Stitching Witchcraft & DIY Spidey Shirt, Take 2

The first test stitch on my new machine. This was the “out of the box” straight stitch setting.  And yes, the curve was on purpose. This thing handles very well!

And–if those more experienced with sewing machines will allow this newbie some moments of amazement–check this out…

So, I did some playing around with the stitches. Tried a pre-set, special zigzag:

Fun! Like a heart monitor.

Then I played with adjusting the width and length of a standard zigzag:

Nice.

And then I just had to try one of the decorative stitches.

It’s witchcraft!!

Now, I knew the machine could do stuff like this, in theory. I saw the little diagrams on the stitching guide. But actually watching it do it, having the machine basically take the fabric out of my “guiding” hand to start jauntily stitching in complex patterns… Well, let me just say, this was quite a leap from the basic borrowed machine.

We’ll get back to that old girl in an upcoming post…{sniff}

Getting Down to Business

I actually didn’t get the new machine out of the box until after noon on Friday, as I had decided I was first going to cut out every piece of fabric for my second attempt at the black and red Spidey shirt, just to have my least favorite part of the process done.

This time, I used fabric chalk to trace the shapes onto the fabric and then cut them out with my fabric shears. Overall, I think I liked this better, especially for the large pieces. But that method had its frustrations too.

Once I had gotten my feet wet with the new machine’s basic configuration, I attached the walking presser foot and inserted a stretch needle. (As an aside, let me say that the machine did a pretty darn good job sewing the spandex even without these attachments, but I think every advantage helps, especially when you get to the larger, longer pieces that want to get away from you and pull your seams crooked.)

Having determined to start hand basting, I tried some out on scrap fabric first:

To be honest, I felt not good about it at first, and looked to see if the machine could do a basting stitch. It doesn’t seem to have a setting for that, and even the loosest straight stitch setting did not seem very likely to pull out (which is pretty impressive in its own way, actually).

So I stuck to the hand basting. And now, yeah, I get it. I don’t think I’m good at it yet, but it is worth the effort so far. Thanks again for nudging me in that direction MachineGunMama, and for the video that happened to show that process in action SaiTurtlesNinjaNX!

Anyway, I dug into doing the shirt again, and had some success and some continued frustration. I am getting closer to understanding the 90 degree corners (also in the the video shared by SaiTurtlesNinjaNX), but I got maybe one good corner out of 6! And sewing on extreme curves is something I’m working on. But I have gotten front and back and sleeves done as complete components, have the shoulders sewn together, and hope to get the sleeves attaches, and sleeves and sides closed up this morning and/or tonight (have to work today).

 

Despite appearances, this is more than a random pile of fabric. Mostly.

I think it will probably turn out mostly wearable, but I think perfecting the DIY shirt should probably be put on hold in favor of working on the mask, gloves, and boots as more specific practice for assembling and sewing the pro printed costume. Even still, this shirt is good practice in general, and I am learning a ton!

And now I will see what I can finish on this shirt before I inevitably have to go to work.

Up Next: Something vaguely resembling a Spidey shirt, maybe? And moving on to other practice tasks (but not until after my girlfriend and I are back from her birthday trip)

Christmas in July!

It’s been a long time since I got really excited about Christmas. For myself, I mean. Now, I get excited, but the excitement is for the sake of my daughter and my nieces and nephews.

I would like to say that my lack of excitement about Christmas for myself came about because I got older and more mature, and so on. But really, it started happening around the time I started wanting gifts that my loved ones can’t afford. This would be when my mom started buying me psuedo-gag gifts for Christmas, like Spider-Man Potato Head (I have two now, one from a Christmas and one from a birthday), or a Spider-Man poncho (which is probably child-sized, now that I think of it).

If you ask me, the web attachment should go on top of the wrist. Not that I’m being geekishly picky or anything… Source: http://www.coolest-toys.com

Anyway, my point is, I don’t lose sleep wondering what I’ll be unwrapping on Christmas anymore.

