Saying Goodbye & Plans to Measure Twice and Stitch Once

The Brother slogan reads: “At Your Side.” He really was.{sniff}

I knew it wouldn’t be forever. Like two young people having a summer camp fling, I knew that the LS-1217 and I would eventually have to go our separate ways. But in the process of that fling, I learned so much. (Is this analogy starting to get a little creepy, or is it just me?)

Anyway, I returned the borrowed sewing machine to my friend and co-worker yesterday, and bought her an Iced Soy Chai Latte (size Grande in case you’re interested) as a thank you, even though she insisted that, really, it only sits in its box unused until her mom comes to visit, but still…

As I think I’ve said before, I’m really glad I started on a basic machine without the bells and whistles. I think it made me appreciate the fundamentals a bit. I am still VERY much a beginner, so I don’t want to go too far with that point, but I think it did make me “work for it” a bit more.

So, goodbye Brother LS-1217. You taught me much, and served me well. And I know you would want me to be happy with the Singer Stylist, even if you might occasionally scoff at its new fangled, fancy ways.

Measure Twice & Stitch Once

I’ve been doing a lot of careful mental prep for getting started on sewing the suit, and a big part of that has involved things that are only just now occurring to me that I wish had occurred to me when I was designing the template. For example…

When I am stitching the costume, I will be sewing the reverse side, the side with no lines to follow. I will hand baste based on measurements, so I can follow that basting thread line on the reverse side but–as I am not using a serger–I gather that it is best not to actually sew on top of the basting thread. So I need to have a way to use the basting thread as a consistent stitching guide without sewing over it.

The idea, I believe, is to mark the costume for basting 3/8 of an inch inside the eventual seam line to be stitched, and then, once I have basted, I can line up the basting thread line with the 3/8 indicator line next to the machine’s presser foot to place the stitch on the actual seam line.

Anyway, that’s just one of the details I am trying to carefully consider before I jump in and mess something up in an irreversible way. But in the interest of keeping to my goal of brief posts, I will not go into other details. Instead…back to the Costume Quest!

Happy Weekend everybody!