The Sewing Room

rufusdog52

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

Hi ladies, I haven't been on here in a while but I do lurk plenty! Sunshine that is a fab bag, looks v complicated, can't believe it's your first project!

Can't belive I'm going to follow those two fab dresses with my little offering, but here's what I made tonight, a little lavender cat to hang in a wardrobe for a friend's birthday pressie:

Can't seem to add picture so will add the link instead!

I think it's very homemade looking but we'll say that adds to its charm

Forgot to mention this one - the cat is lovely, would make a nice door stop if filled with sand or something xx

karmacookie

We didn't have a very good sewing day yesterday.

We started on my son's messenger bag. The cutting went fine. It said to use iron on interface so we did.

Then came the sewing, oh dear! It all got sort of scrunched up in the machine, what a mess, then my son triend to unpick it all and split the material!

Not sure really where we went wrong, any advice appreciated. Perhaps i had the machine on the wrong setting? It was working fine with plain cotton, but this interfacing stuff just seem to mess it up

On a happier note I bought 1 yard of light sage green cotton velour and 1 yard of wine coloured for £3.50. I want to make bags with it (if we ever sort out DS's one!) and I got some cheap 'shappy chic' floral cotton for lining.

Thanks to everyone for posting their lovely creations to keep me motivated, hopefully one day I'll get the hang of it al :A

Kandipandi

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Kandipandi - love the sock monkey, is it easy to sew them on the machine? I made some year before last for everyone but sewed them by hand but might do some on the machine if its better and quicker.

Hi rufusd!!!2 - I have not made many of these but I did struggle at first making them on the sewing machine with the elasticity of the socks (especially on the skinny bits - arms and tails.)

Now I have sussed it out and it takes no time at all, it takes much longer to fishish off than to sew the initial bit. I do like mine to be extra strong as the first thing my son did with his was twirl it by its tail above his head so I prefer them to be done by machine.
My one tip would be sew not too close to the edge as this can easily go off track with the stretch in the sock.

gemsmember

I stitch my sock monkeys on the machine. Firstly I tack them by hand to line up the stripes etc. I did try pinning, but they still move, so unfortunately tacking is the only solution.

I then straight stitch them, and then go over them again with an elastic stitch as I have found that even though I stretch them as I am stitching, if you give them a hard yank, the stitches can split, so the elastic stitch ensures the seams will stay closed.

The one thing I have noticed is how differently people stuff them. Mine are stuffed very full, which makes them larger, I would think I use approx. 200 gsm stuffing, but I have seen others that don't seem to have much stuffing at all. I suppose it is a matter of preference and how you like them to look when finished.

It takes me about 2-3 hours for each one from start to finish - I have read on the 'sock monkey' thread about someone who has got it down to 45 minutes, but just don't know how as I would find that impossible. I have made over 100 of them now so think I should have got it down to a fine art and can't see how to make it quicker.

How long do you think it takes?

I have some more to make, but at present I am making some bags and bag inserts for my shop - a change is as good as a rest sometimes.

flossie217

babyboysmommy wrote: »

Decision made. I am going to buy a Janome 525. My local shop apparently has a poor reputation for after sales (no one at the classes my mum goes to will buy from them) so I need to buy elsewhere. Can anyone recommend a website?

I have also decided to take the dressmaking level 1 & 2 course in September

Mum showed me her sewing table/cabinet...

I bought my machine from http://www.sewingmachines.co.uk/.
They were recommended by the members on the sewing forum.
When I phoned about mine the lady was very happy to go through a few queries I had to make sure I was choosing the right machine for me.

lellypants

Need help.
I take my dog to a class every week and they are having a fun day on the 26th. I said I’d make some stuff but I'm lacking inspiration.
Has anyone got any ideas of stuff I can make up quick?

Thanks!
Lesley

Tete_en_l'Air

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Forgot to mention this one - the cat is lovely, would make a nice door stop if filled with sand or something xx

Thanks - that's a good idea, would I be able to do this with just the two pieces of material sewn together like I did with the hanger, or would it need a base piece, to complicate things?

gemsmember wrote: »

I then straight stitch them, and then go over them again with an elastic stitch as I have found that even though I stretch them as I am stitching, if you give them a hard yank, the stitches can split, so the elastic stitch ensures the seams will stay closed.

**DAFT QUESTION ALERT!**

What's an elastic stitch? Is it a machine setting? Sounds very useful... or do you just mean use elastic thread??

lellypants wrote: »

Need help.
I take my dog to a class every week and they are having a fun day on the 26th. I said I’d make some stuff but I'm lacking inspiration.
Has anyone got any ideas of stuff I can make up quick?

Ooh, not too sure, could you keep it dog related? Maybe some sort of rectangular placemat type thing to stand their bowls on, or a simple drawstring bag perhaps to keep treats in when out walking? Or perhaps some simple hanging decorations in the shape of chicks and decorated eggs, with Easter coming up?

gemsmember

Elastic stitch is a zig zag stitch which is made up of little stitches. In a normal zigzag stitch you get one stitch at an angle and then another stitch coming back to make a zigzag. With elastic stitch - you would get two or three little stitches going up to make the angle and then two or three stitches coming back to make the next angle. It is used to stitch elastic to fabric but is also good for stretch fabric.

Tete_en_l'Air

Thanks, I'll have a look at my machine later - it does about a gazillion stitches so I'm sure that must be one of them!!

gemsmember

http://www.sewingmachines.co.uk/brothernv20_info.htm

If you scroll down to where it says 40 stitch patterns - it is the 6th one from the left. This stitch is on a lot of machines, not just this particular one, but the picture shows you what it looks like. I sent mine to 2.5mm wide and 2.5mm long as I don't want a very wide stitch.