Sewing 101 - Make a Caftan- HGTV Handmade

The Art of Sewing a Calfan: A Step-by-Step Guide

As we begin our sewing journey, it's essential to understand the basics of creating a comfortable and stylish calfan. In this article, we'll take you through the process of sewing a calfan, from preparing your materials to finishing the final product.

Preparation is Key

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To start, make sure you have all the necessary materials within reach. This includes your sewing machine, fabric of choice, scissors, pins, and a measuring tape or ruler. It's also essential to familiarize yourself with your sewing machine and understand its various functions and settings. In this tutorial, we'll be using a basic sewing machine, but feel free to experiment with different machines and techniques as you become more comfortable.

Understanding the Calfan Pattern

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A calfan is a type of sleeveless garment that typically extends from the shoulder to the elbow. It's designed to provide warmth and comfort while keeping the upper body cool and relaxed. To create a calfan, we'll be using a simple pattern that consists of two main pieces: the top and bottom parts. The top part will have a slight curve, which will help shape the arm hole and give the garment a comfortable fit.

Securing the Fabric

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Before we begin sewing, it's crucial to secure the fabric in place. This is where the petal comes into play – a small piece of fabric that helps guide the movement of the needle. To achieve this, you'll need to push with your foot or this little "yes" piece, which will help keep the fabric steady and prevent any tangles.

Pushing Down with Your Foot

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As we start sewing, it's essential to understand how much pressure you're applying with your foot. At first, use a soft touch to get a feel for the machine, but as you become more confident, you can gradually increase the pressure and speed up your stitching. Remember, it's better to err on the side of caution and take small, gentle pushes rather than applying too much pressure, which could damage the fabric.

Using the Tassel Guide

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One of the most helpful features of a sewing machine is the tassel guide – a small piece of fabric that indicates where the seam allowance should be. This feature can be incredibly useful, especially for beginners, as it provides an accurate measurement and helps prevent mistakes. When using this feature, make sure to keep your needle down and lift the presser foot up to move the fabric smoothly under the machine.

Checking Your Stitches

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As you sew, it's essential to check your stitches regularly. This is where experience and patience come into play – take your time, and don't be afraid to stop and recheck your work if needed. A well-sewn stitch can make all the difference in the quality of your garment, so invest time in getting it right.

Adding a Pinch of Precision

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When sewing, there's always room for precision – especially when it comes to creating vents or arm holes. In our case, we've left a small gap for the arm hole, which will allow for ease and comfort while wearing the garment. To achieve this, you'll need to carefully lift up your presser foot and sew along the edge of the vent, making sure to leave enough space for the fabric to move freely.

Adding a Trim

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The final touch to our calfan is the addition of a trim – in this case, a beautiful pom-pom trim that adds a touch of elegance to the garment. When adding a trim, make sure to sew along the edge carefully, taking care not to damage the fabric or the trim itself.

Finishing Touches

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With your calfan complete, it's time to add some finishing touches. This includes cutting off excess fabric and hemming the edges to create a smooth finish. You can also add a small neck hole, depending on your preference for fit and style.

Tips and Tricks from the Experts

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As we've learned throughout this tutorial, sewing a calfan requires patience, practice, and attention to detail. But with these tips and tricks, you'll be well on your way to creating beautiful garments that will make you feel confident and stylish.

Leave Space for Ventilation

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When sewing, it's essential to leave space for ventilation – especially in areas where the fabric may trap heat or moisture. In our case, we've left a small vent in the arm hole to ensure airflow and comfort while wearing the garment.

Sewing Inside Out (Optional)

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While this tutorial has focused on sewing inside out, you can also achieve a beautiful finish by sewing outside in some areas – especially when working with trims or delicate fabrics. Experiment with different techniques and see what works best for your project.

