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Assembly line tops

Tuesday, May 17

May is almost over, and with each passing second, my anxiety builds up. I don't know what on earth pushed me to sign up for Me Made June. Are sewing challenges always this stressful? I have a couple of dresses, 1 skirt and 2 tops. Which by all accounts is clearly not enough for 31 days. So, I'm having to cut corners by

1) sewing the easiest projects I can find.
2) trying out all time saving tips with my projects.

I'm currently making 3 simple tops at the same time, so I'm calling them my assembly line tops. I'm using the New Look pattern I used last time for my 1 hour top experiment. Yesterday I cut all three at the same time. Magic?.....NO. I layered them, and pinned the pattern at the top, and cut them with my rotary cutter in order to avoid shaky scissors manipulations.

Place folded fabric on top of each other and pin pattern in place

Using a rotary cutter and cutting mat, cut out pattern pieces




Done!
My phone is acting up hence the shaded bit at the bottom.

Today after work I plan on sewing them. Fingers crossed I finish them tonight.

Does anyone have any time saving tips for me please?
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12 comments:

  1. Marie17 May 2011 at 13:57

    Wow, go dibs, you can do it! I have got to get myself a rotary cutter...FACT!

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  2. Unknown17 May 2011 at 13:58

    Hey Dibs
    Here's what I find useful...
    1) Finish your seams before you sew
    2) Don't bother snipping your machine thread at the end of each seam. Just feed the next top straight through. Garment bunting if you like,lol.
    3) Perform similar tasks together. ie Sew all side seam, press all side seams, sew all darts,press all darts etc
    4) mark the foldline of your hem with a row of machine stitching. When you come to press over your hem it acts in a similar way to scoring paper before you fold it and makes hemming quicker
    5) For interfacing I just pin the fabric pieces to the interfacing and cut round them. That way they're already in place for pressing.
    6) Another nifty trick for finishing the facing outer edges is to pin facing and interfacing RS and non sticky side together. Sew along the outer edge,trim and clip seam allowance and turn right way out. The sticky side of the interfacing will be on the inside (along with the raw edges)in contact with the WS of your facing fabric. Press to adhere, et voila. Super neat edges to your facings. Then just attach them as normal.
    You probably know most of this but just in case...:)
    Good luck!
    Pxxx

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  3. Dibs17 May 2011 at 14:12

    thats alot of tips Miss P, thanks alot. I will definitely be using some of them this evening.I'm priniting out your suggestions now...lol

    Marie thats good. Now make sure you use it and also make sure you let me know how much time it saves you lol..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown17 May 2011 at 14:27

    You're welcome. I hope it makes sense to you. Just read it back and it sounds a bit random and rambling,lol. Can't wait to see how you get on!
    Px

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  5. Jane17 May 2011 at 14:32

    Go girl! You crack me up! It was so lovely to meet you on Saturday, good luck with the tops. Fab tips by the way Portia, especially the hem marking and the facing ones, thanks! x

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  6. Forrest17 May 2011 at 15:29

    That's awesome! I freaked out before I did Me-Made-March, because I thought I didn't have enough seperates but I never thought to assembly line tops like that! Also, I'm going to steal some of Miss P's tips too...

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  7. Amy17 May 2011 at 15:38

    Best of luck! I'm looking forward to seeing your tops.

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  8. Eugenia17 May 2011 at 16:08

    Wow, your assembly line production idea is very impressive. At this rate you will soon get through that wonderful haul of fabrics you bought on Saturday!! I'm looking forward to seeing your finished tops.

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  9. Dibs17 May 2011 at 16:28

    Thanks for the encouragement ladies, I certainly need them.

    Eugenia, I so wanted to talk to you on saturday but i suppose the excitement of fabric shopping got the better of me. Hopefully we'll get a chance to talk next time.

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  10. Unknown17 May 2011 at 17:06

    I agree with you about the me-made-june anxiety. I love your idea to stack the fabrics, and I too have to get a rotary cutter for that.
    Thanks so much. ^_^

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  11. Melizza Makes17 May 2011 at 17:53

    Keeping my fingers crossed and looking to see what you learn...so I can learn too!

    Good luck!

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  12. Tamsin20 May 2011 at 12:45

    I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to cut that many tops in one go. Good luck with all that sewing!

    ReplyDelete

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