Seamwork Andi

Here's my finished jacket, on me. Insert usual disclaimer about dirty mirror, no make-up, etc. It's a long weekend - maybe I'll get to one or the other. Or not.

And here it is on Zillie. I wish I had done a better job of aligning the pockets but that's water under the bridge. Eventually I won't see it. Especially since I know this jacket will get worn a lot both in the house as an extra layer for those cold days we actually have in Florida and outside the house to run errands, etc. This fabric is so nice and cozy to wear without being too hot in the house.

Back view. I decided to go ahead and insert elastic at the hem. I almost blew the opportunity though, because I put on the snaps first, but thankfully realized before I did the second snap at the hem that I needed to hold off until I inserted the elastic or else I wouldn't be able to since the snaps block the channel.

The annoying pocket. But it's a pocket and I'm glad to have both on this jacket. Perfect for the phone, dog treats, chapstick, whatever.

Inside view. 

This is the snap tool I ordered from KamSnaps. It, the necessary dies, and the snap pieces arrived on Thursday. Very fast shipping from California.

Here's everything and the envelope it was all shipped in — laying on top of my on-deck pattern to be cut out today hopefully, around watching football playoffs.

I'm not going to lie - it was kind of a struggle to get everything aligned on this thick fabric with the handheld tool. Moreso for the bottom parts of the snap because the dies and snap pieces are smaller and a little more fiddley and my fingers are big. But I took my time and plowed on, and I'm happy to report that I didn't have any mishaps. I'm sure the honkin' big tabletop setting snap press would be easier to use but aside from the higher price, I didn't want to think about where to store that thing later. If I found myself all of a sudden needing to set tons of snaps, I'd probably upgrade. But the handheld tool does the job just fine too. It's certainly easier than the old purple or teal multi-layer plastic setting tool from Snapsetter that you whack with a hammer and hope the prongs all got caught. Just me?

Before doing the real thing on my jacket, I watched a few YouTube videos (highly recommend this video from Sew Many Creations), laid out all my parts and pieces and got very familiar with them, and then I did a practice run, below. I'll probably have to do all of that again the next time I install snaps because I won't have any muscle memory after a month goes by.

Here's my new jacket in its home. It will be nice to give my ratty black RTW cardigan a break.

Parting shot: Cyrus living his best life. We love him so much!

Ren Faire Costume - Puffy Shirt Trials Continue

It's almost finished. It looks finished, right? And it would be, except that I put one buttonhole and button on the wrong side of the cuff for one sleeve. THANKFULLY, I hadn't cut the buttonholes yet. So, one puffy shirt and one sleeve complete. One closure to be reworked tomorrow. Don't sew buttonholes in a hurry so you can take pics for your blog. ;-) But that's the only thing that gave me trouble today. The sleeves and cuffs themselves went together without a hitch.

And for some really good news? My iron is working again. I have no idea. In desperation earlier this afternoon, I decided to give it one last try and it turned on. I *know* it's not the outlet because it's plugged into it now and the backup was plugged into it earlier (before I stomped on it in a fit of frustration and tossed it out the window — just kidding. Maybe.). But I'm not going to question it and just enjoy having it back. Thanks for all the tips on where to buy another one, though. I do have a Tuesday Morning nearby that I've never been to. I think I'll swing by soon and see what's available for a better back-up in case my Rowenta wants another vacation.

Next up after the buttonhole is fixed will be the doublet. I'm looking forward to working with the fancy stuff again. This linen (cotton/linen blend really) is perfect for the role, but it has shredded all over my sewing room.

Oh and Blogger — I heart you for the new Preview option.

Another "New" Gadget

If you've read my coverstitch tips, you'll already know that this stack of Post-Its has been my "hem guide" of choice on my coverstitch machine. That is, until now …



I knew I wanted a seam guide attachment for my Featherweight, since its original needle plate has no guidemarks. (Yes, I know I can buy another "original" with the marks and I will — just haven't yet.) The FW came with many attachments. Unfortunately, the seam guide wasn't one of them. So I bided my time on Ebay and bought a reasonably priced lot of sewing machine parts which not only included the Singer seam guide but a Greist version too. (And some other weird stuff I have no idea about. One day I'll post pics of those things too.)

