I tried to make a pocket this morning. Tried being the key word here. I've never made a pleated pants pocket before and I wrongly assumed it would be no biggy and take me maybe half an hour or so. Apparently I was wrong. The Gods of Sewing were against me once again this week as I tried to fuse my interfacing. It just wasn't happening.
First I tried the old fashioned way: a damp cloth, a steam iron, high heat for 10 seconds. Nothing.
So I tried again with a different piece of the interfacing and some fabric scraps. Still nothing.
I tried sticking the interfacing to a piece of scrap fabric by putting the steam iron directly on it and pressing the steam button about 10 times. Nope.
Next I took some scraps and sprayed water directly on the interfacing and hit them with about 30 seconds of high high heat. Still no stick, but I did manage to melt my fabric scraps a bit. Awesome.
This is the last time I trust the information on the bolt! Fusible interfacing my butt, this stuff wouldn't stick to fabric if I used superglue!
So off to the store I will go after work today. I'm going straight to the notions section and getting that cheap stuff for embroidery. I know that sticks. Don't judge me for buying prepackaged stuff, you'd do it too if you wanted to finish a pair of shorts by the end of the week. At the very least I learned that if these shorts catch on fire while I'm wearing them they will melt to my skin and give me severe burns. I'll have to keep that in mind.
But, I'm still hopeful about my Rubys. I still love them and their buttons. And I also decided to join a summertime sewing project hosted by Ms. Ali.
First few items on the menu I've mentioned before.
Item 1, the Rubys. It's not cheating if I haven't finished them before the start of this new sew-a-long... right?
Item 2, 80s Swimsuit.
Still working on what fabric to choose. Pink in the middle is winning, but yellow herringbone is a close second.
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6 comments:
I'm sorry you're having such trouble with your interfacing! My shorts are just a disaster. I'm baffled by the instructions. I mean, I've made numerous garments, but for some reason these are throwing me for a loop. I want to try to work on them this weekend.
Ooooh another sew-a-long! After my apathy about the Ruby Shorts I'm kind of scared to join in. But then again, the August deadline seems reasonable. I can't wait to see everything you make!
You could just use your supposedly-fusible interfacing as sew-in interfacing. I actually prefer the sew-in stuff! Just baste it to your fabric and off you go!
Eleanor: This sew-a-long is far less stressful. There are no set patterns, just categories and you don't even have to follow those. Just make fiveish summery things. I figured I could probably do that no problem. PS. I'm about to throw my ruby instructions in the garbage and pull out my Sewing 101 book. Burdastyle is sort of infamous for having cruddy instructions.
Jessica: I plan to do that for the rest of my garment, but unfortunately the pleated pocked really needs to be fused. The fabric needs the added strength because you actually take a razor-blade and cut through the middle of the fabric. The waist band and stuff will have the interfacing basted in. I'm cheap, so I don't like wasting my $1.95.
Well, your problem might be that you are using steam. You should never ever use steam with fusible interfacing. I didn't get this for a long time until my professor had us think about the idea that usually water+glue does not a sticky thing make. Then it seemed so obvious!
I'm going to try and create a new set of instructions as I go along, but again, I'm only finished the back pocket and didn't do a welt pocket at all.
Lisette: An amazingly simple solution! I have always interfaced things without a problem using water before today, but the whole glue + water thing had never occurred to me. Sadly, I also tried this interfacing dry with no success. My best guess as to why it's not working is A: the stuff is crap or B: it needs a higher heat than my iron is capable of producing. In the case B heat that high would melt my fabric anyways, so I lose both ways.
:( That sucks.
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