How to Shorten a Zip

Here's a blog post that I originally wrote for The Daily Stitch, the Village Haberdashery's blog. Once again, they have been very kind and allowed me to re-post it here for those that didn't see it first time round. BTW, you can find the VH's range of zips/zippers here.  

The ability to shorten a zip is a very useful skill to have in your sewing-bag of tricks. Often a student will arrive at a class I’m teaching all stressed out because they couldn’t find the exact length zip that a sewing pattern called for, in the right colour for their project. My advice is always this: focus on finding a zip that is a great colour match for your chosen fabric. If the zip is a couple of inches too small, it’ll still probably be fine for your project, and if it’s too big then it can easily be shortened. If you type in ‘How to shorten a zip/zipper’ into YouTube, you’ll find heaps of videos on the subject. However, here is the method that I prefer…

Please note: this tutorial is for shortening regular or invisible/concealed zips with nylon teeth, not metal ones.

 Step 1: Find out how much shorter you want your zip to be.

Step 2: Place a pin where you want the new stopper to be. Alternatively, you could mark the zip tape with chalk or a marker pen.

Step 3: Put a strong needle in your sewing machine (I like to use a 90/14 needle for this process). Position the zip underneath your presser foot so that the needle is directly above the pin that you placed in the zip tape. Lower the presser foot so that the zip tape is clamped down and remove the pin.

Step 4: Slowly sew across the zip tape from one side to the other. It may feel a bit weird to do this, so use the hand wheel rather than the foot pedal if sewing over the zip teeth is freaking you out. But don’t worry, your needle is extremely unlikely to break!

Step 5: When you reach the other side of the zip tape, make sure the needle is piercing the zip tape (use the hand wheel if necessary). Then lift the presser foot, spin the zip round 180 degrees , lower the presser foot again and stitch back over the row of stitching. Do this three or four times to create a strong new zip stopper. 

Step 6: Remove the zip from your sewing machine and snip away any loose threads.

Step 7: Measure ½” below your new zip stopper and cut the excess away.

Step 8: Most zip shortening tutorials stop at this point, but I like to seal the bottom of the zip tape to prevent it from fraying. Quickly pass the cut edge through the flame of a lighter. I’m sure this goes without saying, but please take care using a lighter!

Done! A freshly shortened zip to your exact specifications, that won’t fray in the wash! 

Refashion Friday Inspiration: Breton-Effect Lace Embellished T-shirt

This is a super-simple idea for creating a Breton-effect top with a twist. Making the stripes with navy lace on a white background gives a feminine touch to what is usually quite an androgenous garment. This effect can be created by simply applying lengths of lace to an existing T-shirt, or (as I have done here) applied to the front piece after deconstructing and before reconstructing an old, larger, plain T-shirt. 

My version started out life as an unwanted mens oversized white T-shirt which I recut using a self-drafted bateau-neck T-shirt pattern. I used strips of jersey harvested from the T-shirt to bind the neckline. This was the only navy lace I had to hand, but I'd love to see this effect created with thinner lace as well. And of course the colour combo needn't be the traditional navy and white!  

Giveaway with The Polished Button, Plus Discount Code!

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED BUT THE DISCOUNT CODE IS STILL VALID UNTIL THE END OF JULY 2013!!!**

I loves me a giveaway round these parts! Here is another celebratory giveaway courtesy of a fabulous new sewing website called The Polished Button. You may be questioning the need for another website selling sewing products, but this one is special. They aim to offer a ‘one stop shop’ where you can find authentic and vintage inspired fabrics, haberdashery and patterns all in one place. So if you are into sewing vintage/retro looks, or simply fancy finding something a bit different from the usual sewing department offerings, The Polished Button is a great place to visit on a regular basis. Personally, I've found the site to be well-designed, easy to navigate and the stock well curated. And the owner is super-sweet and very helpful, plus she's crazy-knowledgable about all things vintage. 

The Prize:

The Polished Button are very generously offering a fabulous prize for one lucky winner consisting of 1 metre of this lovely and unusual black and white star detail gingham fabric (pictured above) plus a set of four matching black vintage buttons (pictured below). 

How to Enter:

This giveaway is open to everyone, at no cost to yourselves. All you have to do is help The Polished Button out with a bit of customer research: simply visit The Polished Button website and find your favourite product. Leave the product link in the comments section of this post, along with way for me to contact you if you are successful (i.e. if I can't find your email address within two clicks of my mouse, leave your email address in the body of the comment). Email addresses will not be used for anything other than contacting you if you win this giveaway.  

