I know we used to have a thread for this on the other site, not sure if it made it here...
Post your "Murphy's Law" experiences!
Mine for tonight:
The one night that you finally have both the time and energy to make a big push to get most of the King's new doublet put together, the #$%$^^& iron decides it will no longer heat up while pressing one of the lining layers. And of course, the other lining fabric is not pressed at all yet, which means I can't flat line the black cotton with the cotton drill tonight. >:(
I'll be making a trip to Target over lunch tomorrow... And this iron was not cheap, either...
Hey, isn't your local Walmart open 24 hours? I thought I saw that, last time I was home... Anyway, I feel your pain--my iron is just about the one thing I can't imagine trying to sew without!
There will NOT be enough eyelets/grommets at your craft store. (they really need to be available in packages of 50 ;D )
Why is it that the blasted eyelets/grommets I can find always come in packages of ODD numbers?
When you're only supposed to do a quick seam, the very last one before going to bed, and maybe the very last one before you can assemble the skirt, it ends up looking like this:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/unicorn/unicorngrrr.jpg)
Of course it takes forever to unpick, and it made you run out of thread in the right nuance..... :-\
my machine loves doing that.
Why is it that the bobbin always runs out when you are in the middle of a tricky part that you don't want to stop and take it out?
You WILL run out of black silk/embroidery floss one buttonhole before the end of a run of 16...
Quote from: operafantomet on September 10, 2008, 12:47:51 AM
When you're only supposed to do a quick seam, the very last one before going to bed, and maybe the very last one before you can assemble the skirt, it ends up looking like this:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/unicorn/unicorngrrr.jpg)
Of course it takes forever to unpick, and it made you run out of thread in the right nuance..... :-\
We've all been there, I think. Some of us more than others! Does anyone know why the machine does this? Is it something to do with tension? The reason I stopped using our antique one back in the 80's, was because it started doing this...
Yep, it's tension. It's normally going to be upper tension being too loose. If the loops are on the top of the fabric, then the problem is lower tension; if the loops are on the bottom of the fabric, it's upper tension.
Upper tension, certainly. Usually caused by one of two problems:
Failure to put presser foot down! And if you are sewing something bulky, make sure it doesn't pop the tension lever up while going through the machine...
Failing to get the thread properly down between the tension disks! Always thread with the presser foot UP!
Similar problems may be encountered if there is lint or gunge between the disks. 'Floss' them regularly with a lint free lens cloth.
This thread was on the old forum. But it was a good one.
-Fusible interfacings always fuse to the iron
-Whenever the construction process is going well, the bobbin thread runs out
You have planned an evening of sewing, and will actually FINISH a project... then.... LIGHTS OUT.
Thank you, Commonwealth Edison. :D
Quote from: gem on September 09, 2008, 10:38:09 PM
Hey, isn't your local Walmart open 24 hours? I thought I saw that, last time I was home... Anyway, I feel your pain--my iron is just about the one thing I can't imagine trying to sew without!
Both of our Walmarts are 24-hour stores (yes, we now have two...). It was 10:15 pm, I was already in my pj's, and Walmart at night creeps me out. Plus, I didn't want to have to wake my son to tell him I was going to the store. Plus, it would have been at least 11 before I got home. This way I have an excuse to get leave work over the lunch hour. ;D
The customer's black velvet is always the most comfortable cat nest...
Always when just at a few inches of material left to sew and you run out of bobbin and/or the top thread breaks.
Sewing your fingers....OUCH!!!
When it is late at night, and you're almost finished with only one long seam/hem left to do, it will, without fail, get sewn inside out and not noticed until the entire seam/hem is sewn. >.<
Also, when using pins, you will (well, I will, at least) get stabbed at least once per sewing project.
What, only once? (Taking a break while I stop bleeding... )
That thread that matched the fabric perfectly last night (under artificial light, of course) is glaringly WRONG today under natural light!
The 2 3/4 yards of fabric which will be enough to make the garment turns out to have had a sample cut from it and as a result there will a section of one piece of the bodice which is 3 lousy stinking ratzafratzin' inches too short!
