How To Use A Quick Unpick – Sew Fun

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 20, 2014 | Craft, Sewing 101, Tutorial

It’s been far too long since I did some proper Sew Fun posts but here’s a little one to tide you over. Today we’re going to learn to use your new best friend: a quick unpicker.

Basically this tool is a little pointy blade on the end of a handle which makes unpicking crappy stitching a breeze!

Here is the basic anatomy of an unpicker…

So taking a look at a standard hem on a skirt, there are two parts of the stitching: the overlocking/surging and the hem seam. The hem seam is the part you want to unpick if you’re undoing the seam.

So pick a spot to start and poke the point of the unpicker through one of the stitches.

Continue sliding it upwards and break the thread with the blade. It will probably pop up like this:

Now wedge the unpicker into the stitch next to the broken one and angle the blunt end up so it pulls the broken end of the thread through and undoes that stitch too.

Continue using the unpicker to unthread stitches like this. You can just cut them but then you have to clean up a million tiny pieces and thread.

This way you can have one long thread to get rid of at the end.

Done!

Now unpicking things like zippers is a little more difficult.

This is the back of the zip.

When you gently pull the zip away from the fabric you can see the seam holding them together.

Gently poke the unpicker through the gap between them and use it to hook a stitch.

Slice the stitch and it will pop open and probably take a few either side of itself under the pressure.

Continue popping stitches like this until you can get the entire zipper out.

Pull the zip away from the fabric gently so you can get at the threads easily. Be careful not to cut the fabric with the unpicker.

All done!

And that’s it! You now know how to use a quick unpicker! Hopefully you found this edition of Sew Fun useful and let me know if you have any suggestions for what I should cover next!

How To Apply Clip In Extensions

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 18, 2014 | Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial

A nice easy tutorial today, I’ll be showing you guys how I wear my clip in hair extensions!

Clip in extensions are awesome. They are very versatile and if you buy ones which you can style then you can do all kinds of things with them. I have a lot of length with my natural hair so today I’ll be using them for volume.

To begin with, style your extensions to match your actual hair. Mine is straight so I’ll be straightening my extensions. Keep in mind that you can only heat style some types of extensions so make sure that you check first because if yours are synthetic you may melt them with that much heat!

My hair naturally from the back:

First thing to do is section your hair from the ears up and pin out of the way. Apply the first long track of hair here by clipping it just below the part line.

Like this!

When you let the rest of the hair down it should be invisible. You need to make sure the clips are as close and flat to the scalp as possible.

Section the hair a little further up and repeat again with another track.

Repeat again and again until you feel you have enough on the back. Make sure you don’t cross the tracks over anywhere you’re planning on parting the hair later or else they will be visible.

I like to apply a few smaller ones on the sides of my head as well. Not too many as it’s much more visible in this area because the hair is thinner.

Once you’re finished, brush through everything so the natural hair blends with the extensions.

Long and volumous!

At the back you can see the placement of my tracks below:

I think these give a really good thickness to my natural hair. I like to use them in styles like braids too because they give a lot of body to the designs.