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Overlockers & Coverstitchers / Re: Babylock or Juki
« on: January 30, 2018, 19:15:15 PM »
Agree with bodgeit....just upgraded my Janome for the Babylock coverstitch....and no more skipped stitches hooray!
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I make FSL on my Janome and have never needed more than one layer of stabiliser. I use 'Floriani Wet n Gone' from Lords.
I use a slow speed and don't have many thread breaks. Some designs do use cotton thread but they are digitised for it.
Re: Number of layers, depends on the pattern. If it is quite dense then i would use 2 but with the heavy duty stuff i have found 1 is enough for most projects. Most of what i have done has been from Urban Threads.
Back to the device to help get over the ridge of a seam when doing buttonholes.Thats interesting Elnnina....I have written to Pfaff to find out if they sell something similar
I eventually received the necessary e-mail from Bernina regarding this, they had misheard my e-mail address – as simple as that.
So this nifty little gadget is called a Bernina Buttonhole Leveller very reasonably priced at £4.25.
However what was confusing me was the other gadget which looked a bit like a torturing device and is the gadget in question on the link that B15erk has put up and that is called Fabric Feeding Aid for Sewing Buttonholes and wait for this it costs £33.75.
So now armed with this information please do go and look for these on the internet, then at least you know what you are looking for to help you find something similar for your particular make of machine. I am sure that some people will find a way to overcome this ridge that is caused by the facing seam when sewing buttonholes, perhaps some cardboard strips or plastic in different thicknesses may work.
Marniesews has mentioned her humper jumper there is a flat one called a Jean-a-ma-jig but whether there is enough space for the swing of the needle is another matter, as some machines can have quite a large swing.
I'm not overly happy with my Pfaff Performance 5 either! it seems to do lots of things not terribly well, however i can get it to do a very nice satin stitch,(seriously narrowing the stitch) and can do buttonholes the very old fashioned way.
I also have a problem when threading the machine (the needle threader no longer works anyway - the little hook has broken). the thread guide just above the needle has a very sharp edge, and cuts the flipping thread as it goes through the needle eye!
It also had a bad moment as it decided to sew everything in reverse!- so £100 spent on repairs and i still don't like it that much!!
I too have the V3 and did quite a lot of FSL stuff for Christmas pressy' I use a heavy duty water soluble film and the extra large cones of Marathon Thread as i find it very expensive using the small Madeira bobbins as FSL does tend to use a lot of thread. I also use the gold tipped embroidery needles.Hi V3 owners
Have you tried reducing the speed rather than altering the tension?
i get the film and thread from BSK
http://www.bsk.co.uk/a060-heavy-duty-wash-away-backing--stabiliser-3mtrs-x-76cms-278-p.asp
Oh Pixie, I had exactly the same problem last year with my Pfaff Ambition. There was a long, long thread on TSF with so many people trying to help me with my woes. I just couldn't work out what was causing it to return before time. Sometimes it would do a perfect buttonhole but only 1/4 inch long! Mostly it would work ok on a sample piece of fabric but not on the jacket - it was a wool tweed. I don't know how many I did but I must have unpicked more than 20.
Initially I thought it might be the weight of the jacket dragging and I can drop my machine down into the cabinet so I tried on a completely flat bed with no encumbrances around - still didn't work.
I managed in the end by literally forcing it to continue in the direction it was supposed to be going until it reached the correct length (sometimes it would truncate on the first side, sometimes the second). I did this by wearing a pair of rubber gloves to get a good grip. On the first side, which is in reverse, I kept pressure on the fabric, pulling it towards me and watching the lever on the side that makes it change to the next step. I didn't let up the pressure until it had hit the tab (I presume that yours works the same way). I did the same on the second side, pushing the fabric away from me and not letting up until it had returned to where it was supposed to be - no way to do buttonholes I know but it did work, I still had to unpick one or two but got them done eventually. Three buttonholes and I was exhausted.
I love my Pfaff and wouldn't change it for anything but I do so wish there was a manual buttonhole option. I was talking to the dealer who had sold me the machine & he reckoned that I should have been able to do it manually. I had tried but when the machine is set for a zig zag stitch you don't have the option of changing the needle position.
It just happened that later last year I broke my Pfaff and while it was being repaired a friend lent me a 1970s Dutch machine and then let me keep it. Hooray, it has a 4 step buttonhole and I have just used it to do buttonholes on a narrow band of a sweatshirt cardigan as I knew the buttonhole foot (if you can call it that) on the Pfaff wouldn't play ball.
grrrrrrr - YET AGAIN a reply with links etc lost when submitted. Soooo frustrating, annoying, and time wasting.
Don't have the time (or the will) to find the links again and re-type it all as now I have to go and run a session.
Sorry for the rant Pixie - not your fault, it's the way the process works here. Hope someone comes along soon to explain what's happening with the long foot losing traction because it's not staying completely level and ways to either fix the issue or consider alternatives. It's not your machine - it's to do with the different thickness levels.
I've been learning a little about FSL as it's made me think I should consider getting an embroidery machine - I've discovered I have lots of potential applications for FSL. I found this video with lots of information on the basics including different stabilisers etc and she also recommends the type that Ohsewsimple mentions.
It's here if you're interested although you may want to fast forward through some sections.
The V 3 is a lovely machine and you shouldn't really need to mess around with the tension unless you're doing something with metallic thread. I would put the tension back to where it should be and then try the other stabiliser. Make sure you are using embroidery needles and embroidery thread. FSL on these machines will work with embroidery thread top and bottom as long as it's 50 or 40 weight. But I'm sure you know . I have used cotton before and that didn't work well as it's too thick and then I got breakage problems as the design was digitised for the finer thread. Of course, the design itself can sometimes be a problem if it's poorly digitised.
When I do FSL i use a water soluble like Vilene or Floriani. Some resemble a fine fabric and some look like a Vilene interfacing. These work better than the plastic film type. They aren't always good for this type of work and can tear. If you're using multiple layers then it's the wrong stabiliser for the job. It could be that the extra layers are putting tension on the thread. What thread are you using? Are you using embroidery needles?