Tiger Hat and Jacket

This is a picture of the completed fleece tiger hat with tassel trim and the matching jacket. The jacket has a blanket stitch trim.

Off The Cuff

Sometimes cuffs are part of the design in clothing. I do not care to see the unfinished seam so extra planning is required. In the picture you can see where the stitiching changed so the the seam finish does not show when the cuff is folded. The pictures are part of a tiger jacket I am making for a Red Egg and Ginger party.

Bernina Bits

Today I learned several things to make my Bernina run better and produce better stitches...

Finish a line of stitching with the lever arm all the way at the top.

Wind the wheel forward; that is the way it turns with the motor running. Never wind it back to walk a backstitch.

When removing a spool, cut the thread and pull foward to dethread the machine.

Pull the fabric to the back when completing a line of stitching.

Wind bobbins slowly to prevent stretching the bobbin thread. The end result could be faulty stitches.

Thread

The Bernina Sewing Guide for my 830 recommends a mercerised sewing thread (3ply) in a size 50 for use with fine and medium needles (70 or 80). I typically use Gutermann polyester sew all. So far I can not find definitive documentation that this thread is most compatible with my sewing machine. The Gutermann website does not provide weight specifications for the home sewing threads.

Needle Organizer

One of my goals is to become more organized so that I can develop speed sewing. I tried to design my own sewing machine needle organizer. Finally, I gave up when I found this specially designed tomato cushion. The tomato keeps track of needles by size, type, and use.

The general rule of thumb is to change the needle with each new project. Sometimes, several projects are in process at the same time and needles need to be changed for a short bits of time only.

Extra fabric needed to match plaids, stripes, or one-way design fabrics...

These famous words are found on almost any pattern. Yet, no pattern company is so bold as to suggest how to calculate how much extra yardage is needed.

small plaids---add approximately 1/4 yard
medium plaids---add approximately 1/2 yard
large plaids---add approximately 1 yard

Stripes require the same as plaids.

One way designs of a single motif requires as much as an additional garment length in yardage. Smaller motifs may just require the extra amount to be the distance between the motifs.