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Hi sewing thread! So I, like many, did a little haphazard sewing when I was in high school (I did a few drawstring skirts, one with like 8 huge colorful gores but I only really knew how to do insane bulky rolled seams) and am looking to get into it again, mostly for alterations and wackiness. I don't think my mom even knows where that ancient Singer I used to use is, and if she did I'm sure it needs an extensive tuneup. I've been reading through the rest of the thread and have thrown all sorts of useful tips into Evernote. I've already registered for a beginner-but-not-introductory sewing class to freshen up my abilities (bow ties!) but I also have a sewing machine on my wishlist for christmas--it's this one. It seems to have good reviews but I wanted to run it by this thread. If this isn't a good idea, do you have any thoughts on a sub-$100 entry-level sewing machine with a zigzag that can do / repair stretchy fabrics? Not worth it at all at that price point and I should get my mom to dig out the Singer?
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Nov 13, 2013 22:07
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 06:04 |
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Stultus Maximus posted:Dig out the Singer. If it's really old (pre-1970) it will be better than anything new in your price range. The complication there is that my mother got me a knife set for Christmas last year (which I opened at her house) and promised to ship it and some other stuff to me in January and I still haven't seen any of it. If I were personally going home this holiday, I'd do it myself, but I'm spending Christmas with my fiance's family. It's also enormous and heavy and (I imagine) fragile, so it'll cost about as much as a new machine to ship. Edit: Okay, I think I'm going to just take that machine off my wishlist altogether and see if I can frame it to my mom as THIS year's Christmas gift. Any thoughts on shipping a potentially-ancient heavy-rear end sewing machine? Nicol Bolas fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Nov 13, 2013 |
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Nov 13, 2013 22:20
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Haymaker_Betty posted:If it's an old Singer you can probably drop it off a roof. I have a 40's Singer and that motherfucker is heavy and tough as nails. It's probably crazy-expensive to ship, though. Have you considered going on Craigslist and seeing if you can get people to rideshare it to you for some compensation? Just a thought. Unfortunately, I don't think anybody's gonna rideshare me the 10-hour drive one-way from my mom's house to mine. (We're 300 miles apart, which is how a new machine looks so appealing.) I think it's from the 60s or 70s--my mom made her wedding dress in '77 and I believe this is the machine she had and used.
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Nov 13, 2013 23:06
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Heard and done. Nix the new sewing machine, and will look for an old one! (Any guides out there about what to look for on an old one besides "old Singer from before the 70s and not obviously rusty / broken?) And I just google mapped it and I have no idea where 300 miles came from, it's actually almost 600.  But whatever, I'll pay for the shipping myself if it comes to that. I already know how to thread the drat thing.
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Nov 14, 2013 06:44
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Completely insane question: Is it possible to darn modern, spandex/lycra stockings? I have some 80ish denier H&M stockings and they have a rip. I love them because they are generally sturdy but there is a giant rip and my options are 1. wear it until they are unwearable 2. throw them away now and buy new ones or 3. try to mend them. Is 3 an option or am I crazy?
