Complaint About Me
10-20-2010, 06:11 AM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 1,804
Originally Posted by watterstide
Originally Posted by quilt addict
I have a 1/4" foot that helps but still weave off at the beginning and end. These are all great ideas.
there are alot of aids out there you can use to help keep the fabric straight. free ones,(like mole skin and post it notes) and ones you pay for..(ther is a magnetic guide,a screw in guide, a plactic one too) use what works for you.
i also painted the front ot the blade tip white when i first started..so i could see it easier..(i used white out..lol)
i watch the guide or the edge of the foot/fabric, never the needle.
10-20-2010, 07:09 AM
#32
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Posts: 196
I would like to add just a few suggestions to the advice given so far (all excellent suggestions!)
1. Before you cut, spray starch your fabrics. I like MaryEllen's Best Press, but you may use any spray starch you like, even if you make your own solution. Just use it.
Try to make your fabrics feel like the weight of construction paper, and then cut them. That's how stiff they should be. I know it sounds like a lot, but I learned that suggestion from Debra Wagner, who is an award winning quilter, and she is right. So much easier to cut the fabrics, and to stack them together and piece.
2. If you feel like you need to draw a seam line (probably not necessary, but if you need "training wheels" until you get the feel of things, ok), place your fabric on a sandpaper covered mat, cardboard, whatever, and then draw lightly with a fine mechanical pencil so as not to stretch the fabrics out of shape.
3. I have used this technique when teaching kids to sew, and some adults can benefit from it as well....
when you are getting ready to place your fabric pieces Right Sides Together (RST), put a tiny drop of elmers school glue (or applique glue...whatever you have) in the seam allowance.
When i say tiny, i mean tiny...like the size of a quilt pin head, or bead.
Do it in a few places along the seam allowance of the right side of one of the fabrics. Then put your next piece of fabric on top to make your little fabric sandwich that needs to be sewn RST. Heat set the glue by pressing the fabrics with your iron. This eliminates the need for any pins.
You can assembly line sew these pieces - just stand at your ironing mat for a bit and glue and heat set a whole bunch, then feed them into the machine and cut threads after they come out the other side of your needle - typical "chain piecing".
You should have accurate 1/4" seams, and the pieces should be exactly one on top of the other with edges aligned.
4. Lastly, it's my opinion...(i'm not a machine tech, so i could be wrong, but i swear this is the case) that some machines "kick" the fabrics out of alignment. It's as if the feed dogs are mis-aligned. I can sew on some of my students machines and i can't sew straight either, then sit down at my machine and i am fine. sometimes it is not the sewer but the machine. if all else fails, get yours checked out, and/or try sewing on some other machines to see if there is a difference.
Hope this helps. Love all the suggestions here!!
1. Before you cut, spray starch your fabrics. I like MaryEllen's Best Press, but you may use any spray starch you like, even if you make your own solution. Just use it.
Try to make your fabrics feel like the weight of construction paper, and then cut them. That's how stiff they should be. I know it sounds like a lot, but I learned that suggestion from Debra Wagner, who is an award winning quilter, and she is right. So much easier to cut the fabrics, and to stack them together and piece.
2. If you feel like you need to draw a seam line (probably not necessary, but if you need "training wheels" until you get the feel of things, ok), place your fabric on a sandpaper covered mat, cardboard, whatever, and then draw lightly with a fine mechanical pencil so as not to stretch the fabrics out of shape.
3. I have used this technique when teaching kids to sew, and some adults can benefit from it as well....
when you are getting ready to place your fabric pieces Right Sides Together (RST), put a tiny drop of elmers school glue (or applique glue...whatever you have) in the seam allowance.
When i say tiny, i mean tiny...like the size of a quilt pin head, or bead.
Do it in a few places along the seam allowance of the right side of one of the fabrics. Then put your next piece of fabric on top to make your little fabric sandwich that needs to be sewn RST. Heat set the glue by pressing the fabrics with your iron. This eliminates the need for any pins.
You can assembly line sew these pieces - just stand at your ironing mat for a bit and glue and heat set a whole bunch, then feed them into the machine and cut threads after they come out the other side of your needle - typical "chain piecing".
You should have accurate 1/4" seams, and the pieces should be exactly one on top of the other with edges aligned.
4. Lastly, it's my opinion...(i'm not a machine tech, so i could be wrong, but i swear this is the case) that some machines "kick" the fabrics out of alignment. It's as if the feed dogs are mis-aligned. I can sew on some of my students machines and i can't sew straight either, then sit down at my machine and i am fine. sometimes it is not the sewer but the machine. if all else fails, get yours checked out, and/or try sewing on some other machines to see if there is a difference.
Hope this helps. Love all the suggestions here!!
10-20-2010, 07:13 AM
#33
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Posts: 196
Oh, i forgot the last one...
5. use a stilletto - or whatever object you have to keep your fabrics feeding through the machine right until the end of the patch you are sewing...
I like to use a bamboo skewer from the kitchen supply store or supermarket most of the time. This helps to keep your fabrics sewing on that 1/4" seam line right until the last stitch, rather than getting a "bowed" appearance to the seam line. If you always have quilt tops which are "hourglass shaped" (fatter on the outside edges than in the middle) this technique should solve that problem, or at least help to manage it.
5. use a stilletto - or whatever object you have to keep your fabrics feeding through the machine right until the end of the patch you are sewing...
I like to use a bamboo skewer from the kitchen supply store or supermarket most of the time. This helps to keep your fabrics sewing on that 1/4" seam line right until the last stitch, rather than getting a "bowed" appearance to the seam line. If you always have quilt tops which are "hourglass shaped" (fatter on the outside edges than in the middle) this technique should solve that problem, or at least help to manage it.
10-20-2010, 08:20 AM
#35
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 291
winia
I had that problem also when I first started. Someone asked me if I was sitting directly in front of the needle, meaning sitting in my chair was I straight on with the needle? I was not, and since I pay attention now I hardly look, just butt the fabric up to the foot and it sews straight on.
Good Luck
Suzy
I had that problem also when I first started. Someone asked me if I was sitting directly in front of the needle, meaning sitting in my chair was I straight on with the needle? I was not, and since I pay attention now I hardly look, just butt the fabric up to the foot and it sews straight on.
Good Luck
Suzy
10-20-2010, 12:25 PM
#40
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Fort White, Fl
Posts: 2,689
Originally Posted by debbieumphress
JOin the party. Maybe better glasses? If you find the mark you want to sew on, I will put some blue painters tape down so it is straight, then another on top of it and maybe a third. It makes it thicker so you can pratically line the fabric up with the tape and feel the border. Might help you too.
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