First project on my new sewing machine: resizing a T-shirt
For years, I have been doing hand sewn alterations. It started as a way to expand my choices in wardrobe, as my size disappeared from the stores ("Petites, get sewing"). On this blog, I have shared projects (large pencil skirt to A-line skirt, fitting of one size summer dress), and more recently, the ambitious one of turning oversize capri pants into a pencil skirt. That project took weeks to complete, with hours of hand sewing involved. Why did I not get a sewing machine sooner?
I don't have a rational answer to that. I think I was concerned about having to learn how to use the sewing machine. Somehow, I thought it would be harder and take longer than earning my Ph.D. in Astrophysics did, and I thought I would wait until I am retired to get one. Meanwhile spending hours hand sewing projects that could be done in an afternoon instead of days with a sewing machine.
But I finally took the plunge and got myself a basic, 17 stitch Brother sewing machine. Below I talk about my first project with it and the learning process.
There was a DVD that came with the machine that showed the basics of setting it up, threading it, and stitching. I learn by doing so I picked a simple project that would not leave me hurting (emotionally and financially) if I failed. I grabbed one of the many free, oversized T-shirts I own and resized it.
To complete the project, there was a matter of learning how to use the machine and how to do the stitching, but also how to construct the altered shirt. I watched a few videos, and the one below is the simplest, most suited to my needs. I pretty much followed the instructions as they were given, with a few refinements.
In my case, there was quite a size difference between the two T-shirts, and also I wanted to switch from a simple T format to a fitted shirt. The sleeves had to be adapted further. Note in the picture of the two shirts, that the cap sleeves of the fitted shirt have an entirely different slope to them. They have a lot more curvature. To reproduce that curvature, I had to redraw the cap of the original sleeves and that led to a seam at the shoulders.
In terms of special techniques, I learned in other tutorials about the importance of doing a zig-zag stitch next to the straight seam stitching, to prevent the fabric from fraying.
Hemming knitted fabrics also presents a special challenge. I found a number of tutorials that involved the use of special tape, but I did not want to go to the store (that would have entitled digging my car out following a snow storm the previous day). I ended up using the simple method of cutting a piece of cardboard to the width of the hem, folding the T-shirt bottom over that and pressing it. The key is to then attach the two sides securely before feeding through the sewing machine. I used the old fashioned method of basting the hem (do a quick stitch by hand using contrasting yarn). The hem is then secured using a parallel stitch and the temporary stitching removed. My machine came with a twin needle accessory.
The result of a few hours of labor are shown above. My first stitches went amazingly well, which gave me confidence. So I relaxed and started making careless mistakes, and that's when the real learning began.
First impression on threading the machine
There are two spools to install, an upper thread and a lower thread. A sewing machine, unlike hand stitching, uses two threads. Threading is what looked to me like rocket science at first. I thought there was no way that I would 1) be able to do that even following the instructions step by step and 2) ever remember how to do that subsequently. But it turned out not to be that bad. There are little diagrams on the machine itself that help jog the memory, and for now, I am keeping the instruction booklet handy.
Beginner's mistakes
1) Forgetting to lower the presser foot. The fabric will not feed through the machine. You end up making a few stitches in place, jamming the machine. Remedy: pull out the work as gently as possible, cut away all the bundled thread, start over. At one point, I let it go so far that I had to take the work area of the machine apart to pull out the bunched up fabric and thread (no fun).
2) Not holding the two threads for the first stitches. Worst case scenario, the needle unthreads. You have to stop, rethread, restart.
3) Turning the knob on the side of the machine the wrong way (away from me instead of toward me). I probably spent 2 hours on that mistake. I was trying to thread the lower bobbin, and that is entirely not happening if you are turning that knob the wrong way. You end up needlessly unspooling the top bobbin. Related to number 2 above, if you turn the knob the wrong way to lower the needle into the fabric before starting the machine, you end up with a mess, as the threads do not get secured into the fabric for the first stitch.
4) At some point, my top thread became undone (it was not going through the tension wheel correctly). I was getting work that was scrunched up. I could fix it by pulling on the fabric as I went (my strong thread tolerated that), but it was better once I read online that it was likely a threading issue. So I rethreaded the top thread and it fixed that issue.
