped against a white background.

Lyocell/Tencel is a wonderful fabric for summer - it's drapey and breathable. But what is it? In Episode 181: Lyocell/Tencel, we answer these questions and more:

🧵 How does it go from plant matter to finished fabric?⁠
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🧵 What is the difference between it and rayon?⁠
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🧵 What can you sew with it?⁠

Thank you so much for listening ❤️❤️ How did the dress turn out in the end?

A close-up of soft purple double gauze fabric.

How to cut and press crinkly double gauze: ⁠
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Step 1: Pre-wash and dry your fabric.⁠
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Step 2: Use a steamy iron to remove any major folds. Just use the steam and finger press the big folds out.
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Step 3: Cut out your pattern pieces!⁠
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Listen to Episode 231: Double Gauze for lots more tips!⁠

Yay!! Thanks sooo much 🤗

A sewist pins paper pattern pieces to black fabric that is laid out on a table.

Sewing is at least 30% cutting, and that's okay! In Episode 189: Cutting Patterns and Fabric, Helen said that she would get so frustrated in her early sewing days by how long the cutting part took. But now, she gives cutting the space and time it needs to be done well.

Thanks so much ❤️

Thank you sooo much for listening to the podcast and for sharing about us! 🤗❤️

Caroline wears a red boatneck tank, white eyelet skirt, and a brown messenger bag with white socks and sneakers.⁠

Caroline wears a relaxed pinstripe linen button-up, brown linen wide leg pants, and slides.⁠

Caroline wears a long green bias-cut linen dress with a tie at the back waist and sandals.

Caroline sewed up a storm for her trip to Croatia - the vibe was natural fibers, breezy garments, and pops of red. Doesn't she look amazing?
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If you want to hear us chat about sewing for travel, including travel capsules, listen to Episode 273!⁠

😳❄️❤️

Thank you so much!!

LOVE these flares and love that you are wearing our merch! ❤️❤️

Thanks for the recommendation! ❤️❤️

Thanks so much for listening!

Ooh we are so excited for you to get back into sewing! If you have any questions about the podcast, give us a shout. ❤️

You look fantastic in these Falconers! 👏👏

Helen wears a sleeveless green linen Lazo Jumpsuit in her garden.

When you’re making a jumpsuit, don’t skip the muslin! It’s like fitting a top and pants all at once - plus, the length adjustments are super important. For lots more about fitting and sewing jumpsuits, plus some great indie patterns recommendations, check out Episode 257: Overalls and Jumpsuits!

Caroline wears a yellow shirred block print dress and a Panama hat. ⁠

Caroline wears a long sleeved green block print dress with a gathered tier and a matching mask.⁠

Caroline wears a dark blue block print dress with puffy elbow-length sleeves.

If Caroline could only sew one thing, it would be: block print dresses! 😍⁠
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In this week's episode, we share a bunch of interesting listener responses to the question: "If you could only sew one thing, what would it be?" And we share our answers, too!

Helen wears light wash barrel leg jeans and a yellow top. ⁠

Helen wears dark wash overalls and a black top.⁠

Helen wears a shift dress with patch pockets and bracelet-length sleeves.⁠

Helen wears a patchwork shift dress in three different shades of denim. In the other half of the image, she wears it inside out.

If she could only sew one thing, Helen would choose: denim! 👖❤️⁠
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In this week's episode, we share a bunch of listener answers to the question, "If you could only sew one thing, what would it be?" And, of course, we share our own answers, too! Here are some of Helen's denim me-mades. 👖❤️

Thank you so much for listening!

In this week's episode, we share our listeners' answers to the question: "If you could only sew one thing, what would it be?" @CelebratingNanaSkills had a great answer - and Helen couldn't resist imagining all the loopholes she could take advantage of! 😂⁠

A person wears a thimble and chooses a pin from a box of pins and needles. Bright pink fabric and a pair of scissors lay on the table in front of them.

It's a hard question! 🤔⁠
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We asked our listeners: “If you could only sew one thing, what would it be?” In this episode, we share their answers (and ours)! Listen in and get inspired - there are so many different kinds of answers!⁠
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What would your answer be?

In this week's episode, we each made an eyelet garment and then revealed it to each other for the first time! Helen made a honeydew-coloured dress and Caroline made a red cropped peasant top. We weren't sure how we would feel about eyelet going in - but coming out, we were both loving it. ⁠