Dayna
When you need a new bodice by the next day and try to shortcut by using a Simplicity pattern, it will turn out two sizes too small even though you think you've adjusted for pattern ease. :-[
No matter if you 'measure twice, cut once', the length of fabric will be too long or too short for your needs.
Quote from: Margaret on September 11, 2008, 02:09:58 AM
No matter if you 'measure twice, cut once', the length of fabric will be too long or too short for your needs.
Word!! I struggled with some fitted Victorian sleeves yesterday, and messed it up badly. And believe me, I measured both two and thee times. Aaaagh!!
You spend 2 hours shopping for all the fabric you need for the outfit. You find the perfect outfit but when you get to the counter, the bolt is 9 inches to short for even the base amount, not even counting the "just in case factor". (had that last night)
You find the perfect button but they are one card short.
You get the item sewn and on the last snip of thread you cut something you shouldn't. And it is always late at night.
When you are short of time and making buttonholes in velvet, the machine WILL bugger one of them up and it will take over an hour to unpick it, most carefully... AAARRRGGGHHH!!! >:( >:( >:(
Quote from: Kate XXXXXX on September 10, 2008, 12:53:05 PM
What, only once? (Taking a break while I stop bleeding... )
Hehe. The "at least" was the operative phrase in my law. Usually I do it 4 or 5 times, but every once in a while I get lucky and only stab myself once. Thus the reason I've started avoiding using pins if at all possible. :)
Quote from: Elennare on September 11, 2008, 10:19:17 AM
Quote from: Kate XXXXXX on September 10, 2008, 12:53:05 PM
What, only once? (Taking a break while I stop bleeding... )
Hehe. The "at least" was the operative phrase in my law. Usually I do it 4 or 5 times, but every once in a while I get lucky and only stab myself once. Thus the reason I've started avoiding using pins if at all possible. :)
My mom and I sell longaberger and one of the tricks that they do to keep themselves from getting splinters or stabbed with the tiny tacks is they wrap their fingertips in medical tape. Might work? Personally I would probably only have to tape my middle and index finger because those are ALWAYS the ones that get stabbed although it's probably a murphys law that when you prepare to get stabbed one place you'll get stabbed in another.
You will spill your pin box once per garment.
Also know as your dog will eat your pin cushion at least once a year leaving sawdust and fabric bits everywhere.
Regardless of how long a piece of fabric is, if JUST ONE INCH of it hangs off the edge of the table (or whatever flat surface you've laid it on), the rest will follow, and it will ALL end up on the floor the moment your back is turned.
This works especially well with the measuring tapes.
And YES...measure twice, cut once? Riiiight.
No no....I can measure THREE times or more, and still manage to bugger it up. ::) >:(
You get that perfect fabric home only to see that it looks like it was cut by a 2 year old! And you end up loosing about a foot of fabric trying to get the damn cut straight!
Ooo... I hate it when that happens! And it always happens when you have JUST enough, if you are careful, to make the project...
Yea I had it happen with like 3 differnt peices! I dont get to get fabric that often so I always get enough to cover the projects that I have in my head.
You have the perfect Idea for Garb! & when you dig in your stash, you realize nothing you already have will do! ::)
If it's expensive, and it's silk, it will slip and muck up everything. :P My mother has had this misfortune many a time. silk+sewing machines = her nightmare
As yee sew, so shall ye rip
so you have to go back and try to refinish that button hole that got waaaay too big.
If the fabric has a directional pattern, you will cut the biggest part of your garment upside down.
The fabric will go on sale next week.
Your last needle will break w/one seam left to go - at midnight.
Quote from: Taffy Saltwater on October 19, 2008, 11:26:06 AM
If the fabric has a directional pattern, you will cut the biggest part of your garment upside down.
The fabric will go on sale next week.
Your last needle will break w/one seam left to go - at midnight.
Groan...
I hear you on all of those, especially the last...
