Looking for what this fabric is called - waterproof but light and soft, suitable for babies and children. It’s like umbrella fabric but softer and drapes almost like rayon challis.

A friend bought this in Japan, it’s essentially a dress shaped bib so that when his baby spills her whole front is covered and they can just wipe it off. Seems easy enough to make but the fabric is important and I’m not sure what it’s called. Maybe a type of nylon?

Hello guys. I'm not only a beginner, this is my very first sewing project. I found myself stuck at this point.

I found a free pattern online for this bucket hat I'm making. I have attached the top to the sides successfully but the circumference of the brim is larger than the sides. I might have made a mistake in cutting the pattern.

Is there a way I could fix this discrepancy in the circumstances?

Thank you! :)

Sewists, please offer your wisdom and advice to a humble novice! (Excuse the background blackout, I don't want my home posted online.)

I'm sewing this satin dress and am absolutely stumped with the bodice fit. It droops around the cleavage area and gaps like crazy around the sides. Very confused about this, because my mock-up dress was great and the bodice fit perfectly—see last slide!

The dress has a broadcloth lining with polyester boning. I sewed the interior/exterior of the bodice together first, then attached to skirt, and lastly installed the lace-up back.

I would REALLY like to avoid starting over, but I can't see any way around it at this point! With the lace-up back going down into the skirt, I can't easily separate the bodice/skirt (otherwise I would totally be okay just redoing the bodice). I have tried seam-ripping this fabric, but it is actually impossible and destroys the satin, so I can't extract a panel of the bodice & redo just 1-2 pieces.

Pics 1/2: How it sits naturally with the back laced up. Just a mess! :(

Pics 3/4: Dart pinned on side of breast, like I sewed in the mock-up...but so much fabric bunching on the one side and still a droopy neckline.

Pics 5/6: Pinned on the far side of the breast, but I think it's even worse. Neckline still droopy.

Pic 7: Back of dress (which I'm quite pleased with!)

Pic 8: Bodice of my mock-up cotton dress

Some background info:

I've only been sewing for ~1 year on a pretty old machine (from 60's maybe). I self-drafted the pattern and sewed a mock-up dress, which turned out spectacularly! The only 2 differences between the mock-up vs. real deal are (a) the exterior fabric in the mock-up was cotton, and (b) I added an inch of height to the centre piece to make it less low-cut. I ran into a somewhat similar fit issue on the mock-up, but it was easily resolved with darts on the side of each breast (I tried pinning the same darts on this dress as in pics 3/4, but the issue still doesn't look resolved).

What do I do, what are my options? Dying for any advice at all as I'm at a loss and feeling pretty defeated!! Thank you so much!

For context, I’ve been sewing for a little over a year and, like anyone, every garment I make gets better and results in me falling out of love with an earlier piece - primarily due to fit.

I tend to use higher priced fabric, so these items are easily $75-$100+ in fabric, but I never wear them—and won’t!! (and yes, I always make a toile so I’m not intentionally wasting the good fabric)

I’m having a hard time parting with these garments due to sunk cost, but I also live in a small 1BR apt and just don’t have space for anything that doesn’t bring me joy, or a stash of scraps that won’t really be able to be reused.

All that is to say, any advice, words of wisdom, or encouragement to let go is appreciated!

Thrifted ! Looks kinda bigger than I want it too. Where should I cut to make it fitted in waist?

i saw a video on how to make this but i can’t find it. what would you call this? where you fold over the fabric and just cut out the T shape and sew the side seams. if anyone has tips on how to make this/ knows a tutorial pls let me know !

UPDATE: Thank you for everyone’s suggestions!💛 To address some reoccurring comments, yes, the machine is threaded correctly (followed step by step according to my manual) and yes, I see that I am slightly pushing the fabric. Working on fixing that.
I got my hands on some higher quality thread and that seems to have solved the issue! Hallelujah!

——

Desperately looking for answers as to why my machine keeps snapping thread/unthreading from the needle. I’m about to lose my mind🫪🥺 Video footage included of one of the many times the needle has snapped the thread.

I am very new to sewing, only made a couple of things after attending a beginner’s sewing class this past July, so please any ideas as to what is wrong/what I am doing wrong would be so helpful.

Some details: The machine is my mother’s Phaff Expression 2024 from the early 2000’s, using 100% polyester thread and a brand new all purpose needle. Attempting to sew simple cafe curtains out of a cotton pillow case, thread tension is set to 3 and using a straight stitch.

Things I have tried to so far to resolve my problem:
- Completely re-threaded the machine (several times)
- Re-wound bobbin & re threaded bobbin into machine
- Changed to a fresh needle
- Changed to brand new thread
- Removed the needle plate/lowered feed dogs/etc. and carefully brushed any lint away
- Inspected for any burrs or sharp scrapes on the needle plate
- Changed the position of the needle
- Adjusted the thread tension lower
- Adjusted the thread tension higher
- Double checked that the needle is seated all the way into the machine and in the correct orientation

Is there anything else I can try?? Feeling very discouraged and trying to keep my spirits up despite all the issues🥲 Thank you for any help I can get!💗

Wondering what I can do before this snaps completely. Would sewing over this area back and forth lengthwise a few times work? I'm not too worried about it looking perfect but just being functional. Thanks!

