A Stitch in Time - Basic Hand Stitches -Purple Friday Thought

In September of 2011, I decided to take a fashion sewing class.  I have been asked hundreds of times why?  Basically, people ask me what do I think I will do with this information?  Fashion and Style is really a big change for me because I always had more academic pursuits in the way of education.  My answer was very simple.....I just wanted to see what it was like in the fashion curriculum.  Maybe it was watching Project Runway that got me thinking about it.  I have sewn in the past.  My mother taught me to sew. We took sewing classes together at a local church and at John Wanamaker's Department (JW) in Philadelphia.  JW  had a sewing class on weekend in the tower of the store.  My mother believed in education and modeled that behavior for her family.

Old JW did their own alterations for their customers and had several industrial sewing machines.  I enjoyed those classes because I spent quality time with my mother.  We had to travel downtown to 13th and Market Streets on bus and elevated train.  I learned to travel around the city from these weekend trips with my mother.  Mom passed away a few years ago and I had stopped sewing long before she died.  I had to work, advance my education with graduate work, take care of a  family, and  participate in church activities. I just did not have time in those days.  Over the summer of 2011, Mom had been on my mind (we all know how memories can just crop up) and it just seem right to take the first level sewing class at the local community college.... Baltimore City Community College.

My teacher, Miss Jean, is a fashion industry professional and graduate educator in fashion.  She taught us so many wonderful stitches and how to fit a garment.  She took us on field trips to the fabric store and a textile trade show.  The class average age was 18 to  60 years. I gave away fabric and it helped to decrease my stash.  Many young people do not have jobs and they were hard press to buy fabric for the samples. Times are really hard on our young.  One young lady said "I can not wait to get a job and be rich like you".  To her I seem rich because I could afford the tools for the class.  It was really nice to take a class with young people.  It opened my eyes to the fact that advertisers have it wrong.  It is not the young that have the money in this economy. Young people have the potential to make money, but it is the mature folks(like me) that spend their money.

Anyway, I completed a muslin sloper (a sloper is any pattern without seam allowance) and a fashion fabric dress with interfacing, elastic waist, and matching cape.  All the little things Mom and I learned at our classes many moons ago, kept coming back. I remembered how to baste a zipper into a skirt.  If you had asked me in August, I would have had a glazed look on my face.

 I now know, now, why I took the class.....it was as if I had Mom back every Monday and Wednesday from 9 to 12 noon.  It has started me on a new journey in fabric, fashion, and sewing.

Miss Jean started us on basic hand sewing as it is the basis for High Fashion Sewing.  She would show us a stitch and we would practice it. Once she approved of our use and construction then we added the stitch to our fashion sewing scrapbook - portfolio.  I completed a portfolio of over 30 stitches (hand and machine) with elements of basic garments (sleeves, zippers - all types, neck line interfacing, and embellishments.  I would find a video from YouTube that showed me the hand stitch and watched it to help me do it correctly.  I will post many of ones that I found helpful.  Just a few of my thoughts on Purple Friday!

Common Stitches

Back stitch - Hand Sewing	Backstitch

Back-stitch, whipstitch, hemming stitch, and inside blind- stitch are the four most commonly used hand stitches for sewing, joining edges or hemming. Reference: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Sewing/Howtos/Hand+Sewing.htm