You will break, not ONE, but FOUR needles while sewing piping, as when the bobbin runs out, the needle jerks just a tad to the right, and since you are using a piping foot that did NOT come with your machine (as the one that did doesn't make tight enough piping), the needle rams into the piping foot before you can stop. Yes, a whole package of needles for 20 yards of piping (and I used all by about a foot of it!).
You will run out of silver seed beads halfway through the sleeve and when you try to buy some more, the color number is the same but the color is obviously different when seen up close.
Finding out you are three buttons short and you can't find any more.
Using old grandma's spools of threads and finding they break really easy due to their age.
Not being able to match up your material with the right thread color.
Finding out you're short on material and when you go to buy more, it's all gone.
Not having any more bobbins for thread.
When you make the first few stitches on your machine and it comes out all in a gloppy mess of thread on the underside.
If you put a project off till the last moment, the cord to the sewing machine will be missing.
You lay the baby down for a nap and just as you get started the little stinker wakes up and wants to help!
Anything you think will be a simple fix will be long and hard because:
A) The loops on the gimp trim will catch in the foot,
B) Bind up the thread
C) Break the machine needle off inside the machine
D) You have to practically cut away the nest of thread around the needle
E) Your husband will have carried off your thinnest needle nose tweezers
F) And you left your pickup magnet at work.
When you pull out the linen for your current project you realize what you have on hand is not exactly the color you want. Additionally, there is no time to hunt down and purchase the perfect color.
(Orange florentine is now a red-orange florentine)
- The one time you burn the fabric with the iron, the garment is for someone else.
- Pattern pieces will always be folded in the most complicated way possible (except for some McCall's patterns, which are simply stuffed into the envelope.
- The patterns never fit back in the envelope after they've been cut out.
- The one time you prick yourself with a pin hard enough to draw blood, then bleed on the fabric, the garment is for someone else.
You will come up one bone short, necessitating another trip to the hardware store.
One particular commercial pattern company will always have way too much ease (yes, I'm looking at you, Simplicity) and somehow you will always forget this.
You will find a nice pattern but no fabric, or fantastic fabric but no idea what to make from it (can you say "stash"?). I'm going to start carrying my pattern box around in my car.
You can buy fabric and plan projects much faster than you can actually complete them. The uncompleted projects and stashed fabric will fill your sewing room until you have to sew elsewhere.
In a theraflu fog you accidentally hem the top of your garment and run the drawstring through the bottom.
And though it's not sewing, in the same theraflu fog you crochet your new sash belt about 4 feet too long and you cannot get that exact dye lot again to correct your mistake.
If you are making something for a special occasion or for someone else you spill(insert fizzy beverage of choice here) on the fabric, causing a discoloration.
Your index finger splits open from the cold/dry weather and bleeds all over the interfacing. You figure you got off easy since no one will ever see it, until you turn it around and see the giant red streak right own the middle of the bodice. You slightly alter your trim design to cover the bit of blood you weren't able to wash off, spend the next 3 hours sewing on pearls, another 4 hours handsewing through all the layers of duck using a pair of pliers, and when you go to do the grommets and put fray block on the cut grommet holes the bottle explodes all over the beautiful blue jacquard <sigh>
Quote from: Lorraine on December 21, 2008, 02:03:26 AM
Your index finger splits open from the cold/dry weather and bleeds all over the interfacing. You figure you got off easy since no one will ever see it, until you turn it around and see the giant red streak right own the middle of the bodice. You slightly alter your trim design to cover the bit of blood you weren't able to wash off, spend the next 3 hours sewing on pearls, another 4 hours handsewing through all the layers of duck using a pair of pliers, and when you go to do the grommets and put fray block on the cut grommet holes the bottle explodes all over the beautiful blue jacquard <sigh>
That only rates a "<sigh>"?? My goodness, what would it take to make you curse and throw things?
I always hate cutting the eyelet holes. Very nervous-making. You work so hard on a project, and the last step is to poke holes in it. One slip and the whole thing could be down the drain.
