SEWING

Projects
(scroll down to bototm to get DiVX codec)
Description DiVX Movie
Addition of 2 blue suede stripes to the bottom of my very loose light blue jeans. Download
[976k]
Enlargement of legs by 4 inches (circumference) adding black cotton knit cloth to inseam of dark grey courdouy pants. Download
[1288k]
Enlargement of legs by 4 inches (circumference) adding white cotton twill to inseam of blue jeans. Download
[2416k]
Very flowy skirt made of drab green gauze. Thin elastic band at waist. Download
[392k]


Tips and Discoveries
Sergers rule. Sergers can't do everything sewing machines can do, but once you get one, you will hate using the sewing machine. No more frayed ends on fabrics, no more trimming fabric after sewing an edge seam. Incredibly strong professional looking seams, that are trivial to undo with a seam ripper. I have a Singer Quantumlock 4. Its pretty easy to use, and the diffifult-threading hype is false. Yes, sergers are more complex to thread than a sewing machine, but they aren't rocket science -- few minutes of practice and you will be able to thread it as easily as a sewing machine. I love my serger.
Get basting glue! Pins are a pain to work with. The glue comes in a gluestick form, and is really easy to apply. It can be purchased at any fabrics/sewing store and only costs a few dollars. You apply it inside the cloth that is to be seamed, instead of using pins. It gets sticky enough to be able to handle after a few seconds. You can glue an entire strip of cloth and it holds way better than using pins placed every few inches. No more puckering, no more slipping cloth, no pins getting stucky on the presserfoot. The glue disovles out of most materials after a wash in the laundry. You can also just apply few drops of water and scrub it out pretty quick. Basting glue has definatly made seamwork significantly easier.
Ironing clothes before sewing makes them much easier to deal with. A nice steam ironing can help make more well defined edges on clothes that just refuse to stay put. Basting glue is easier to use on flat clothes.



To view the DivX movies above, you will need something capable of playing the DivX codec.
Windows Linux Mac OS X
You can just install the DivX codec from www.DivX.com and this will allow Windows Media Player to play DivX encoded movies. You can use avifile or XMPS w/ the XMPS plugin from www.DivX.com You can just install the DivX codec from www.DivX.com.