Joy of Sewing!
I have discovered JOY! My daughter is growing too tall for kid clothes, so I decided to make her some. Luckily I found
this Butterick pattern on sale for 99 cents! Hurray!
I let her pick her own fabrics with some guidance. I had wanted to use some of my fabrics, but a) the fabric line hasn't come out yet, and b) I didn't have enough yardage on hand. And while she wasn't looking, I added this little hand-dyed green applique heart. It was to go with the green in the ribbon. But still not enough green.
I must digress for a moment to complain about a pattern that is sold as as EASY, but has flounces and inset sleeves. Neither of these is easy. Moreover, they wanted me to turn up a small 1/4 inch seem on those circles (TWICE!!) before cutting the holes in the centers and then trying to fit them to the ends of the sleeves. Have you ever hemmed a circle? It is not easy to make it look good. So I, in my infinite dispassion for hems, decided to line it....in lime green....of course! It looks splendid, yes? As for functionality, I think it is a bit too heavy now for a flounce, but she loves it, so I guess it's okay.
Ironically, I almost gave up before I started. I wanted to make garments for her that had finished seams. I thought I needed to buy a new machine, an interlock (is that even the right name?), however, upon further investigation, it turns out that my little work horse of a Pfaff actually has a special foot.
It's called a blind stitch and overlock foot. Huh? I never even knew that such a thing existed. It made all the difference. I was able to easily overcast all the raw edges on the seams without rolling them into a huge bulky mess. They are beautiful, flat, and finished seams. Very Nice! The special foot has a tiny bar that lies along the edge of your fabric. It holds the tension of the thread while you are sewing so that it doesn't pull too tightly. It works on single layers of fabric and multiple ones. I LOVE IT! It is my new best friend. Now I will move on to another pattern for her, but if all goes well, I expect to be making variations of this one in the near future!
5 comments:
That is my favorite foot on my Pfaff. I use it any time I am doing satin stitched edges.
Oh, so adorable! Reminds me how much I missed out on children's clothes from having an only son. I keep thinking maybe I should go back to sewing for ME. I have a serger (overlock) you could borrow if you need one for something too tricky for the regular overlock foot (I used that for many years, too!).
Thanks Vickie H.
Serger was the word I was looking for, and I may call you on that some day soon!
Very cute. I love the green!
Thanks for showing the picture of the Pfaff foot- I have it in my box but it looked too scary to use! I will actually need it this afternoon to finish off some seams and I am terrible at keeping the stitch even. And as an aside,I love all your quilts(and dresses)- they are so bright and colourful and so original.
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