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Dec 21, 2013 05:02
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Eponine posted:They are H&M. Buy new ones. They're literally like $6. I know I can buy more of them. I'm not asking for directions to my local H&M here, thanks. I'd just prefer to try mending them if it's possible. If it doesn't work, I haven't lost much, as you point out. turing_test posted:It depends on where the rip is. Lycra puckers really badly if you try to stitch it back to itself, but if the rip is in a place that doesn't need to stitch too much, you can put another stretchy piece of fabric behind the rip and then zig zag across the opening. I usually use interfacing to fix my jeans and such, but you want to use something stretchy. I can rustle up some pictures if this explanation is confusing. Awesome--I think I get what you mean, and I'll give it a shot! Thank you! EDIT: Apparently I am getting my mother-in-law's sewing machine as a bonus xmas present! It has all the parts and everything!  A little bit of googling indicates this is a pretty study little machine from the late 60s that can do finer stuff all the way up through denim and coating. Apparently it had a bit of a tension issue on the bottom but the manual actually shows how to adjust that (and I know a sewing repair shop in my area back home if I can't fix it myself, and it probably needs a tuneup anyway) so I'm pretty psyched. Nicol Bolas fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Dec 23, 2013 |
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Dec 23, 2013 15:12
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Fagtastic posted:For motivation: myself and at least a handful of scientists I know would pay pretty small amounts of money for a well made garment. We are all poor as dirt. Please give us what we want for practically nothing in terms of money. I can tell you that a LOT of scientists will be jealous of such a coat, and will ask us where we got ours. We would tell them. So I'm not a pattern drafter or a professional seamstress by any stretch, but I am a graphic designer who does work on contract with clients who want to pay very little for my work, and I can tell you right now that these few lines of text are the reason why no one should take you up on this. The only reason I can imagine is if they want to have some kind of portfolio piece, if they want the pattern for themselves, or if they have way too much free time and don't mind taking a loss on making the coats you describe. Even if you forget the amount of time it takes to draft and create a pattern (which you shouldn't) and the materials taken by making a muslin and creating a pattern for even the most basic sizes (small, medium, large)--even if you discount those (MANY) hours of work and those (LOTS) of materials, you are basically offering--what, $50 per coat, tops, right? Probably closer to $20? Sorry, but you're not really going to find that kind of pricing in the USA or custom or well made. Those are mass-market cheap-crap made-in-china-for-pennies prices. $20 would probably not cover the cost of even very cheap fabric and findings. Because there's only a few of you interested in this coat at the moment, fabric and other materials would have to be bought retail prices, which leaves virtually nothing hours of work you are asking someone to do. And don't get me started on doing custom work for someone where they are allowed to weigh in on the quality and type of the materials and then don't want to cover the costs of those materials; I've done it, and no one should. Talented people should not have to work for free or at a loss, and that's what you're basically asking here. Please understand that your mission is admirable and the market is there, but unless you're willing to pay over $100 per coat, any person taking this project is going to be taking it on at a dramatic loss. There are ebay sellers out there who have those listings about "make a suit / dress / whatever to your measurements!" and I have a dress from them; the quality is fairly nice, but the dress cost about $100, and was made in China. That is probably your best bet; pitch this project to someone like that who is selling custom sport jackets or similar menswear and see what they quote you. But it's still not probably going to be cheap, because it's very custom, and you'd have to cover their drafting costs. Nicol Bolas fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 20:17
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So . . . . I just bought 3.5 yards of a gorgeous peach floral pattern silk/cotton blend, and a little over a yard of a gorgeous rust-red linen. I'm looking at a few patterns--this one out of the silk for a top and maybe these shorts or these shorts for the linen, but I'm not sure if I should make another pair of shorts for pajamas or casual wear or whatever (I imagine the silk is probably kinda sheer for a bottom to wear out), or if I should make a different top? Or hang onto it for lining something? I'm kind of a beginner still so the patterns I'm looking at are pretty simple so I'll come away with something wearable. Thoughts?
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Apr 8, 2014 03:52
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Hey Goldaline when are you going to open up an etsy shop so I can buy those diamond-pattern shorts? Because WOW I need those. Everything you've made is loving gorgeous but those SHORTS! I want that pattern on leggings and a top and EVERYTHING.
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Oct 20, 2014 20:29
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Soooo...how would y'all go about repairing a fur stole? It's real fur, it's lovely, but a few seams are coming apart and it has a small hole or two, about the size of a half dollar--I'm pretty sure I could hide it in a seam but I want advice on the best way to do it. The fur is thick and full and beautiful otherwise and I don't want to damage it. Thoughts?
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Mar 8, 2015 08:34
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Enough that I can afford to commission a complete swimsuit please! That fabric is AMAZING.