The Final Result

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And there you have it – a beautifully crafted calfan that's perfect for lounging around on a warm summer day. With these steps, you'll be able to create your own comfortable and stylish garment that will make you feel confident and relaxed. Happy sewing!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's going great hey everyone welcome to HDTV handmade with me Meg and I'm so stoked I have the pleasure of visiting Maran we're in her home we were chitchatting the other day on the phone how you know we know a bunch of crafty skills but we always want to learn more things and what did you want to learn my weakness is definitely sewing I have had that sewing machine six years poor old girl never been used never been touched completely terrified of that sewing machine so today we're facing that fear we're going to do a little like sewing 101 give you just a couple of basic tips help you get started and then the reward will be lounging in a c tan Fanning yourself with a palm sitting next to me drinking a mocktail or cocktail okay if you also would like this reality here's what you're going to need two long scarves a sewing machine pair of scissors some thread a bobin straight pins and a cutting mat so we have our two scarves we went with matching scarves you can kind of work with any length what we want is a ful length calf tan we're going to fold over the top so that the bottom is the length we want kind of just touching the the bottom of our ankles and once we have it like this we're going to lay it we want the nice side facing the table okay so now that it's all flat we take our straight pins and we are just pinning down what we folded so we're pinning down there and then also up the sides okay so now that we have this guy pinned we're going to do the same to the other one so we're using the one we already pinned as our guide yes excellent it's a great beginner project because if you make a mistake it's not glaringly obvious okay is it sewing time yes it's totally sewing time the most important thing really is threading your machine so you take a bobin you put it down here you take the end of the thread and there's usually a little divot that it has to sort of catch in and then you put the top back on like that bom and now we're going to add the top thread each one is different but the top thread usually follows this general direction so between this and your manual you should be good out there so you come over here you just tack on that guy usually goes down this Loop up again and then there's this little silver guy and in mariann's it's kind of embedded in there so I'm just going to put it on the back oh it's like and then it catches yes and then we just push it through the needle once you go through there pull it so that it's Loosely taut and then give one okay so that it pulls the bobbin up so now we have a threaded sewing machine so now that we have our scarf like folded and pinned we're going to put it under the presser foot in order to secure this we're going to just do a straight Stitch and going in the correct Direction first and then we're going to stop and are you pushing with your foot or with this yes in order to get it moving I push with the petal my foot okay and then now we're going to have it go back to just secure it and then if we just go straight one more time that guy should be all secure how hard are you pressing with your foot so at first since especially since you know it's a new sewing machine to me I'm going kind of soft at first to just get the feel but then once I kind of get a little confident then I can kind of push down a little bit more and go a little quicker now with this scarf it's telling us exactly where the seam allowance can be because because it has this great little tassel guy but if you don't have a little tassel guy you'll want to give yourself like a qu of an inch or a half of an inch of a seam allowance okay and so we pull out the pins as you them okay so you always make sure that the needle is down when you're like yes if I'm going to move the fabric I don't want to lose that Stitch so I keep that needle down lift the presser foot up move the fabric exactly and so you want to also just like check once you're sewing you want want to just like always be kind of just checking in and looking at your your stitches and they look great just but just check make sure everything is like the tension exactly exactly see you know you get the lingo down now and so going back and forth that's like a knot that if you were hands exactly it's like how you would tack down a hand you know okay so yeah there okay so now we do the other one yep now we do the other one look at that look you're just easing in we're just easing in that's better okay yeah yeah I can do that yeah you got it so now we're taking our scarf and we're placing it good side up placing that guy down and then our second one we're going to do good side down so that the good sides of the fabric are together they're sandwiched together okay and we're going to pin 10 in in on either side leaving a 14in head hole if your head is larger we discovered that ours are small apparently you can create a larger hole if you need to for your head but this works for us so now we're going to sew this bad boy so we have our top part done so we're going to pull this out cut off the excess and so and so we have our basic yay calfan shape you can make a smaller neck hole if you want you can then maybe hold up your arm and then we'll look here and see you can see exactly where you want how big you want your arm while you're holding like that I'll add a pin that's great and then we'll just do the same length on the other side okay so this one we are not sewing inside out exactly because the sides have this nice pom pom trim and they're just going to be flat anyway so now once we have like our Anchor Point you want to continue pinning all the way down till we get to the bottom the and are we but are we sewing all the way or are you leaving like vents to be able to Oh I like that I was at first going to sew all the way but you're right I think it yes girl so you guys see what we're doing here what we did is with this being the neck we left about a 19 in hole where our arms will go through then we're going to sew this middle part and then we left a 15in vent as Maran called it which I like so that you can kind of walk with the cfan free flowing around you if you have a a trim on the side like this you're going to lift up your presser foot and it under there okay and then put the presser foot down as close to the trim as possible she's sewing a little less scary now slightly awesome and then you'll do the same on the other side all the places where you start and end your stitches you'll have this extra thread so you'll just want to snip it off voila I'm going to quickly just whip one up for myself and then cuz that's how good she is I can just whip one up just whip up a cat whip a cast no big deal cut to us lounging for the rest of the summer in our flowy ethereal beautiful dresses so I feel like 70% less terrified do you I'm so pleased I was hoping for just 50 so 70 is like above and