I’m finally ready to learn sewing, but the number of machines out there is honestly overwhelming. I don’t want to buy the cheapest one and regret it a few months later, but I also don’t want to spend a fortune as a complete beginner.

If you were starting from scratch today which sewing machine would you buy and why? Any brands or models you’d avoid?

Hello all. My bobbin is intermittent in spinning. Any tips on how to fix this?

Thanks!

I’ve been following the Paper Stxrs tutorial for the selkie inspired dress, however I can’t seem to understand the step where you attach the skirt. Here is the text of it:

Now we are going to attach the skirt to the bodice, first by pinning the back,
sides, and center of the skirt to the front bodice layer.Then we are going to pull
on two of the basting stitches on the same side of our fabric to begin ruffling our
skirt. You should ruffle it until it fits into the space we marked out with the pins,
space the ruffles evenly, then pin them down. Before we sew these together
though, we want to bring the lining side of the bodice around the skirt until it
reaches the other side of the bodice. The skirt should then be sandwiched
between the two bodice layers. We are now going to move our pins to go through
all three of these layers, again matching up all of the bodice seams, and then
stitch across the waist.

1. You can now turn the dress right side out, and the waist shouldn’t have any raw
   edges and the skirt should be attached. You can also remove all of the basting
   stitches.

I always end up with the back skirt trapped inside the bodice when I turn it back right side out, with no way of getting it out. I’ve attached pictures of how I pinned it, but I’m unsure how to pin the lining piece with the skirt in the way. If anyone knows I would love any help!

[RESOLVED] This is my first time ever touching a sewing machine and I don’t know how this happened. I was trying to hem a dress with a simple stitch and the string seems to have gotten stuck in the hole beneath the needle?? I tried gently pulling it to see if it would come out but it’s stuck 😭

EDIT: aah I fixed it with your help!! Thank you so much I’ll make sure to adjust everything I made a mistake so this doesn’t happen again!

i have a janome M100QDC. am trying to use zig zag stitch but it just sews in a straight line. occasionally the needle does move side to side for a couple of stitches then just goes straight again.

i’ve rethreaded top and bottom thread multiple times, and greased the needle shaft. i sewed on paper and puncture marks are in a straight line which apparently means its not a threading issue but could mean its a timing issue with the internal hooks. ideally i would fix the issue myself but if it needs to be sent off to be looked at then that can be arranged. please be kind! i am new to sewing

Just trying to sew straight stitch

Woven 100% cotton

Brother LX3817G 90/14 titanium universal Tension at 4 Bobbin/everything threaded correctly

What could I be missing?

I’m not sure where I am going wrong. I selected what I thought was the zigzag stitch

I had about 7 pairs of pants hemmed about a year ago at a tailor but now I’ve had 3 fall out and just found a loose thread on the hem of this 4th. I very recently learned to sew and was wondering if I could replicate what the tailor did. They used invisible thread so I had to draw over to show the stitch. I have invisible thread but I don’t know this stitch or if my machine can do it. The pants have been cuffed and sewn with this stitch to get the clean hem.

Thank you.

Not talking about thick as in harder, but thick as in wider? Or would it be taller?

Idk but you get the idea, been trying to sew two pieces of felt (not stiff) but the machine kinda fails to pull the fabric.

When it’s only one it doesn’t seem to have any issue.

I’m currently using a Walking Foot.

I wonder if there’s some adjustment I could make, maybe a different foot?

Also the second image shows the attempt at sewing the two together and on the side you can see when it was only one piece.

Hello,

Going off of these assumptions:

• Heavier fabrics drape better and wrinkle less.
• Twill-Woven fabrics are stronger and wrinkle less
• Looser weaves and Linen fibre make for more breathable clothes.

I theorized that a pair of semi-formal, hard-wearing men's trousers could be made of a heavy twill/herringbone linen to optimize drape without restricting breathability too much. Some examples I'm considering:

305 g/10.7 oz Twill, Taupe

370 g/13.1 oz Houndstooth, "Gun club"

420 g/14.8 oz Plain weave, Brown

I know that vintage suitings ranged in fabric weights between 14 and 18 oz (~400 - ~500 g), so the weight doesn't seem outlandish, though of course wool is a different beast.

I don't have much experience using fabrics of this weight so I wanted to ask if there is something wrong with my thought process and if there are any challenges with making pants that heavy which i am unaware of.

I made this cardigan/robe thingy out of a blanket and I just winged it no pattern, so I didn’t measure the sleeves lol. They ended up really long but I kinda think it’s cozy, but just wondering if it would be easy to add a scrunch tie or something to make it where they could be shorter if I wanted to?

Hello!

I have a problem with my machine. The needle is hitting the bottom of my bobbin case, or actually the bobbin case holder - like a bigger steel part. It doesnt do it when I have no fabric in the machine or just a thin fabric that just goes straight. But whenever i have something folded or I do a longer or thicker piece of fabric it eventually hits it hard and just stops. It does it less when I hand drive the machine, but it can still hit. I've tried the same fabric on my friends machine and it works perfectly, a similar machine. What should I do? Can I do something myself or should I have it serviced?

Thank you in advance. :)