[Nfb-krafters-korner] Friday's questions

[Becky Frankeberger]

Joyce, I am sewing on yarn type knits.  I have quite a learning curve.  But
hey this gal is up for a challenge, smile.

So how do you gals sew together your sweaters, knitted baby clothes etc.  It
just seems to me sewing on a machine would be less labor intensive,
therefore saving my customers money.  

Becky and guide dog Jake 
-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Blindhands at aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 1:25 PM
To: nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Friday's questions

I think this is a great question and I hope you don't mind that I copied it

for the Friday's Question.
 
B.Butterfly wrote:
I am looking for an easier to use sewing machine that does knits.   Any
suggestions of models are appreciated.
 
Also, what kinds of things do you do to make the machine more accessible
for
your needs, and ease of sewing?

Please explain one thing here for me, are you referring to knit fabric when

you said  sewing knits?
 
I have a few sewing machines that I use and have used when I was  sighted.  
When I first sat myself behind a sewing machine in my totally  black world I

chose my Featherweight Singer sewing machine that I had since I  was 16
years 
old.  I did not want any bells or whistles just straight  stitching and 
something I was familiar with.  OK after proving I could sew,  then I had to
figure 
out how to sew a straight line and for that I came up with  the plastic 
creditcard taped to the bed of my machine.  I had my dh tape it  down with
masking 
tape 1/4 inch from the needle and it poked forward toward me  about 2 inches
and 
extended out the back maybe 1 inch.  I actually used my  credit union card 
that had no raised numbers on it.  I had him tape 3 sides  of the card down 
leaving the side running even with the foot not taped.  I  wanted to be able
to 
feel the distinct edge of the plastic there.  Then I  started practicing.
By 
butting the edge of the fabric up against the edge  of the card I was able
to 
make good 1/4 inch seams.  
 
I always used  the long quilt pins when I sewed to pin my fabric  together.

The ones that have the good size plastic heads on it.  That  way they are
easy 
to grab and pull out when you are approaching the foot.   This, too, took 
some practice without eye sight.  
 
OK quilting might be next week's question, back to this week's  question.
 
I still use my plasticc card to do seam allowances and I have sewn a lot  
since then from quilts to overalls and t shirts for my Grandaughters.
 
After I proved to myself I could do my sewing, I went out and bought myself

a new Bernina sewing machine! It has a lot of bells and whistles that I have

never used and actually I have gone back and forth using my Ellna sewing  
machines that have the disks that you put in for all the regular and fancy  
stitches.  At least I have them marked and don't have to figure out what
button to 
push and how many times to push it.
 
I recently got myself a Singer machine that has a one step buttonhole
maker. 
 I had one of these babies going back when my kids were kids and  found that

they still have this feature on a few of their machines.  You  just drop a 
button into this special foot that you put on the machine and set  the
machine on 
the buttonhole stitch[there is 3 dials that you have to turn] and  put the 
garment under the foot and walla it makes a buttonhole that will fit
perfect to 
that button!
 
I can give anyone more details on this if you would like.  
 
Joyce



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