beyond shoot for the I'm really pleased well thank you for joining us we'll see you when we're sitting outside and lounging and relaxing and maybe you can freshen our drinks see you there PAit's going great hey everyone welcome to HDTV handmade with me Meg and I'm so stoked I have the pleasure of visiting Maran we're in her home we were chitchatting the other day on the phone how you know we know a bunch of crafty skills but we always want to learn more things and what did you want to learn my weakness is definitely sewing I have had that sewing machine six years poor old girl never been used never been touched completely terrified of that sewing machine so today we're facing that fear we're going to do a little like sewing 101 give you just a couple of basic tips help you get started and then the reward will be lounging in a c tan Fanning yourself with a palm sitting next to me drinking a mocktail or cocktail okay if you also would like this reality here's what you're going to need two long scarves a sewing machine pair of scissors some thread a bobin straight pins and a cutting mat so we have our two scarves we went with matching scarves you can kind of work with any length what we want is a ful length calf tan we're going to fold over the top so that the bottom is the length we want kind of just touching the the bottom of our ankles and once we have it like this we're going to lay it we want the nice side facing the table okay so now that it's all flat we take our straight pins and we are just pinning down what we folded so we're pinning down there and then also up the sides okay so now that we have this guy pinned we're going to do the same to the other one so we're using the one we already pinned as our guide yes excellent it's a great beginner project because if you make a mistake it's not glaringly obvious okay is it sewing time yes it's totally sewing time the most important thing really is threading your machine so you take a bobin you put it down here you take the end of the thread and there's usually a little divot that it has to sort of catch in and then you put the top back on like that bom and now we're going to add the top thread each one is different but the top thread usually follows this general direction so between this and your manual you should be good out there so you come over here you just tack on that guy usually goes down this Loop up again and then there's this little silver guy and in mariann's it's kind of embedded in there so I'm just going to put it on the back oh it's like and then it catches yes and then we just push it through the needle once you go through there pull it so that it's Loosely taut and then give one okay so that it pulls the bobbin up so now we have a threaded sewing machine so now that we have our scarf like folded and pinned we're going to put it under the presser foot in order to secure this we're going to just do a straight Stitch and going in the correct Direction first and then we're going to stop and are you pushing with your foot or with this yes in order to get it moving I push with the petal my foot okay and then now we're going to have it go back to just secure it and then if we just go straight one more time that guy should be all secure how hard are you pressing with your foot so at first since especially since you know it's a new sewing machine to me I'm going kind of soft at first to just get the feel but then once I kind of get a little confident then I can kind of push down a little bit more and go a little quicker now with this scarf it's telling us exactly where the seam allowance can be because because it has this great little tassel guy but if you don't have a little tassel guy you'll want to give yourself like a qu of an inch or a half of an inch of a seam allowance okay and so we pull out the pins as you them okay so you always make sure that the needle is down when you're like yes if I'm going to move the fabric I don't want to lose that Stitch so I keep that needle down lift the presser foot up move the fabric exactly and so you want to also just like check once you're sewing you want want to just like always be kind of just checking in and looking at your your stitches and they look great just but just check make sure everything is like the tension exactly exactly see you know you get the lingo down now and so going back and forth that's like a knot that if you were hands exactly it's like how you would tack down a hand you know okay so yeah there okay so now we do the other one yep now we do the other one look at that look you're just easing in we're just easing in that's better okay yeah yeah I can do that yeah you got it so now we're taking our scarf and we're placing it good side up placing that guy down and then our second one we're going to do good side down so that the good sides of the fabric are together they're sandwiched together okay and we're going to pin 10 in in on either side leaving a 14in head hole if your head is larger we discovered that ours are small apparently you can create a larger hole if you need to for your head but this works for us so now we're going to sew this bad boy so we have our top part done so we're going to pull this out cut off the excess and so and so we have our basic yay calfan shape you can make a smaller neck hole if you want you can then maybe hold up your arm and then we'll look here and see you can see exactly where you want how big you want your arm while you're holding like that I'll add a pin that's great and then we'll just do the same length on the other side okay so this one we are not sewing inside out exactly because the sides have this nice pom pom trim and they're just going to be flat anyway so now once we have like our Anchor Point you want to continue pinning all the way down till we get to the bottom the and are we but are we sewing all the way or are you leaving like vents to be able to Oh I like that I was at first going to sew all the way but you're right I think it yes girl so you guys see what we're doing here what we did is with this being the neck we left about a 19 in hole where our arms will go through then we're going to sew this middle part and then we left a 15in vent as Maran called it which I like so that you can kind of walk with the cfan free flowing around you if you have a a trim on the side like this you're going to lift up your presser foot and it under there okay and then put the presser foot down as close to the trim as possible she's sewing a little less scary now slightly awesome and then you'll do the same on the other side all the places where you start and end your stitches you'll have this extra thread so you'll just want to snip it off voila I'm going to quickly just whip one up for myself and then cuz that's how good she is I can just whip one up just whip up a cat whip a cast no big deal cut to us lounging for the rest of the summer in our flowy ethereal beautiful dresses so I feel like 70% less terrified do you I'm so pleased I was hoping for just 50 so 70 is like above and beyond shoot for the I'm really pleased well thank you for joining us we'll see you when we're sitting outside and lounging and relaxing and maybe you can freshen our drinks see you there PA\n"