*hands Lorraine a hankie and a cup of loki-enriched tea*
I only yell after pricking my fingers, although my Mom says I need to change my phrases to "Whoopie" to be child safe, don't think that will be happening anytime soon. I threw the corset in the sink while the fray block was still wet and amazingly enough it looks like it all came out, and it didn't ruin the fabric (double yippee!!). I'll still take the tea while you're offering though :)
I'm so grateful for this thread, I can SO relate to just about all of these. The one about finding the perfect buttons and the store coming up one card short... Ah, yes. I bet we can chalk that up to modern clothing needing nowhere near as many buttons as we do for historical costuming. One that was on the Murphy's Sewing list that I didn't see here was...
...running out of black or white thread. The basics. Because you just assume you MUST have them. Sewing store usually automatically restocks them in my house when I start getting low I guess, I don't know...
This is sort of anti-Murphy, but I just finished a topstitched hem, with about six inches of thread left over, and I didn't have another spool of that color. Yippee!
Now, I wonder, what horrible sewing mishap I will have to suffer to make up for this bit of good luck? :o
Do not tempt fate... ;D
I did not read all the new updated gaffs and mishaps, but here's another one (hope it's not a duplicate)
You buy a special needle/tool/item to make a sewing job a piece of cake. When you go to find that needle/tool/item, you will not be able to find it until after you have completed the job with the "This needle/tool/item I now have to use will make this job a billion times more difficult, but it's the only thing I have to work with." needle/tool/item.
When you are [size=20pt]REALLY[/size] pushed for time, the silk thread you want to do the buttonholes in will evaporate...
When you get ready to start sewing on pearls, and you realize that none of your needles are small enough to go through the hole, your reamer's in storage, and the stores are all closed. GRRR!!! >:(
I got fed up and just found some on ebay I like. Ooh collapsible eyes and they're sharp. WOO! Well at least this gives me a few days to work on other parts of my project. ;D
You will never have enough trim. Never.
Buying too much trim to prevent a return trip
Trying to hem a cloak while someone else drives
The beautiful bodice bleeds all over your white parlet/shift
Your bloomers come above your kneee when you wanted them below
The flat cap comes out too small
You lay your fabric out, placing pattern pieces and the cats decide it's time for a marathon...across your fabric
You hand hem a black garment at midnight & wake to find you've used navy thread - argh!
The gorgeous peacock-blue changeable silk only SEEMED to not bleed when you washed the swatch in Woolite. When you wash the rest of the 4 yards, it will bleed blue EVERYWHERE, causing you to panic and shove it into the tub to rinse. Blue hands, blue towels, blue tub... :'(
The swatch washed perfectly, without losing any color. This was going to be a hat, among other things... hope it doesn't rain at faire, or I'll have blue running down my neck. :-[
Buttons that you would like to come on cards of 2 will come on a card of three. And vice versa.
Additionally, the store will have just enough buttons you need for your project... Minus one.
The trim you bought at Joann's shop A, with style #xyz, because shop Joann's shop B was X yards short will not be a perfect color match.
If you want to special order the trim it would take 3 weeks and the garment has to be ready in 2.
The customer projects are stacking in a holding pattern, and the machine you want to use for the buttonholes is making ominous clicking noises, so needs to be serviced! Gah!
The first time I ever tried making a male's shirt was for my future brother-in-law. Thought I had messured out the fabric and had it all matched up to the patern like they were twins. When it comes time to make the sleeves, guess who messured wrong! Yay! I had to spend two days and fourty dollars in gas running around from fabric store to fabric store because no one seemed to have the precise white cotton fabric I needed. >_<;
You have a new sewing machine and order parts that didn't come with it, and everything but the power cord comes in the same box, so you can't start using it yet.
You have the button hole foot set at a certain length, but for some
unknown reason every third one comes out too long.
Quote from: DonaCatalina on February 25, 2009, 08:33:03 AM
You have the button hole foot set at a certain length, but for some
unknown reason every third one comes out too long.
