Modern Sewing Starts Here Edition 23

Pintucks
These are marked with straight lines on the pattern and are a way of manipulating the fabric so it can be brought together to form
a tuck. Usually these pattern pieces can look a larger size or a weird shape, as they will be folded. Mark pintuck lines on your fabric
with a removable pen or tailor’s chalk on the right side of the fabric using a ruler to create evenly spaced lines.
TIP: Make sewing these easier with a pintuck presser
foot, and sew your pintucks flat before construction.
This foot has evenly spaced grooves on the bottom,
and when used with a twin needle, it creates evenly
spaced raised tucks of fabric. It will have 3, 5, 7, or 9
grooves on the bottom, and which one you choose
depends on the fabric weight being sewn. The finer
the fabric – the smaller the pintuck will be, and the
more grooves there are to accommodate this.
FABRIC FOLDS:
Pleats
The symbol for pleats tells you to fold the fabric in the direction of the arrow matching
the vertical lines. When circles are present, they are an additional marking to match.
Buttonholes
There are two markings. The buttonhole
placement is marked with a straight line
with closed ends. Transfer onto your fabric
pieces with chalk or tailor’s tacks. These
always sit horizontally so the buttonhole
doesn’t pull and open easily! A buttonhole
presser foot is the quickest way of sewing
a neat buttonhole.
The closed ends show how long the
button should be. A cross will indicate
where the button needs to be sewn.
Always mark these when your fabric is flat.
NB: A bust point is also marked with a
circle with a cross or X in the middle to
show the centre bust point or apex. You
don’t need to transfer this point to your
fabric and is treated as reference point to
help you make any fit adjustments to your
pattern before cutting.
TOOLS, TOOLS, TOOLS!
There are lots of tools on the market to choose from, so let’s
look at the more common ones:
Tailor’s Chalk & Pencils
Tailor’s chalk slabs or triangles are
available in several colours – red, white,
yellow and blue. These are inexpensive,
last longer than pencils, and are easy
to use and easy to brush off the fabric.
Choose the colour that stands out the
most on your fabric.
Chalk pencils are easy to sharpen and
draw in hemlines, dart legs, pockets and
anything where you need to see a finer
stitching line.
Marking Pens
There are lots of pens available on the market including air or water-soluble,
which disappear from the fabric. These are really popular but more expensive
than its chalk counterpart.
TIP: Test on your fabric first, and also remember air-soluble pens only last for
around 24 hours, so only use if you intend to sew straight away!
Tracing Wheel & Dressmaker’s Carbon Paper
This is a more traditional way to mark. The carbon paper sits between the pattern
and the wrong side of the fabric with the coloured side of the carbon paper facing
the wrong side. Using the tracing wheel roll over the pattern marks and when
the pattern is peeled back, there’ll be a row of dots on your fabric. This is a good
method if you’re working with a difficult or thicker fabric.
TIP: You can also get a double wheel tracer, which is handy for marking a seam
allowance as the wheels sit approx. 1.5cm apart!
For more marking tools – click here