No more bubbles! (of the bad kind)

There was an internet rant about sewing tutorials written by hipsters who learned how to sew 10 minutes ago that promulgate very bad techniques.  I stayed out of the fray, but nodded my head in agreement.  Some of those blogs give information that is just flat out wrong.  The best sewing advice I have seen have usually come from women who have sewn for decades and are not as photogenic and thin as the hipsters with their beautifully-styled blogs. 

One of the best sewing tutorials sites is run by Pam Erny, proprietress of Fashion Sewing Supply.  Her recent tutorial on how to make two exactly identical shirt pockets was fantastic.  I emailed her right away to ask if there was a way for me to send a micropayment to her for the sewing lesson.  She said that was not necessary, but she would appreciate if I spread the word about her business.

If you read sewing blogs of experienced seamsters, you may notice that many most of us purchase interfacing and notions from FSS.  To save on shipping, I put in an order every year or so, whenever I run low.

Actually, I don't recommend .ever. using fusible interfacing from big box sewing/craft stores.   The Pellon stuff will bubble eventually, ruining all of your hard work.  The Handler Textiles interfacing from independent fabric stores is slightly better, though it's a drag to wash and rewash the stuff to shrink it before application.

But, if you really want your work to hold up, wash after wash, and you don't want the hassle of prewashing your interfacing, you need to use the stuff Pam sells at FSS.  It's preshrunk, before the adhesive is sprayed on the back.  That means, the interfacing won't shrink when you iron it on your fashion fabric, causing the dreaded bubbling.  Moreover, the adhesive is applied evenly and thinly; no dots of adhesive that show through here.

I have no affiliation with FSS except that I am a satisfied customer and I am not paid for this plug.  But, I would like to point out that Pam is having a huge sale right now to celebrate her 7th year in business.

The sale runs through August 15 so take stock of what you need soon and place your order. She often runs out of some type of interfacing I want during her sales. But, last time, she held off shipping my order until she was able to restock, so I only had to pay for shipping for one package. Her shipping rates are reasonable; she charges only what it actually costs her (unlike other places!).