Mike,

I've never gotten any hemmer to work. I've tried the narrow Singer ones, up to the big wide Greist ones and for some silly reason I just get get it.

Joe

It's not easy Joe: Practice *a lot* and avoid curves and corners.

"problem?" ...i ain't got no problem. :)) ..my blocks are acurate, my seams are accurate - nope ! got no problem when sewing over seams. recently bought an older pfaff - included in the how-to book that came w it 'to avoid puckering, reduce speed when sewing over pins' ... one of the nice parts about the fw ---it goes slow. lot easier to do a 3/4" long seam when going slow. no ...i don't pin those. only pin when i have a collection of them :))

If I sew over pins it's because I missed one and I usually end up with a broken needle .
Steel won't go through steel without problems.

roguequilter,

My wife has been trying to teach me how to pin seams. She puts the pins in with the head to the right so she doesn't run over them and so she can pull them out as she goes. Doing it this way requires me to sew very slow.

I like to put the pins in with the head to the left so I can pull them and put them in the dish that's sitting on my left. She gets mad at me. The thing is, if I miss pulling one there's less chance of me nailing it with the needle with the head to the left. Or so it seems.

When I do my quilts I don't pin the squares. However when I have a full strip of squares to add to the body of the quilt I do pin those. And that is a pain. Sew a bit, pull a pin, sew a bit, pull a pin; repeat till dizzy. However I do sew slow so I'm good that way.
But if she's not around and I pin them from the left I can hammer down on the machine and zip right along. Pull the pins when I'm done sewing ... :) So far the only pin I missed pulling found me ..... the hard way .... ouch :( .

Mike,
I'll start practicing when I can actually get one to work.


Joe

Joe, I'm like your wife in how she pins. However, I just bought the Nova Montgomery guides for my FW and with the guides you have to pin from the left. It's going to be a trick for me to do this since I've pinned from the right my whole life. But, I thought I'd give it a shot as the guides on her site were just too tempting not to try. Usually I'm happy with my 1/4 feet but I seem to have a problem with the tensioner getting in my line of sight on the FW and I just don't "see" as well on that machine. My 301 with their slant shank are much easier to play with :> I'm not a super tall person, but I've tried sewing with the FW up on a table and set down inside a card table and the tensioner gets in my way:< I'm hoping I'll like the seam guide better. I got it in the mail yesterday and played with it for a little while and it may do the trick if I can master pinning from the left!

Candace,

My wife and I discussed this after I made the post above. She was taught from the start to pin from the right. And she never used a fabric guide in her life.

Me on the other hand, I can't sew a straight seam without a guide. So as soon as I figured out what the fabric guide was and how to use it I've been using one of many I have. Several sizes, shapes and vintages but they keep my seams much straighter than I could do without them.

I think she'll let me pin from the left now :D

Joe

Joe, you have to pin from the left to accurately use the guide so it's teaching an old dog a new trick in my case. I've learned like your wife and never used fabric guides. I've never felt the need to use a guide as I sew very accurately with the correct foot. However, this Featherweight has made it necessary for me. It's either try to learn to use the Nova Montgomery guide or not use the machine. But, yes, if you use a guide pinning from the left is the way to go.

"When I do my quilts I don't pin the squares. However when I have a full strip of squares to add to the body of the quilt I do pin those. And that is a pain. Sew a bit, pull a pin, sew a bit, pull a pin; repeat till dizzy. However I do sew slow so I'm good that way.
But if she's not around and I pin them from the left I can hammer down on the machine and zip right along. Pull the pins when I'm done sewing ... So far the only pin I missed pulling found me ..... the hard way .... ouch .

"hammer down" that was fine when car racing... but when sewing, i don't mind slow. i enjoy intricate complicated piecing. no big deal w pins when going slow. but i agree w your wife about pin head to the right. on curves or something that needs special care i just hook the head of the pin w my thumb nail & pull out as i reach it w/o stopping. with my new to me janome i bought, this method of pin removal w/o having to stop works pretty slick. i pull the pins and the point drops down into the slot between tool box & machine deck. the pin head prevents the whole pin from going down in. when i am done, i scoot them along together and lift out, once again hooking them w my thumb nail.

roguequilter,

Pulling the pins as you sew without stopping is something like multi-tasking. If I tried that I'd either stick my self with the pin, or sew my finger in with the machine needle. Neither is something I'd like to do.
Seriously I don't have long enough finger nails to reliably snag a pin and pull it.

Also with my old machines there is no place for the pins to go except the pot pie tin I keep near the machine. If I did it your way there would be pins all over the place. That would be a sticky situation for sure.

Joe