Getting Ready

It's that time of year when we all feel the need to clean and purge from the long winter and being indoors. It's still pretty cold here in Minnesota but the bug still bites and we are cleaning out. The Textile Center Annual Garage Sale is April 14 and I've collected a few things and then started to clean out some drawers. This prompted me to set aside fabric for making those cute zippered circle bags/pouches/holders for earbuds (or mirror, coins, etc.). Only a small amount of fabric was returned to the drawer but I fear I have too many of the earbud circles cut out to be practical. But I soldier on!

After a bit of mending I noticed the cotton knit swimsuit I had cut out for my granddaughter that needed sewing and the serger was all set up and ready. I forgot how easy these were to make and quite satisfying. This isn't for swimming but for the gymnastics class she is now taking so I asked if she could use a skirt or pair of shorts so here's the final result:

Kwik Sew 3785 in cotton knit size medium

Suit, shorts, and drawstring bag

I still had a small amount of fabric left over so I made up a drawstring tote bag for the whole outfit. Doesn't every diva need a bag for their items? Of course.

While the serger was set up I also stitched up the dog pads that were all cut out but they were a bigger challenge that I had hoped. Two layers of fleece and polyester batting, too? My serger would stitch it but the differential feed struggled as I did to keep things straight. In the end they turned out pretty good and the not-great-edge didn't look too shabby:

My collection of fleece dog pads

It's hard to see in the photos but after they were stitched on three sides, I turned them right side out, stitched the fourth side closed, then stitched about 1.5 inches from the outside edge. This is in hope of the filler not shifting in washing but I'm going to wash them to see how good they actually work. Although I want to keep the center open (without stitches) they may need more work to make them really washable.

As always, I need to report on the machines I used in making all of the above. My main serger is a Bernina 1100DA that I continue to love, but it's a Bernina so I would expect it to be good. For the fleece fourth edge and top stitching I used the Consew CP206R, an industrial walking foot machine that is not a joy to use but it gets the job done and does it well. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can get out to the garage and sew on the industrial Singer 78 but it's only March in Minnesota and there's a whole lot of winter left even though the calendar says spring. I know the wonderful summers in Minnesota are coming but there are days when it's hard to wait!

Consew CP206R portable walking foot industrial

Double Bind

The craft fair is only two weeks out so I pulled out some of my boxes of crafts for sale to find I really sold a lot of the hot mitts last year and needed some serious restocking. Wasn't that what I was buying all that fabric for? Right. I've been busy sewing up new hot mitts, over 40 have been cut out. But I've discovered a few things over the past five years that I wanted to share with you.

The first is the sewing machine I've been using. With so many layers, ten when I'm sewing the binding on, I will no longer use one of my good but not sturdy enough sewing machines. I've tried my Viking 1100 with a walking foot and a Pfaff 1222 with the IDT built-in walking foot and felt like I was going to run each one of these machines right into the ground. Next up was a Singer 15-91 and a 201-2 and they were not going to burn up but they were struggling even showing some skipped stitches. This time I got out the portable industrial, a Consew CP-206R:

Consew CP-206R

After getting over being afraid of it, I have been sewing through all those layers and more without any hesitation. Now, you know I'm all about the "experience" of sewing: how does it sound, how does the machine feel while sewing, even how it looks all add to this factor of "experience." All that had to go out the window when I needed to get 40 of these babies done pronto! The Consew is loud, feels clunky, and is industrial grey/white so it fails on all counts for the experience but it does sew without having to go back to resew areas and the stitches look good. She delivers so my idea about enjoying sewing goes out the window when I need superb functionality and the Consew certainly has that.

The second new thing I want to share with you is a technique that quilters have been doing for years but I'm new to this double binding effect. In the past I added the bias tape edging just like I was putting it on the edge of any cut edge using a two step process. First I would put on a single layer of the bias to the front of the item and then fold it to the back, pinning it in place, and hand sewing it on. It turned out nice but was pretty laborious, taking about 30 minutes per hot mitt.

Step one: bias strip, single fold (ripped out later)

Step two: bias strip folded over to back and pinned in place

 Now I take the same bias strip and fold the long raw edges together and sew the raw edge to the edge of the mitt:

Step one: sew raw edges together

Step two: trim excess fabrics and fold over, sew in place without pins

Now it is doubled right from the start and I can fold it over to the back side of the mitt and sew in place by hand without pinning. It only takes about 15 minutes per mitt this way, providing a double edge for better wear. I think this is brilliant and thank my quilting friends for sharing this tip. Since I cut all of my own bias binding for that exact match of fabrics I need to make sure I cut it wide enough so it can fold over and cover all those layers but that's been the only real problem. Here's an array of what I'm sewing on, just to give you a flavor of the fabrics I been using:

Hot mitts in various stages of readiness

It was also another big sale week with a church garage sale and more from Goodwill Outlet:

and there is more...

