Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products (25 page)

HOW TO

1.
Use a marker to mark the spot where you want your button to be sewed on.

2.
Thread your needle. Your thread should be about 20 inches long, so that it won’t tangle. Knot the end.

3.
Poke the needle through the fabric on the point you have marked. Bring it all the way up and then create a tiny stitch to the side of the mark.

4.
Thread the button on the needle, through the left hole, and push the button against the fabric.

5.
Place a toothpick under the thread between the two sets of holes. This creates a “spacer,” which will ensure that the button can rise up enough to go through the buttonhole.

6.
Push the needle down through the right hole and pull the thread tight. Repeat (up through the left, down through the right) four more times.

7.
Repeat for the second set of holes.

8.
Remove the toothpick.

9.
Wind the thread 3 times around the threads that connect the button to the fabric, and tie a knot by threading the needle through a thread loop as it goes around the connecting threads. Clip the thread.

How to Hem a Pair of Pants or a Dress

You can put away your money and stop going to the tailor to have things altered, as it’s so very easy to do it gorgeously yourself! If you have a really nice pair of work or evening pants or a dress, you will want to sew a “blind” hem, where the stitches are barely visible. This is very easy to sew by hand, but obviously a little speedier with a machine. Machine hems are more visible, though.

HOW TO

1.
Measure the length you want your pants to be. It’s really helpful to have someone help you at this point. Stand on a chair in front of a full-length mirror with a pair of heels on (if there’s any chance you’ll wear heels with the pants/skirt). Have your friend help you decide on the perfect length and mark it with a pin.

2.
If you have a lot of excess fabric, you will need to cut it off. If you are using a machine, sew the raw edge with a zigzag stitch to prevent fraying. If not, cut the excess fabric off with pinking shears, as this, too, will help prevent fraying.

3.
Turn the garment inside out and press your hem with a steam iron. You need to make sure that the hem is uniform all the way around, so I always have a little ruler close at hand and measure as I iron. If the fabric is cotton, you won’t need to pin it. If it contains polyester or silk, you may want to pin it for stability.

4.
The most important part of blind hemming is this:
Fold the hem back on itself with the raw edge overlapping ¼ inch.

5.
If you are using a sewing machine, line up the divider in the foot with the folded edge and sew. If you are hand sewing, which I recommend as it’s so easy, choose a matching thread and sew your first tiny stitch on the fabric just above the fold and the second stitch on the fold.
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Repeat all the way along the folded edge.

6.
Turn right side out and press. Voilà! You’ve saved yourself 10 to 20 bucks!

COOL AND CRAZY HEMMING

If your pants/skirt are more on the casual side, there are a number of timesaving hemming techniques you can easily do. If you have a sewing machine with a few different stitches, you’re golden—and this is where a machine is worth its weight in gold.

• Turn the raw edge under ¼ inch and then another ½ inch (or however wide you want the hem to be). A thinner hem often looks better here. Use the zigzag or any other cool-looking stitch and a
  contrasting color
  thread. I just hemmed a pair of cream jeans with a bright yellow zigzig stitch and they look amazing.
  
• For skirts, you may want to find a contrasting color bias binding (double fold). Bias binding is like a long strip of cotton ribbon, which is used to bind or fold over raw fabric edges to prevent fraying. This way, you get to add a pretty edge and a hem in one fell swoop.
  
• If you want to do a quick hem on a patterned skirt, just fold under the raw edge ¼ inch, then fold under another ½ inch and use a simple running stitch all the way around. This will only look good if the hem is thin.
  
• If you can’t be bothered to get out a needle and thread, much less a machine, buy yourself some Stitch Witchery tape from most large grocery or craft stores. This is an iron-on tape, which will give you a perfectly good stitchless hem. Keep in mind that it’s not suitable for any fabric containing polyester because you need to use a fair amount of heat to get the tape to stick. You don’t want your ball gown shriveling up.