tesla | Stuff About Sewing

Article: Shoulder Tote (from Sew Everything Workshop)

Date: 8/23/2008 (4 hours)

Material: Forest green cotton, plain-woven, heavy

Details & deviations:
• I used a heavier material than the example photos, but canvas was included in the recommended materials. Anyway, it worked.
• Mine didn’t include the optional lining. (I hate bags with lining in them; it just gets in the way and then starts shredding in a few months.)

What worked well:
• French seams. I thought the material would be too heavy for them, but they worked stunningly. The inside of the tote looks very “finished.” I think the key here is the amount of pressing I did. Oh, I also trimmed the side seams at an angle before making the bottom seam, because I was pretty sure it would get too bulky otherwise. Seems to have come out okay; we’ll see how it wears.
• Attaching handles by stitching, backstitching, and again stitching the entire width of the handle. This works because the material is strong to begin with. Now the seam is extremely strong but very subtle in appearance.
• I managed to attach the handles symmetrically even though I tried to throw myself off by pressing the seams to the side. 

Lessons & things I would do differently:
• For a neater look, include the handles in the top hem, then fold them up and finish the seam.
• The instructions call for the front and back to be two pieces. While this saves on yardage and was good practice in sewing seams, it does leave a completely unnecessary seam in the bottom of the tote. In fact, maybe it doesn’t even save yardage: this material is so strong and the grain so straight that I would be completely comfortable letting the weft hang vertically.
• Remember the difference between “shoulder tote” and “long-handled tote” when reading the instructions and press accordingly.
• I got a really bad case of vertigo that lasted most of the day. I think that it may have been due to the sewing machine light shining brightly near one eye while the room light was relatively dim.

Article: Pincushion (from Sew Everything Workshop)

Date: 8/26/2008 (1 hour or so)

Material: Forest green cotton, plain-woven, heavy; brown leather remnant from dining room chair

Details & deviations:
• The specified bottom material was wool or felt; I used suede.
• I was supposed to finish this with some cutesy embroidery floss and a button. Shyeah, right.

What worked well:
• Testing out stitch lengths and thread tension to get them precisely right before sewing the article. In particular, testing the materials both leather-side-up and cloth-side-up to find the right recipe. (Cloth side up, 3mm, #3)
• Polyfill = easy.
• Suede is fabulous for staying where you put it instead of skidding across the table when you go to stick something in the pincushion.
• I set up a halogen lamp. I did not get vertigo. Not sure these two are related, but I have my suspicions.

Lessons & things I would do differently:
• Mark the seam allowance on round stuff. It’s hard enough to be precise with curves when there’s a visible line to sew along; without one it’s torturous.
• Leave a slightly larger opening for turning the item when I’m working with heavy material. Once I got it turned right-side-out stuffing it was easy enough, but for a minute there I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it turned.
• “Pre-drill” the leather of the opening by “sewing” it without any thread. That way when it comes time to slipstitch there will be some small possibility that I can actually get my needle through the leather.
• Use a thinner-skinned cow.

Article: Sewing Machine Cozy (from Sew Everything Workshop)

Date: begun 8/27/2008; finished 8/31/2008 (total about 5 hours)

Material: Navy & green plaid oilcloth

Details & deviations:
• So I went out and bought what I thought was oilcloth. Turns out what I bought was more like traditional oilcloth – seriously heavy canvas with a water-resistant coating on one side. In modern parlance, oilcloth is that vinyl stuff with the fuzzy back that’s used as tablecloths in small-town diners. I like my version better.
• I did not cut the optional hole for the handle. It seems to me that if I’m covering my machine to keep dust off, putting a big hole in the top of the cover is a bit counterproductive.
• I ironed my bias tape. I have no idea whether I was supposed to do this, but it seems to have worked.

What worked well:
• Serendipity at work: the navy bias tape I bought for this looks horrible with it, but the green tape that was erroneously specified for the tote bag (and which I thought I would be stuck with) looks good. (Now I’m stuck with navy instead.)
• Easing the bias tape in a radius around the opening for the cords and machine stitching it v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y in place.
• Hiding the raw edges of the bias tape by first unfolding the tape, then tucking the end under and then refolding the tape lengthwise, then by putting the raw edge of the material into the front “pocket” of the tape.
• Marking the seam allowances and especially where to stop stitching near the top. I basically had to construct an open-bottomed box, which means that I needed to leave the top 1/2” of the sides unstitched so that I could fold them all over and stitch each side to the top.
• Not obsessing: the thread didn’t exactly match the color of the bias tape, but it looks completely fine.
• Lamp up; no vertigo.
• My pincushion. Seriously, that thing is da bomb. Stays exactly where I put it and never shows a mark from being stuck all over with pins. Plus it’s my favorite color.

Lessons & things I would do differently:
• Almost nothing marks this stuff, and once you do get something to mark it there’s no good way to remove the marks. I marked one piece wrong and ended up cutting from another section of the material. Fortunately I had enough to do that and didn’t create extra waste, but yuck. (I felt like was stuck with marking on the right side so that I wouldn’t get crooked on the plaid, but now that I think about it I could’ve used pins through the material to do a reality check on my placement and then marked the back side.)
• Matching patterns can be a bitch. I had to choose whether to match the sides to one another or the top to the sides, but couldn’t do both (and ended up doing neither, going instead for symmetry). The pattern repeats at 3.5” - none of the sides where matching mattered could make use of the repeat. So here’s the lesson: think about the finished dimensions of the piece before buying fabric, and get a fabric with an appropriate repeat width. (Of course, even if I had done that I would have bought the same pattern – my options were severely limited and this was the only one that wasn’t ugly.)
• Stupid error – I marked and cut the cord opening while the cover was wrong-side-out. The machine is asymmetrical, so I ended up with the opening on the wrong side. (I know better.) So I widened the opening to be symmetrical and it looks fine. Anyway, I’m not sure whether the bias tape would’ve eased so nicely around a smaller opening.
• After pressing the seams open, watch that they don’t close again whilst I’m stitching up to them (especially important on such a bulky material as this).
• This stuff is HEAVY. I bent a lot of pins trying to pin things properly before I just gave up and stuck them in one side and out the other (which works better for alignment in thick material anyway).