We are recording today on the traditional ancestral and unceded territories of the co-salish and quakwaki-wak peoples,

including sleighwetooth, squamish, muskweim, and comox first nations.

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

And I'm Helen, the designer behind Helen's Closet Patterns and Cedar Quiltco.

We're two sewing buds who love to sew, and it's the only thing we're talking about.

Today we're discussing yokes and shoulders. What even is a yoke anyways?

Are my shoulders weird? How do I DIY those cute western embellishments on my mermaids?

We answer all this and more. If you love to sew, this is your show.

Hi, Caroline! Hi, Helen! How are you? Good, how are you? Good!

It's weird that we're recording this so far in advance and by the time this episode comes out,

your wedding will be over, but I can't ask you about it. I know, I'll be three days married woman.

Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch and yeah, send good vibes and yeah!

Voice not reaching new registers. Definitely not special at all. No, I'm feeling really good, actually.

Good, good, good, good. Well, we have a fun episode today. I mean, I think it's fun, but I love to sew, so.

Maybe the most niche episode we've ever done. Maybe, maybe, but there's a lot to discuss,

and shoulders are kind of a big deal when you're making garments. It's true. Hold up your clothes.

It's absolutely true. Yeah, I'm excited to talk about. We have a lot of different angles to

look at in this episode when it comes to yokes and shoulders, front, side, back, literally and

figuratively. But I think we should kick off this episode with a question from Alexandra.

I've been sewing for about a year and I'm just starting to venture into trousers.

I'm having trouble with elastic waistbands. I know they're supposed to be easy,

but all my waistbands roll and twist. My elastic gets caught as I insert it into the channel.

...