Sew Very Smooth Blog

So this week I am taking a more pragmatic approach. I have cut out two and a half inch strips that I will sew together. I plan on using a 1/4" seam. This will allow me to practice making a seam and help me create blocks that I can use down the road.

Measuring out material is time consuming work. The picture below is just a small sampling of the amount of strips I cut out, but it was worth taking the time to prep them. 

I am still acquiring certain tools, like a rotary cutter, so my strips aren't perfectly straight. I had to eyeball it with my scissors, but I think I did a decent job.  

After the strips were cut I set up my sewing machine. I used the Ideal Seam Gauge to line up my Ideal Seam Guide. I was able to set an exact 1/4" allowance to give me an exact 1/4" seam. 

After the Guide was lined up I was ready to set to work sewing my strips. I decided to put them together in groups of five so that I would end up with 10" squares that I can use at a later date down the line. I had a limited amount of purple material so I was only able to make them 10" long. I don't even know what size a typical block quilt would use. If I were to do a block quilt, how big would the blogs typically be? 

The edges of my strips aren't perfectly straight so I had to pick a layer to follow along the guide, but I am very happy with my first attempts. I ended up completing eight different squares in one sitting. Each square has its own unique pattern as far as the colors that I used. 

I know that it's not perfect. I know that in a few months I'll look back on these squares and cringe at the little mistakes that I made and the slight angles that the lines take, but for now I'm pretty tickled. 

It took me a half an hour to figure out how to wind a bobbin and thread my machine, and that was even with a step by step video to guide me. I kept having to pause and backtrack to make sure I hadn't missed a step.

Thankfully, I was able to successfully set up my Juki so I could finally start sewing. Sort of. 

Naturally my first stitch was a straight stitch. I had purchased a few random scraps of fabric just to practice on. I know they're not the best quality material, which I'll dive into later and hopefully get a bunch of input and advice on, but for this purpose it works great. I literally just sat and stitched two pieces of fabric together. Turns out, it was really helpful to do that. I was able to play with stitching speed a bit. The slowest setting was my best friend the first couple of passes but I quickly became comfortable enough to speed it up a bit. I was able to practice changing direction and figure out the reverse stitch. I'm slightly embarrassed to say it took five failed attempts before I realized I had to hold the reverse button down in order for it to work. 

I was also able to experiment with some of the decorative stitches. My machine can do twenty different ones, but I stuck with the first ten for now. Mainly because the other stitches require a foot change and I'm not ready to tackle that just yet. 

The decorative stitches were definitely my favorite ones to do. I'm hoping to make use of all of them during my future projects.

As you can see from the picture my lines aren't straight yet. Not even close. Part of the problem was the fabric not laying flat, but mostly I just need to pull out my Ideal Seam Guide that arrived in the mail just a few days ago. I'm excited to see how I do with the guide to help me.  

My next question is how do I know which stitch to use at which time? I imagine if I look up something like "how to hem pants" that they would say which stitch to use, but what if they don't? Is it just trial and error? How have you learned which stitch to use and when? 

I had this fantasy in my head of being able to pull out my new sewing machine, turn it on, and immediately start stitching pieces of fabric together. Realistically I knew that it wouldn't be that simple, but I'm a quick study and I thought I would be able to figure everything out fairly quickly. It has not been quick. 

The first thing right after the table of contents is a list of parts for the machine. There are 42 of them. FORTY-TWO! And that doesn't even include the 21 accessories that come with the machine.

My head was spinning as I tried to navigate the parts but it didn't make sense. Why was there a start/stop button AND an on/off switch AND a foot control. Not to mention the needle up/down button. 

What the heck is a feed dog an and a setscrew? 

Thankfully, my trusty machine also came with a DVD manual which has been much easier to understand. For example, I read in the manual that the LCD display shows which stitch number you're using, which foot to use, the width of the stitch, and the length of the stitch. What does that mean? The width of a stich? I'm sure all you sewers out there are chuckling at how clueless I am, but it didn't make sense. The DVD, however, gave examples of one stitch with multiple different widths. I could see how changing the width would effect the appearance of the stitch. It makes complete sense now. 

I also now understand the use of a bobbin. Now it doesn't seem like magic that a needle can jab in and out of fabric and somehow loop all the way through. 

For now, I'm going to finish familiarizing myself with my machine so I can finally turn it on. That is the goal. 

I plan on posting every Friday my experience from the previous week. This upcoming week I will finally be using my machine to practice with the different stitches and tensions. (I know what tension is referring to now. Knowledge is a powerful thing.)

What terms do you wish you had known and understood when you first started sewing? There are so many I know I'll only be able to tackle learning them as they become relevant, but it would be nice to have a few under my belt as I start.