Woven clothing labels + a cheap trick

When I got my bachelor’s degree (unrelated to sewing, ha), my mom bought me my first batch of woven labels for SmarmyClothes. They were quite spiffy, especially compared to the super simple iron-on labels I had made myself.

I ordered a second batch of the same labels from the same company a few years ago. Last month I noticed I was down to my last 17 labels! I’d been half-looking at replacement labels for a while, having decided that the woven labels were perhaps a little too expensive for something someone might just cut out of the garment once they got it. It got kind of dire when I realized I had less than twenty left.

I decided on making my own with some printable fabric. I bought the printable fabric. Then I realized I need new cartridges for my color printer (I generally use my b+w laser printer for everything) and it’s going to cost me SIXTY BUCKS for new cartridges.

$60 + $19 for the fabric sheets (this doesn’t include shipping, mind you) = $79

I figured I could get about 420 labels out of this package of 6 fabric sheets. That works out to about 19 cents a piece. Not too shabby compared to the woven labels I bought before, which worked out to 33 cents a piece.

Then I found Fancy Weaver on Etsy. 600 woven labels, huge range of sizes, 8 colors for the same price as what I was going to get for making them myself?!?!?!  I was sold.

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Smarmtastic Giveaway!

To celebrate my new line of necklaces, I’m giving away two samples in my blog!!
All you have to do to enter is comment with your favorite of the new necklaces.

Ends June 28th!

Enter here: http://smarmyclothes.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/smarmy-giveaway/

How to make a ruffled hem – photo tutorial

Making a ruffle (aka gathering) is a basic sewing technique that you can use a million different ways once you know how to do it.

There are a lot of ways to ruffle or gather. In this tutorial, I create the ruffle as I sew, instead of gathering the fabric ahead of time. It takes some practice to be able to create even gathers, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a quick way to do it.

Difficulty:

Step 1

I want to add a ruffled hem to the bottom of a dress. The first thing I need to do is determine how much fabric I need for my ruffle.

How much fabric I need for the ruffle depends on 1. the width of the bottom of the dress and 2. how full I want the ruffle.

Laying flat, the bottom is 20″ wide, which means it’s 40″ wide total.

Step 2

Now I need to choose and prepare the fabric for my ruffle. I’m using a contrasting fabric, but you can use something that matches the rest of your dress/skirt/etc. if you want.

For a hem like this, you need at least two times the width of the bottom of the dress for the ruffle. I have cut two 4″ long strips of the ruffle fabric. Each strip is 40″ wide, giving me a total of 80″ for the ruffle fabric. Which is… that’s right! Double the measurement of the hem.

40″ (width of the bottom of the dress) x 2 = 80″ (width of ruffle fabric needed)

Doubling the fabric for the ruffle works very well for ruffles like this that aren’t very long. If you were going to make a dress with a 15″ long ruffled hem, I would suggest tripling the bottom measurement instead of doubling.

Obviously, the more width you give the ruffle, the fuller the ruffle will be. It will also be heavier, so keep that in mind.

Now, sew together however many pieces of ruffle fabric required to get the width you need and hem it. Or serge it. Or trim it with lace. Whatever you prefer! I now have one 80″ long loop of ruffle fabric, hemmed and ready to ruffle!

Step 3

To get even gathering around the whole hem with the least amount of work, we need to divide the bottom into 8 equal sections.

Start at the sides, and mark each side with a pin.

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