"On square corners, take one or
two stitches on the diagonal."
Behind the Myth: By making a little extra room in the corner, you'll have room for the seam allowances.
The Truth: The only way to make a clean, crisp corner is to make a sharp, pivoted turn. Even David Coffin in his Shirtmaking book describes making a clean pivot. When you're working on a coating or heavier fabric, this will help, so don't discount the technique altogether, just use it selectively.
The Solution: The neatest trick for getting a corner sewn well, is to trim and then press open the seam allowances leading up to the corner that you've also trimmed on the diagonal. Using a shorter stitch length as you approach the corner, pivot, and then sew away from it, will allow you to trim closer, and also pivot more accurately on the point. David also showed me once how to use your fingers to fold over the seam allowances on one side of the corner and then the other over it, making a neat point, and then turn those edges to the inside. It keeps the seam allowances compact inside the corner. I do that on all weights of fabric.
"You need to set aside a whole day to sew."
Behind the Myth: Well, that would be nice, but what world do you live in?
The Truth: Who has whole blocks of time anymore, but could you spend 15 minutes later today?
The Solution: Think about little bits of time. Look what you can do in 15 minutes:
- straigthen up your sewing room (okay, so first time 30 minutes)
- match thread and wind a bobbin
- take pattern pieces out of the envelope
- pre-shrink interfacing/preshrink 3 yards of fabric by steam ironing
- lay out your fabric/place the paper tissue on top
- pin down three or four pattern pieces
- cut out two, three or four pattern pieces
- sew and press open a couple seams
- make two darts
- grade seams
- pin a hem, sew half a hem, make one buttonhole, sew on one button - well, can't you? What else can you do?
Copyright © 1999. Nancy Erickson Consulting