This is the Singer seam guide on the Featherweight:



And here is the new resting spot for the Greist seam guide, on my coverstitch machine.



The stack of Post-Its works fine, until it gets accidentally knocked loose. And it does have to be "renewed" every so often by peeling off the old back sheet which has picked up lint and threads, etc. and lost its sticky. Eventually, I could go through tons of these things, which makes the Greist seam guide "greener" both in terms of not wasting sheets of Post-Its and it being rescued from a landfill. Nice side benefits for a nifty old gadget, eh?

Here's a blurry photo of them side-by-side. The main difference is that the Greist version has an ugly brown plastic capped screw which rides permanently in the groove. At some point, I may ask my husband to snip it off so I can sub a prettier silver screw. For now, I'm dealing with it. Brown may be one of my favorite colors — but for clothing, not on sewing machine attachments.



So now you're wondering where to get one, right? Well, the first place to look is Ebay. Search on "seam guide" or "sewing machine attachments" or "sewing machine parts" or even "Singer attachments." Of course, once you have the Singer name involved, especially the "Featherweight" label, the price may go up. These things are plentiful though and come branded by Singer, Greist, Elna, Kenmore and more. So be patient and you should be able to pick one up for under $10. You might even get it with a bunch of other interesting stuff like I did.

I tried to find a current version, but I wasn't having much luck with anything at a reasonable price. I did find this, which looks interesting. I have no idea about the website it's on though.

Buttonholer Winners & Tips

You know how when you're watching a show on TV and during one of the commercial breaks a news preview comes on with a teaser about how a giant gorilla is barreling down your street at this very moment and then cuts off with "Details at 11?" Then you tune into the news at 11 to find out What Is Going On?? and the story you tuned in to see isn't shown until about 11:28? Well, that's what I'm doing with the winners of the buttonholer contest. They are below, but you'll have to watch nearly all of the newscast before it's announced. Hee hee hee ...!!

* * * * *

So, yesterday I was finishing up my Shapely Shirt by stitching the buttonholes with my Singer buttonholer attachment. I decided to take some pics along the way to illustrate some tips I want to share.

But before I forget, make sure to visit EmilyKate's blog and watch her buttonholer attachment tutorial, here. You won't need any instructions at all after watching. (Great info, EmilyKate!).

OK, here we go …

If you're like me, one of the first things you'll wonder about after getting this thing hooked up to your machine is, "How the heck do I align everything so all my buttonholes start and end the same distance from the edge?" Well, it's easy enough to do, but not so easy to describe in words. Hopefully, I'll do OK.

First, mark your starting dots along the fabric edge. (One dot for each buttonhole.) My mark is in red below, with the needle stuck through it.



Notice that the back grabber foot thing around the needle is NOT centered to the needle. That's OK. It's normal. It will hardly ever be centered when you start, and yes, the position will likely be different each time.

Instead of trying to center things, what you need to do is become familiar with all the steps the needle takes as the attachment moves around to sew the buttonhole. To do that, raise your needle and start turning the white knob shown below. If it turns without clicking, turn it in the other direction. You need to hear those clicks and also see the attachment moving around. Each click is one movement.



Move it around for a couple passes until you can anticipate when it's nearing the starting point … which is one click past the center white line at the back of the black foot, circled below. It's a very subtle right-swing motion, so look for it. Missed it? OK, go around again. THAT is where you will start each buttonhole. (Pay no attention to my needle out of the red mark or the thread coming from it. I had started and then decided to take this pic, so I raised the needle and moved things around so I'd be able to get a shot of that white line.)

Practice on some scraps before you dive right into a real project. It's better to practice than to need to rip out buttonhole stitches. ;-)



Once you start, don't try to guide the fabric. The buttonholer takes it and moves it in all sorts of directions. This is what is supposed to happen. Let it.

Here is the backside of the first real buttonholes sewn with my attachment. I used a washaway stablizer underneath the fabric when stitching the buttonholes because this fabric is cotton/Lycra and it likes to pucker if you sew a buttonhole without the stabilizer. (I tested it first before diving in, which is how I learned this!)



