Darlene’s Thread: How to Get the Look for Less

Make Your Own Six-Hundred Dollar Sweater

When drooling over my favorite designer fall fashions, I stumbled upon a cardigan sweater with glitzy squares and metal studs down the entire front with a price tag that was nearly $600.00!  So here is the six-hundred dollar question:  How do I get the look for less? Answer: Buy a plain cardigan—Slinky, DG2 and Completely Me by Liz Lange all have cardigans available on HSN.com that would work for this look for around $50.00—and then you get to have all the fun adding the surface embellishment. Let me show you how you can recreate this unique look to add to your fall ensemble. Wear this little number belted over a short full skirt and collared blouse. Shop: More cardigans and wraps from your favorite designers

What You’ll Need

• Plain cardigan sweater
• Single strand  sequins
• Glitzy or velvety fabric scraps
• Monofilament thread
• Assorted metal buttons
• Medium stretch iron -on interfacing and heavy Pellon

Sewing Instructions

1. Thread your machine with monofilament thread in the top and regular thread in the bobbin
2. Set your machine for a long straight stitch
3. With iron, press iron-on  interfacing to wrong side of decorative fabric
4. Press a 5″ wide strip of iron-on interfacing down the front of cardigan’s wrong side to give stability to the surface embellishments
5. Stitch sequin strands through their center onto:  the interfaced decor fabric over heavy pellon in a 1″ square pattern lock stitching the ends
6. Carefully cut out the tiny squares around the outside of the sequins being careful not to snip the monofilament thread or the edges of the sequins
7. Arrange randomly down both sides of the cardigan to your liking and pin in place
8. Restitch the patches to the sweater front and fill in the remaining spaces with buttons.

Shop: The best irons for sewing

How to Create Decorative Fabric Flowers

Some of you have commented on the many fashions that the Singer consultants made for the August 11^th Today’s Special set.  One top in particular had a floral embellishment on one shoulder that I promised to share with you this month. The flowers were made from two  fabrics: the garment and one other lighter weight  material in the same color. A dozen flowers were pinned on the shoulder in a romantic cluster (easily removable for laundering or reusing on another garment)!

Each flower consisted of four layers in two sizes. Each layer was a raw-edge five-petal flower. In the photo, the bottom layers are approx: 4″ wide and the top ones are 2 1/2″. After you layer them in an alternating sandwich that looks pleasing, pinch them from the back and stitch through all the layers securing them together. Add a bead in the center top and pin into place on your favorite sweater or tunic. Keep the flowers close together to add depth and dimension to your bouquet. Shop: Crafty sewing notions and trim

A Fast and Easy Embroidery Tip

The next time you’re trying to hoop material that’s too thick and bulky, consider this trick from Singer’s very own, Vivian Lavinskas. By omitting the stabilizer and hooping only the project, the hooping task will be much easier. After hooping, attach the framed project to the embroidery machine and carefully slip the piece of tear away or cut away stabilizer under the hoop between the hoop bottom and the feed dogs. Position the stabilizer and guide it in place for the first few stitches. You may never hoop stabilizer again!

Why We Love Computerized Sewing

Sometimes a rich fabric in a solid yummy color can make the perfect pallet for your computer’s decorative stitches. This blouse was made from peach skin polyester so it has a luxurious look and feel but it’s washable. I used an illusion for the upper collar and front ruffle and stitched along the edges with a contrasting thread and decorative pattern. To provide a sturdy, temporary foundation along the illusion edges, I used a 1″ strip of wash-away stabilizer. You may have noticed the burnt orange pressed Fettuccini yarn secured in place with a double zig-zag.

It was fun to use various stitch patterns such as the bead-stitch bordering the yarn trim, the multi-stitch zig-zag holding on the 1/4″ brown satin bias tape (positioned inside the yarn using Sewer’s Friend  item # ), the single image-locking stitch of a 5X elongated bead pattern along the outside border and a double arrow, a fern stitch and a triple dotted smile between the 5X beads. Computerized sewing can be sooooooo much fun!!! Let your creativity and stitch savvy take you to a new level!

Tune in these dates and times for the September shows:

• Thu 9/2 @ 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. featuring Brother
• Sat 9/2 @ 10 A.M. and 4 P.M. featuring Singer
• Thu 9/9 @ 6 A.M. and 2 P.M. featuring Singer
• Mon 9/13 @ 10 A.M. featuring Singer Iron
• Tue 9/14 @ 1 P.M., 3 P.M. and 8 P.M. featuring Singer
• Sat 9/25 @ 2 P.M. and 7 P.M. featuring Singer
• Mon 9/27 @ 10 A.M. feat. Brother and 2 P.M. feat. Singer

Sew your September dreams,

Darlene
 

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• Make a fun functional apron