Y-Seam Tutorial

November 26, 2013November 26, 2013 Elizabeth E.7 Comments

During Thanksgiving Week, I thought it was time to re-post this tutorial from Leanne’s blog, from the Third Quarter Finish-A-Long Tutorials. As background, I’ve been sewing and quilting for more years than I should admit to, and during that time have completed over 120 quilts. So I’ve faced down more than my share of the Dreaded Y-seams.

In June of this year, I made this quilt for my sister. As you can see there are lots of peaks and valleys in this thing–lots of Y-seams going both ways (some people call them Y-seams and V-seams) but really, let’s keep it simple.

They are called Y-seams because the V-part of the letter Y usually has fabric with no seam, and the tail of the Y has a seam. I’ve marked the Y for you in red in the picture on the left. The picture on the right is the other type of Y-seam. I’ll show you both.

Let’s start with the first type of Y-seam, where the “tail” of the Y is facing toward you and the “V” of the Y is underneath. Place a pin at the 1/4-inch mark through the seam, and into a spot that would be the peak of the 1/4″ seamline, if you could draw it on and imagine it.

Most beginners want to pin that seam to death. Run screaming in the other direction. The success of the Y-seam depends on the “float” of the fabric.

I sometimes will place one pin on either side of the seam, just to anchor it as I get going, then another pin or two along the starting point. Then I take out the (above) pin. I want my fabric to float — don’t want to anchor that second half of the seam too much, as I need it to pivot.

Start sewing from the left edge, as the seam faces you, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Fold the seam toward you, and as you approach the seam, slow down and use a bit smaller stitch. You are trying to anchor the stitching a bit.

When you get to the seamline, when you are on top of the thread marking that other seam, STOP. Make a tiny stitch on top of the one before to anchor, but DON’T GO OVER THE SEAM LINE.

Lift your needle out of the cloth. I pulled it away to show you what I mean, but you don’t need to do that. Just give yourself a little room to smooth the (green) seam allowances out of the way, and to find the place to insert your needle again.

Re-insert your needle just on the other side. Then line up the next two raw edges, smoothing the fabric away from the needle and your presser foot. Sounds more confusing than it is. Take a few tiny stitches to anchor, then change your stitch length back to normal.

Another shot of my needle placed just on the other side of the seam allowances (which I flipped to the back of my presser foot).

Depending on the amount of cloth in your Y-seam, and if you just feel better about it, go ahead now, and pin those raw edges together and stitch the rest of the seam.

When you are through sewing, clip the thread if it is restricting the ability of the seam allowance to open up and lay flat. If you left a bit of thread there (pulled it away from the needle as in my photo above) there should be no problem.

Press, keeping the tail of the Y-seam open.

From the front, it looks like this.

Now we’ll tackle the other kind of seam–where the seam of the Y’s tail is underneath, and you see the “V” part of the Y.

First locate the valley of the one-quarter-inch seamline and put a pin there.

Snip to within a couple of threads of the pin. Leaving the pin there insures that you won’t cut too far. If that happens, curse a little. You can sometime rescue the piece with a bit of fusible interfacing. Better to not cut too far. Half of the seam (1/8″) is all that’s needed.

Find the 1/4-inch peak of the seam below, and poke the pin in to anchor. You can leave in that center pin to hold it, and if you are afraid it will slip, it’s okay to put one pin on the backside. If you can, try to avoid that pin on the right. Again, the success of a Y-seam lays in the ability of the fabric to move and pivot.

Just as in the first type of seam, start stitching from the left side of the seam, towards that center pin.

When you get to the pin, STOP with your needle down in the fabric. Remove the pin, then pivot the fabric so that you can match raw edges. Move the first seam out away from you, as you align the new sides. It may feel a bit bulky under your foot, but smooth any excess fabric out away from you.

Here you can see that I’ve pivoted, repinned the new raw edges together and am starting down the other side of the seam.

This is what it looks like from the back. That deep fold is the V part of the Y-seam.

The front. Give it light press. Resist the urge to saturate it with your pressing goo and mash it flat with your iron.

