Welcome to Day 11 of our Holiday Giveaway! Win 2 Seam Allowance Guides, one for you and a friend, and a $200 Tessuti Fabric Voucher from seamallowanceguide.com! Comment on this blog article by 10AM (EST) Monday, December 12th to be entered to win!
The most time consuming and annoying part of sewing is adding a seam allowance to all your pattern pieces. No longer do you have to measure and trace around each individual piece, the Seam Allowance Guide will do that for you while you cut out your fabric. Now you can spend more time on the fun stuff.
Perfect for:
Burda Style Magazine Patterns
Japanese Pattern books
Marfy Patterns
Copying your own clothes
Designers creating patterns from scratch
Altering patterns
Left or right handed scissors
Picking up pins!
Comment to Win: What annoying sewing problem do you wish there was a solution for?
This giveaway is sponsored by seamallowanceguide.com
*Please note: If selected as a winner, any personal information you provide to receive your prize in this giveaway is subject to the sponsor’s privacy rules. These may differ from BurdaStyle’s rules, so please review the rules before entering your information. BurdaStyle is not responsible for the handling of your data in connection with this giveaway.
[Update 12/21/11] – Congratulations to member Podbod18 for winning the Holiday Giveaway Day 11!
Dec 12, 2012, 07.41 PMby sticher63
when your very out-dated sewing machine skips stitches and jams for no apparent reason… but I suppose buying a newer one is a solution! My real issue is I love satin pattern fabric it makes such great accents and inserts or cute tops, but my dilemma is all of the puckering and slipping the fabric does!!! It is one tough cookie to sew with!!!
Dec 22, 2011, 05.05 AMby 1diane
Making nice corners
Dec 18, 2011, 01.01 PMby Liora Litman-Cohen
copying patterns from Burdastyle.it’s better to download patterns on PDF.
Dec 17, 2011, 04.27 AMby vanessa
Turning loops. I can never get that quite right.
Dec 16, 2011, 04.14 PMby Tadayuki Motoyama
I have an older sewing machine and it is horrible to thread….Is there such thing as a self-threading sewing machine. A girl can dream…
Dec 16, 2011, 11.00 AMby maribug
When i can’t seem to get my thread tension just right….it drives me NUTS
Dec 16, 2011, 07.48 AMby Fabiana Mattos
-I wish there was an easy solution for joining seams. I always have such a hard time to get them to be aligned…
Dec 16, 2011, 03.09 AMby aurorapoison
Ironing and ripping seams…..
Dec 15, 2011, 04.39 PMby neama
Ripping seams grrrrrrr……..:/
Dec 15, 2011, 12.09 AMby sparkledust1287
Ripping seams and having to rewind the bobbin thread when it runs out!
Dec 14, 2011, 10.36 PMby jacquipardue
i would like an easier way to trace dart lines and any other markings from pattern to fabric. It’s not that it’s hard, it just feels like a slow tedious little part of a project. and marking pens/pencils/chalk can be tricky on a fabric that is dark or stretchy and moves under the marker.
Dec 14, 2011, 09.37 PMby Christi Woglemuth
I hate to seam rip.
Dec 14, 2011, 02.05 PMby sema80
tracing the pattern on the fabric……..I hate it……Ispend a lot of time doing this
Dec 14, 2011, 12.43 PMby monikapullerits
You have no idea what a pain for me is cutting seamallowence!. I may cut it out just right by looking or by measuring but after i start sewing pieces together the seamlines have shifted and i cant make out the right lines. I wish i would have this seamalllowance guide, life would be so much easier!
Dec 14, 2011, 09.00 AMby Jazmijntje
taking over paterns on fabrics…I hate it. Takes a lot of time (maybe I am doing something wrong?) and halfway sewing I usually get lost where the little triangles etc. were…. Especially the patternsheets showing several patterns at once. So difficult to track the right lines.
Dec 14, 2011, 04.24 AMby adlrouse
I hate zippers. I would do anything to avoid them.
Dec 14, 2011, 03.47 AMby SueK026
I’m in agreement with all who hate tracing patterns. It takes forever but if I know I’m going to reuse a pattern to make an item in another size, I bite the bullet and do the deed. There’s really not much else I dislike about sewing except when I make a stupid mistake (and it’s seldom anything other than a “stupid” mistake on my part) and have to rip everything out. Yuck!
Dec 14, 2011, 02.21 AMby tru
What a delightful Christmas gift idea. My buggaboo in sewing is still the pattern sizes and how they change but do not improve the packaging. Now again sizes are different and now, still, we have so many sizes on the flimsy paper so that following the lines becomes so difficult. Would also be nice for pattern sizes to match clothing sizes in general. What a novel idea that would be. (Or even more so, to have different clothing manufacturer’s actually have their size 16, for instance, fit all people who are size 16. Chuckle)
Dec 14, 2011, 01.50 AMby momsgotanewhobby
I am blown away, a seam allowance tool that is so SIMPLE. Got to get one (several).
I wish that there were adhesive sheets made just for patterns in different sizes. You’d lay it out your pattern on the adhesive which would be a little thicker and then cut out? That way patterns would be stronger and easier to cut. This might already exist. I’ve improvised and used double sided tape and gift wrap, I’ve also used drawer liner but that can be expensive.
1 Reply
Dec 14, 2011, 03.36 AMby SueK026
I use inexpensive fusible lightweight interfacing for this purpose. For example, JoAnn’s just had interfacing on sale @ 10 yds for $3.99. I had a 25% off coupon, so I got 10 yds for $2.99, just 30 cents a yard. It works quite well.
Dec 14, 2011, 12.56 AMby anothersewingmama
sounds great, thanks for the chance to win
Dec 14, 2011, 12.42 AMby rachelhead
A lot of times I go too fast and end up making dumb mistakes…a tiny little unicorn that pops out of my sewing drawer and says, “hey, silly…slow down.” :)
Dec 14, 2011, 12.26 AMby robynvinessmith
I wish there was a magic way to bind edges with bias tape.
Dec 13, 2011, 11.15 PMby Karen Caron
I really dislike tracing every pattern onto tracing paper in case I want/need to make it in another size.
1 Reply
Dec 14, 2011, 03.38 AMby SueK026
Ditto! If I know I’m going to use one size exclusively, I might use fusible interfacing to reinforce the tissue pattern piece. But, you’re right: if I think I may use the pattern to make items in varying sizes, I trace the pattern onto pattern fabric (e.g., Do Sew) and it’s definitely a pain.
Dec 13, 2011, 11.03 PMby sutra9
great comments already, although sewing curves (i.e rounded neck lines) is my most frustrating issue…is there a guide or something that results in the perfect curve?
1 Reply
Dec 14, 2011, 08.53 AMby latulipenoire
After sewing a curve, if you cut little notches in your seam allowance, just short of the stitching, this let’s the curve move a bit more easily and once you tun and press, it’s almost always perfect!
Dec 13, 2011, 10.47 PMby ErikaB3
i wish that I could buy my items already set for a lefty.
Dec 13, 2011, 09.55 PMby taritadaly
Adding a seam allowance is one of the most tedious parts of tracing a pattern. It would be awesome to have something that could help me do it better and faster.