Sewing for the first time | ENGI 210: Prototyping and Fabrication

In order to sew my apron I decided to follow the Beginner Level Assignment, as this was my first time using a sewing machine.

The first step was taking the measures of the cloth, for which I used the reference table presented in the assignment instructions (I chose size L). Once I had the measures I used pattern paper to model the shape, and performed the necessary cuts in the cloth.

After the cloth was cut, it seemed to me that the shape of the apron was too squared, but I double checked the dimensions and they were right according to the sizing chart. The next step was hemming the apron. In order to do so, I started by making sure that the sewing machine worked well, using scratch cloth. Here I had some issues, as it took me a while to figure out how to place the bobbin correctly and the threads to make it work, but with patience and the help of the TAs, I managed to make it work.

Once I made sure the sewing machine worked well, I started hemming the top edge of the apron. This went considerably well, so I moved to one of the sides. Here, I tried to fold the upper part more than the lower one in order to make the shape less squared and more adapted to my body. While doing this, the bobbin ran out of threat, so I had to rethread it using the machine. I was not sure of how to do this, but thanks to the TAs help I learned. After doing this, I finished hemming the edge I was working on.

I was happy with my decision of not following a straight folding of the side edge, as the shape was better adjusted to my body now. However, I acknowledged that it would make it harder for me to make the other side edge look the same. In order to do this, I measured the distance from the stitches to the end of the cloth at different points of the edge, and folded the cloth carefully using pins to fix it. When hemming this, I had some issues as the folding was not perfect so the cloth would move while I was trying to sew it. This made me have to stop twice and start over, to make sure that the stitches were placed right, which made this side have some extra stitches in one area. This was not the ideal case scenario, but I managed to completely hem this edge following the shape of the other side. Once this was done, the only remaining edge was the bottom one, which was easier for me to sew as it is shorter than the sides.

Front side of hemmed apron

Back side of hemmed apron

Now that all of the edges of my apron were properly sewed, it was time to attach the neck and side tie straps. To do this, I used box stitches, as we learned in class. At first it was hard for me to control the speed of the sewing machine for these stitches, as the length was much shorter than what I had been doing before, so for the first one I had to stop twice and start over again to make the box stitch right. However, after doing the first one I got more confident and managed to complete the rest better, following the technique of pivoting over the needle that we learned in class.

First box stitch

Second box stitch

Third box stitch

Fourth box stitch

Finally, my apron was ready. All the edges were properly hemmed, the shapes of the stitches was the same in both sides, and the size of the hemming was simmilar in all the edges. Moreover, the straps were attached with box stiches at symmetric possitions, following the shape of my body. The main notizable mistake is the double stitch in one of the sides due to the explained issue. Finally, I had to do a nod in the neck strap because at first it was too loose, but once I did this it fit perfectly on me.