Make sure you have commented by midnight GMT on Sunday 26th May to enter. The following day (Monday 27th May) I will use a random number generator to select one winner for the 1 metre of fabric and buttons and contact them to get their postal addresses to forward on to The Polished Button so they can send out the prize.

Discount Code:

But you don't have to the winner of this giveaway to be quids in today! The Polished Button have also most kindly offered the readers of this blog a 10% discount off all items on their site. Simply use the code SoZo10 when checking out on the site until the end of July 2013.

Happy vintage/retro sewing!

Refashion Friday: Replace Boring Buttons!

Ok, so I'm not reinventing the wheel with the idea covered in this post, but I wanted to talk about the simplest way to reinvigorate a cardigan (or shirt or blouse). If you have such a garment that has fallen out of favour and wardrobe rotation, or you picked up something in a charity shop (just as I did recently, see garment below) and it feels a bit 'meh', changing the buttons for nicer ones can make it look and feel almost like a totally new item of clothing.

The tomato red cardigan that I scored in a charity shop last month was in many ways perfect: a lovely '50's shape, soft texture, warm and the perfect size for me. However the buttons were a strange off-orange tone that made the whole garment look really 'granny-ish' (close up below). 

I am lucky enough to have a sizeable stash of buttons, many of which I've harvested from garments that were heading to the recycling bank, and I sifted through to find a set that were appropriate in size, quantity and look. It may not surprise you to learn that I have quite a few sets of anchor buttons, but unfortunately they were all sets of six, and this cardi requires seven. In the end I decided on this cute red and white plastic set (pictured below) that have already had a former incarnation on at least one of my garments before this. I really like these buttons, probably because they remind me of sweets!  

Two great things about changing the buttons on a garment is that, A) it doesn't take very long, and B) you can do it again and again if you get bored quickly or find cuter sets of buttons later on than the set you originally plumbed for. One point to mention about sizing: if you find new buttons that are a little smaller than the ones you wish to replace, it's not a problem if you are prepared to spend a little extra time stitching the buttonholes together a little, thus reducing their capacity so the cardigan (or shirt or blouse) doesn't pop open with annoying frequency. However, if you find some fabulous new buttons you want to use that are bigger than the initial buttons, creating bigger holes may prove to be quite a headache and you risk fraying the buttonholes. That said, you could stitch the buttonholes closed completely, stitch the new bigger buttons on top of the former buttonholes, and apply poppers/press studs behind for a functional closure.  

Because I'm basically a button junky, and simply looking a pretty buttons can provide some sort of fix, I checked out the current stock at vintage button purveyor The Polished Button's Etsy shop, to see what kind of cardigan appropriate items they may have. My favourites right now are, the gold stud buttons pictured at the top of this post, the black and gold mod style buttons pictured above and the white oval buttons pictured below.

One final idea for replacing buttons even if you don't have an appropriate set in your stash and don't want to buy any especially is to create a cute mixed look like the cardigan pictured below. (Yes this is the third time I've used this Pinterest pin to illustrate a blog post in recent months. That is how enamoured I am by it.)

Source: uneviegeniale.blogspot.com via Zoe on Pinterest

Giveaway Monday: Your Choice of Vintage Buttons from The Polished Button!

**PLEASE NOTE, THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED**

What a treat I have for you, my dears! This post marks the start of a whole month of sewing-related giveaways for the lovely readers of my blog.

Today's prizes are provided by an awesome online business called 'The Polished Button' who stock a huge range of vintage and handmade buttons, craft and haberdashery for all your creative projects. They also sell unique handmade accessories for the stylish button lover!

Their phenomenal and regularly updated range of vintage buttons dating from 1900's to 1980's can be found on their Etsy page, along with vintage and vintage-inspired ribbons, trimmings and haberdashery. It would be foolish not to also mention their Folksy page, which stocks handmade buttons made from vintage fabrics and carefully curated vintage button cards, as well as jewellery and accessories made from hand made with vintage fabric covered buttons. All orders come stylishly packaged with speedy worldwide delivery. You can join The Polished Button facebook fan page for special offers and buttony chit chat, and follow them on twitter, @polishedbutton.

The Polished Button are offering three readers a set of buttons of their choice. To enter, visit their Etsy shop, take a look through their range and pick your favourite set. Then include the link to your chosen favourite set in the comments section of this post, and include a way to get in touch with you. If I can't access your email address within two clicks, please include it in your entry comment. Email addresses will not be used for anything other than to contact you if you are one of the three lucky winners of this giveaway.

