Seams To Fit Part 5: Staying - When a Seam Knows it's Place

Good Weft, Stay!
I stayed each section of my bustier by stitching
thin strips of silk organza just over the stay sticking lines. 

In the most recent Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast, Boning up on Bustiers Part 1, I chatted about warp and weft. I reminded fellow sewists that weft or horizontal threads are naturally a little stretchier than waft threads.

This knowledge is particularly important when draping and fitting patterns in muslin. If we want our garments to fit well, we need to make sure that fabric doesn't pull out of place once we've decided on what that place should be. 

A good seam needs to know it's place and stay there.

One way of keeping the weft threads stable is to stay stitch them, by stitching over, or just at tiny bit into the seam allowance from the stitching lines. I stay stitched every single top and bottom of the garment stitching lines in my bustier. Those included 16 pieces cut in 4 fabrics! 

I also stayed each section of my bustier at the top, where the garment would need to stay firmly in place and not display portions of my anatomy unexpectedly. Staying is an extra strengthening step for portions of garments that need to work really hard to keep the body in place. Waistbands are another place I might stay. The spiral steel bones I inserted into my inner shell to provide stand up support are also called stays.

I stayed the bustier sections using strips of silk organza cut 1.5 inch wide then folded lengthwise. Yes, real silk organza has different characteristics than polyester organza. It's strong, stable and adds very minimal bulk. People also stay with twill tape. 

I have also stayed the shoulder seams on tee shirts by sewing down my seam allowances on either side of the already sewn seam. That results in a very stable decoratively stitched look that discourages the front and back pieces from sliding down over the shoulder. You could also stitch in the ditch of a tee shirt shoulder seam using a strip of silk organza, twill tape or other very stable fabric.

Understanding how fabrics work in a garment, and working to increase the stability of my seams - really teaching them to know their place - is another thing that keeps me...

Enchanted by Sewing.

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Web Resources

Straight of Grain  - http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/10/patterns-haiku-straight-of-grain-runs.html

Enchanted By Sewing Audio Podcast: Bustiers Part 1
http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/03/ench-by-sew-018-boning-up-on-bustiers.html

Stay Stitching - http://sewing.about.com/od/sewingglossarypt/g/staystitching.htm

Do you Love Butter? In praise of the Buttercup Purse

My latest buttercup purse is
still in the construction stage.
I sew it as one long double sided bag,
then just stitch across the bottom of the lining
before tucking it down inside the bag.
The big bird image above is part of an inside pocket.

Some  favorite postings

* Tit for Tatting: Embellishing my Buttercup Purse
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/09/tit-fortatting-embellishing-my.html

* Romancing the Dress Part 1: Dainty

* Romancing the Dress Part 2: California Romantic asks do skirts really fit into her active and arty modern life?

* Romancing The Dress Part 3: The Dress Comes to Life

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Back in the 1920's, when my mother was a little girl, there was  a game amongst her friends in regards to buttercups. They tickled each other under the chin with the bright yellow flowers and giggled "Do you love butter?", then checked to see if any pollen had stuck to their little chum's chin. My mother, not being a sentimentalist, recounts this activity with a curling lip. The fact that she still recalls it, tells it's own story.

I happen to love the buttercup purse pattern by Made by Rae. I first  discovered it on the purses/bags/wallets forum at Crafster.org. It's a free, easily downloadable purse pattern, with the caveat that it's not to be used to create items for sale. I've probably made close to ten of these winsome bags by now in a variety of sizes. Wonder what you'd find stuck on the bottom of my chin?

Eva's Cowgirl Purse was a Buttercup

The basic pattern produces a rather small pocket-sized purse (which also made it perfect for 4 year old Eva). But that's just the right size to hang across my chest to hold my iPod, keys and reading glasses and accompany me on a walk or when I'm attending to domestic activities. Essentially I use it to replace a pocket and it keeps my pants pockets from wearing out. I don't think the original pattern includes a long handle, but mine always do. I've started interfacing those handles with Peltex interfacing for a really sturdy strap.

I made this goodly sized Buttercup in purple velvet
cut from a never-made-but-cut velvet suit
I turned up in my own sewing stash

However quite often, as in the case of this bluebird buttercup above, I enlarge the pattern for a regular purse-sized bag.

Techniques: 

After downloading the pattern (it's only a couple of pages) and stapling or taping them together, I photocopy them at a couple of different sizes. I think 129% is the biggest my local copy store goes, so sometimes I've enlarged an enlargement. I also like to simply extend the bottom of the little purse to make it deeper.

My in-progress buttercup purse is a recreation of one I made from the same quilting-cotton fabric last January. I loved the bird embellished fabric so much that I pretty much wore it out. I didn't line much more than the top pieces and it didn't stand up to the weight of the items I put in. So I started over with fresh fabric.

This time through I stabilized the buttercup's bird fabric not only with fusible quilt batting on both the outer and lining layers, but also with a layer of crinoline on the inside of the outside pieces. I also did some simple quilting on the outside layer.

This buttercup should really stand up to the service I expect of her. 

The completed buttercup purse I was working on when I first wrote this posting, is on display in 

Tit for Tatting: Embellishing my Buttercup Purse

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/09/tit-fortatting-embellishing-my.html