williamsews

  An unexpected purchase. I was shopping in Aldi and saw this big machine, I thought it was a Coverstitch machine, so I bought it – but it is just an overlocker, albeit a very good one. It’s a Stirling, which is Aldi’s brand. This overlocker seems to do quite a few things, I shall have to play with it for a while and figure it out. Take care, Will.

  This is a shirt for a friend, a medium size, 96cm. It is nice to have fabric that’s easy to sew, although I like a challenge from time to time. I often use the same pocket pattern because I like it but used a rounded pattern this time and they turned out OK. Glue has come into play on shirts these days, it’s Sewline glue and may be ironed if it’s between layers of fabric. It holds ends of seams and holds the thick parts of shirt-tails in place. This is the glue, it rolls out for use. I always used as few pins as possible, or none at all if I could get away with it but now I pin a lot, it’s helpful to pin the whole length of a pleat and the ends of cuffs before sewing. Makes the job easier. The new owner of this shirt is happy. That’s my lot today, Take care, Will.

Please visit my site at; William-sews.com My new sewing machine is heavy duty, big and powerful and I love it but it only has a thin plastic cover which attracts dust - so I made a new cover for it, I usually only sew clothes so this was going to be different. I had plain , medium-weight off-white fabric and plenty of other fabric for piping, I bought wadding because I couldn't find the stash I had somewhere (I found it today... too late).  The part I dislike when quilting is the 'sandwiching' but decided that it's just a small amount for this project and good practice.  I cut the pieces into a rectangle the right size for two sides, two outsides and one of wadding.  I used a polyester wadding which is a bit  creepy to handle; I don't like synthetics. The sandwich. I pinned it, ready to mark the pattern with a heat sensitive pen. I marked it in a diaper pattern.  And sewed it, two sides, the top is in one piece, a ver...

I have more tutorials and discussions about sewing on my website: william -sews.com  Please join me there. I've had a glue stick lying around for over a year and never considered using it but I had a fiddly bit of bias binding to add to the front placket of a shirt, it was a great help and I will use it again. It helped to keep the binding in place and the needle is fine; it doesn't clog up. I also tried it on the sleeve plackets, the first fold is barely 0.50cm and never presses well but the glue keeps it in place, same for the rest of the placket, it's great for the 'tower' part at the top. I used a  sewline  glue stick, it obviously  lasts because I bought it so long ago and it works well. I also have a reel of Wash Away Wonder Tape, I'll try that next - but it'll need  to be good to beat the glue. Those are my thoughts for the day... back to sewing. Regards, Will.