The Sewing Room

winniepooh

ScarlettOHara wrote: »

There is a tv show starting in April - the Great British Sewing Bee (like Bake Off) - I'm sadly excited to see it!

What channel is it on

flossie217

BBC2 starting April 2nd I believe. Claudia Winkleman is presenting it.

sue_oh

ScarlettOHara wrote: »

There is a tv show starting in April - the Great British Sewing Bee (like Bake Off) - I'm sadly excited to see it!

Me too! Last year they were leafleting (is there such a word) in my local fabric shop and habby store - wish I had bit the bullet and applied now.... hey ho.

sue_oh

boredjellybean wrote: »

Hi there I'm after a quick bit of advise. I'd like to learn to sew this year, I just spotted the John Lewis one (£49) mentioned on another thread & wondered if this is a good beginner one. I've used my mums be a few times but even the thought of threading it worries me lol up down through here round that lol
Any suggestions??.
Sarah xx

My local Adult Ed centre runs a basic sewing machine skills course. It's one night (3 hours) over 10 weeks, I'd really recommend you sign up if you have a similar course local to you. Not only will it give you the basic skills and confidence to use you machine, the tutor will also be able to give you advice on what type of machine maybe suitable for what you want to create. Plus it's great to be with like minded people.
Hope this helps.
Sue

ScarlettOHara_2

I did a similar course, found a local tutor on google last year and never looked back since. I've made curtains, cushions, quilts and clothes and altered other clothes.

adouglasmhor

I did a similar course over 10 weeks at our local college last year, got funding from Individual Learning Account as well.

winniepooh

Im currently on a course for patchwork and quilting

Born2save_2

boredjellybean wrote: »

Hi there I'm after a quick bit of advise. I'd like to learn to sew this year, I just spotted the John Lewis one (£49) mentioned on another thread & wondered if this is a good beginner one. I've used my mums be a few times but even the thought of threading it worries me lol up down through here round that lol
Any suggestions??.
Sarah xx

Hi there Sarah, just buy the best you can afford. Even the basic starter machines now offer a range of stitches and techniques for you to try when you become more adventurous :-) The modern machines have a threader attached. Have a look online at jaycotts.co.uk from Chester. Their prices are always very competitive and they frequently have special offers. Their recent innovation is a range of "Watch and Learn" sewing DVDs. Half price patterns are frequently available and their zips cost just a quarter of shop prices.They also sell threaders in case you have chosen a machine without one:-)
Good luck and have fun :-)

almond

Keiss_21 wrote: »

Lovely cover winieppooh.

As for your stitching: try cleaning out in the bobbin area and underneath the needle plate and feed dogs, it's amazing how much fluff accumulates there.
Also change your needle, you should change it after every 8 hours of sewing (I know, I was shocked to hear this too!!).
Unthread and re-thread both your top thread and bobbin too, remembering to thread the reel thread with the presser foot up.

If after all this, your zig-zag is still missing stitches, then it could well be the timings of the machine have gone out of synch, and you will need to get them re-set by a sewing machine service engineer.

Good luck, and hope you can get things sorted soon

when mine was missing i found cotton had got wrapped round a metal joint to the right of were you feed the cotton, this makes no sense ! but if you take off cover were your light is fitted you will arm that takes cotton down and then up , just to right of that is were i found mine had got wrapped round

Born2save_2

Hate to moan folks, but is it ureasonable to expect a "generous" cut from the roll when purchasing fabric? I've always been accustomed to receiving an extra allowance of 5-10cms to allow for crooked cutting or loose/fraying threads. A recent purchase from Dunelm Mill had been measured by the assistant and cut exactly to the metre line. On returning home it was apparent that the fabric had been cut slightly off at an angle and after "squaring" it up to get my pattern straight it became obvious that I would be short of 8cm. A complaint to Customer Service resulted in an apology and a gift voucher for £10 as well as reassurance that this would have been an error on the part of the assistant, as the staff are told to cut all fabrics generously. Armed with my voucher, on a second visit to the store with the intention of purchasing more of the same fabric it was surprising to hear the assistant explain that the staff are specifically directed to cut exactly to the metre or half metre so that they can easily calculate the length remaining on the roll :j
I don't want something for nothing but just a small allowance for human error in cutting. It's not certain whether this is just local management direction or the policy of Dunelm Mill. However, my intention is to avoid making any future purchases of fabrics in this store.