Sometimes your seam gets a little jig-jaggy. As long as it’s not too bad, it will be fine. I did the same kind of stitching process on this one: shorten your stitches as you approach the point, then lengthen them out on the other side.

A better point. All of these work fine in the quilt, because you haven’t a) stitched it to death, and b) murdered it with your iron.

You can see one type of Y-seam where I joined the green roofs to the yellow houses. And you can see the other type where I joined the purple roofs to the sky.

Now you know all my dressmaker/quilter tricks: never be afraid of Y-seams again!

One more time, thanks to Leanne, of She Can Quilt, for hosting a series of guest tutorials for the Finish-A-Long Motivational Program. (Just kidding on the name of it, but it does help get those UFOs out of the closet and onto the bed. Or wall.)

Elizabeth’s Project Folio–Part III (Bringing it Home)

August 23, 2013August 25, 2013 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

Elizabeth’s Project Folio, front and filled with my next project, a bag made of Keiko Goke fabric

Elizabeth’s Project Folio, back

Elizabeth’s Project Folio, interior of blue folio

These are not only good for holding sewing projects they can also be used for:

• long car trips, holding each child’s stash of car junk
• teaching, corraling all the supplies for each lesson unit
• teaching, holding copied pages in place so they don’t go all over your bag
• errands–one for the Post Office, one holding grocery lists and coupons (you can make that one smaller by adjusting your dimensions), carrying swatches for decorating (one folio for each room you are working on)
• hand-sewing projects, such as cross-stitching a sampler
• knitting, as they are big enough to hold your needles, or needle-kit
• packing for a weekend away (one can hold lingerie, one your workout sweats, one can hold rolled-up T-shirts, etc.)

I’m sure you can think of others. Send me a note telling me what you used yours for!

Finally, to thank you for your readership, I’m giving away the white flowered project folio to one of my followers or Bloglovin’/Feedly readers. In your comment (at the end of this post), tell me what you’d use your portfolio for, and tell me how you follow me. I’ll close this giveaway on early Monday morning (8/26), and send it off.

They fit in my tote bag easily. Because one side is vinyl, you can see what’s in there quickly. Because the other side is fabric, they don’t stick together and slide out without difficulty.

Reminder: All of these measure roughly 11 x 17. You are more than welcome to make these for your own use, or sell them in a craft faire, but please please, don’t take any of my tutorial and copy it onto your blog. Practice Friendly Attribution, if you please, by linking back here, if you would. And please please don’t ~~steal~~ borrow my content to make your own pattern, and call it your own.

Okay, the folios are in the home stretch. Let’s bring ’em home!

If you are coming into this tutorial mid-way, see previous posts Part I and Part II.

STEP FOUR: Zipper

A zipper is made of two narrow pieces of tape (think of it as stiff fabric ) joined by an interesting plastic coil. Usually these strips of fabric are hooked together at one end. Years of no Home Economic Education has scared most sewers when it comes to zippers, but when you think about it as two strips of fabric that have to be sewn into a seam, tempers and anxiety seem to lower. And when you get to sew the zipper in flat, like in this bag, things couldn’t be easier. Note: Some of this tutorial is for beginners, so if you are experienced in zipper-putting-in, just scroll on down.

You’ll be stitching this to the interfaced backing piece. Set aside the fabric lining for a later step.

(You see the vinyl front window laid on top of the backing in the above photo, but you’ll be sewing the zipper ONLY to the interfaced backing at this point.)

I usually buy zippers a little bigger than what I need, so if you have done the same, lay out your zipper along the 17″ longer edge of the project folio backing. Put one pin 1/2″ in from the raw edge, and one pin 1/2″ away from the raw edge, as shown up above on the left.

At the outer pin, you’ll be doing a bar tack, which is only a zig-zag stitch done in place. Set your sewing machine for a wide zig-zag (so it will clear the zipper teeth), your stitch length to zero, and sew the bar tack in place. Then about 1/2″ away from that towards the zipper stop, trim off the zipper tape. If you are using a plastic zipper, you can cut right through it. If you are using a metal zipper, snip the tape to the teeth, then kind of wiggle off the excess zipper tape.

