J Miller

In my wife's stash we found a 51"x59" piece of very heavy denim. You know, the stuff jeans used to be made of. The dark blue cardboard stiff stuff you had to wash two or three times before you could bend your knees or squat in them.

Well, I decided to make some plain shopping bags out if it. Got three bags cut out then folded them and stitched them up the sides ... 2 layers = OK.

Then I over edged the exposed edges so it wouldn't fray = OK.

Then I marked the bottom for the triangular fold to make the flat bottom. Wasn't hard.

Then I folded the 1/2" seam over and stitched it top to bottom against the side of the bag so the flap wouldn't stick out. 3 layers = OK.

But when I got to the bottom where the flap is, my 500a about gave it up. It had fits getting over the folded flap made by the triangular part that was folded up and sewn to the sides. I thought the poor machine was gonna wrench it's guts out.

It was midnight last night ..... I wasn't thinking too well.

I then made the handles. 2 layers with straight stitches 1/4" in from each side, done on the 500, and a pattern down the middle with both sides over edged with the Kenmore. OK.
I used the Kenmore 158-17570 for that because I didn't want to change the tension settings on the 500a. I had to radically adjust them for the heavy thread I was using. As I was doing the patterns on the handles I kept thinking that a size 14 needle was too small, but didn't follow my instincts and change it.

Handles done I decided to run the same pattern down the sides of the bag. Oh boy .... then the fight started.

From the top down to the flap it was OK. The Kenmore didn't fight too much. But when the needle and foot hit that flap all hxxx broke loose. The denim was so thick it actually deflected the needle. I ended up having to finish the last two inches turning the hand wheel manually.

After that I did put a size 16 needle in and started in the thick area first. It deflected and I had to finish that piece with a flattened needle.

To finish the bag I over edged the top of the bag with the Kenmore and then stitched the handles on to the bag with the 500. For that I changed to a size 16 denim needle. Wasn't too bad. The last thing was to fold the top edge over an inch, stitch that, then fold the handles up against the inside of the bag and put a square of stitches in the overlapped area to make them good and sturdy. That wasn't too bad ..... until I found I had one of the handles twisted. NUTS! Now I have to undo a lot of stitching.
What a pain.

So, as I was screwing up using a too small needle I was learning things. One of them is use the biggest darn needle I can fit in my machine when doing heavy denim. ( I may try my Aldens Magic ZZ, the manual says I can use size 21 needles in it. I've never seen 15x1 needles in size 21, I wonder if my LSMG would have any? )

Another is I need a better presser foot when going over multiple layers of thick fabric. The standard ZZ foot Singer put with the machines of the 60-80s is pathetic. It's too short and the toes are two straight. They need to be more curved. I'll have to see if I have such a slant shank foot.

One more thing is I think I need an older machine with a BIG hand wheel for the torque and piercing ability. I have a couple that fit that description.

Oh, and this morning I counted the layers of denim. 7 layers. And in one place there is two folds that created a lump as well.

That's a lot of denim.

Now for lunch and to go tear the top of that bag apart to fix the stupid twisted handle. What a PAIN in the keester. And when I sew it back together I'm gonna use a size 18 needle.

Joe