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Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
~ Susan Ertz
I don't know about immortality, but I sure know what I'd do with a few extra rainy Sunday afternoons! Even though it didn't rain in central Florida this weekend, I did get a bit of sewing done. :)
The "good" is really quite miraculous for me - I changed the thread and the set up of my serger to do a cover stitch hem on my niece's dress, and it worked perfectly on my first practice run!
I'm not sure it's ever gone perfectly the first time! In fact, as I slid the scrap fabric under the presser foot, I was actually bracing myself for another 20 minutes or so of fiddling with the machine before I could start sewing the hem!
I have never been good at getting my cover stitch to line up with the raw inner edge of the fabric - like this:
And so this time, before sewing, I carefully measured...
and carefully pinned...
and carefully ironed...
And came up with this:
(the ugly)
Yup, once again, it's trimming time... It seems that there is some fundamental aspect to this task that I simply don't grasp. Sigh... :(
This weekend I also managed to whip out the 2 baby bubbles for Juana's new baby boy. This fabric was in my queue recently, so you may remember it:
The first has elephants on one side:
And monkeys on the other...
The second has dinosaurs on one side:
And soccer balls on the other...
Not bad for one weekend, huh? Of course, that's only if you don't think to ask about my progress (or lack thereof) on laundry, bill paying, grocery shopping, etc. ;)
So, I bet you thought that those baby bubbles were "the adorable" of my title, right?
Nope - we had visitors this weekend (the niece and nephew of a friend of Ana) and with the enthusiasm of children, they braved the chilly waters of our swimming pool:
And yes, those are blue lips. ;)
I don't think it gets any more adorable than this 4-year-old:
I hope you had a good weekend and a Happy Halloween! :)
7 comments:
I love your creations. What a productive weekend!
I also 'stitch and cut' with the cover stitch machine but sometimes measure the distante to the left-hand needle and stitch a piece of cardboard (or post-it note stack) to run the folded edge against for a steady stitching line. For preference, I prefer 'stitch and cut'!
i'm no good trimming, either. the little kid outfits look adorable, though!!
I use my fingers to feel the edge of the folded fabric and then try to center the coverstitch on it.
Beautiful creations.
I know "hand basting" is not what people using a coverstitch machine usually want to do, but it is what works best for me. ;) I turn my hem up and run a quick hand basting stitch about 1/8" from the cut edge on the wrong side. Then I turn it over and coverstitch with the basting stitch centered between the two prongs of the foot. My stitching ends up just where I want it, both front and back. The two layers of fabric are held together as one so I don't get any ripples in the hem. The basting stitch pulls out easily because I haven't stitched on top of it. It has been the perfect solution for me.
Lois K
Coverstitching takes practice as you can't see the raw edge of the hem. Make yourself seam guides or baste as suggested, that does help. I've done both. It just takes practice. The more you do them, the better you get. I do them by feel now, feeling the edge of the hem through the fabric and guiding it under the needles. For the most part that works, every now and again, I'm off by a little bit and will just trim off the excess.
Cute cute!!
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