This giveaway is open internationally and winners will receive their choice of buttons completely free of charge. The giveaway entries will close at midnight GMT Sunday 28th October (my birthday, incidentally) and three winners will be chosen by random number generator and contacted Monday 29th October. Good luck, my button-loving friends!

The Greatest Shawl on Earth: The Knitting and Stitching Show

Spending a whole weekend eye-ball deep in every kind of craft imaginable: heaven or hell?! I found it to be a bit of both. The Knitting and Stitching Show, held at Alexandra Palace in London, is enormous, hot and rammed with zombie-women with no sense of spacial awareness. On the other hand, it is filled with wonderful treasures for whatever crafty activity you wish to indulge in as well as lots of practical classes and workshops to learn new skills. 

I'm not a native to these sort of events, I went to something similar years ago at Olympia (or maybe it was Earls Court) in London with my old sewing group, but the whole thing was pretty off-putting in it's focus on cross-stitch and embroidery with a very traditional approach to it all. So what they hell was I doing at this Knitting and Stitching show? Well, in short, I was paid to be there!

I was freelancing for my former employers, TRAID, helping out with their 'Upcycling Academy' which aimed to spread the word about refashioning and reworking unwanted garments. The education branch of TRAID, which are responsible for going round schools and colleges and talking about the life cycle of clothing, realities of the textile industry and encouraging garment re-use, were running the space along with Fabrications (a crafty shop/workshop space in East London) and the charity War on Want who were promoting their 'Love Fashion, Hate Sweatshops' campaign. 

There were two large banks of donated clothing that the public could plunder for a small donation, and take their T-shirt or other garment over to the sewing area to customise and upcycle to their hearts' content. My role was to assist the budding upcyclers (all teenagers and children) by providing them with ideas on what they could do to the garments and helping them with techniques, the sewing machines and other equipment. At my busiest point, I was simultaneously trying to inspire and help ten reluctant fifteen and sixteen year old textiles students to rework their T-shirts (see some of them above). It was an exhausting two days, and pretty much all my time was spent here: 

When I did manage to escape for a break and wander about, there were indeed some great sewing related things to experience. My favourite part was bumping into some familiar faces. There was the ever-awesome Karen (proof below) who I bumped into at the Ray-Stitch stand moments before we saw the very lovely Joanne from Stitch and Witter. Seeing them was such a joy, and I was really sad we couldn't all just go for a coffee and chat for an hour or two!

The third friendly face I came across at the show belonged to Sussex-based seller Maggie (pictured below) who was manning her stall and selling her wares. Maggie runs a phenomenal buttons and notions business called Textile Garden, which has such an eye-watering array of products that I could only get to see her at the very beginning and end of the day, she was barricaded in by swarms of button-high shoppers the rest of the time. 

She really does have awesome stock, and every time I see her stall (she sometimes sells at the craft market I organise, Brighton Craftaganza) there are always some new fantastic items that I've never seen for sale elsewhere. I promise you I'm not biased, but in the interest of full disclosure, whenever I see her, Maggie always give me some free buttons and then I buy some more. She's like a pusher: the first hit's for free then you come running back for more!

From a sewing perspective (is there any other?!), what other treats were there to behold? Fabric-wise, aside from Ray-Stitch there were three or four other great stalls. One of the best was The Village Haberdashery (some stock pictured below and the patchwork packs pictured at the top of the post) whose selection of quality fabric was second to none AND displayed in a very appealing colour-story kind of way.

The village haberdashery was also the only stand selling independent sewing pattern company products. The selection included Sewaholic, Colette Patterns, Jamie Christina, Megan Nielsen and more for adults, and some amazing ranges for childrens wear including some companies I'd never seen before. 

I'm pretty out of touch with prices of fabric these days, so I have no idea if all the fabric stalls present were offering value as well as selection, but if I was a sewer who bought new fabric, my goodness I would have bought a whole lot of it. Aside from Textile Garden, there were other button stands worth a rummage and I spied some very cool trims and braids here and there.   

Magazines and books were also in ready supply, many offering discounts on the cover prices or subscriptions. 

If knitting or crochet are your bag, there seemed a lot on offer too including some really specialised yarns you probably wouldn't find down your local wool shop or market stall, although once again I can't judge if things were reasonably priced. I feel pretty hard for this cardigan pictured below. I'd prefer it in black, imagine how those sequinned cherries would pop out!

As I mentioned, there were also a wide range of classes, workshops and taster sessions on all sorts of topics you could book yourself onto either before the event on on the day to attend. Some of the major players in London crafting and sewing were there teaching classes, like Lisa Comfort from Sew Over It. But aside from the classes, one of the most fun non-buying parts of the show was the Unfinishable Tent. 