5) On my T-shirt project at the hem, I wish I had given it a larger seam allowance. The hem was too narrow and challenging to work with. I went with 1 cm, I should have done 1.5 cm.
I don't have a rational answer to that. I think I was concerned about having to learn how to use the sewing machine. Somehow, I thought it would be harder and take longer than earning my Ph.D. in Astrophysics did, and I thought I would wait until I am retired to get one. Meanwhile spending hours hand sewing projects that could be done in an afternoon instead of days with a sewing machine.
But I finally took the plunge and got myself a basic, 17 stitch Brother sewing machine. Below I talk about my first project with it and the learning process.
 |
| Pink, a fitted T-shirt that fits me. Yellow, a T-shirt that fits someone else |
To complete the project, there was a matter of learning how to use the machine and how to do the stitching, but also how to construct the altered shirt. I watched a few videos, and the one below is the simplest, most suited to my needs. I pretty much followed the instructions as they were given, with a few refinements.
In my case, there was quite a size difference between the two T-shirts, and also I wanted to switch from a simple T format to a fitted shirt. The sleeves had to be adapted further. Note in the picture of the two shirts, that the cap sleeves of the fitted shirt have an entirely different slope to them. They have a lot more curvature. To reproduce that curvature, I had to redraw the cap of the original sleeves and that led to a seam at the shoulders.
In terms of special techniques, I learned in other tutorials about the importance of doing a zig-zag stitch next to the straight seam stitching, to prevent the fabric from fraying.
Hemming knitted fabrics also presents a special challenge. I found a number of tutorials that involved the use of special tape, but I did not want to go to the store (that would have entitled digging my car out following a snow storm the previous day). I ended up using the simple method of cutting a piece of cardboard to the width of the hem, folding the T-shirt bottom over that and pressing it. The key is to then attach the two sides securely before feeding through the sewing machine. I used the old fashioned method of basting the hem (do a quick stitch by hand using contrasting yarn). The hem is then secured using a parallel stitch and the temporary stitching removed. My machine came with a twin needle accessory.
 |
| The yellow shirt resized. I hemmed it shorter, the pink shirt is a little long on me. |
The result of a few hours of labor are shown above. My first stitches went amazingly well, which gave me confidence. So I relaxed and started making careless mistakes, and that's when the real learning began.
First impression on threading the machine
There are two spools to install, an upper thread and a lower thread. A sewing machine, unlike hand stitching, uses two threads. Threading is what looked to me like rocket science at first. I thought there was no way that I would 1) be able to do that even following the instructions step by step and 2) ever remember how to do that subsequently. But it turned out not to be that bad. There are little diagrams on the machine itself that help jog the memory, and for now, I am keeping the instruction booklet handy.
Beginner's mistakes
1) Forgetting to lower the presser foot. The fabric will not feed through the machine. You end up making a few stitches in place, jamming the machine. Remedy: pull out the work as gently as possible, cut away all the bundled thread, start over. At one point, I let it go so far that I had to take the work area of the machine apart to pull out the bunched up fabric and thread (no fun).
2) Not holding the two threads for the first stitches. Worst case scenario, the needle unthreads. You have to stop, rethread, restart.
3) Turning the knob on the side of the machine the wrong way (away from me instead of toward me). I probably spent 2 hours on that mistake. I was trying to thread the lower bobbin, and that is entirely not happening if you are turning that knob the wrong way. You end up needlessly unspooling the top bobbin. Related to number 2 above, if you turn the knob the wrong way to lower the needle into the fabric before starting the machine, you end up with a mess, as the threads do not get secured into the fabric for the first stitch.
4) At some point, my top thread became undone (it was not going through the tension wheel correctly). I was getting work that was scrunched up. I could fix it by pulling on the fabric as I went (my strong thread tolerated that), but it was better once I read online that it was likely a threading issue. So I rethreaded the top thread and it fixed that issue.
5) On my T-shirt project at the hem, I wish I had given it a larger seam allowance. The hem was too narrow and challenging to work with. I went with 1 cm, I should have done 1.5 cm.
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