Pattern Drafting (for Sewing) with Seamly2D
Why hello! I think the title for today says it all – I want to talk about drafting your own sewing patterns. If, like me, you got your start in sewing garments from commercial, pre-printed patterns from the “Big Three” pattern companies, or the printable PDF patterns available online, it has maybe never crossed your mind to draft your own patterns. After all, there are tons of great commercial patterns available, many of which include tutorials and helpful tips to make sewing your own clothes possible, even for beginners. Especially if you’re sewing for just one person (particularly someone who doesn’t change sizes frequently) and can get used to what…
Needle Quest – Part 2
If you read Part 1 of this series, you will know that I was on a quest for suitable needles for a Bellinky linker. They are virtually impossible to get as it turns out, and although I have a stash, they won’t last forever, and other people are in need of them as well. I won’t keep you reading for no reason: the new needles work perfectly! But not without a few adjustments, so read on if you’d like details. I received the 88×1 needles (very quickly might I add) and look how closely they resemble the Orange PYE-2 needles: I apologize in advance, by the way, for these photos.…
Needle Quest
That’s what I’m calling what I did yesterday. Over the last while, I have heard from several people looking to buy spare needles for their Bellinky linker. And there is a shop that I have directed them to, where I myself bought some of the needles after an internet search, but they are out of the size 22. What I have been using successfully is the size 140/22, in the PYE-2 system from Orange needles. I can find NO ONE else who makes this type of needle, nor can I find anywhere besides that one shop to buy them. (A quick Google will bring them up. They are in the…
Insert Industrial Revolution Pun Here
My brain hurts, make your own pun for the title. It’s like choose your own adventure! So as the weather changes, and my natural crafty inclinations swing back toward sewing, I’ve been hard at work making spring/summer things for the kids and myself. If you’ve been following my Instagram, you’ll have seen the monstrous piece of cotton fleece I ice dyed to make myself some shorts, and the spring softshell jackets I made for two of my kids. I’m exceptionally happy with how those jackets turned out, but I have to say, they were not easy for my sewing machine. I used the vintage Kenmore for all of it, (well…
Craft Boredom Cycles and The Very Long Year
This is a less informational/more personal post than I normally put here, so if you’re not in the mood for a ramble, you may want to skip it. I just wanted to share something that I have noticed about myself. I have seen several people mentioning it lately, so I don’t think it’s limited to just me. Crafting Boredom. Do you ever get afflicted? By this I mean, do you ever look at your heap of supplies for this hobby you have, that you LOVE, and just…don’t wanna? It’s happened to me before, many times. The first time it was hand knitting/crochet. I had a lot of yarn, all kinds…
Buttonholes, and More Buttonholes
I don’t know why, but I love to make buttonholes. I think it’s because I was afraid of them for so long, and never used them. I would use grommets, snaps – anything to avoid making buttonholes on garments, but since I got over that fear, all I want to do is make buttonholes. And I have discovered that this is something certain machines do much better than others. My modern Kenmore has the built-in automatic style – with the big long foot that you place the button into to control the size, and then it automatically makes the buttonhole you choose from it’s several built-in styles. It works fine,…
Kenmore 158.18022 Vintage Sewing Machine
Well well well, if it isn’t the post I started some time ago and then forgot about. Honestly, this past year (can you believe it’s coming up on a year of this?) has been so weird that I just can’t concentrate on anything. But, better late than never, right? You may have seen my post a few months back about the Viking 714 vintage machine that I picked up in the summer. I have since sold it on. At the time, I thought that would be the main vintage machine that I would use for things where I didn’t want to use my modern Kenmore (a 385.19110 computerized machine.) It…
New Toy: The Bellinky Linker
Have you heard of a linker/linking machine? Some of the hardcore knitters probably have, and probably use one. Maybe you’ve seen the Hague style – a big cylinder type thing with spikes all around the outside? Looks like a torture device or something for making sausage? Anyway, linkers are machines that are used for linking or seaming together pieces of knitting with a chain stitch instead of hand sewing. There are different things referred to as linkers – some which operate on the knitting machine and move along the bed, linking together open stitches, like the SC-3 carriage for Silver Reed type machines, or the Hague cylinder style linker (although…
Viking 714 Vintage Sewing Machine
Well well, it has been A WHILE since I last posted here. I haven’t stopped crafting, but what with the pandemic and all the insanity it has brought, along with everything else, it feels like I blinked in January and ended up in June. What has kept me so busy? Trying to help the kids do their online learning (and keep them from punching each other), sewing 300 masks, piecework sewing, trying to bake my way sane, knitting a few things when I had time, and then of course the warm weather brought with it the need for garden cleanup, pool opening, and OK, occasionally sitting by the pool with…
Kris Jenner Sweater
I said some time ago I was going to put a reversible Kris Jenner image onto a sweater, and I finally got around to doing that in December. Sort of. I used a different image, and a different method of knitting, but it’s still mama Kris. The finished Kris Jenner sweater! Of course, when we’re talking of clothing, there are issues to consider besides, “Can I make this image look good,” such as, “Will this fabric be as stiff as cardboard,” etc.. I didn’t really like the feel of that particular yarn/knitting combo for a sweater, it was kinda stiffer than I would personally want to wear. This lead me…