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Mar 8, 2016 01:58
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TINY PROUD SEWING THING: I am in my brothers wedding and I had to buy a David's Bridal dress but I did NOT have to get it hemmed professionally! I hemmed that poo poo myself and my hem looks better and less wavy than the original hem! gently caress yeah. Took about an hour and a half because I was being REALLY anal about getting it right. Now on to tweaking the fit of some cheap pants from Old Navy and figuring out what I want to make out of this herringbone linen I've had kicking around forever.
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Mar 21, 2016 01:08
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Vogue Patterns is apparently having an everything-is-$5.99 pattern sale! Annnnnnd maybe I just bought two long eveningwear patterns, one of which miiiiight end up being my wedding dress. The patterns are this awesome mermaid-looking number, and this boobalicious dress with fun ruffle business going on in the back. I figure I can try them out in some random cheapo fabric first to see which one I like better on (and if I can realistically make them myself) and then make the one I choose in some nice spendy fabric (or pay someone else to make it in a nice spendy fabric, if I get scared).
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Mar 25, 2016 21:50
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Making my own wedding dress: lunacy or complete lunacy? The pattern I fell in love with is the Vogue 8814, but I want to do it in silk / line in silk because wtf why would you put silk on the outside and not on the inside where it can be magical next to my skin? I also want to change the straps slightly so they are made of trim and not fabric, and don't crisscross in the back. Obviously I'm going to make a muslin first but is this a giant waste of time? I'm a VERY slow sewer but I've done silk before (just a bowtie and a little simple dress though, and I'm not satisfied with the finishing on the dress at ALL) and I can't tell if the imperfections will make me crazy or if I'll be crazy proud for doing it at all. Any thoughts on this? Nicol Bolas fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Aug 7, 2016 |
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Aug 7, 2016 21:15
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The silk I'm using is a silk / Lurex blend--its very shiny and gold and light. It's this stuff. And I was just gonna use a taupe crepe de chine to line. So I guess I should buy some cheap slippery polyester to make my muslin so I know what techniques to use? And by slow I mean I try to lay out everything verrrrry carefully and try to cut cut verrrrry carefully but I'm still kind of a mess because I'm just cutting on my carpet and I suck at pressing stuff, so my cuts look like a serial killer did them. I was planning on doing the tissue paper sandwich trick to help but that might not be enough. There's a sewing studio near my house though, I may go to them and shell out the hourly rate for personal guidance and their tools (huge tables, circular cutters, etc). That seems like a good way to make my mock-up and see if I even want to try. Wedding is in spring so I have time if I decide to throw up my hands and say gently caress it. Is that less madness?
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Aug 8, 2016 17:53
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legendof posted:I would definitely invest in a large cutting mat and rotary cutter. Don't have the space for the cutting mat, which is why I plan to use the sewing studio's space (and mats, and tables) instead.
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Aug 8, 2016 18:46
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I really appreciated doing a bow tie as my first refresher project. It is tiny and annoying in parts and has curves and interfacing and right side / wrong side confusion and you can make it in weird and fiddly fabrics and, most important, if you gently caress it up completely you've only wasted, like, half a yard of material at the very most. I highly recommend giving one a shot if you're looking for something to start on and don't want to start with dumb bits.
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Dec 7, 2016 05:08
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Kind of on the denim repair topic: I am a thick-thighed individual, and some of my favorite pairs of jeans are getting thin / worn / not all the way to rips or holes (but working on it, clearly gonna get there in a few months) in the inner thigh. I can just install a small patch inside and maybe zigzag over the weak points themselves, right? When I've done this in the past the patches are kind of huge & ugly & I can feel them when I walk. Can I do it with another, lighter fabric so it doesn't feel so bulky? I worry about using something like a plain cotton since my jeans do have stretch.
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Mar 9, 2017 18:22
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 06:04 |
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Amusingly enough, I bike to work, so it's good to hear it's not just my thunder ruining pants. I love stretch denim and as a plus size person I don't think I have ever found denim in my size that isn't stretch. But I'm also not spending over $100 a pair so it's not as if it's a major investment piece getting ruined, so I guess I can live with wearing them out til they get a hole & replacing them when they do.
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Mar 10, 2017 20:37
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