Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A step in the right direction.

Remember this little beauty I picked up on eBay many months ago? Well I actually know how to use it now, and I mean really use it.


It all started on Tuesday. It was a wet and windy winters day in Sydney, and I was feeling totally uninspired. I had been out on errands all morning, during which my car broke down and I had to wait an hour for the car-fixer-man to arrive (he was a total gem and had me back on the road within 10 minutes).

I came home at lunch time and decided that I would phone the sewing machine shop up the road from us and see if it would be possible for them to fix my tension on my overlocker (serger) machine. The nice lady said that they actually did lessons (for a very small fee) so I booked myself in for one at 4:30pm that afternoon.

The sewing machine mechanic actually gave me the lesson. He explained to me that he would teach me the 'medicine' of the machine so that I would be able to understand it. He was amazing! I now know what each of the four stitches on the finished fabric mean and which dial they relate to, how to fix up the problems, and I also found out that my overlocker has a differential setting. Which means that I can overlock knit fabrics so they are able to stretch, and also gather fabrics (for example if you overlocking looks wavy it means the fabric has stretched too much, and you would go over it again with the gather setting). Finally he showed me how I can change the stitch length.

Totally inspired I raced home and set the machine up, ready to give it a whirl and show off my newly found overlocking skills to Jamie. I forgot to lift the thread feed stand at the top and it totally choked on its own thread. Woops! The fabric did not even resemble overlock stitches, and was just a tangled mess. Within 30 seconds I had fixed all the dial tensions again and was sewing like a pro. I explained to Jamie that I had to make that mistake to prove just how awesome my new overlocking skills actually were... I don't think he believed me.

Sam xox

7 comments:

  1. Oh, doesn't it feel good to master something? I bet you'll use that beauty very often.

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  2. Good for you.1 I've sewn since I was 6 (back in the covered wagon days), and I still am learning little tips to improve my skills. And sometimes, the serger can be intimidating! You probably had the best lesson you could have, since it was given by the repairman. Cool!

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  3. Sometimes the time has to be just right before we can pull things together. The machine fix it guy was just the perfect person to give you a lesson. Now go serge away and make some great stuff.

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  4. Good for you!! I specifically choose to use my mums overlocker at her place so she can fix it for me when a thread breaks or my stuff 'gets eaten'. It’s a fair trade though, as I fix her sewing machine when she breaks that. Sewing machines play so much nicer than overlockers!

    Happy overlocking!

    xB

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  5. Awesome! I'm so glad your day turned out so productively. I've had my serger for 19 years and I L♥ve mine. Hope you put yours to good use!

    xo -E

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  6. Ah how exciting! I can't wait to see what you whip up with it!
    x
    Kim

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  7. That's great Sam. It's so neat to have an overlock when you're sewing clothes. You're a quick learner too. I don't even want to attempt to use one. Of ocurse I've been scared off by friends who say it's hard to learn how to use one.

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