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Monday, November 7, 2011

Disasters in Sewing

So I know that originally this blog was more about my running endeavors and whatnot but lately I have been trying to be crafty so I thought I would blog about that, too. But don't worry. I failed and so this will not be turning into a crafty blog anytime soon.

Saturday I tried my very best to recreate this shirt from an old long-sleeved t-shirt:


Cute, huh? It didn't look too hard and I had been meaning to get out my machine for a while so while Dave was in Richfield on Saturday I busted it out and watched a few episodes of Law and Order SVU in a strange bout of nostalgia for my friends Jac and Jenn and the many afternoons I sat eating cereal and watching it with them when we all lived together....

Well, try as I might I did not end up with a cute re-purposed shirt, but this:


A ripped mess of stretchy junk and masses of thread.

I can't get my machine to sew stretchy fabric! It's not like it's Spandex or something. I tried sewing a piece of sturdier cotton to compare and it did just fine. Does anyone know what the problem could be? I tried changing the needle to the one that was supposed to be better for stretchy stuff but it made no difference. It just plain won't stitch....the machine itself works fine but no thread actually stays in the fabric. My theory is a bobbin issue but I can't think of what. Any seamstresses perhaps know what to do? (Katrina I am talking to you here...)




4 comments:

  1. ha ha claire i love it. Yes so for sure change your needle to a stretch needle. Is it just a knit material? Also check your tension with your bobbin, that may need to be fixed. Your dog feed (those two zig zag looking things under your presser foot) may be down. Those feed the material though-usually the place to move those are on the side of your machine. Um yes, call me if you have any other questions. I can come look at it if you want too. :)

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  2. You watched SUV in my honor? I'm touched! Also, I so need a sewing machine. This is me inviting myself over to use yours. :)

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  3. Katrina I am totally going to try those things...what a genius you are. And Jennifer you may always use my machine....I am just warning you that apparently I can't make it do stretchy stuff. But cotton works fine! And yes I watched SVU and it was better than I remembered.

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