Wednesday 3 October 2012

Out of the kitchen

If you are dropping in from Blogtoberfest - hello and welcome. 
Have a look around and leave me a comment so I can return the visit.

If you are a regular here then you will know that for me, time spent in the kitchen is time I could have better spent sewing...

So it's kind of ironic that one of my most valued 'sewing tools' is good old trusty baking paper!


If you are sewing something that does not feed well through your machine - often a piece of baking paper under or over it will be all you need for smooth sailing.

When making these plastic coated bibs recently I used large pieces of baking paper over the plastic as I sewed to make it easier.  The baking paper stopped the plastic from sticking and dragging against the footbed of the machine, and made them much easier to sew.


The other main use I have for it is when sewing small ends of bias binding, straps and ties.

Putting baking paper under the end of a strip such as the one above ensures you can start sewing right at the end of the strip without it being pushed down into the machine and becoming jammed.

Give it a try - it makes a big difference.

I now have a small piece of baking paper there at the ready whenever I am sewing.

What about you - got any tips and tricks to share??

6 comments:

rachelmp said...

Great tip! Do you sew over it all and then tear it off the sewing?

Unknown said...

I do the same only with tear-away stabiliser. The bib looks great. I really should make Amélie some new ones. All hers are hand-me downs from the boys with bulldozers and stuff on them. Good to see you on the blogtoberfest wagon. I decided to join in this year too!

Nikki said...

I use paper towel (or even toilet paper) for the same purpose when sewing stuff with wadding on it, or for tricky internal seams. It doesn't tear away as cleanly from the stitches as baking paper does, so it's really only useful when the stitches are not visibe from the outside of the finished project. It's a very cheap substitute for tearaway stabiliser.

Gen said...

OMG that is an awesome tip! THank you! I popped over from blogtoberfest and I'm so glad i did. Great blog - I shall have to bookmark and follow you so I can read some of your older posts when I get a moment! P x

Leonie said...

Great tip Karen, I'll give it a try. I love the Fabulous '50s bib. Love your choice of fabrics for it too.

Kylie said...

What a great tip. Thanks for sharing. My sewing tip is to have a matchining bobbin for the most used threads that I use.