We interrupt this fascinating blog post to bring you this announcement: The numbers 6 and 43 were randomly generated, in that order. That means Dawn (7/22/09 7:55 PM) wins first prize, and The Slapdash Sewist (7/24/09 8:13 PM) wins second prize. Congrats ladies. Email me your addresses to djc @ cedesign.com and I'll get this in the mail to you soon. Remember, you only have 48 hours before I move to the next names below yours. Dawn, I wish I could fit in the box with the attachment — I've always wanted to visit Alaska. ;-)

Here are my buttonhole cutting tools. One is a tube of Fray Block that I dab onto the buttonholes before cutting them. (I also dab this on the thread knots of the buttons for extra insurance.) The other items are my buttonhole chisel and mini self-healing mat that came with the chisel. The chisel is the best tool for cutting open a buttonhole. It's easy to position so that no threads are cut and if you're paying even a little bit of attention, it's pretty difficult to slice through the end of a buttonhole.



The buttonhole after being cut open. Beautiful, isn't it? ;-)

Buttonholers Out the Ying Yang

As I mentioned in the last buttonholer post, I now have three of these suckers as two more were acquired as part of bigger "lots" of sewing stuff. I only need one.

My excess is your gain. I'm giving away the extras. I will do a random drawing on Monday and post the results, so if you want one, leave a comment on this post.

The first winner will get this one, which is the older one with a slightly blemished top case but with 9 templates (one is in the buttonholer itself so you can't see it here). I've actually cleaned this one since I tried it out on my D1 so it's not dirty anymore. The blemish is cosmetic only and does not affect functionality. There are no instructions included with this one but they are easily found on the internet for free download.




The second winner will receive this one. It's slightly newer, no blemishes, and comes with the plastic case and instructions. It only has 5 templates.



The only rule is that if you win, you have to respond within 48 hours or I will select another random winner.

Comment away and let's move these things out of my sewing room!

Singer Buttonholer, Part Deux

I was planning to try it eventually, but a note on the PatternReview message boards this morning motivated me to hook up a buttonholer to my Viking D1 to see how we fared. Here are the results:

The red side is the front. The khaki is the back. That's 2 layers of cotton plus two layers of medium weight denim, just for kicks.



When I first posted about my new-to-me Singer buttonholer, I had just the one. Since then, I've bid on and won a few Ebay auctions for groups of cheap miscellanous sewing stuff. As a result, I now have three — yes three!! — of these things. Two are in great shape as is, and one needs a bit of cleaning up. But it still works just fine. It's what made those buttonholes above.

I first tried the attachment I've had set up on my Kenmore but the "claw" was just a smidge too narrow to fit over my Viking's needle screw. On a whim, I tried the other buttonholer … and it fit. The claw is circled in the photo below. You can also see the dust and dirt on this buttonholer.




The screw that comes with these Singer buttonholers is too big for the hole in my Viking presser foot bar, but since I already have the Viking ankle screw I just used that instead. Not really any brain effort involved there. The Viking screw is circled in the photo below and works perfectly.



Below are the two buttonholers claw-to-claw. The bigger (and dirtier) claw is to the left. You can see that there's hardly any difference. I'm certain you could easily use needlenose pliers to spread the claw a smidge if needed. Since my experiment and photos this morning, the 3rd buttonholer arrived in today's mail and it has the bigger claw spread too, so maybe my narrower claw is the fluke and not the other way around. I just don't know.



My "keeper" is the buttonholer on top in the photo below. The "dirty" buttonholer is on the bottom. The paint is a little scratched, but the rest of it will clean up just fine with a few Q-tips and some sewing machine oil.



The "dirty" one arrived in the dark box below, with extra templates in a black pouch. I think it's an older version than the one in the green box. Anyone?

I Heart Gadgets …

… especially gadgets that work! (Blogger's photo uploading over the last few days, on the other hand, not so much. Grrrr.)

This is one of Babylock's single downturn fellers. The 1/4" version, to be exact. I have all three — 1/4", 5/8", and 1". I bought these from my Babylock dealer before I ever stumbled on "the Ebay guy" and his industrial generics. (And those of you with coverstitch machines know what an enabler I've been for him ever since!)

Every so often I consider selling these fellers on Ebay or the PR Classifieds because I really don't use them. But I always stop myself and start thinking, "What if …?" Yesterday, I was very glad I've held onto them.

