Category: Sewing

Sewing projects

Posted on by

My new sewing machine is here!

Big goings-on around here…I was so nervous waiting for my new sewing machine. I even got a stomach ache while waiting for the UPS man to bring it to the door! I checked the box over before signing for it. The kitty inspectors checked it out too. Okay so far.

The box had never been opened. Everything was pristine.

It started to attract more kitties…

So, I took it into the kitty-free zone of my workroom. My fleece “Hug Me! Slugs” gathered around, while my sock kitty prepared to lounge. It looks perfect.

I read both manuals before I found the nerve to plug it in and turn it on. So far so good. I tried a few stitches. I took some deep breaths. I felt thoroughly traumatized! My mom assured me that is exactly how she felt when we first got a computer back in December 2004, when neither one of us even knew how to turn one on. She felt the same way with the digital camera. Okay, that means we can learn…More deep breaths.

My little Sarah, my first Viking, is still in use, as you can see. I’ll be using her for fleece and fuzzy things, I think. The presser feet are interchangeable for the two machines, and so I will probably invest in some more specialty feet.

I will be going over every stitch function soon, to make sure there are no problems, and to learn my way around. First I have to calm down!
Posted on by

I put my new shoes on

I finally replaced my poor broken-in-half shoes. Everyone seemed to be having very good sales this weekend. I picked up some tights too. I was in the store, completely stumped over what color tights to get. I honestly could not remember what colors my “dress-up” clothes were! I realized that I hadn’t gotten dressed up for anything in such a long time, that I couldn’t even remember what I had in my closet. That’s just sad.

So…I got dressed up 🙂 I had to, right? Well, I had to at least look in my closet. I asked my mom to take a few photos of the rare occasion.

I’ll have to make sure it isn’t quite as rare from now on. I used to get dressed up at least once a week. I’ll have to do better. My clothes must miss me!

The funny thing is that I used to make my own clothes, and I had lots and lots of clothes. My dad erected a long closet that took up an entire wall of my old bedroom when I was in high school, and it was there through college. I used to sketch out whole wardrobes. I even had subscriptions to Vogue ,Vogue Pattern Magazine, W, as well as other clothing magazines. That just cracks me up now. What happened?

Ah well, I’ll just have to get someone to take me somewhere nice now! 😉
Posted on by

I made a bold move

For me anyway. I’ve been looking for a new sewing machine since 2004. I couldn’t find one that I could afford that had the features and the quality I wanted. I picked out one I thought was just right, and a less expensive runner up, back then, but I couldn’t afford them either.

Just recently, while I was getting some fabric, I noticed a half off sale was going on on some of the store’s sewing machines. There was my first choice, now discontinued, at half off. I still couldn’t afford it! My runner up, or the machine that had replaced it a couple of years ago, was there too, also discontinued. I “test drove” both of them, in case I could figure out a way that I could manage to buy one. (I tried a couple of machines from two other well-respected companies too, just to make sure I didn’t like them better.)

My second choice felt more comfortable to me, but once the owner saw I was interested, even though it was also discontinued, she said she could sell it to me well over the half-price mark. In fact, it was more than my first choice’s current price, and it was a floor model, while my first choice was new. I later made an offer on it, but she still wanted more than I could afford to pay.

I looked on eBay and found a seller, on the opposite side of the country, who was selling both models, both at a price I could manage, and both new in their boxes. I called a second dealer and asked for her advice on the two models. She had my first choice available, used, and recommended that one, saying it had been her most popular machine and said the other was archaic compared to the new models. I agonized all week over what to do, and which machine would be better for me. My first choice had a lot of add-ons that I was afraid would become hard to find, even though it had some features that supposedly made it easier to use. I decided I was experienced enough to deal with doing those tasks manually, in exchange for not having to worry about not being able to get the add-ons for the machine later, at a greater cost.

I emailed the seller on eBay and asked if the warranty would be good, long distance. I might be giving up the first year free labor from the seller, in favor of the convenience of taking it to a local dealer, but with my other Viking, I didn’t need that anyway. He sounded like a decent guy and his feedback was very good.

No one seemed to be buying anything all weekend due to all the economic turmoil, and so I had a little time to think it over. I knew I was swimming upstream in the recent financial current, but I decided to remain optimistic. It was also a chance for me to finally be able to upgrade my machine, and expand my capabilities. Over the long term, I think I’ll be glad I did. The newer models were all out of my range, and I really wanted to upgrade while the Vikings were still being made in Sweden. They are just switching over to China now, but, from what one dealer explained, they simply could not buy land to expand their factory in Husqvarna, Sweden, which is why they moved a whole faction of their employees over to a new factory in China. She hasn’t noticed any difference in the machines, just for the record 🙂

I asked at least three more people for their opinions, and then Sunday night, after several tries at getting myself to hit that “Buy it now” button, I finally took the plunge. So scary! I am a terribly uncomfortable shopper to begin with, and this was a big purchase for me. I got my new machine at 60% off the original price, and I will be testing every feature to make sure it works, to be sure. I have some projects I have put off finishing for the past few years in case I could get a new machine. So, I’ll be fishing those out as well. Right now, I am nervously waiting while my machine is in transit, but I am also getting excited about it (hence the Viking site photos!).

