Facts & Tips - Sewing, Embroidery & Haberdashery - Wizard Crafts

Some people get confused by the terms sewing and haberdashery. While embroidery speaks for itself – it is the process of creating pictures or shapes using lot of small stitches – I will give a very basic explanation of the other terms.

Sewing is the process of stitching something, whether by hand or machine, This can be to sew on a badge; to mend a seam; to create clothes, toys etc. or even sewing on labels.

Haberdashery, on the other hand, is a term generally used for those items which might be handy when sewing, i.e. needles, buttons, zips, press studs, ribbons, braiding, piping, etc.

Most people hate sewing in or weaving in the ends of the cotton. Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to? Well, there is a technique which can be used so that you only have to deal with half as many ends. Fold the cotton you are using in half, then thread both ends through the needle, so that you have a loop on the longer end. Put the needle through the material for the first stitch, then put the needle through the loop of the cotton and pull. This gives a tidy, almost invisible knot which safely anchors your thread to your sewing.

If your passion is cross-stitch and you have moved on from the basic charts, to more complicated charts which are filled with half stitches and quarter stitches, it might be advisable to change to a different type of fabric.

Most people start off using aida. This is fine for full stitches, but when lots of half and quarter stitches are needed, it can cause problems. Well, not problems exactly, more like minor irritations. These include trying to get the needle though the middle of the aida without pricking your finger and getting blood all over your work; and thinking you have come up in the middle of the fabric to sew a half stitch, when you are slightly off to one side. This would be fine if it was only one stitch, but several like that would make it obvious that the half stitches are different lengths.

To easily circumvent these problems, swap to evenweave. Instead of the odd number of threads that aida has, evenweave has, as per its name, an even number of threads. This makes half stitches and quarter stitches a doddle.

Changing the subject slightly, did you know that the first sewing machine was patented in 1790, by an Englishman by the name of Thomas Saint. This machine used a notched needle and awl to create chain stitch in leather and other tough materials. However, in 1807 two more Englishmen, Edward and William Chapman, patented a sewing machine which used a needle with an eye in the point of the needle. Other machines were patented in the U.S. by Elias Howe in 1846 and Isaac M. Singer in 1851. These both worked on the principle of a needle that created a locked stitch using a second thread from underneath the machine. Singer sewing machines are perhaps the best known and most common machines today.

Of course, until the advent of sewing machines, clothes, furnishings, etc. had to be made by hand. It could take weeks, if not months for a gown to be made, which also made them costly. The invention of the sewing machine ultimately led to a wider variety of clothing at a vastly reduced price.

Please take a moment to have a browse all the different sewing, embroidery and haberdashery items in this category.

We have a wide range of items in this category so please take a look. These include:-  needles; cottons; threads; buttons; zips; press studs or snaps; ribbons; piping; braid; aida and evenweave.  Please have a browse through this category and see if anything catches your eye.