One of the challenges of zipper-sewing, is 1) sewing straight and 2) sewing close enough to the teeth, and 3) getting around that zipper pull. Use a zipper foot (shown above) for the second, and the first? Practice makes perfect, so don’t worry about it. I’ll walk you through the third, below.

First, unzip the zipper for about 4 inches, then:

• lay the edge of the zipper tape even with the raw edges, as shown above,
• zipper FACE DOWN
• on the RIGHT SIDE of the interfaced back folio fabric
• along the 17″ side.

I align the outside long edge of the zipper with the raw edge in this application. Stitch to the top stop (the silver metal piece), re-align the long edge of the tape with the outside edge and stitch for another couple of inches.

Stop, and put the needle down into the fabric. Then grab the zipper pull tab, and wiggle it past the needle and close the zipper. Now you have unlimited easy access to sewing it down.

Remember that inner pin, set 1/2″ in from the raw edge? Sew to that spot. You want to leave the last 1/2″ unseen. I usually hit the stitch-in-place button on my sewing machine, but you can also backstitch to secure it. Now you’ll be attaching the lining to the back–that piece of fabric that is the same size as the back.

Lay the lining for the back on the zipper. The zipper is face down so the RIGHT SIDE of the fabric will be facing the WRONG SIDE of the zipper. I pin the raw edges of the fabrics together in a few spots so I’m not scrambling as I sew. You’ll be sewing from the OTHER side of things, along the already-stitched line, so FLIP over the assembly, as shown below.

You’ll begin at the bottom edge of the sewn-in-zipper. Remember to stay 1/2″ away from the raw edge as you begin. Stitch along the already-stitched line until you get about three inches from the end. Stop, and leave the needle in the fabric. Reach inside and and slide the zipper pull tab down past your needle, wiggling it as you go by the needle, then continue stitching until the edge.

Press both sides away from the zipper, then topstitch close to the edge, about 1/8″ away.

The other side is easier because you only have don’t have a lining to deal with. The zipper is now flat, intalled on the back. Working on a flat surface, line up the back with the front, aligning the side raw edges, as shown. Place a few pins anchoring the zipper tape to the front upper edge of the front vinyl window.

Slide the zipper pull tab down a couple of inches, and start stitching. When you get close to the zipper pull tab, keep the needle in your fabric, and ease the pull tab past your needle, closing the zipper. Continue stitching. Remember to STOP stitching 1/2″ in from the other edge.

I was racing through making these, so you get to see my hideous white bar tack on my zipper in white thread. No one is going to see this, so don’t worry. But do notice that I stopped 1/2″ away from the side raw edges.

Stitch alongside your first stitching line, about 1/8″ away. Notice how both stop at the right place, above. This second stitching will help anchor the zipper tape. You can stitch 1/4″ away, if you like.

STEP FIVE: Bottom Edge Closure

Remember how the back of this thing is longer than the front vinyl window part? You’ll now stitch them together.

First, treat the back two pieces as one, pinning them together at the lower edge.

Now, lifting aside the lining on that 2 1/2″ piece on the bottom of the vinyl window, pin the interfaced strip to the back of the folio, matching raw edges, along the 17″ dimension. Another view is below.

This is taken from the vinyl window side, and you can see it gleaming there in the photo. But again, you are sewing the interfaced strip along the lower vinyl window to the two pieces of the back, treating them as one piece. Stitch in a 1/4″ seam, then press to one side, towards the front.

Fold down the loose piece, tucking the raw edge up to the inside, and pin in place, hiding that seam you just sewed. You can sew this by hand, taking small stitches, or you can machine stitch this closed.

To do that, open up your nifty zipper all the way, and this will slide in right under your presser foot. Stitch close to the folded edge, sewing it down. Sorry it’s not such a great photo, but I’m confident you can figure it out. (Or just sew the edge down by hand.)