But that sort of excitement isn’t completely gone from my life! It’s just that it’s usually self-inflicted excitement. (That didn’t come out the way I meant for it to…)

Case in point: I just ordered the new sewing machine! Free two day shipping–one of the great inventions of the modern world (thank you Amazon)–will bring it into my loving arms by Thursday, along with a walking presser foot and an invisible zipper foot!

Ooohhh… Aaahhh…. Source: http://aromavita.net

The Singer 7258 Stylist. Check it out on Amazon if you’re curious.

I’ve also got some more fabric on the way, and an invisible zipper for practice. My plan is to practice with the new machine by taking another stab at the red and black fabric Spidey shirt, making the new mask pattern, and installing one or more invisible zippers in the first (disposable) red and black Spidey shirt attempt.

I plan to try basting this time around, as per my previous post, and will even try some hand basting at the suggestion of my blogging pal MachineGunMama, who reminded me that basting–as with so many things in life–is temporary (I may have paraphrased and added a smidge of melodrama there).

By then, I think I will be feeling comfortable digging in to the professionally printed project. I am super excited and eager to get started on that, and I think it is because I am so excited that I am being so careful and methodical.

There will be some other things going on too, which will be good. I do have a mild tendency toward obsessing over projects, so much credit goes to my daughter and my GF for pulling me out of my own little world of projects.

This coming weekend is my GF’s birthday, so we are going to a little town on the coast just a few hours away to stay overnight and take in the quaint main street shops, maybe do some canoeing, walking on the beach, and have some seafood. (I never knew I liked seafood until I ate seafood on the actual coast of the actual ocean; makes a big difference, as it turns out.)

 

Pictured: not where we are going. Source: http://www.visitnc.com

The weekend after that, my daughter and I are going to spend time with my sister and her family. My daughter always has a good time with her four cousins. They have a big yard where my handy brother-in-law has built a zip-line and a tree fort, and we usually cook hot dogs by the fire and do other things that we never do here, so it is a fun time for us all.

Smoky Mountains, the beautiful barrier I keep between me and my family.

So, those little mini-vacations will be a good breather before I dive too deeply back into my quest. And I’ll try not to spend the entire time talking to my GF and family about the new sewing machine’s 100 different pre-programmed stitches and large variety of presser feet.

Up Next: Making a List (of sewing needs) and Checking it Twice (at least)

A Small Experiment & a Brief Back to Basics Topic: Basting

I’ll start today by sharing a small experiment that might or might not come to anything.

The Experiment

At this stage in my Costume Quest, I am in the midst of two costumes. I thought that I had put my DIY Spidey costume pretty well on hold, but I keep thinking of ways to approach the issues involved in making it. Plus, it still serves a purpose as practice, in addition to its stated goal as an experiment in how practical it is or is not to make a DIY Spider-Man costume.

Yesterday, down to scraps of fabric that are too small to comprise any one piece of the costume, I decided to play around with what has turned out to be a real tricky aspect of the costume: the webbing patterns.

How to get the webs on a Spider-Man costume is a whole topic in itself, and a number of  methods have been used, from what I can see in the cosplay photos. But ever since the Raimi Spider-Man films, a popular approach has been what’s often called “raised webbing.” I’ve stated before that I’m not a huge fan of the raised webbing look. But it also seems really complicated to do it. So, would this be a case of me working really hard to achieve a look I don’t love? We’ll come back to that in a second.

Now, ideally, if you wanted to use clues from the early comics (and I am doing the early look for the DIY costume), the pattern on the costume is silkscreened (Spidey himself says so). But that method has proven to be an…interesting process to try with my at-home, DIY facilities. So I have been considering other options.

Now, let me preface this image with the admission that this approach would be (A) time-consuming (B) prone to “one screw up ruins the whole thing” issues and (C) rife with issues regarding stretch and durability, but it was a fun experiment:

 

I did red on black mainly because I didn’t want to switch out the bobbin and the spool in the machine. But the idea comes across. It’s a mite messy, but considering that this was a quick, off the cuff experiment and this borrowed machine is somewhat limiting in just what stitches it will put into spandex (a tighter stitch than this tangled immediately), it was better than I thought.

Is it practical? I mean, assuming I could use some kind of embroidery-style stitch that was nonetheless able to withstand %10 stretch, and assuming I could successfully and neatly stitch all the lines into the material for the masks, gloves, boots, and shirt before sewing that material together… Ermm…probably not practical.

