Revised on October 4, 2009

Rough Sewing

This is more like a basket of notes than a book. 
On 28 May 1995 I wrote:

The art of sewing practical, everyday clothes for the family is dying rapidly, so I intend to write down what little I know in the hope that someone of a future generation may be curious to see how it was done.

Since then, I have been jotting down notes whenever my sewing made me think of something that a beginner ought to know, or some tip that made work easier.

As you leaf through these notes, you will find -- perhaps to your surprise -- that rough sewing uses most of the same techniques used in fine sewing. When you sew for practical use, "saving time" is more likely to mean putting off the day when you have to do the job again than to mean shaving off a minute here and a few seconds there.

I am now in the process of trying to organize this mess.  If you look for something and don't find it, please write to me and tell me what you looked for and where you looked.  Also write to me when you find what you are looking for, and it's half an article ending in a double ampersand — nothing inspires a writer like knowing that somebody wants to read.

It will take me a long time to correct the files.  In the meanwhile, if you view a file and it's all mushed up into one paragraph, click on "view source", and your browser will show you the file the way I wrote it.

Things

Techniques

Misc.

Garments

Other Projects

My Linen Jersey:   two photographs, and all the boring details.
Bicycle jerseys are supposed to fit closely, to prevent wind-flapping, but I don't ride that fast any more, and linen does a great job of protecting you from the sun.
Both the jersey and this file were revised in July of 2005.  Further comments were added in August.
Blog for replacement jersey begun in September of 2009.
ly-Stitch Alphabet:   A quick way to write on textiles with a needle
Pattern Drafting:  A circle with a hole in it    (revised April 18, 2005) (copyedited May 16, 2007)
Pattern Drafting:  Slopers: a few remarks    (posted 29 January 2007)
Pattern Drafting:  A Knickerbocker Diary: detailed description of making a minor change to a pattern for short trousers    (posted July 13, 2008)
Photographs of broadfall closures
Assembling broadfall pants
Photographs of shirts with and without bust darts
Sewing Bird:  A clamp-type clothes pin and some string assist hand sewing.
A thread dispenser improvised from what was handy
Toddler Apron:  A doll-sized adaptation of an apron pattern that once circulated on newspaper.
Yarns:  a photograph of some darning yarns
Point de Venise:  overlapping rows of buttonhole stitch on the heel of a sock.
Sewing kits:  Everything you need can be stored in surprisingly-small spaces.
Hand Sewing Stitches:  I can't draw worth a nickel, but I found a few diagrams of stitches in a 1913 elementary-school textbook.  The pages are only slightly yellow, but my camera sees them as paper-bag brown.
Embroidery Lesson:  I've yet to write the part where I describe the actual lesson, but if you already have a lesson plan, you might find this very simple medallion useful for beginners.
Get Out of Here:  a web site isn't part of the Web if there are no links to other websites, so I scraped up a couple.
Web Log dates of changes to Rough Sewing

End Note

If you find these notes useful, help me to make them better.

For example, "&&" marks spots that need more work; I will, some day in the far future, search for these spots and do the work.  Is there one that you think I should work on *now*?  Is there a spot that needs more work and isn't marked? 

Have I left out something important?  Included something pointless? 

Is some explanation incomplete?  Is some point belabored?  Which parts are confusing? 

Do you have a question I might be able to answer?

Most particularly, where do you look for things?  If I've put something in a place where you'd never think to look for it, I can, at least, put a pointer to it in the spot where you do look.

Copyright notice:  the usual.  You may make copies for your own use, and use short quotes in reviews and private letters, but if you want to share this site with a friend, send him a copy of the URL.  Please notify me if you link to this site.

Comments and criticism are solicited.

Back to the writing page

Back to the links page

Back to the cover page