With both the bottom seam and the zipper seam completed, your portfolio is now a tube. Press that seam, keeping your iron away from the vinyl.

STEP SIX: Closing the Sides

Blurry Photo Apology!

Starting at the zipper edge, line up the sides, pinning occasionally, raw edges even. The bottom seam will loop around towards the front, so don’t try to force it. Stitch, then stitch again, 1/4″ inch away.

Trim. This is a better photo, and you can see how the seams don’t match up to where you think they will at the bottom. Just let them go where they want to.

You can simply zig-zag those side seams to finish them, or make a simple binding. Cut a piece of fabric about an inch and 1/2″ wide and a bit longer than your sides (should be about 16 x 1.5″ in a perfect world). Matching raw edges, sew the long side of the binding strip to the portfolio side seam. You can pin it, and then flip it over to stitch over the previous stitching, like you did with the zipper, if you want.

Then fold the long raw edge in and fold the binding over the raw seam allowances. Pin, as shown above, and below.

Stitch close to the folded edge, securing the binding in place.

Make sure you do not stitch the zipper into your seam. Lift it up and out of the way.

Trim the binding even with the side seams, then zig-zag (overcast it) to keep the ends from fraying. Again, lift the zipper up and out of the way.

Flip the folio inside out and wiggle that end of the zipper to a nice squared-off edge. Congratulate yourself! You are done!

Here’s what the other side looks like, interior view.

I made a conscious choice not to “box” the lower corners to create a dimensional folio. I want to be able to lay in flat things (books, patterns, fabric, etc) and then, when done, store them flat. In use, I haven’t missed the boxed corner at all. Everything flexes around what I want to put it (refer back to the original post and that overstuffed folio *here.*)

I thread a bit of ribbon through my zipper pulls to make them easier to grab. Trim the edges at an angle, and apply a little bit of Fray Chek to them, if you are worried about fraying.

Okay, now tell me how you’ll use your flowered Elizabeth’s Project Folio in your comment below, and how you follow me (email, Feedly, Bloglovin’).

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Note: the Giveaway is closed now, but thanks for stopping by!

Quilts · Tutorial

Project Portfolio Tutorial–Part I

August 19, 2013October 2, 2014 Elizabeth E.5 Comments

A long time ago, in a foreign market, I bought zip portfolios to hold stuff. But they weren’t always quite right–too small, too rigid–for my projects, too wrong-sized. So I decided this summer to make my own.

But that’s just a way to lead you into thinking about your fall, now that schools are beginning to start and you can finally finish a sentence — or a seam — without being interrupted by your offspring or husbands or pets or whatever. And now you are going to be sewing up a storm, and need a way to keep all your projects organized as you head out to sewing circles, sew days, quilt nights, or just stay home and quilt in your jammies. Because it’s almost fall, after all, and you can. (My apologies to my Southern Hemispheric readers–just substitute in the appropriate season.)

Materials:
Two coordinating fabrics. One will show on the outside, and the other will be the lining, but will show through the vinyl window
Clear medium-weight vinyl from the upholstery department. Save the tissue they have with the vinyl–it’s easier to store that way
Fusible medium-weight interfacing
Zipper, approximately 20″ (you’ll be trimming it to size)
Matching thread

(Note: I am using three different fabrics in the following illustrations, so you may see some switching out.)

STEP ONE: Fusing

Lay the fusible interfacing shiny side (resin-coated side) down onto the Wrong Side (WS) of your outer backing piece. If you like to live dangerously, don’t use a press cloth while fusing the interfacing to the back in an ordered fashion: overlapping the iron shape, giving it a shot of steam, counting one-two-three-four in each position of the iron.

Lay the interfacing fusible-side down and fuse to TWO of the four narrower pieces that will border your clear vinyl window on the side.

Then fuse interfacing to only TWO of the wider strips, as these will be used on the upper and lower edges of the “vinyl window.”

The results are above: one large rectangle of interfacing fused to main back fabric, and four pieces of interfacing fused to the four strips of main fabric.