But it did get me thinking more about the advantages of–well, not raised webbing, but the webbing as a separate material affixed rather than being printed on. I’m sure this is a standard method of cosplayers out there, and I will do some digging. But for the sake of brevity–and because I haven’t looked into and have nothing to say about it at this point–I’ll save that topic for a separate post.

Back to Basics Brief Topic (Part 3 if you’re counting): Basting:

If you’re a sewist, you’ve likely thought of and/or encountered more than your share of the jokes regarding the sewing term “basting.” If you’re not a sewist–or are just getting started–you may not have encountered said jokes.

If you are not a sewist, and in addition are terribly unfamiliar with cooking terms, you might be wondering what sort of jokes these might be.

Regardless, let’s clear it up for anyone who doesn’t know: In sewing, basting (which I  just learned from Wikipedia can also be called “tacking”) basically refers to a method of temporarily holding pieces of fabric together, useful if you aren’t sure how the pieces are supposed to fit together, or if you want to be able to test and adjust fit before placing the final stitches.

Basting can be done using pins to pin the fabric together (this type of basting is pretty much a necessity), or by using easily removable–i.e. straight–stitches applied by hand or machine.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_(sewing)

I’ve made references to the fact that my current borrowed machine, as much as it has served me very well these past weeks, is not worth much for stitch-basting when it comes to spandex. There is a narrow range of stitches it will put into the material. Too tight a zigzag will clog up the works immediately. But too loose/straight a stitch, and it will just refuse to even put in a single stitch.

I might have been able to resolve the basting issue by using a walking or rolling presser foot, but I didn’t really want to purchase attachments for a borrowed machine that might or might not fit the new machine I would eventually purchase.

And it might not even work. This is a perfectly serviceable but quite simple machine, great for standard sewing projects, but probably not ideally suited for the specialty world of stretch fabrics. (I gather than a serger would be the way to go for exclusively sewing stretch fabrics, but my GF and I want to be able to sew more than just superhero costumes. Well, I’d be fine with just costumes, but she has grander notions. :] )

Anyway, stitch-basting is a practice that I want to incorporate once I have a capable setup. There have been many times even in my brief sewing “career” when I believe I could have recovered from a major screw up by having basted ahead of the final stitching. And when it comes time to sew the professionally screen printed fabric–well, as I have said, I cannot afford to screw that up.

With that in mind, I will be ordering a compatible crawling presser foot to my order for the sewing machine (I will also order a Singer brand invisible zipper foot. The machine comes with 10 presser feet, and somehow those two types are not among them!) I will also be adding stitch-basting to my list of practice tasks to perform with the new machine ahead of starting in on the professionally printed fabric.

I am learning–albeit slowly–that the devil is, indeed, in the details in the world of sewing. So here’s hoping the right equipment and good basic habits can go a long way toward an exorcism of the issues I have encountered in my beginning weeks as a sewist.

Up Next: Payday!

 

Back to Basics Topic 1: Cutting and Marking Fabric pieces from patterns

Disclaimer: These Posts are barely educational

Just so we’re clear, these Back to Basics posts are not intended as–nor should they be used as–tutorials for any level of sewing education. At best, for very beginning sewing type folks who have already experienced some frustration, these posts might contain some moments of “Ah, so that’s what I was doing wrong. I should find a real tutorial and learn more about that.”

For some real tutorials, check out the “Blogroll” section in the left column of my blog. (Ignore the link to my Deviant Art page. You will find absolutely zero sewing knowledge there. And not much that could be called “art” for that matter…)

So…What’s the point of these posts then?

Good question. As with much of my blog, these posts are a bit self-serving. By planning to write about sewing basics, I motivate myself to research sewing basics.

But as I said above, it would be great if beginning seamstresses and–what do you call men who sew? Seamers? Tailors? Sew-men? It’s not sewers, ’cause that’s spelled the same as the word for underground systems that carry away human waste… Let me look this up…

[pause for Googling…]

Ah. So, this post at sewaholic.net covers the topic of alternate sewing practitioner terms fairly well. I’m going to go with the gender neutral “sewist.”

