Sick of pressing dodgy darts and crazy curved seams on my old worn out ironing board, I decided last week to investigate buying a tailor’s ham and perhaps even a seam roll. A quick search on google shopping threw up a rather interesting tartan version for under a tenner (not for me). Undaunted I turned to Etsy for something cute and unique. Yeh… you can get them there… but it’s more like £20. For a bit of stuffed fabric? Really?
So I decided to investigate making my own, using fabric from my bulging scraps bag lurking in the corner of the sewing room. I found a fantastically easy tutorial (including a pattern to print out) from http://www.bombardone.com. I had no idea it would be so deliciously simple! They also give instructions on making your own seam roll which I’ll attempt next week. Plus this tute from Burda Style also goes through it very well.
So first you cut out four layers of your chosen material, all to the same pattern shape. I chose contrasting fabrics for my top and bottom. I had some leftover fat quarters from napkin making. When I say ‘leftover’ I mean I got bored of making napkins, which mans we have three napkins at home. Handy for dinner parties eh? You pin all four layers together with the innermost two layers right sides together. When you turn this right side out later on it’ll make sense. The other two layers on the outside of your project don’t really matter as they’ll be on the inside of your finished project, but I kept them right sides outward facing.
Sew about a half inch seam allowance all round the edges, leaving about three inches open (so you can stuff it with all those leftover fabric scraps).
Turn it right side out. Then stuff it, stuff it and stuff it some more. This bit took about ten minutes – it’s amazing how much you can get in there.This thing eats fabric scraps.
Then just sew up the flap you left open and voila! A tailor’s ham that looks like it could have come from Etsy but cost pretty much nuffink to make. Bargainous, non?
You crack me up. A 3-napkin dinner party. HA Ha ha ha haha! Thanks for the link. I need to make a sleeve roll.
Don’t knock it sandy! If you feel comfortable with said friends you can each take a corner and meet in the middle… Oh hell I’d better make more napkins!
When I was very young I did a sewing course during the school holidays and the teacher used a tailor’s ham. Since then – and it is well over thirty years and not much sewing in the mean time – I’ve occasionally thought one would be handy when ironing a fiddly piece of clothing. Well thanks to you I’ve finally made one. And you know what? A tailor’s ham really is useful
Awh I’m so pleased Linda! Thanks for letting me know and hope it continues to be useful for you!
So clever!!! I need to do this with all my extra scraps. Thank you for posting this!
Reblogged this on Sewing Adventures In the Attick and commented:
Lovely Tutorial. I’ve decided I need one as any serious seamstress. So I had a look on the internet for some ideas on how to make one. I found loads, but this one from Stitch And Witter is the one that worked best for me. I too have a rather large scraps stash that needs to be used.
Simona
So kind Simona thank you
THAKS FOR THE THRIFTY PROJECT–VERY USEFUL AND SAVES MOOLAH !!!!!!! JUNE
HEH!-THE NAPKIN IDEA——FUN FOR A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY OR ECT……….DO YOU EMBROIDER?
No I don’t but I’d love to! Napkins are the perfect place to start
Hi, your tailor ham is great, I love how it turns out. What do you use to stuff it?
Thank you! It’s stuffed with loads of tiny fabric scraps so a great way to get rid of old scraps you can’t use rather than throwing them out.
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