You Pick a Project classes are Monday, Apr. 18, 2-4 pm, at Hancock, Bloomington
and Tuesday, Apr. 19 and 26, 1:30 or 6:30 at Make It Sew, Chanhassen.
You can sign up online for the Hancock class if you click on Classes above. Call Make It Sew-952-767-0701 to register for that class.
At our last “Serging Beyond Four Thread” class there were a fair amount of questions about threads so here is an attempt to answer some questions and give you a (somewhat) permanent reference.
In general, you want to stay away from cheap threads. Look at a single strand of thread and see how much lint is attached. Compare it with regular sewing thread. It will be hairier than regular thread but you want to minimize lint as it clogs up your machine.
The major brands easily available are pictured here.
Maxi-Lock is pictured in the Babylock brochures but we were told not to use it when working at Sew Amazing. I’ve been using it all along and have had no problems. Their variegated thread can give you some fun options if more decorative threads don’t work in your serger.
JoAnn’s stopped carrying Maxi-Lock about a year ago and started carrying Toldi-Lock which is a Gutermann product. At the top of the display is Bulky Nylon-their version of Wooly Nylon. There is a good assortment of colors-they seemed a bit more up to date than the Maxi-Lock available at Hancock.
JoAnn’s also carries a premium serger thread by Gutermann. The color availability is limited-at least at the Yorktown store. I buy this when I have a good coupon.
Remember, you can always use regular sewing machine thread in your left-most needle or your coverstitch needles to get a perfect match for the color of your fabric. Contrasting thread is also an alternative that can look nice on the inside of your garment as overcast edges.
Thread prices range from $2.99 on sale to $7.49 for the premium, but it lasts a long time.
We had a great group of new sewists at Make It Sew last night-well, there were varying degrees of experience, from absolutely none to one who made a very nice cover for her eBook reader-without a pattern!
Anyway, they all started with a pillowcase, complete with hot dog roll and french seams. One student made two so she could welcome her husband home with a beautifully made bed, one made a boy themed case, another a girl themed and then there was a great bold print paired with batik.
Would it surprise you if I said they all chose a different skirt pattern for next week’s class?! SEW ON!!
And just in case you haven’t seen the new “skins” at Make It Sew-here’s a picture. I’ll be showing the Sophia Trench with one of them for the lining at Fashion Sewing Club in April.
We didn’t hear from many of you so we’ve cancelled Dress Your Best for spring. Maybe we’ll try in the fall. The style magazines are full of advice and it’s fun thinking of ways to incorporate the trends in ways appropriate to your own personal style. Have fun and hope to see some of your renditions at April Club!
Thanks to everyone who attended this month. We missed bad weather and now the sun is shining and the grass is showing so I think we’re past the bad weather issues (I hope, I hope). Here are pictures, the Club sheets are available at the top of the website if you have questions.
Show and Tell was great-keep up the good work. Looking forward to spring creations.
Show and Tell-these patterns all came highly recommended!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Sew green today.
Monday night was webcast of Peggy’s blouse construction webcast. We didn’t watch it at the Fashion Sewing Club that night because it was mostly on technique and not fit. The techniques in the webcast are also on her “Factory Tips and Techniques-2″ video (pant construction is also on the DVD).
So anyway, I thought I’d give it a try and bought her #600 pattern which she used on the webcast. I had the pattern all cut out and turned on the DVD. Slow sewing was all over the letters to the editor in recent sewing mags but Peggy is out there to git ‘er done! And she delivers. The webcast was 50 minutes long and she finished the blouse-well, except for fitting darts, hems and buttons. I also got that far on my blouse. I took time out for a long phone call and paused the webcast when she got ahead of me. All in all it probably took me an hour and a half. Not bad when I had to look at the pattern once in a while to see what she was talking about. Having said that, it was fun to just sew and have her telling me what to do the whole time. That in itself was a timesaver. I had also watched her DVD once so that may have helped me a bit.
