The Sewing Place

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Current Projects / Re: Log cabin Star
« Last post by Silver Rose on Today at 17:17:05 »
Amazing.
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Current Projects / Re: Log cabin Star
« Last post by realale on Today at 16:55:01 »
That is so lovely!  :perfect10:
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Current Projects / Re: Log cabin Star
« Last post by Ouryve on Today at 16:14:08 »
Wow!  :loveit:
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Current Projects / Re: Log cabin Star
« Last post by Acorn on Today at 16:01:04 »
Beautiful!   :loveit:
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Current Projects / Log cabin Star
« Last post by Stitches on Today at 15:54:23 »
Just taken this off the frame its a Log Cabin Star 80 by 80  all free motion
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Vintage Machines / Re: Jones z-690 Foreign
« Last post by Bill on Today at 09:17:58 »

Hi Bill,

Thanks for this, i really appreciate your advice. Would I need to look for someone who specialises in vintage machines? Or should most sewing machine repair people/shops be able to work on this machine?

Thanks,
Emily

Hi Emily,

As others have said, I think any reasonably competent sewing machine repair shop would be fine. I've not personally heard of any specialist vintage repair shops but that's not to say they don't exist.
To the best of my limited knowledge, all sewing machines regardless of manufacturer or design follow the same basic mechanical process from power input to final stitch. It's the seriously tight engineering tolerances and extras stuffed into the end machine that complicate matters and most shops if they've been around a few years will have no doubt serviced and repaired hundreds if not thousands of machines over that time.
I hope you'll send us all some pics of the machine though. We all love a bit of sewing machine porn here  :laughing:
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Wow, that's really colourful, well done.
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Sewalongs and Competitions / Re: Weekly Sewing Club Wednesdays 2-4pm
« Last post by Elnnina on Yesterday at 23:26:00 »
Thanks for your advice Helen M, Ellabella and Ouryve, I have tried doing these sleeves both ways, and have even hand tacked a line to follow, this fabric seems to have a mind of its own.  The Avalon stabiliser on top i.e. on the right side seems to help stop the tunnelling but I have yet to soak them in water to remove this.  As I have said they are only thermal vests, so they will have to do.  Perhaps I was too ambitious in trying to coverstitch these as a first attempt - it is a steep learning curve though.

I am lucky in that I have another smaller overlocker, so I will leave the bigger/fancier one set up for coverstitch and come back to this again when further into my journey of discovering today's type of knits.  This machine luckily lives in my sewing cabinet - the pull out side unit, so it is out of the way and thus not likely to get knocked, but I will leave several post it notes stuck on it saying what I have done in the way of changing things.
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Sewalongs and Competitions / Re: Weekly Sewing Club Wednesdays 2-4pm
« Last post by SewRuthieSews on Yesterday at 23:23:31 »
I coverhem my sleeves flat, then insert the sleeve, then sew up the sleeve seam and overlock it. I then thread the ends back into the seam with a large hand sewing needle. If you like you can machine tack the seam down (as per RTW tees).
This changes the construction order but is much easier than fiddling inside the sleeve :-)
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Sewalongs and Competitions / Re: Weekly Sewing Club Wednesdays 2-4pm
« Last post by Ouryve on Yesterday at 21:11:39 »
My sleeves don't fit on the free arm on any of my machines (even Becky). When things do fit round it, they inevitably emerge wonky with pins missing. I've given up using them.


@Elnnina I wonder if a water erasable marker would help you keep your hem stitches where you want them, regardless of how distorted they are by stretching. The blue ones that you can get usually wash away completely, so long as you don't iron them.


Not having a coverstitch I would use a triple zigzag stitch for long sleeved vests. Possibly something to consider then try an easier stretch fabric for getting the hang of your coverstitch. Cotton jersey and interlock tend to be much better behaved.
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