Update and a word of warning: The Husqvarna Viking company will not honor warranties on their machines if they were purchased over the Internet, even if you are able to register your warranty on their web site. So be aware that you will only be able to use the warranty provided by the seller, if you buy your machine online, which means you will have to ship your machine to the seller, if you need repairs covered by his or her personal warranty. Viking claims the company warranties on their machines are null and void, if you purchase one of their machines on the Internet, although there is nothing in my particular written warranty from them about this. I received this information from them in an email, and through another dealer who received it from her regional manager.

Posted on by

Vogue 7693, continued

I transferred my corrected sewing lines onto my pattern pieces and re-cut a couple of pieces where the seam allowances were too narrow from my sizing mistake. It is a good idea to buy extra fabric as mistakes almost always happen. In the “old days” fabric stores would give you a little more than you asked for, to compensate for shrinkage and pattern repeats, or just to be generous. This doesn’t happen too often now. Depending on what I am making, I estimate how much extra yardage I might need if I had to re-cut the largest piece. If that becomes too extravagant, I take my chances and try to be extra careful.

I also drew extra lines on my front bodice paper pattern pieces as guidelines for strips of interfacing, about 2 and 5/8 inches from the center edges. Since this is a wrap dress, the front edges are on the bias, which has a tendency to stretch. Unlike the skirt part of the dress, I don’t want this to grow. In fact, I want to make it just slightly shorter, by 1/4 of an inch, than the pattern pieces. This is a modification of a technique from Sandra Betzina’s Power Sewing. This will keep the dress from flopping open when I bend forward.

I cut out Fusi-Knit interfacing, following the lines I have drawn on my paper pattern. I just lay the interfacing over the paper and trace the lines. Then I remove 1/8 of an inch from either end of the interfacing pieces, to make them a total 1/4 inch shorter from top to bottom. I find it is easier to look at my cut-out fabric and figure out which side up the interfacing should be when I cut it out. The glue side should be against the wrong side of your fabric piece. For me, it is just easier to figure this out while I have the fabric piece in front of me.

My bodice is lined with the same fabric I am using for the rest of the dress, rayon challis. I lay my facing pieces of my bodice, the ones I am using as lining, on my ironing board, wrong sides up, and using my fingertips, I very slightly push the bias center edges toward their middles, to make them shorter. I lay my paper pattern pieces over the fabric pieces to check for size. I want to make the edges 1/4 of an inch shorter from top to bottom than the pattern edges. I want the middle third of this area to be taken in the most. I use steam from the iron to shrink the edges to size. Hover the iron over the fabric to let the stream shrink the edges. On rayon, this works very well.

Once the center edges of the bodice are the corrected size, I lay the Fusi-Knit on top. Adjust the temperature on your iron to the synthetics setting, wait a moment for the iron to cool a little, then use the iron to “tack” it down to the fabric in a couple places so the interfacing won’t shift. Fusi-Knit requires a little extra attention so you don’t melt it. I melted some just today! Lay a press cloth over the Fusi-Knit and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to bond it to the fabric. Remember not to touch an overly hot iron directly to the Fusi-Knit during the construction of garments as well. Use a scrap piece of fabric and interfacing to get an idea of the proper temperature settings. This will save you a possible mess. I have melted fusibles onto my iron and my ironing board before, which reminds me…make sure you have the rough glue side of your fusible against the fabric and not your iron. I have done this without thinking a few times too.

I interfaced my back collar pieces while I was doing this as well.

Again, using the paper pattern as a guide, I measured some hem tape to the same shortened lengths of the front edges of my bodice pieces. Stay tape or twill tape is fine to use too, but hem tape is what I had and it was light-weight, like my fabric. I hand-basted the hem tape along the sewing lines of the front edge, just as an added measure to prevent stretch should the elasticity of the interfacing loosen over time. I clipped the hem tape at the curves at the top near the neck area.

Oddly, I still haven’t looked at the pattern directions! I’m relying on my memory, but I really wish I had kept notes when I made this dress before. I usually put things together my own way, based on modifications I’ve made, and notes would have been helpful. I did find some on the pattern pieces themselves, but that was after I studied my previously-made version of this dress! Notes are nice.