Diamonds - Jacket - Part VII

As Promised . . .

Another question of the day and the how-to for making covered snaps.

The question of the day is from Vicki (check out the neat sewing things she bought on a recent get together/shopping trip!):

" . . . how do you secure your hand sewing?"

I do a couple of things depending on the thickness of the fabric, mainly a combo of backstitch/knots. I know that might be overkill, but my stuff doesn't come apart. I generally regret this if I have to take something apart! The thinner the fabric, the less I do. Firstly, if it will remain hidden, I sometimes take a tiny backstitch when I stop hand stitching. Next, I make knots in the thread, usually two, but only one if the fabric is very delicate. I carefully slide the loops for those knots down to the surface of the fabric and then pull them tight. You can see the loop below already part way down to the fabric.

Lastly, I always hide the thread knots/tails (I think this is some leftover habit from quilting). I use a self-threading needle - it has what looks like two eyes and a notch at the eye end. You can actually insert the needle where you want it and then slip the thread into the first eye via the notch. I then pull the thread and knot(s) through, burying them and clip off the excess thread that comes back out. I think burying the knots helps to keep them from being exposed to wear and tear. It also leaves no trace of where I've started or stopped stitching, except for the stitches themselves.

BTW, that's the silk dress above, with the final step of the prick stitching being done!

Now, for the covered snaps. It really is pretty easy and for a small time investment, it makes a difference in the finished product.

You'll want to start with a circle (or something that sort of looks like a circle!) of fabric twice the diameter of the snap you're covering. You should be using something light weight, like lining fabrics, china silk (habotai), chiffon, etc.

Next, you need to place small running stitches around the edge of the fabric circle.

Place the snap in the center - right side facing down in the center of the fabric - and draw the stitches up tight around the snap. Secure the thread on the back and trim any excess fabric.

Once both halves of the snap have been covered, the actual ball and socket of the snap halves must be exposed in order for the snap to work right. Try putting them together before this step and you'll see what I mean. In order to do this, I try to separate the woven threads that make up the fabric with a needle instead of just making a hole. This will eliminate fraying later. Inevitably, you will probably break some threads, just use a small drop of fray check to make sure the whole thing doesn't fray apart. You can just see the metal of the ball of snap through the fabric threads below.
Below you'll see all three pairs of snaps installed on the jacket - obviously, blue covered ones for the lining side, white ones for the fur.

I am still working on the bead applique for the dress. This is the last piece of the puzzle so far and I've had "beading block". I've had many good ideas, but when I stitched them out, I didn't like them. I think I'm on version 6.0 at this point, and it's looking like a winner. I don't know how to explain it, but when I do see the right thing, I'll know it!

Parting Shot: You know it's time to clean out the toy box when . . . . It's that time of year when I clean out and throw out. We've been working room by room through the house, and you wouldn't believe how much stuff we've cleaned out. The bad thing is, I've discovered my son has only two pair of wearable school pants!