We are recording today on the traditional ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish

and Kwakwakiwak peoples, including Slalo Tooth, Squamish, Musqueam, and Colmox First Nations.

Hello and welcome to Love to Sew! I'm Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics,

and I'm Helen, the designer behind Helen's closet patterns. We're two sewing buds who love to

sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too. Join us for today's topic,

Chest Fitting!

Hi, Helen! Hi, Caroline! How are you? I'm good, but you know, I have to get something off my chest.

Oh, you had to. What's that, Helen? I don't know. That's as far as it went.

You didn't even have anything ready? I should have prepared more.

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Well, we have a question from Beth, and they have something to

get off their chest, so maybe we should read it. Okay, hi, Helen and Caroline. I'm new to sewing,

and I've been binging your podcast as I dive into this awesome new hobby. Welcome, Beth. My question

might be a basic one, but I'm discouraged by thread issues when I'm sewing. There are almost

always tangles of thread from the bobbin when I begin or end sewing, or when I'm going over a

couple layers of fabric at once. I suspect this might be a tension issue, but I don't really know

how to fix this. My projects look good, except for the tangle of threads that interrupt the

lovely flow of even stitches. How to more experience so as avoid thread tangles? Oh, this is a really

good question. Thank you so much for writing to us, Beth. I totally remember this being an issue

for me when I was new to sewing, and it definitely does sound like it could be a tension issue.

So the goal with tension is to have stitches that don't pull through on either side. The top

thread isn't pulled through to the bottom, and the bobbin thread isn't pulled to the top. So

whenever you start a new project or if you introduce a lot of layers, it's always a good idea to

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