Textiles By Keavey Webster

How to set up your sawing machine? This will give you a step by step guyed to show you how to set a sawing machine up.

Different seams Plain Seams 1 Use a plain seam for most garments. 2 Pin the two pieces of fabric with the right sides together. Make sure that the edges of your fabric, as well as any pattern notches or markings, are matched up evenly. 3 Sew at the required distance ' the seam allowance ' from the raw fabric edges. Flat-Felled Seams 1 Use a flat-felled seam for garments that will receive a lot of wear, such as children's clothing or jeans. 2 Sew a plain seam and press it open with an iron. 3 Press both layers of fabric to one side and trim the inner fabric layer to 1/8 inch. 4 Press the top layer of fabric under 1/4 inch and stitch this folded edge to the garment. 5 Keep stitches as straight as possible, because the stitches will be seen on the right side of the garment. French Seams 1 Use a French seam for sheer fabrics. 2 Place the wrong sides of the fabric together, pin and sew 3/8 inch from the fabric edges. 3 Trim the seam allowance layers to 1/8 inch and press the seam open. 4 Fold the fabric so that the right sides are together and the seam is in the centre of the fold. 5 Press again. 6 Stitch the seam 1/4 inch from the fold and press the seam to one side.

Over locker An overlock is a kind of stitch that sews over the edge of one or two pieces of cloth for edging, Hemming, or seaming. Usually an overlock sewing machine will cut the edges of the cloth as they are fed through (such machines being called "sergers" in North America), though some are made without cutters. The inclusion of automated cutters allows overlock machines to create finished seams easily and quickly. An overlock sewing machine differs from a lockstitch sewing machine in that it uses loopers fed by multiple thread cones rather than a bobbin. Loopers serve to create thread loops that pass from the needle thread to the edges of the fabric so that the edges of the fabric are contained within the seam.

Fair trade What is fair trade? When you buy products with the FAIRTRADE Mark, you support farmers and workers as they work to improve their lives and their communities. The Mark means that the Fairtrade ingredients in the product have been produced by small-scale farmer organisations or plantations that meet Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards. The standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment, payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects. Cotton is the world’s oldest commercial crop and one of the most important fibre crops in the global textile industry. Although world cotton production is dominated by China, India and the US, cotton is vital for the survival of many low income countries in Central and West Asia and Africa – it accounts, in value terms, for 26.4 per cent of Benin’s exports and 58.7 per cent of Burkina Faso’s.

The quiz How much seam allowance should you leave if you od a plane seam? 5 mm 1 cm 2.5 cm 1.5 cm Next questions

When you start to stitch how many times should you go forwards and backwards?

What makes silk? warms Cockroaches Ladybirds

The average price rang for fabric fabricHow much per meter? Cotton£2.89 polyester£4.35 Tweed£4.95