Sewing Blog | National Sewing Circle

Keep Your Thread Long and Strong

September 17, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Sewing Supplies.

I come from a long line of sewists and seamstresses. In fact, my great grandmother used to sew costumes for the San Francisco Ice Capades! I even have the very machine she sewed them on. I was lucky enough to get a lot of her old sewing stuff, including French curves, boxes of buttons, and…

Essential Sewing Tools and Supplies

September 2, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Sewing Supplies.

So, you want to learn to sew? Welcome to the wonderful world of it! Sewing feeds that creative side we are all missing in our daily lives, plus it’s a natural stress reliever. Well, unless you are a beginner that is. If you’re not quite sure where to start, it might be a little daunting…

Top-Stitching Methods and Techniques

August 6, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Tips & Ideas.

Top-stitching is a really handy technique, especially for sewing projects like a tote or any other sort of bag. But you might be wondering why it’s called “top-stitching” if you happen to be doing it on the bottom of the bag! I like to think of top-stitching as anything that is on the “top” or…

3 Tips for Sewing Perfect Skirt Hems

June 26, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Tips & Ideas.

Hemming a skirt can be a tricky task. How do you know what the perfect length for you is? How do you ensure you will have an even seam all the way around? Here are the top 3 things you need to remember when sewing skirt hems, plus one crucial tip to always keep in…

What Does Your Handbag Say About You?

May 13, 2014 By Julie Harstad & filed under Blog, Tips & Ideas.

Accessories. They speak to those around us and allow a peek into our true personality, or at least who we are today. Is today a day to be functional, or whimsical? Are we feeling classy, or playful? Add a necklace, belt, bag, and boots to a basic outfit and you can take your style from…

How to Sew a Lined Patch Pocket

April 1, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Projects.

Many bag or tote patterns that you buy off the shelf have all the beautiful detail reserved for the outside of your bag. A lot of the time they do not incorporate any of that detail – specifically pockets – into the inside of the bag. Or if they do have pockets worked into the…

Sewing with Bias Grain Fabric

April 1, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Tips & Ideas.

Cutting patterns on the bias grain of fabric adds a ton of visual interest as well as great shape. But first of all, what the heck is the bias? When you are using a woven fabric such as quilting-weight cotton, the threads run left and right and are woven with other threads going from top…

All About Faux Appliqué

January 20, 2014 By Aurora Sisneros & filed under Blog, Tips & Ideas.

Appliqué is incredibly fun, incredibly beautiful, and incredibly tedious! As you know, appliqué is the art of using multiple small fabrics in specific shapes to make an image or fabric “drawing” on your project. If you are doing a more complicated scene like in Jessica’s video, this can be incredibly daunting and time consuming. Can…

Glossary of Sewing Terms

January 17, 2014 By Editor & filed under Blog.

What’s in a name? Here’s our ultimate list of sewing terminology. Did we miss a crucial one? Let us know by emailing editor@nationalsewingcircle.com. Glossary of Sewing Terms: Appliqué: The process of stitching a piece of fabric to another piece of fabric, and sewing close to the edges of the shape. Typically cut into a fun…