I'm really bad about "Winging" things. Just ask my husband about how I cook - Mix-n-Dump. After buying a new sewing machine and learning its quirks, I decided to actually write down the settings I was using for diapers. My old method of top stitching wasn't cooperating with this machine & I decided that I really needed to write down what I did that worked. All it took was a silly little moleskine notebook that lives by my sewing machine (when my DD doesn't take off with it).
My new machine has three feed dogs (one under each side of the foot and one in in the middle behind the needle). My old method of lining the fabric up with the right edge of the presser foot has a nasty habit of wandering (PUL has a mind of its own). What worked well was to actually line up the fabric with the center of the foot (I'm using a teflon foot) with the needle adjusted to the left (the right side of the presser foot has nothing but air under it). I also made sure to write down needle settings (stitch length & position) & the tension settings.
Saturday
What Do You Do With Ten Yards of Elastic?
I'm trying to reclaim my sewing area. I have a mound of FOE that I just didn't know how to stash & then, when I ran out of elastic at an inopportune moment, I bought 10 yards of elastic. Ok, what am I going to do for putting this mess away without it turning into a tangled mess like my Christmas lights? Chain Locker.
Huh? Well, in one of my previous work incarnations (like 16 years ago), I worked on a tug boat. Have you wondered where the anchor chain goes when a ship brings the anchor in? The chain gets dumped into a large space called a chain locker. What does this have to do with elastic? Well, it's how the chain doesn't get tangled that matters. The end of the chain is secured to a spot in the chain locker. The chain never loops around and gets knotted, so no tangles.
What I ended up doing with my elastic was to use a zip-lock baggie. I pinned the tail end of the elastic to the inside of the baggie with a safety pin and cut a small hole in the opposite side of the baggie. I fed all of the elastic into the baggie and poked the free end out of the cut hole, using a clip to keep the elastic from getting pulled back into the baggie when it's not being used. The 10 yards of elastic fit into a quart-sized baggie & the FOE is in a gallon baggie. I can actually sew the elastic without having a total mess - the baggie sits next to the sewing machine and I feed what I need out of it. I really wish this would work with Christmas lights (tried it - the lights get snagged so the strands won't feed evenly).
Yes, I know, pictures. First, I have to find the camera ;-) It's probably under a stack of fabric (or in some strange spot that my DD decided to stash it).
Update - Found the camera. Here are my zip lock baggie elastic "chain lockers":
Huh? Well, in one of my previous work incarnations (like 16 years ago), I worked on a tug boat. Have you wondered where the anchor chain goes when a ship brings the anchor in? The chain gets dumped into a large space called a chain locker. What does this have to do with elastic? Well, it's how the chain doesn't get tangled that matters. The end of the chain is secured to a spot in the chain locker. The chain never loops around and gets knotted, so no tangles.
What I ended up doing with my elastic was to use a zip-lock baggie. I pinned the tail end of the elastic to the inside of the baggie with a safety pin and cut a small hole in the opposite side of the baggie. I fed all of the elastic into the baggie and poked the free end out of the cut hole, using a clip to keep the elastic from getting pulled back into the baggie when it's not being used. The 10 yards of elastic fit into a quart-sized baggie & the FOE is in a gallon baggie. I can actually sew the elastic without having a total mess - the baggie sits next to the sewing machine and I feed what I need out of it. I really wish this would work with Christmas lights (tried it - the lights get snagged so the strands won't feed evenly).
Yes, I know, pictures. First, I have to find the camera ;-) It's probably under a stack of fabric (or in some strange spot that my DD decided to stash it).
Update - Found the camera. Here are my zip lock baggie elastic "chain lockers":
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| Quart-sized baggie & 1/4" elastic |
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| Gallon baggie & FOE |
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