Next up will be my heart pot holder that I've been experimenting with various fabrics to piece little squares. Stay tuned!

Industrial Strength

Since the sewing machine garage sale I've been in touch with Tess who has been trying her best to fill orders for her hand made dog collars. Business is booming but her sewing machines have been giving her problems. The lovely little Kenmore 148-273 in a compact desk went home with her but, even though she loves it, there were problems with the heavy materials she was working with:

Kenmore 148-273

The belt kept slipping, stitches weren't quite what she had hoped for, and there were many emails back and forth while we tried to make this work. Finally I loaned her my Singer 201-2 since she needed something more heavy duty. I did advise her to seek out an industrial sewing machine since she needed piercing power for the nylon webbing and even sent a few links to local models for sale. I was trying to take a look at one, the Consew CP-206R but couldn't get the seller to answer back. Now I know why: Tess got there before me and bought it. Way to go Tess! There were still problems and I didn't know anything about this machine so I wasn't much help until I saw another ad for the same model. What? Was Tess trying to sell hers? Nope, another one came up for sale and I got it:

Consew CP 206R

It came in a portable case, something of a rarity for an industrial sewing machine, just perfect for the occasional user. I shied away from industrial's since they usually came with big, heavy tables with large motors than are mounted underneath. But I keep getting inquiries from people who would like to buy one so now I'm ready to start exploring at least this portable model.

Walking foot mechanism on back of the presser foot

The Consew CP 206R is a straight stitch with reverse walking foot sewing machine that does only one thing but does it so well. I downloaded a free manual but was scared to start stitching. There were warnings about throwing off the timing if you don't start the stitches right so I was very careful...but still got knots and loops of thread underneath. I stopped and got back in touch with Tess. She already had her's serviced and the man showed her how to use it. Well, I wasn't going to do that since I had the receipt for recent service on mine, I just needed to know how to get it started. Online videos were suggested so I watched portions of a very long one that gave me some good tips:

1. Start with threads pulled out the back and hold them there.
2. Put needle into fabric then lower presser foot.
3. Move handwheel to make the first couple of stitches.
4. With take up lever high up but in the decending position (going down) put foot on the foot control and give it some gas.
5. Let the machine start and sew without me moving the handwheel: do not touch it!

That's what worked for me; apparently, if you get your hand in there to assist the handwheel you can mess it up. Now it stitched! It's pretty loud and feels stiff but I got it to stitch with the very heavy thread that came with it. Now I just needed a project to work on.

Back of Consew with black bars of the walking foot mechanism

I remembered a set of heavy fabric placemats that I had started on so I got them out of my UFO (UnFinished Objects) storage and gave them a try. I didn't like the look of the heavy black thread so I tried some khaki colored thread that matched the thread I used on the one I had already quilted. It worked! On the first one I had used a quilting bar that measured the correct distance but there was no place to insert the bar with the walking foot on the Consew.  I ended up drawing stitch lines with marking chalk/soap and it went much faster. I couldn't tell the first one made on a regular sewing machine and those made with the industrial sewing machine. I added the bias binding and then hand-stitched it on the reverse side:

Yup, even camouflage on the table

Did they turn out better? Nope: they all look exactly the same. Was it easier? Maybe just a touch but what I noticed was when I came to the intersection of stitches it sailed right over them, no puckering or hesitation. Maybe this wasn't that heavy of a project but the camouflage fabric is canvas-like so with the batting and heavy backing fabric it was heavy enough to cause my regular sewing machines to labor. I'm very happy to put these placemats in my Etsy shop and I notified the person who requested them (sorry it took me ten months to get them done!) and now maybe I won't have to shy away from using heavy fabrics and projects like this. I'll keep it for awhile and when someone wants to buy one of my sewing machines for their heavy projects I can ask "Would you like to see the portable industrial sewing machine I have for sale?" I can speak more knowledgeably than just you-need-an-industrial-sewing-machine response. Honestly, I had about six people in the past year who might have bought this machine...but maybe I'll keep it.