Part of a wider art project (oh you can google it yourself!), the outside of this tent and the curtains are formed of creative projects people have started (often decades ago) and for various reasons abandoned. It was so fascinating to see these altogether in this context. The inside of the tent contained transcriptions of interviews of the creators of these pieces, where they shared the back story about why they begun the projects and how they came to leave them unfinished. It made for fascinating and often very touching reading. Many of these projects were started to while away some hours during lengthy hospital stays, and despite vowing to complete them after they returned home, the crafters never could bring themselves to pick up the projects again. Other projects were started for an expectant infant, often remaining unfinished after that infant had grown up and had had infants of their own! 

So, the verdict?: I would definitely go again, but only if I was paid to be there or were given a free ticket. The crowds, difficult and lengthly journeys to and from, the heat and stuffiness of the venue; all would be difficult to overlook if you are someone like me who has vowed not to buy new stuff (aside from a few buttons here and there) but you had paid to be there. But it is nice to take a peek into the passions and interests of others and I was grateful to be given the opportunity to do so.

NYC Advice Please!!!

Dear sewers of the world, I need your advice please. In just over a week I'll be jetting off on our honeymoon to NYC. I'm so excited I might be sick, but there's a whole load of finishing off bits to do (oh, like my dress!) and the wedding itself before we go anywhere so I'm trying to control myself. We'll be there for a week and Mr 'So, Zo' is fully aware that I'll be spending a fraction of that time checking out fabric shops, haberdashers and other sewing related destinations. Which is where you come in: Where is best for a sewer to go in NYC?!

As you may know, I try to stay away from buying new fabric. But I'm going to allow myself to buy a few lengths of new fabric on this special trip. Plus, I'm a haberdashery junkie, so I'm going to need a hit of buttons, notions, books, patterns and so forth, even just to look at if not buy. So if you have some top NYC sewing-related tips, PLEASE leave a comment below.

Thanks in advance!

The Hem-isphere Project: Round 2 'Parisienne' Packages

As you may know, this year I am undertaking a sewing-related project with super-talented sewing blogger Cecile from Sewing and so on. (By the way, have you SEEN her new nautical dress?! I'm currently crippled by envy.) Every two months we will send each other a package of goodies, some or all of the contents of which will form the starting point for a sewing project. In January we sent each other these packages and by the end of February we had produced these garments.

The last round (Round 1) had no theme, but we intend to attribute a topic, idea, film, song title, quote, or whatever else to each subsequent round to inspire the choices of package contents. I was nominated to come up with the theme for Round 2, and I came up with 'Parisienne'. Cecile lives in Réunion, a French province in the Indian ocean. With the linguistic and cultural links to France, I was really interested in what she would come up with. Paris is also a city I am fascinated and inspired by and am lucky enough to have been a few times.

So what does 'Parisienne' mean to me? Each time I've been to Paris, it's been cold, grey and often raining. And very beautiful. The ornate, stone architecture is so stunning, and the awesome cafes are so inviting. But I am also aware of a coldness and aloofness; of decades of luxury, privelege and elitism.

And luxury is so evident: understated but always visible. Paris expects the finer things in life, everyday. Where else could you enjoy such incredible Art Nouveau iron work free of charge, as part of the metro system no less?! Why not make your daily commute a more beautiful experience?

So how did I translate that into my choices for the contents of Cecile's package?

My package to Cecile:

It contains a piece of beautiful cotton sateen that's been in my stash for years. I never came up with a use for something as fine and subtle as this! It's background is dark grey, which nicely reflects my memories of soggy Paris pavements. Plus it has an ivory print that is both geometric and floral, and some of the shapes I feel happily resemble some of the Art Nouveau iron work curves and shapes that form those Metro entrances.

Along with the fabric, I've included a length of delicate vintage lace and some small mother of pearl buttons. To me, including those elements reflects the kind of 'subtle luxury for everyday' that I sense in Paris. The kind of mentality that might ask 'Why use cheap or poor quality trim or buttons on a garment, when something timeless and special is available?'.

Cecile's package to me:

She has sent me a lengthy of lovely, drapey white fabric with fine black stripes, a cute 1970's tunic/dress sewing pattern and some faceted black faux-jet buttons. I'm really excited about the contents and, having dwelled on it for a week, I know exactly what I plan to do with this project!

Look what Cecile also sent me:

To commemorate the first round of this project, she made a darling collage of herself in her handmade outfit, featuring the top that was born from the first package I sent her!

Let Round 2 commence....