tracing wheel??

homealone_2

i have just started a sewing class so that i will be able to make my own alterations as i lose weight, otherwise it will cost me £6 a go. while trying to keep my machine sewing in a straight line someone mentioned that i needed a tracing wheel. i have tried a search for one and even after that am not totally sure what it is meant to do and if i do buy one in readiness for my next class what type do i need, was on verge of placing order for one on amazon when i found out that they do a straight one or a serrated edge one. also do i just buy bog standard tracing paper as none of the ones advertised seem to come with any or is it a special type? thanks for reading

meritaten

I trained as a machinist in a garment factory. to learn to sew straight lines we used lined paper - yes, your bogstandard A4 sheets of paper with lines on it!
Tracing wheels are handy for transfering pattern lines to fabric using a special type of carbon paper- if you want to sew straight lines using a sewing machine then it takes practice and following a straight line! my own tip for that is to get the needle centred on the line, then using the foot pedal to slowly build up speed while using the other hand to guide the material - using the foot as a guide!
I did side seams and using the foot as a guide I knew to have about a quarter inch of material inside the foot and my seam would be the perfect half inch.

but in training school in the garment factory we would only be allowed out on the line when we could show we could do a whole page of A4 lined paper without going outside the lines, inside a certain time! you arent time restricted so you can take your time and get it right!

ChocClare

homealone, you get this special stuff called dressmaker's carbon paper which you can buy from most haberdashers, even the small ones in department stores. If you run a tracing wheel along it, you will then get a line marked on your fabric. A straight wheel will give you a contiuous line; a serrated wheel will give you "dashes" you can follow.

To be honest, I think they're a pain in the butt, as, unless you have a straight edge, they can veer off. Presumably you're going to pin your pattern to your fabric, and they're expecting you then to place the carbon paper between pattern and fabric so that you can trace the sewing line.

Well, if you have your fabric on a hard surface, you can just use a pencil and it will have the same effect.

On the bottom of your sewing machine you will have marked 3/8", 5/8" etc. As long as you cut your fabric out accurately, you can line the edge up with this mark and machine perfectly straight like that.

You can also mark with tailors' tacks, which is where you sew large loops through pattern and fabric, snip the tacks as you go and then carefully pull the two pieces of fabric apart and snip the tacks between them. You are left with a line of individual stitches.

So it's up to you, really. Carbon + tracing wheel is quicker, but you certainly don't NEED to do it. HTH.