Sewing is difficult, sewing machines are worse

[MJ H]

My yard is too small for me to have chickens legally.

[Megan W]

One principle of chicken math is that you never buy just one new chicken- it’ll be lonely and picked on by the flock. You don’t buy 2, either, because one might die. You buy 3 (or 4 because that one would be lonely left behind).

So, your lone sewing machine is at risk and needs company.

I find many ways to justify a new purchase 🙂.

Rotary cutters make life easier…so do hot knives. I now NEED a hooky thing to finish off the serger seams (although a large thread needle works ok)

[Jerry Adams]

hmmm… maybe I should buy a new sewing machine

[Terran Terran]

I don’t know what a hooky thing is, but I’m sure I’ll need one. I haven’t really done any sewing yet. I did cut up an old blanket. Traced out a hood from an old R1 for a pattern. The fit wasn’t bad. Following Jerry’s thread, I put a face on it. Just freehanded it, so it’s a bit off.

[Megan W]

I’m not laughing….

That counts as sewing. Skill with scissors is important.

This little hooky thing. Actually called a Hookey seam hook. Go figure.

[Terran Terran]

I’m laughing. It’s all play. Cutting up the dog’s blanket for practice. It’s okay though. He’s a small dog. Doesn’t need much.

I did it in three pieces. I need to try tapering the center piece.

[Jerry Adams]

Nice TT

hookey seam hook – that could be useful, ill have to get one

[Jerry Adams]

Amazon has hookey and a bunch of similar ones

One thing i need is something to thread a cord through a sleeve

[Mina Loomis]

“One thing i need is something to thread a cord through a sleeve”

There might be some specialized tools out there for this, but a large safety pin works.

[Jerry Adams]

Yeah, safety pin.  I googled it and a number of people recommended safety pin.

Sometimes my sleeve (casing) is too small

Another thing us to use a bodkin, but that can be too big to fit into casing

Someone mentioned an aglet, like on the end of a shoestring.  I could make my own aglet by wrapping in plastic tape.

[Terran Terran]

Small end of a charger cable.

[Jerry Adams]

how do you use the small end of charger cable?

[Terran Terran]

Or a stiff wire with the end bent in a loop.

Charger cable

[Jerry Adams]

I see – tie cord to wire and pull through

I’ve done that with a #18 steel wire.

[Terran Terran]

The wire is easier to push through than the cord. If you use steel wire, you may have to rebend it pulling it back out so it doesn’t snag. Wrap it with a piece of tape.

[Terran Terran]

Clover Bodkins

[Jon Hearn]

I’ve been sewing cordura sledbags for years on my big industrial machine with a compressed air foot (do not get your fingers under that!) I recently started making sledbags with pop out sil nylon tents and found the transition from heavy duty fabrics to lightweight slippery ones quite challenging. Zips would come out wavy, one piece of fabric would stretch more than the other, pins help of course but not always enough.
I can really recommend basting tape, (double sided tape for fabric) you can get much more professional looking results from your machine and the only downside is you have to occasionally wipe the adhesive residue off your needle with an alcohol wipe.
https://www.sailrite.com/Sewing-Tips-Using-Basting-Tape

[Paul McLaughlin]

For the drawstring feeder, I took a piece of brass rod that I had – about 1/8″ diameter – pounded one end flat and drilled a hole in it, and rounded the other end nicely. Tie the drawcord to the end with the hole, feed through. Basically a homemade bodkin.

[Monte Masterson]

You could always apply for the executioner job Terran.  Henry VIII awaits at court.

[Terran Terran]

It was a hatchet job. I was thinking jester. That green color doesn’t help. Kind of an amphibian/reptile look. I actually made a second one. Trying to get it a little smoother, without it puckering. The eyes were challenging.

[Terran Terran]

 

 

 

[Terran Terran]

The projector I ordered from China failed to show up. Thank you mister trump. They promptly refunded me. I ordered one from Amazon. Still made in China, but Bezos got his cut. About $15 more with fewer features. About $70. The mount was $30. I downloaded a calibration app, then used the 1″ squares on a cutting mat to calibrate. The PDF patterns I got have 2″ squares on them, so I used those as well. I mounted it on the ceiling, using a rare earth magnet to find my ceiling joist. I don’t know if I should cut a pattern or just cut the fabric directly.

[Megan W]

Wow.

I’ve never used one, but from what I’ve read you can work directly on the fabric  – either tracing the pattern on the fabric or cutting it.

[Terran Terran]

I think direct cutting with a rotary cutter may be easiest. Laying out all the pieces to fit the fabric may be a bit tricky. The screen size of the projector depends on distance. The cheap ones anyway. After calibration, the distance from the projector to my table isn’t great enough to project the entire layout. I’ll move the table and cut on the floor. Different options. I guess a short throw projector would eliminate that hassle, but a cheap one does the trick.

Another benefit…

[Jerry Adams]

If you cut directly, a problem would be the fabric moves a little after you cut some of it.

Maybe tape the fabric to the floor to stabilize it?  A vacuum table would be nice.

Maybe better to mark the fabric because it’s easier to keep the fabric from moving.

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