Guest post from Marrie B

Aloha! I'm out of town right now (for work, so not technically a vacation) and I asked my talented friend, Marrie B, to do a guest post. She's one of my blogging buddies, although since we met in person last month I can now officially call her my "real life" buddy too :) If you haven't checked out her blog yet, then I highly recommend you change that. Her site is one of my favorites! Thanks for guest posting, Marrie!


Hi there! My name is Marrie and I blog at purlsandpleats.wordpress.com.  I was really honored when Erin asked me to do a guest post for her while she’s in New Orleans. I’ve been following her since the Sew Colette days, and can honestly say that sewalong was a game changer for me – and was when I really fell in love with garment sewing. So I’ll always be thankful to Erin for co-hosting Sew Colette and opening up my sewing world.

Anyway, onto the topic of this post . . . today I’ve got a pressing tip for you. To get really crisp seams and to even control unruly bias tape, try using a clapper. If you’re not familiar with it, a clapper is a wood block that you place over your fabric right after pressing, and it helps the heat and steam from the iron to penetrate the fabric.
This is how I use mine. Press as usual.
Then immediately place the clapper on the area pressed and apply pressure. For best results hold the clapper in place until the fabric cools.
Below are some examples to illustrate how well the clapper works. On the left, the seam was only pressed with the iron. On the right, I also used the clapper.

 Here’s an example of a dart. (The left side is pressed only, on the right side I used the clapper.) And finally, notice the difference in these bias tape strips. The one on the top was only pressed. The one on the bottom was “clappered,” and the fabric holds the fold better.

 If you’d like a clapper of your own, they are available for purchase for around $20-$30. Or, you can just pick up a piece of wood from the hardware store. My clapper is a left over piece of a 4x4 that I found in the garage. A piece of 2x4 should work just as well. Although I do suggest gently sanding any wood you might use so that it won’t snag delicate fabric. Happy sewing and pressing, everyone! ☺