It's November! What’s up?

[nou]

Hello sewists! What’s up? Have you finished anything recently? Started anything new? Learned a new technique or read a new sewing-related book?

I finally got all the stupid crinkle linen cut out and have started assembling it. I’m using french seams because it’s very inclined to fraying, but I’m doing them a bit differently from usual. I stay-stitched all the edges on the individual pieces at (not inside) the seam allowance with soluble basting thread, then sewed the narrow part of the french seam at the width I wanted it to be, rather than sewing it wider and then trimming. The stay-stitching meant that (a) sewing an extra-narrow seam to start was easier than it would have been otherwise, and (b) I could see exactly where to sew on the second pass.

Still to do: bias binding on the bottom hem, elastic casing for the sleeve hem (I want to be able to push the sleeves up and have them stay where I put them).

I also made myself another silk pillowcase, since only having one was annoying (you’re not supposed to dry silk in direct sunlight, so getting it washed and dried in between getting up and going to bed could sometimes be challenging).

Comments

[zenigotchas]

Made socks into gloves following this handy dandy tutorial! They're so comfy! I wanna do something with my pants too now (not turning them into socks lol)

[nou]

Ooh, that’s a neat trick!

Now I don’t know if “pants” means “trousers” or “underwear” to you, but then again I’ve made things out of both types of “pants”, so I’m sure you can do it :D

[zenigotchas]

LMAO! I mean pants in the American way, I want to add some cuffs to these pants I adore since they're a bit short for meh legs lol. I do appreciate the encouragement!

But now you've got me curious about what kind of stuff you've made with underwear! Lol

[nou]

Cuffs sounds like a great idea. Maybe decorative ones in a fancy fabric?

I make my underwear (trunks aka boxer briefs) from jersey fabric (often this itself comes from old t-shirts), and they mostly don’t wear out in the outside leg part, so I turned those parts into a floor-cleaning cloth by folding them over into a quadruple-thickness square, sewing around the edges (leaving a small gap to turn it), turning it all inside out through the gap, hand-sewing the gap closed, and then quilting across the square. It was inspired by zokin. I feel it’s not unhygienic, because (a) it’s for cleaning the floor and (b) the outsides of the legs were never in contact with anything unhygienic anyway.

[bugshaw]

I bought a modern sewing machine (Janome 5060 with quilting attachment set for those who care about such things) and set it up today. It makes sewing so fun and easy! I've been struggling with mum's 1960s Singer until now and never got it to be quite satisfactory.

[nou]

Oh gosh yes, things are so much easier with better tools! I was using a hand-cranked Singer for a while until it just stopped working (I took it to the Croydon Singer shop but it was still not working afterwards, and I never got around to going back and telling them this) and it was really not ideal.

What’s included in the quilting attachments? Are you planning to do some quilting, or was it the other features of the machine you were most interested in?

[bugshaw]

I bought the machine because quilting is my main thing at the moment, I went to a class and their machines were so straightforward and did lovely neat seams with thin thread. I can use it for regular sewing too of course though I have as yet no dressmaking skills.
I get an extension plate,
a 1/4" seam foot for perfect piecing,
a darning foot for freehand quilting,
a walking foot which synchronises with the feed dogs to grip all quilt layers together,
and it has a quilt guide to keep the lines straight and a nice even distance apart.

And the new machine is full of knives! Almost everything you do where you need to cut the thread off, there's a snip or a sharp slot. When you've finished your seam, you can press a little scissors button and it cuts the top thread and the bobbin thread, leaving lengths just enough to start the next sewing run. When you've wound your bobbin you pass the thread through a slot and it cuts it at a sensible length. Magic.

[nou]

That does indeed sound perfect for quilting!

I’d like to try some freehand quilting on my machine, but I can’t drop the feed dogs (it really is a very basic machine, but it does 99% of what I want). But I saw a tip for covering them with an index card, and I plan to try it at some point.

[shermarama]

Ooh, that sounds excellent! I have a Janome DC4030, bought after years using a perfectly decent 1970s Janome of some sort, and it did make some things just so much easier. The ability to set the needle to finish either up or down was probably the single biggest useful thing for me.

[nou]

My sewing machine doesn’t have that needle-setting ability, but I have been making a list of features I’d want if I ever replaced it, so: what do you use this ability for?

I know that it’s often useful to finish with the needle up or down, e.g. when you’ve finished sewing or when you want to pivot, respectively. But when I want to pivot, I want to pivot in a specific place, so I’m sewing slowly enough to stop the needle where I want it anyway, and if I accidentally don’t stop quite in time then I can wind the needle back down by hand, without advancing the fabric. Would the automatic feature make me take another stitch in that case?

[shermarama]

It is mainly useful for pivoting, yes, but I also find it useful for any situation where you want the seam to stop at a specific point, like doing things with pocket welts.

I find I don't take an extra stitch, except through my own carelessness, but it took me a minute there to work out why... It's because this is effectively a stitch digitiser, so once what you think will be the last stitch has started, you can press the stop button or release the pedal at any time and that stitch will be neatly completed - so it's less of a trick to stop, because you don't have to do it at a specific point in the stitch cycle, and you get no trace of the loose thread you can get if the stitch goes over and has to be turned back. If it turns out the first place I stop isn't far enough, I can just engage any amount of sewing (usually a double-click of the stop/start button for me - I actually don't ever use the pedal now, since that button sits right next where my thumb does anyway) and know I'll get a single complete stitch again. It's maybe not "I'd never go back to a machine without!" territory, but it's one less thing to be a judgement call in the middle of a heap of judgement calls.

I find I also use it as an automatic 'about to start sewing' action too - put fabric under foot, position, put foot down, put needle down, and then if that's all in the right place I know I can let go and fiddle around with arranging how I'll hold the rest of the fabric for that seam etc., and when I go to actually sew, the needle is definitely where I left it. I could always do that with hand-wheel or pedal or whatever but 'click button' is even less thought.

[nou]

Thank you for the thorough explanation — very helpful, and I see now that I want one too :)

[shermarama]

I haven't sewn much in a while - had some other craft project going on, including knitting and shawl and making an illuminated tree thingy for a local art event - but I'm just starting to look at Christmas presents. I'd like to make some boxers for my partner, but here in New Zealand, I think the hardest thing to get is probably going to be decent plush waistband elastic. I can find one stockist online, and they sell a lot of bra stuff so it's probably decent, but it would be nice to be able to see before buying... But, New Zealand.

For the jersey part, I think I'm going to try and get some merino / elastane jersey, but that would also be online, with limited colour choice. Why *do* the big in-person fabric shops only have rubbish fabric?

[nou]

If the brand of waistband elastic you can get is Prym, then that’s what I use, and it’s good quality and lasts well. FWIW I’ve found this sort of elastic hard to source in the UK too — Prym was the only brand I could find when I started looking, and it seems to go out of stock more often than most haberdashery items. (I bought a 10m roll in the end, and will buy another one when this one runs out.)

[shermarama]

The one I'm seeing is unbranded, or no brand is named. We technically can get Prym here, as in there are some sellers on Etsy and Aussie Amazon (we don't have our own) that stock it, but it would all be being sent from Europe / the UK, and would take weeks to arrive. Still, the unbranded stuff is being sold for NZ$4.50 a metre (1 GBP = 2 NZD, as a rule of thumb) and after looking up the Prym products, I'm now feeling this is quite reasonably priced :D

[nou]

Wow, yes, that’s a good price!