In desperate need of some reading material and something to rekindle the creative process in me, Dorling Kindersley came to my rescue with their book: A Little Course in Sewing. I trust this series of books as they (along with YouTube) taught me how to knit (as did my grandmother) and crochet and this latest addition to my collection didn't fail.
I've been learning how to sew properly using a machine. It seems the most essential thing is to "go slowly"! I've always thought that a machine is merely there to speed things up. While this may be true it appears that fabric about to undergo machine sewing needs to be prepped thoroughly with measuring, marking, folding, ironing and pinning before even switching the machine on! This may sound obvious to many, but honestly I'd never thought about it before. I tend to get impatient with pinning things and then removing the pins as I go along. Probably where I've been going wrong haha.
The video above is me using a zigzag stitch on an old tablecloth to help with neatening an edge to prevent it from fraying. It's used instead of an overlocking stitch (which requires a different machine). I then folded the side under and used a straight stich so the tablecloth has an edge that looks like this:
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My final attempt this week was to make a pocket 😊 it's simple, but useful, and now I'm looking for things I can add pockets to! Also I decided to do as the book said, and tack stitches (thought this was something only my mum did but turns out: it's a thing) before using the sewing machine.
Left - pins (I used needles as can you believe I don't have pins)
Top right - tacking stitches
Bottom right - machines stitched, tacking stitches removed.
Only thing lacking is using an iron on it all.. I will get there soon!
Thank you for reading, until next week
Lingling
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