Lesson Two..

I used to be scared of hand sewing because I thought it was all so small and fiddly and there was no way I could do it.. I was wrong! Once you know how to do it properly it's actually pretty fun!

I started off by making some bias binding out of sinamay. This goes round the base of the fasinator which I cut out in my first lesson and makes the edge a lot cleaner. For this I cut a strip of sinamay on the bias and folded the sides into the middle.

Then folded the sides into each other so you have like a little envelope for your base to fit into.

Once you put the sinamay into the little envelope you hand sew it so it's secure. The stiching is quite hard to explain. Secure the thread first and then you go through the top couple of layers, then back and straight through to the other side, then repeat on that side  till your finished! So that's not the best explanation but it's easier to actually do it then say it! 

The next technique was making a seam out on the sinamay without sewing, just using the sinamay! Again it's quite hard to write a description, I cut oval shapes out of sinamay for my base. Then starting at the left side you take the sinamay in between your thumb and forefinger and roll it up and down pulling as you do. It's a really hard technique to get the hang off, the tighter you pull as your rolling the better the seam. Went round all the edge like this and then once the edges are done you can twist them into different shapes and swirls.  

 Practice definitely makes perfect with this technique! 

Sophie..