our sewing forum

A quick request to anyone experienced with sergers. I took mine to be serviced recently. It was given to me a while ago and I have rarely used it. Luckily I can thread it up. I played around a little and then threaded it with matching thread. It chained for a bit and then jammed. I think I may not have put the initial threads from the larger reels through properly at the start of threading. Anyway, now the top and bottom loopers are catching on each other so the machine is unusable and nowhere does it tell me how to rectify this.

Typical. This happened at 5pm on a Saturday so no more sewing until Monday when I will ring the repair shop for help and maybe have to take it to be repaired.

Does anyone have any idea what to do or is it best to wait for an expert on Monday? Suggestions please.

I use a serger all the time. As you say that the loopers are catching on each other, I'm afraid I think you'll have to take it for an expert to look at. There are quite a few Facebook groups for the specific serger machines so it may be worth taking a look for yours. Even if there isn't, I suggest you join a serger group and describe your problem. They are all so friendly and helpful. Like all us sewers!

Thank you for your reply and advice @twinnytwin. I will do that.

This is a long shot I know , but I wondered if anyone had New Look K6340 pattern that they no longer needed and would like to sell ? Thank you

Oxfam have it for sale at www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/household/textiles/4-x-new-look-vintage-sewing-textiles-patterns-used-hd_200053399

Elegran I will swap your heads up on the Oxfam on-line shop - I had no idea it existed - for a heads up on the "Pattern Exchange Group" on Facebook. Just search on the name. You can sell on there but also request patterns.

This is what I love about groups like this!

Yes, whatever your question someone always knows the answer - or where to look for the answer.

I will have to find something soothing. I decided to sell my Embroidery machine (my new sewing machine is sewing/embroidery combined). I feel very nervous about selling but set to with a will, set the machine up and videoed it stitching out a butterfly … only to find you can't put videos on the FB market place adverts. It wasn't that good a video - I must learn how to do them but the butterfly was lovely.

On the subject of Oxfam online shop. A few years ago I bought a wonderful Irish herringbone tweed winter coat. It was as new and I paid £35. It fits as if it was made for me and I love it.

I am working on a toile for a dress I want to make. I have made a few alterations and, thanks to Craftyone and her dress form, I have brought 'Doris' out of storage to fit the toile on. I just wanted to ask everyone what their preferred method of neatening seams is? When I did more dressmaking (long ago) I just used to zig zag. Is there a better option?

Rubysong it depends on the fabric you are sewing. If it is light fabric you can turn over about 2.5 mm and stitch a small hem along your seam allowance.
You could consider doing French seams on light fabric or if it is heavier a flat fell seam.
Another option is to bind each seam with bias binding.
Zig zag is by far the quickest way and it can look quite tidy, but if you are making something like an unlined jacket then the bias binding looks very nice and professional.
Hope this helps.

@Magnolia62
With regard to threading an overlocker there are several good instructions on the internet which are easy to follow

Thank you Elegran and GG for your help .

Whilst waiting to be accepted onto the FB group which looks interesting , a very kind Gransnetter has kindly offered me hers A BIG thank you .

The Oxfam site is very interesting, I didn’t know it existed . Their delivery at the moment is very slow , for obvious reasons so I hedged my bets and waited.....

lovely butterfly. My sister has an embroidery machine and does the mostlovely amazing work. It is computer driven, she is very talented

ooh I am glad that someone else has resurrected their dressform. I was so pleased with the measurements on mine when I tried the skirt toile on it and on me. It really is worth doing the measurements on a list first, the circumference tapes and then the padding which also makes it easier for pinning. It is very very hard to see how things look on yourself without 2 long mirrors opposite each other

No real sewing yet, I am waiting for zips and new tailors chalk. The skirt was that easy that I will make 2 in different fabrics, both nice curtain materials. All I did today was turn up hems on my working trousers while waiting for the rain to stop. I have been meaning to do them for over a year

I tend to overlock seams before I sew the fabrics together or overlock and seam at the same time. I can do a narrow overlock which is fine eg on a top made in a thinnish fabric

My sister was telling me today about the bargain pack of sewing feet that she got from amazon, all sorts in the bundle, at roughly the price for my piping foot

oh WOW just put `sewing machine feet` in and there are large bundles at around 50p a foot. I paid £35 for my one foot. She says that the quality is surprisingly good, her husband says they look like coated aluminium

This is one with the smallest embroidery area craftyone and the butterfly is often used for demonstrations as it's simple and all one colour. When I got this one I had put my mother's birthday present to me towards it so when she visited (this is about five years ago) I stitched out the butterfly to show her a bit of what it can do. Bless her, she took it home, framed it and put it on the wall. I felt like a much loved small child again I was 65 and she was 94.

Ahhh, that is such a lovely heartwarming story

Anyone else had the email from Blueprint?

We are excited to announce that your access to your subscription services and individually purchased classes will continue. In addition to classes, your access to course materials and course patterns will also continue.

Our friends at TN Marketing have acquired certain assets of the Bluprint business, and the Bluprint and TN teams are working together to ensure a smooth transition. As part of this transition, TN Marketing has agreed to honor previous customer purchases for classes and subscriptions and will preserve your access to Bluprint content.

no I haven`t. I have lots of classes and I did e mail them to make them aware that I exist and I had a response

Please could someone direct me to a recommended/their favourite indie pattern site?

I'm looking for a straightforward "boxy" top pattern. Don't know where to start.

Thanks in anticipation.

craftyone

no I haven`t. I have lots of classes and I did e mail them to make them aware that I exist and I had a response

Well mine arrived in my inbox only yesterday. Perhaps your email address is later alphabetically than mine . Keep your eyes peeled.

I have Bathsheba. It sounds like good news. The email is repeated on the landing page of Blueprint. Mine only came in late last night craftyone but it might be worth checking your junk mail.

Do you think it would be an idea to set up another thread just listing pattern companies that have been mentioned on here? We could add to the list when a new one comes up and direct people to it from here. It's going to get more and more difficult to trawl through this thread and we may, eventually, move to a second one. I hope that makes sense. I would be happy to do it later today.

Fevertree can you post a picture of a made top that is like the one you want? It might be possible to find one like it.

Re Craftsy/Bluprint

NBCUniversal told members of Bluprint in May that it was planning to wind down the subscription VOD service centered on crafts and hobbies “over the next few months.”

Instead, the media company is selling the assets of Bluprint to TN Marketing, a Minneapolis-based online video subscription and streaming business. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Bluprint originally launched as Craftsy in 2011. The company was acquired by NBCU in 2017, which renamed it a year later as Bluprint and changed the model from selling a la carte videos to a subscription service with more than 3,000 hours of instructional videos at $15 per month.

When Bluprint CEO John Levisay, one of Cratfsy’s co-founders, notified members that the service was closing down, members grew concerned that they would lose access to classes they’ve already purchased. With the agreement, TN Marketing “has agreed to honor previous customer purchases for classes and subscriptions and will preserve your access to Bluprint content,” Levisay wrote in a message posted Wednesday on the website.

I don't think I would buy a subscription.

GGumteeth I was looking for an image to post in response to you and have stumbled on a treasure trove of patterns via Pinterest.

This is the sort of thing I'm looking for, but I think I'll be fine now. Thanks for offer of help.