May Martin’s Sewing Bible: 40 years of tips and tricks

Having gathered together all the items you need for your dressmaking project, here are a few tips to help you on your way.

Prepare your paper pattern. Iron the pattern pieces – they need to lie flat on your fabric.

Press your fabric, too; it will be easier to lay out your pattern and will allow for greater accuracy when cutting out. Press wool on a steam setting to pre-shrink it.

Make sure your pattern is laid out following the grain line. Follow the pattern layout for your fabric width and style.

Use plenty of pins when pinning the pattern to the fabric – put pins in each corner and several along the edges (photo 1 (#ulink_5f3f13c0-3b47-5ec3-bcfa-7f0916b75ceb)). But make sure that they don’t project over the cutting line, as this will damage your scissors.

Use tailor’s tacks to mark where zips are to be positioned and darts are to be sewn, along with other necessary reference points on the garment. Clues to aid construction are good!

It can be difficult to identify the wrong and right sides of plain fabric, so put chalk marks on the wrong side.

If in doubt about whether your fabric has a nap, pin all all pattern pieces so that they are lying in the same direction. Cut out the individual pieces of fabric for your garment with care, using sharp scissors and following the line of the pattern pieces as accurately as possible.

Remember to cut notches outwards so that they don’t steal your seam allowance.

If you are right-handed, place your left hand on your pattern piece to hold it flat while cutting out (photo 2 (#ulink_5f3f13c0-3b47-5ec3-bcfa-7f0916b75ceb)). This will be the other way round if you are left-handed.

Take care when cutting two garment pieces out of a single rather than a double layer of fabric. Cut one piece with the paper pattern print right side up, then turn the paper pattern over to cut out the second piece. You will then have a right and a left piece!

Practise your machine stitching on a double piece of fabric before you make a start on your garment.

Place garment pieces right sides together before you attach them, carefully matching the notches together on each seam.

When you’re pinning seams together, always pin at right-angles to the fitting line. This makes them easier to pull out when you’re sewing the seam.

As you construct your garment, remove pattern pieces one at a time, matching to the adjacent piece. This avoids confusion when you have lots of pieces. Where there are many sections of the garment to cut out, it may be helpful to label each one with a slip of paper attached with a pin so that you can identify which section it is once you have removed the paper pattern.

Don’t screw up your garment in between sewing sessions. Lay it over a hanger so that it is kept flat for the next stage.

Press every seam as you make it, to bed the stitches in, and then press the seam open or to one side if that is indicated in the pattern.

Neaten each seam as you construct it. The minute you trap one seam in another with a row of machining, it is very difficult to get at it to neaten any raw edges.

Trim, clip and press at every stage of your project.

Measure, measure, measure! Be as accurate as possible when you sew. I sew with a tape measure on a lanyard around my neck!

Top Tip

Measure twice, cut once!

Hand Stitches

Here I’ve listed all the basic hand stitches that you’ll need for the various projects in this book.

Overstitch or oversewing stitch: This is a small, even diagonal stitch that can be worked from either the right or the wrong side of a garment or other item being sewn together. The stitches will usually show, but give a very secure join.

Overcast stitch: This stitch is used to neaten edges. Take a diagonal stitch over the edge of the fabric.

Running stitch: I often use this as a tacking or temporary stitch. It is secure and several stitches are worked at the same time.

Backstitch: This is a really robust hand stitch that can be used to make permanent seams.

Catch stitch: I have used this to catch the side hems on my curtains (#litres_trial_promo). Don’t pull too tight or it will show through on the right side of the fabric.

Slip stitch: This is another stitch that’s used in hemming, for attaching a double fold of fabric to a single layer.

Even slip stitch (ladder stitch): I use this for catching two folds together. When pulled apart, the stitches look like the rungs on a ladder.

Blanket stitch: This can be used as a decorative finish for the edges of seams or appliqué motifs. The thread is looped around the needle each time it is inserted.

Diagonal tacking: This is really useful for holding pleats in position. When underlining a garment piece (i.e. attaching lining to the wrong side of the main fabric to help support it), as I’ve done in the Boned Bodice (#litres_trial_promo), diagonal tacks help to hold the layers together.

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Sewing Machine

A sewing machine is an essential piece of equipment for most projects. Ideally, you want one with three controls – stitch width, stitch length and stitch selector – to give enough flexibility. There is a huge range to choose from and it’s best to do a bit of research before you buy, rather than plumping for a cheap model from a catalogue or supermarket, which may be low spec and unreliable. I’d recommend visiting your nearest sewing-machine shop, where they will be able to give you a demonstration and advice on the different models so that you can select the best one for your needs. They will also provide back-up should you require it. Alternatively, is there one in the family that you can use? If it hasn’t been used for a while, clean and oil it or have it serviced before you start sewing.

Sewing-Machine Feet

A sewing machine comes with a couple of basic ‘feet’ which you can use to do lots of different processes. However, more specialised feet are available that you may want to consider investing in – or putting on your wish list! – as your skills develop. Using specific feet for certain techniques can improve the quality and accuracy of your stitching.

Standard Machine Feet

Standard foot: This is the foot that you’ll use for most of your sewing. The sole is fairly flat with a wide gap for working zigzag as well as running stitches.

Buttonhole foot: This either has grooves underneath for the beads of the buttonhole to go through or a plastic or metal sliding gauge.

Zipper foot: Your machine will have a standard zipper foot. These do not always stitch piping well, so you may wish to buy an adjustable one.

Specialised Machine Feet

Here are some of my favourite machine feet and how to use them. Many different kinds are available to help with every conceivable task – I have twenty-five feet that I have collected for my machine over the years.

Invisible zipper foot: Designed specially to sew an invisible zip, as I’ve shown in my Shift Dress (#litres_trial_promo), this has two grooves underneath to accommodate the coils of the zip while sewing in place.

Overcasting foot: This has a bar or bars and brushes to the right of the foot. The bar slackens the tension on the top thread and prevents the edge of the seam puckering up when neatening the edges of seams. If you can, use this instead of a standard foot for zigzag neatening as well as for overcasting.

Blind-stitch foot: This foot helps to guide the fabric when working a blind-stitched hem (#litres_trial_promo). It can also be adjusted or positioned to aid edge stitching (#ulink_dbec0c3c-0ffc-53cf-911c-b6f552e304b9).

Open embroidery foot: Ideal for appliqué or embroidery, as the wide opening at the front of the foot gives a clear view of what you are stitching, while the groove under the sole of the foot helps accommodate the denser types of stitching used in embroidery.

Walking or even-feed foot: This foot has a set of teeth on the underside that connect with the teeth on your machine, gripping both top and bottom layers of fabric when sewing and feeding them evenly through the machine. Excellent for sewing long seams on curtains or for helping to control the layers when quilting. Some models also come with a guide that fits in the back of the foot to aid parallel stitching.

Stitch-in-the-ditch foot: This foot comes with a blade in the middle of the foot. Sit this blade on the seam line and it will follow the join precisely. This foot would be perfect for guiding the stitching on the waistband of my Pencil Skirt (#litres_trial_promo) or for the binding on the Child’s Smock Apron (#litres_trial_promo).