So, where was I? Oh yes, it would be great if this kind of post has one or both of two results:

1) Beginning sewists find some “ah-ha” moments that lead them down the right path for further research.
2) More experienced sewists chime in with tips and tricks regarding the topics.

Do you realize you’ve typed several paragraphs of “preface” and have not really said anything about the topic yet?

You make an excellent point. I should move on.

The Topic at Hand: Cutting and Marking Fabric Pieces from Patterns:

What the–?

As with many activities, it is so tempting to dismiss the importance of the “prep work.” But it is also true that the very “prep work” that is so easily dismissed is hugely important and foundational to the success of the “real work!”

It’s not that I am unaware of the importance of cutting and marking fabric pieces. Believe me, I have run face first into how important it is several times already in the course of my brief but intense sewing adventures these past couple of months.

No, the problem is a little more complicated. Part of it is that I have only a little experience with pre-made patterns. The first and perhaps only “real” pattern that I have worked with is the wonderful leggings pattern/tutorial from Deby at So Sew Easy. It was easy to follow, and easy to achieve success.

But it is a DIY pattern. Nothing wrong with that. I’m just saying that I have yet to use a store-bought, standard pattern. After the leggings pattern, I made my own patterns for most of the other costume components, or followed/modified existing DIY patterns again, as with the gloves.

This gets at a key aspect of my sewing education so far: I lack the foundations, the very basic methods and practices that experienced sewists use regularly and take for granted. And I believe that, as a result, I make myself work harder and experience more frustration than is strictly necessary.

Making your own patterns is great, and I won’t stop doing so. Especially for costume making. It’s kind of a necessity. But I think there is a lot I could learn by doing some sewing from pre-made patterns.

Here are some thoughts and examples, some drawn from the book “Sewing for Dummies” and just some general observations and lessons from things I have been doing that kind of suck and make things hard.

Again, these will seem very basic to experienced sewists:

1) Notches and darts and other “match point” marks: These serve as matching points to join one pattern piece to another.

2) Transfer marks and match points to the fabric itself.

3) Use the right kind of paper! Even if you are using a DIY pattern, there is much benefit in using a light-weight, translucent paper similar to what is used for store-bought patterns.

I tried to go the economic route and bought a large roll of cheap art paper. It’s great for drawing and painting, but terrible for pattern making. Not only is it heavy and opaque, it takes forever to flatten out, so I have to fight with it rolling while trying to use it to cut the fabric!

4) If you need two (or more) fabric pieces to match, DO layer the fabric when cutting to make it happen.

Similarly, if you need a single piece to be symmetrical, DO use folding to make it happen.

Cutting around the pattern multiple times can produce just enough variation in the outline to screw things up when you sew. Plus, why would you want to cut more than necessary anyway? (I have, more than once, and I don’t know why I do it either. But then, I don’t know why I do a lot of the things I do.)

5) Pin the pattern carefully and securely onto the fabric! Again, don’t rush these important prep details.

6) Try both shears and rotary cutters. I have been using mostly a rotary cutter, but I think I am going to try using shears to cut my pieces and see if I like that better. I have a tendency to miss spots when I use the rotary cutter, and then end up slicing up the edges of the fabric trying to re-cut those spots.

7) Use a solid cutting surface that is not too low (i.e. not the floor).

I started out using the floor, but that is hard on the knees and back, and I think you just can’t get the accuracy you need.

I have moved up to using our futon, laid out in “bed mode,” but it is still too low, and too soft, even with a cutting board.

I am considering building  a cheap sewing table out of a piece of lumber and cinder blocks or something… I’m going to get advice from my manlier, handier brother-in-law on that one. (If he lived closer, I would try to con him into building it for me.)

All right. I think that’s about it for now. Again, if anyone wants to chime in regarding this topic, feel free! I don’t want my advice and thoughts to mislead any beginners, plus I am totally open to advice from others!

Up Next: Topic 2: More about effective sewing work space, and maybe some thoughts on effective management of tools and accessories (like that darn pin cushion that is always somewhere besides where I can reach it).