Sewing 101 with Shannon, Turning a skinny fabric tube

Hey Y'all, It's Shannon from Shannon Makes Stuff and I'm honored to be here today with Chris sharing my tip for beginner sewers. First off I want to say good for you for starting to sew! You won't regret it. And don't give up! If you are anything like me you'll make a lot of redo's. But that's okay, you learn as you go!

There really is a million and a half things I could share with you. But the one thing that used to drive me crazy while sewing until I figured this little trick out on my own was turning long skinny tubes inside out. Ugh. I used to do the place the safety pin in one end and shimmy it down the tube until it comes out the other end. But really, who has the time? Or the patience? This is so much easier. I guarantee it.

To start out with you will need the piece of fabric you are going to be turning into a tube. This piece is 1 inch across by 25 inches long. Set this right sides down on your work surface.

Take a roll of ribbon. I use the same roll every time. It stays with me with my sewing supplies. Use a 1/4 inch ribbon, that way it will fit in any size tube you make! Lay it out on top of your fabric piece until it comes off the farthest end.

Sew the end of the ribbon to the end of your fabric piece in the middle. Back stitch a few times to secure it in place. You don't want it in your seam allowance space. (I should have sewn mine a little closer to the middle to show you better. I was cutting it close.)

Then head over to your sewing machine. While you sew your sides together to create your tube you need to hold the ribbon to the side with the fold to make sure it doesn't get caught in your sewn line. Sew all the way to the end of your tube.

You now have an inside out tube with a ribbon running through it and still connected to your ribbon spool.

Start to roll up the ribbon on the spool. As you do this scrunch up the fabric tube.

Keep scrunching and sliding.

Once the ribbon is all rolled up you will see the end and the right side of the fabric tube will start to pull through.

Keep pulling the fabric piece to the end.

Completely pull the the fabric until it is right sides out.

Then cut off the ribbon as close as you can to the sewn line without cutting the tube. You could also unpick the stitch if you prefer.

And there you have it. See wasn't that easy?

And if you are curious what I am going to do with this long gold tube, come visit me at Shannon Makes Stuff, and in a few days, you will know!

What a fun tip, Shannon!  There are so many projects that require a skinny fabric tube.  This makes it much easier.  Be sure to check out all of Shannon's stuff!  Her latest tutorial for a plunging neckline cover up is genius, especially if you're living in a hot climate.