aperiodic check-in!

[yhlee]

Howdy!

What have you sewn lately? What are your plans for April? Any extremely pettable fabrics or interesting patterns or techniques?

I have aspirationally picked up a pattern for boxers and plan on tormenting my Long-Suffering Husband by making him be my guinea Joe. :) I've never sewn knit fabric before so this will be an adventure. Also considering a jacket pattern (McCall's M8474) although possibly basting it up in muslin will reveal that I AM NOT READY. I aspirationally picked up the matching pants pattern as well, but in looking at the fabric, uh, apparently I'm okay with my black-with-silver-glittery-things fabric for a jacket but not pants?

In a completely different direction, I am semi-seriously considering making a plush felt model of, uh, the muscles of the arm, complete with detachable velcro'd muscles and color-coding, because I am going to remember the coracobrachialis if it kills me. I took a figure drawing/anatomy for artists online workshop earlier this year and I loved it, but I have no visual memory so diagrams are hard. And this is the "for artists" version where they group things together and it's only surface anatomy!! But I have tactile/kinesthetic memory just fine, so I'm wondering if constructing a model would cement the anatomy in my head?? Y'all may now all flee. :)

Comments

[blythely]

Just started making McCalls 8449 in a big blocky print, and also have plans for the Tamarama set (in shorts) with some lovely white and bronze botanical print viscose. Good luck on the knit fabric - I'm not brave enough to take that on without an overlocker!

[yhlee]

Aww, that looks fab! I just bet it'll be smashing in a big blocky print.

I'm not...even sure what an overlocker looks like (or a serger), lol, so maybe trying to do knit fabric on a regular sewing machine is a horrible idea, but I wanted to at least see if it was possible before budgeting for another machine. XD

[via_ostiense]

Depends on the fabric; I've made underwear from cotton/spandex jersey using just a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine, and the undies have held up for a few years.

I also made a pair of culottes from heavy cotton terry, and the side seam stitches just fell straight apart after a couple wears.

[yhlee]

The pattern instructions recommend zigzag stitch (and give recommended settings) for a sewing machine, so we'll see!

[shermarama]

I went through a whole cycle of working out whether or not I needed an overlocker, because I was having such trouble sewing knits on a regular machine... but I found several things that helped, which were mainly a) if the machine is skipping stitches, try one needle further up along the continuum of standard -> ballpoint -> stretch and b) if you're getting over-stretched / frilly seams, or mismatched top and bottom pieces because one's stretching more than the other, get a walking foot. And, c) your machine may have several stretch stitches (lightning stitch and three-step zig-zag as well as normal zig-zag) and it's worth experimenting to find out what they do...

[blythely]

Super helpful suggestions - I was lucky enough to get a walking foot thrown in for free with my new machine so all signs point to giving knit a go.

[blythely]

That's really helpful to know that other people are taking the plunge on knit without extra fancy machines. Maybe I should pluck up courage and give it a go - good luck! Looking forward to hearing about your results one way or another :)