Or it'll whip up five beautiful button holes in a row & completely kerfluey the sixth.
Quote from: Taffy Saltwater on February 25, 2009, 10:13:23 AM
Quote from: DonaCatalina on February 25, 2009, 08:33:03 AM
You have the button hole foot set at a certain length, but for some
unknown reason every third one comes out too long.
Or it'll whip up five beautiful button holes in a row & completely kerfluey the sixth.
LOL, I gave up doing button holes on my machine, and learned to sew them by hand.
Quote from: Taffy Saltwater on February 25, 2009, 10:13:23 AM
Quote from: DonaCatalina on February 25, 2009, 08:33:03 AM
You have the button hole foot set at a certain length, but for some
unknown reason every third one comes out too long.
Or it'll whip up five beautiful button holes in a row & completely kerfluey the sixth.
Or find the lining shifted on every other hole, making it bunch and hang weird.
Having struggled with godets for years, you will finally sew a perfect one on your first try- only to try the garment on and find you sewed it inside out
The bodice you make several days before the faire is way too big (or way too small).
[I'm sooooo disappointed :'(]
The one time you forgot you used pins with plastic heads you will be instantly reminded when you smell plastic buring as you press your seam. :o
Or you finally pull a project out of the box that it was thinking about what it did wrong to finish it, you have some fabbo trim that has been hanging around forever that you deside to use on it and then you realise that you are like a yard short of the trim!
The bodice pattern you just bought doesn't have your size on the pattern-even though that size is on the pattern envelope.
:( your making a white shirt/blouse and finish it only to find out that a wayward red thread is caught between the fabric and the fusible interfacing.
Months ago, and a few states away, you save up and buy expensive fabric, half off, for a project. And find that you are a foot short! *hitting head on desk, over and over again* Nooooooo!!!!! Oh, plus, it has to be worn in 4 days.
You won't notice till the last turn out, on the last seam, when you're trying to french seam, you started backwards, and now you have nice ridges on all the seams. :o
time to bust out the seam ripper.......
when sewing by hand you run out of thread a couple of inches from the end
When your favorite machine goes out of commission and needs servicing, your backup machine starts getting wonky with the auto-tension, and your third machine is so old the belt has dry rotted... all while you have major projects that NEED to get done. *grumble*
You've sewed all the sides of your skirt to gether and notice that two of the seams are on the right side and two on the wrong side.
The tiny serger that your mom gave you (cause she never used it) doesn't like the mesh fabric that you're using to make an overskirt, and you have ONE possible evening to drive 40 minutes to a friend's house to use her serger, among all the million and one other things you have to do both faire-related and non-faire related before making the trip to faire two days from now.
Thankfully, it's nice to have friends who are always willing to help :D
After sweating blood putting a chemise of pleated, shiney, slick-as-snot fabric together, one sleeve is inside out. I don't care & anyone who has the audacity to mention it will get the rough side of me tongue!
I finally got the motivation to work on a bodice and realized that I didn't have the black cotton twill that I thought I had.
Murphy must have stolen it.
Here's one:
You waited 5 months to get into a new, bigger apartment, with an extra room for a sewing room (squee!!!). You spend hours cleaning the old apartment to make sure that everything is spotless for the new occupants, occasionally cursing under your breath that the people who live in your new apartment will put as much effort into cleaning as you did. You even touch up the paint on all of the walls, to make sure that the nail holes you filled, and any scuffs are covered very carefully. You are so excited to move in, that you wake up at 5:30 am on moving day, and count down the hours until you can pick up the keys. You've been dreaming about setting up the new sewing room for months, and have already planned spending the last part of your vacation working on a new gown, to reward yourself for all of the work and pain of moving.
Then you get into the new apartment.
With mounting disappointment, you realize that the previous occupants haven't cleaned in a year. Crusty floors, gross cupboards, scuffed and dirty walls, awful bathrooms, spotty carpet... they didn't even vacuum before the carpet cleaners shampooed the carpets. You realize that you have a full day's worth of cleaning before you can even begin to unpack, and your mom is leaving at noon the next day.
