I once found a little device that did tailor’s tacks as quickly as punching a hole. I didn’t buy it and now I can’t be arsed spending time doing tailor tacks, don’t own tailor’s chalk, tracing paper, a tracing wheel and can never find a non-permanent marker texta so this is how I make darts.

Sewing darts - the minimal effort way

We don’t mind if you use these patterns to make clothes to sell however you can not resell any of the patterns. If you can acknowledge us on the swing tag or on your site that would be great. If you are planning to make clothes to sell even at market stalls, I highly recommend regularly reading Fashion Incubator and purchasing The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing. If you can’t afford this book, you can’t afford to be in business.

If you don’t have a serger/overlocker then bias binding is a great way to finish a garment neatly. I got tired of wrestling with facings that never seem to sit right and then with the poor quality interfacing that seems to be the only kind available to home seamsters. I use it for summer dress necklines and armholes and I love using a contrasting colour because it looks so cute. Check out this tutorial on making and applying bias binding

Buy fabric first. Then decide what to make. Why? Because fabric is harder to find.
But how do I know how much to buy if I don’t know what I want? As a rule of thumb I buy fabric in lots of 1m, 1.5m, 2m or 2.5m. If I really like it and it’s cheap I’ll get 3 or 4 metres.
Roughly I can get a little top or a mini-skirt out of 1m, a pair of shorts out of 1.5m and shirt from 2m. If I think I want a dress I’ll go for 2m.

Inserting an invisible zip