I was helping DS' girlfriend with some costume sewing (which explains the pink and the pacifier fabric you'll see below). We needed to make ruffles. Miles of ruffles. OK, not miles, but almost 10 yards and the thought of hemming nearly 10 yards of strips made it seem like miles. Usually I take the easy way out when making ruffles and just fold over the strip so it's doubled and no hemming is necessary. But GF had a limited amount of fabric and to get all the ruffles we needed meant we had to cut single layers of strips. And then finish the raw edge. Urgh.

Enter 1/4" downturn feller (with a chorus of Hallelujah in the background). Now I know some of you probably own and have tried various hemmer feet for your sewing machines. And most of you have cursed the day you ever bought it/them. They do work, but they are fiddly and then in the middle of a long hem, you blink, and it goes off track. I feel your pain. ;-) Not so with these fellers. They just plain work and you can blink all you want.

The feller is attached to the bed of the coverstitch machine (here, it's just laying on my sewing table, but you get the idea). The fabric is fed into the turning-under-thingie and the feed dogs move the folded edge under the needles where it gets stitched.



This is the back side, where you can see the turning under happening. (And if you look closely, you can also see the reflection of the vent on my sewing room ceiling!)



This is what the finished ruffle looks like from the top. Yes, there are two rows of stitching at the hem and it's probably not something you'd want on your finest silk blouse, but this is cheap cotton and a costume so I think it looks just fab! And really, it's not like the hem police will ever stop me to issue a citation.



And this is the underside. The raw edge is perfectly and evenly covered by the (ahem) coverstitch. 'Tis a thing o' beauty, ain't she?



After the long strip was hemmed, I ran it through my serger with its gathering foot (another gadget I love) and voila! Perfectly gathered and hemmed ruffles. Minimal effort. And one happy GF.

In the Pink (and Brown)

A recent topic on the Pattern Review message board about sharpening pinking shears detoured into a side discussion about how those who have pinking shears don't really use them anymore now that they use rotary cutters for cutting out patterns and sergers for finishing seams. Among other things, pinking shears are/were used when cutting out so that the raw edges of the seam allowances wouldn't fray.

I've never used pinking shears for cutting out in my recent sewing, although I do remember my mom using them so I probably did too when I was a kid. But I do use mine now on a regular basis for other tasks. And yes, my pinking shears are actually pink. I did that on purpose because I thought it was amusing at the time. These are Fiskars brand and cost about $35 when I bought them about 10 years ago. That was a lot of $$ to me then for a cutting implement since I didn't really sew at the time. I bought them for other fabric crafts. Anyway, they're still as sharp now as when new. I mention this because Fiskars get a bad rap in the PR discussion and not all Fiskars are cheapos. It's probably another case of different grades of a certain brand and getting what you pay for.

My pinking shears are always within reach so they're handy when I need them. One of my favorite uses for them is to clip curves. Instead of actually clipping or notching a curve with regular scissors/shears, I pink the curves close to the seamline (after pressing open). The seam allowance is then trimmed and notched in one step and getting the seam to lay flat after turning right sides out is a breeze because the pinked notches and narrow seam allowance remove all the bulk that can hamper a good, smooth curve.

I also use my pinking shears to grade seam allowances, as you can see in the photo below. In this instance the bulk of two pressed-open seam allowances on top of each other is better distributed, as I pinked this side and left the other side as is.



Here's the pic after turning. It's brown fabric so the detail is hidden, but I think you can see how smooth that inside curve is. The outside curve is still raw edges at this point.



What these pics show is the neckband for the Burda WOF top. After I cut out these pieces, I thunked my forehead when I realized I should've just cut them on the fold instead of with a center back seam since I'd already eliminated the back zipper and cut the print section on the fold. But I wasn't thinking. However, it worked out fine in spite of my brain lapse and cutting separate pieces actually uses less fabric and interfacing, so it might be better after all. Yeah, that's my story. ;-)



So far, it's looking good. I'll probably have to add a center front modesty panel like Sigrid did for her top as otherwise I think it will be too low-cut and I don't want to wear a cami underneath, like you're seeing here on Zillie. I'm looking forward to finishing this soon but I'll have to stop sewing until tomorrow as I'm off to the shower and then onto the Friday football duties.

Oh, Belinda asked in her comment from yesterday where I got this print. It was months ago from an Ebay vendor. Sorry! But it's poly so not your favorite anyway. ;-)