Just a few comments-She talks about sewing on the sleeve and turning off the differential feed. In my experience, all differential feeds are neutral in the middle and turned in one direction to gather and the opposite to stretch. Not sure what serger she’s using… The sleeve did go in very well-not much extra fabric. I really didn’t need much from my differential feed at all. Sewing on the collar with her method is pretty slick and I must say it looks good too. The front plackets add a nice stability to the garment and certainly is quick.
Trying the blouse on this morning I probably should have used a size 3 instead of 2. I went for 3 inches of bust ease-measuring my favorite blouses as she suggests. I forget that she has that 3/8” seam allowance so there’s no grace. The blouse fits-even at the bottom. Bust is great. There is just a bit less ease of movement in the shoulders than I’d like.
Sometime today I will watch her fit webcast for this blouse and I’ll let you know how that goes. Anybody else try this pattern and methods?
Here are the samples for Tailoring Tools. We’ll explain how to use all of our favorite tools and then everyone can make a set of their own. Lots of us used to have them but got rid of them from lack of use, but they can improve your garments and make pressing tasks easier. And it’s always more fon to work with lovely tools 🙂
Join us at Make It Sew on Friday, May 18 at 10 am. $20-everything but outer cotton fabric included-we supply wool, lining and stuffing. Call 952-767-0701 to reserve your spot.
If you need something fun and inspiring to do this Sunday, the fashion show at Eagle Creek featuring Amy Ordahl and company is at 1 pm and there’s still room. Should be fun to see what she’s creating and the fabrics she uses. Call 952-233-3774 to reserve a spot.
We had 14 Girl Scouts at Hancock/Bernina on Tuesday. They each made an infinity scarf and a wrist pincushion. It’s always inspiring to see small hands working so hard at something new. Because there were so many, I was trying to think of things to entertain them if they finished early (one never knows) and I remembered a button toy from my childhood. Anybody remember a large button on a loop of string and then you spin it and once it gets twisted enough you can gently pull and release and the button spins and the string hums? I experimented with several different strings and yarns. A fun toy to keep in your sewing room for distraction ( who said anything about children-I need a diversion every once in a while! It gets the creative juices flowing 🙂 There are lots of you tube videos showing this toy so I guess I’m not alone. Google “spinning button toys”– evidently the erotic world has a corner on “button toys”. (Now you’re curious aren’t you!)
Happy Sewing, see you next week.
Show and Tell on Valentine’s Day! We even got birthday treats and bookmarks as we celebrated Ruth’s birthday at the Treadle morning meeting. Yet another good reason to come to Club 🙂
This month’s offerings came from a larger pool of sewists. Thanks to Cheri and Carrie for filling out the line up as Laurel improved her vision and Debbie and Kristin worked on an early tan. Thanks to all of you who attended and keep up the wonderful show and tell.
Here are pictures of most of the garments:
And a few Show and Tell highlights:
Happy Sewing and hope to see you in March!
I didn’t realize how much work those winter coats were going to be last month. My daughter’s study abroad deadline forced me to finish the coat from Sew Serendipity and I thought I might share the finishing touches.
Buttons went on after the cuffs and hems and topstitching. I love the buttons and experimented with beads in the X of the thread but the beads were too big.
I wanted to sew small buttons to the back side to make the orange thread neater. Anybody know what that small button is called? I didn’t. It’s a backer button. I was worried that the smaller holes wouldn’t match up with the holes of the bigger buttons but it went very smoothly. I also wanted to make a bit of a shank to allow for the thick fabric. I’ve done that before-put a crochet hook between the fabric and button and sew, then take out the hook and wrap thread…but it never seems to be enough to make a shank. But then I consulted with Debbie and she straightened me out-put the crochet hook (or toothpick, etc.) on TOP of the button and sew it on. Oohhhhh! And just in case, I looked it up in Vogue and it was the same as Debbie’s advice. Wonder where my idea came from….
And then there was this pucker at the top corner of each center. At least it was symmetrical. With a buttonhole right next to it there wasn’t much I could do so I pressed it as well as I could and left it there! Can you tell I was getting to the end of my patience for this project?
But the fact that the jacket made the final suitcase cut for Wales was worth it all. I hope she gets lots of wear out of it. And I am in search of a similar pattern as I won’t be using that one again.
Material Girl Sewing 