Introduction to the Oh Sew Active Challenge

Hey, everyone, and thanks so much for joining us for the Oh Sew Active Challenge. We hope you have a lot of fun putting together all of the projects that both National Sewing Circle and Mood Fabrics have provided. For all of the projects, you will find a combination of written instructions with both words and photo tutorials, as well as video instructions. And of course, some fun tips and tricks videos that both myself and Nicki LaFoille will be putting together to make sure that you can put together all of these projects, even if you've never done any kind of garment or sewing with unconventional or more fun fabrics. So I wanna talk about some of the things you're going to need to put together these projects. The first thing you're going to need for the majority of the garment projects, in particular, is a printer or a way to print off the pattern pieces. I'm gonna talk about measurements and sizing in a minute, but you are going to need to have a way to print off those pattern pieces and then cut them out. When you're printing them off, you're printing them on your standard printer or standard printer paper. So when you're cutting out those pattern pieces it's always a good idea to have a pair of paper scissors or non-fabric scissors to cut out those pattern pieces first. That way you're not dulling your good fabric scissors. But it is definitely recommended that you have a good pair of fabric scissors for cutting out your fabric. For a lot of these projects, they are constructed using maybe some fabrics that you haven't done a lot of work with before or things that isn't your standard, just say quilting cotton or something along those lines, and a good sharp, nice pair of scissors can really help cutting out some of those fabrics like wool, or vinyl, or these fun cotton jersey stretch fabrics. Some of the pattern pieces, it is helpful to have a rotary cutter and ruler, and of course, a rotary mat if you're gonna use the rotary cutting system. That's because there's either straight lines involved or the fabric being cut is just a little bit easier to cut some of the pieces using a rotary cutter, being able to put that ruler down on top as opposed to trying to cut it with your scissors. So, whichever your preferred cutting method, use that or have both on hand. You'll definitely wanna have some pins, some nice sharp pins. I like extra fine silk pins. I used that for all of the pinning for all of the projects that I made, but you can change up your pins per project. Some of the projects are made from jersey or stretch fabrics, so you may want to have a ballpoint or a pin used for those kinds of fabrics. That can help as well. So make sure you have some pins. Thread. Obviously, we're gonna talk about sewing machines in a minute too, but you need thread to put together all of these projects. And since some of these projects are made, again with some stretch fabrics or jerseys, just fabric that has some stretch to it, you wanna be using either a 100% polyester thread or you can use an all-purpose thread, which is a cotton polyester blend. When I am talking about the fabrics and the projects that are constructed using those stretch fabrics, I will go over what sort of stitches you might wanna be using for that, to make sure you are constructing it in a way that you're not going to ruin your garment as soon as you try to put it on if you're not sewing with stretch stitches. But if you haven't ever sewn with anything other than cotton thread before, get yourself an all-purpose or a 100% polyester thread, and that can definitely help with some of the projects that need some stretch. You're gonna wanna have a variety of needles. So if you are someone who generally just sews with an all-purpose needle or a universal needle, that will work for a lot of these projects. But again, I keep mentioning there are some of these projects that are sewn with a jersey fabric or a stretch fabric or other kind of specialty fabric that require a specialty needle. So having a stretch needle, a jersey needle, a ballpoint needle, any of these will work, or a combination of all of them. If you wanna grab one of each and give them a try, definitely something like that is going to be needed if you are making some of these projects again from this stretch fabric. So a variety of stretch, ballpoint, or jersey needles. If again if you're using that universal or all-purpose needle, having that in different weights or different sizes, so you have a lightweight, medium weight, or heavyweight if needed. For some of the projects like the bag, If you wanna make that from a canvas, or using denim to make the yoga mat handle, or even using a fun vinyl or faux leather fabric for that bag, you're gonna wanna have a needle that goes with that fabric. So again, something a little heavier weight, even a denim needle, jeans needle or leather needle can help with some of those heavier weight fabrics as well. So definitely have a variety of needles on hand. The next thing you're going to definitely need to have is your flexible measuring tape. So a fiberglass measuring tape is one that is flexible, as in it can go around your body, but it will not stretch. So if you have a measuring tape that's maybe not meant for sewing, or it's something that you found just at your house somewhere, and it has any kind of stretch to it at all, it's not one that you wanna use to take body measurements, 'cause it's not gonna give you an accurate measurement. So make sure you have a flexible, non-stretchy measuring tape so you can take your measurements. I also have another ruler here. This is, again, I mentioned in the beginning where you can use your rotary cutter and your ruler to do some cutting, but at some times it's good to have this straight ruler here as well. If you're gonna do any kind of alterations to your patterns, say on one of the shirts or one of the jackets you wanna make it a little bit longer, being able to have a long, straight ruler to draw in those lines if need be, is definitely a lot easier than trying to freehand a straight line or using this measuring tape to trace along. So having a variety of rulers. Now, let's talk about sewing machines. Because all of these projects can be made using just your standard sewing machine. There are a couple of the projects, again, we keep talking about these stretch and specialty fabrics that can be constructed using a serger if you have one, but you do not have to have a serger. You can do every single one of these projects with your standard sewing machine. And generally, as long as your machine can do a straight stitch and a zigzag stitch, you'll be fine. If your machine can also do a stretch stitch, which if you're unfamiliar, please consult your machine manual. But in general, a zigzag looks like just your standard sideways Vs, and a stretch stitch looks more like a lightning bolt. So if you have that, that's awesome, and definitely use that. If not, you can usually use a zigzag in place of that. But as long as your machine can do those two stitches, you should be fine to do all of these projects. Those are the basics that you'll need for all of these projects. Again, way to print your pattern pieces, your sewing machine, variety of needles, way to take body measurements, and then a way to cut your fabric, pin your fabric, and sew your fabric. And then there is another specialty tool that you're going to use on one of these projects, that I don't always say that you have to have a specialty tool because sometimes there's workarounds or ways to make things work without it. But, for specifically, the Boxwood Hoodie, if you plan to insert the grommets, I definitely recommend getting the grommet pliers or another grommet insertion tool. It is very, very hard, near impossible to try and do a grommet without them. So get one, if you have access to one. You can get these at many local craft and fabric stores. That's where I picked mine up at. Very, very handy, and I will be showing how to use this. If you don't have access to one, can't find one, there are alternatives to the grommets, and I can talk about that when we get to that project in particular, and buttonholes is the one main way that you can do the same sort of idea as a grommet without having to have a grommet. And obviously you can do that with your standard sewing machine. So this is the one specialty tool that I would recommend having, but other than that, this is all of the tools that you'll need to complete all of these projects. So now we're gonna move on to some more tips and tricks on how to put together these projects. And in particular, how to print off your patterns and know what sizes to make.