Trim up so the backing is even with the interfacing. Try not to fixate on the fact that now your portfolio will be a hair smaller. It’s really not important what the final dimension is, as you can still pack a ton of stuff in there. Trust me.

Lay the fused backing piece on top on the lining piece, making sure that both right sides of the fabrics are facing outward. Pin. Trim.

So this is what you’ll have: a two-sided rectangle. Unpin the two layers, and set aside for now.

Tomorrow’s post will show STEP TWO: Making the vinyl window front.

All of these folios measure roughly 11 x 17. You are more than welcome to make these for your own use, or sell them in a craft faire, but please please, don’t take any of my tutorial and copy it onto your blog. Link back here, if you would. And please please don’t steal my content to make your own pattern, and call it your own. Practice Friendly Attribution, if you please.

Quilt Bee · Tutorial · WIP

Design Wall Recover, In Progress Quilts

July 24, 2013February 2, 2018 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Linking up to Lee’s Freshly Pieced with this post.

First up, re-cover my pin wall.

(1) How I built my pin wall: 2 sheets of 1/2″ foam core art board taped side by side, covered with gridded flannel bordered by plain flannel. I wish I had more gridded flannel, but at the time, that’s all I had. I have seen it at JoAnn’s. Then I wrapped this layer to the back and stapled in place using really short staples, then covered that with tape. I then affixed it to my wall by using door jamb covers–long rounded metallic bars, each about six feet in length; I used four: two for each side, top and bottom. I also put a flat washer on two screws and screwed them into the wall at a stud, at the midseam of the foam core art boards.

(2 & 3) Over that, I layered this Thermolam Plus, using straight pins to anchor it into place. The fabric really sticks to it – like magic, and when it gets all thready, use one of those sticky roller things that is used to clean off clothes. NOTE the number on the upper left side (TP970). That will save your bacon when you go into buy more, because now they’ve renamed it Quilter’s Batt or Fleece or Something or Other, and you just have to go through the bolts to find this magic stuff.

The little pin cushion hangs on my pin wall with giant corsage pins. I am not a pin-cushion person, although I have many beautiful ones given to me as gifts. This little one holds these pins which are helpful for holding large swaths of cloth, like when you are smoothing a quilt backing onto a quilt top already on the wall to check for size. Or for holding necklaces, notices for doctor’s visits, etc. I put all sorts of stuff along the edges of my pin wall.

Next up was a new ironing board cover. I fell in love with this sewing machine fabric when I saw it on the Fat Quarter Shop, and of course they had it to me within two days. It’s by Timeless Treasures and is pattern # SEW-C1485, if you want some.

I just trace out my old cover, leaving GENEROUS seam allowance width all along the outside edge (like 1-1/2″ and that doesn’t even seem like enough). Make a casing, leaving an opening at the bottom. I thread through some old hem tape (notice the lady’s hairdo is right out of the 1980s) but warning: 3 yards is not enough (I had to piece some more on the ends). I think the picture of the ironing board up on its end looks like one of those bugs that goes into that position when tapped (stink bugs?). There are many good tutorials online for making ironing board covers, if you do a search.

What other works in progress have I been working on? I made this “slab” for the Alberta Flood quilt block collection, hosted by Cheryl Arkinson of Dining Room Empire. The deadline is July 30th, and so far she has 276 blocks!

Finished my block for the Mid-Century Modern Bee. Deborah of Simply Miss Luella wanted a house block of any kind. I made my favorite one, and happily, she loves it! You can find a PDF to download here, where I made one for another bee.

And finally, hot mitts for my friend Rhonda for her birthday (which was in June–sorry, Rhonda). Happy Belated 29th birthday, Rhonda!! May you see many more 29th birthdays! Tutorial is here. It’s also one of my Finish–A-Long projects–that makes TWO down, and many more scary ones to go.

And lastly, thanks for you all your sweet comments about going to a retreat. I’m working my way through replying, as it seemed to strike a chord with many of you. I appreciate the time you took to write and leave your thoughts–it enriches us all.