I've finally started my Minoru jacket. I'm making a wearable muslin out of cotton-poly twill. If I like it, the plan is to buy some fancy outdoor wear fabric to make a winter-jacket shell. Right now, I'm making a pretty spring jacket.

This time, I'm doing a bunch of little things I have never done before, either because I did not know about them or because I was too lazy. No short-cuts this time!

1. Use Tracing Paper

Instead of cutting out my pattern like I am used to, I used Swedish tracing paper and traced the pattern in the size I wanted. I then used the tracing paper to cut out my fabric. This saves my pattern for the future, should I want to make it in a different size (and/or I find out I made it in the wrong size to begin with). This is an especially good idea for when you are using vintage sewing patterns.  

Here is a good tutorial on tracing sewing patterns from A Fashionable Stitch.

2. Cut Slits Instead of Notches



Instead of cutting the full triangle-shaped notch, I just cut small little slits. It is a little more precise and my fabric isn't as tempted to fray or run.

3. Tie my Ends Together

This is a big one! When I finish a seam on the sewing machine, I take the two pieces of thread, tie them together, and then trim the excess.

If the treads are too far from the end to easily tie together, thread one on a needle and poke it through to come out next to the other thread.


This prevents your seams from unravelling someday soon (and then having to do mending work). It's an especially good idea to do this if you have to start a seam in the middle of a work (for example, if you run out of bobbin thread half-way through a seam). The sewing back and forth we do at a beginning and end of a seam is good in the short term, but it can fall apart.

It takes a few extra seconds after sewing a seam, but saves time in the long run.

This idea is thanks to Sewing Machine Basics by "Jane Bolsover", which I mentioned in a previous post.


I'm glad I read the book, as I had forgotten a lot of little things.