I guess I'm not making a new gown for the Des Moines faire this year... :(
You are in the midst of a sewing frenzy!! Yay!
You are nearly finished up with a skirt, but you need interfacing for the waistband. OK - run to JoAnns for that tomorrow. Set skirt project aside because you can pick up the sleeve you need to finish. Dang! No black thread for that. However, that's still OK because you can pick up the cartridge pleating you put down some time ago. Oh yes, that's why you put it down, no floss.....
The caul? Nope - no small hooks and eyes. The hat? Need to buy some large enough plastic canvas. Finish up the chemise? *sigh* Need elastic and a draw string.
Quote from: Margaret on August 03, 2009, 06:19:08 AM
You are in the midst of a sewing frenzy!! Yay!
You are nearly finished up with a skirt, but you need interfacing for the waistband. OK - run to JoAnns for that tomorrow. Set skirt project aside because you can pick up the sleeve you need to finish. Dang! No black thread for that. However, that's still OK because you can pick up the cartridge pleating you put down some time ago. Oh yes, that's why you put it down, no floss.....
The caul? Nope - no small hooks and eyes. The hat? Need to buy some large enough plastic canvas. Finish up the chemise? *sigh* Need elastic and a draw string.
That sounds like a great time to make a list and go shopping!
Pattern calls for interfacing so you buy the iron on stuff. Open pattern - they mean duck/canvas - not the iron on kind. The good news is I found addition yardage to make the jacket for my Victorian walking skirt at at another JoAnn's. The bad news is they had the same jacquard in a delicious berry shade that I would have chosen before the black. Black is classic, right?
So have it in both!
I still don't know how I did it, but this story needs to be told on this thread.
I was working on a basic 6-panel godeted skirt, and had the front three panels and the back three panels stitched properly. I laid the front right side down and laid the back right side down on top to make sure that all the hem edges were straight. Everything looked right, so I pinned and stitched. Upon finishing the two main side seams, I held up the skirt and realised my mistake. The back was sewn to the front right side to wrong....made good friends with my seam ripper that day. Especially when after I got that all reorganised, I inadvertently hemmed the bleeding skirt inside out! Geh!
You finally get the time, money and motivation to do some garbing for the upcoming season, and can find everything but the power cord to the sewing machine.
You've got the most delicious olive-green velvet. Not cheap, froma designer's mill-end from Banash's in Cincinnati, bought on Superbowl Sunday Sale. You've got the best pattern, well, used, well-loved. You've got a place and a persona to wear it to and with. Have you the time? NEVER!
You run out of thread in the right colour, and put the project aside when you're really eager to work on it - only to find another spool of thread the next day, when the enthusiasm is gone...
You didn't check the spandex content of a pair of jeans you cannibalized to make a corset, and have to take the corset in 2 inches just to make up for the stretch.
Eek! That's a new one on me!
just when you think "i'm finally gonna have this whole gown completely done by the time I go to bed tonight" the needle managed to catch on a straight pin and snap...and its the last one you have...
With less then three weeks to the season opener, and only one project nearing completion (let alone having to figure out stuff for the kids) the house needs to be rewired to get power to anything but the lights
Time to get out granny's treadle... ;D
Seriously, that's not good...
Yeah, and three days after we bought a stove with electric igniters, and a safey dead-switch if it looses power. So now, not even a stove...
We keep a Primus stove in the wings... I have been known to cook a stuffed and roasted chicken, baby new potatoes and vegetables, followed by Christmas pud all cooked on the primus. This was at the Cropredy camp site at the Fairport Convention 21st reunion! Sunday dinner! ;D Pressure cookers rule OK!
We got snowed in here for a week once when I still had all electric cooking. The electricity was out for five days, and the pub ran out of beer. It's amazing how warm you can keep when you dress well and have a Tilly lamp keeping the frost out of your fingers as you sew on the hand crank... We put the spare bed duvet on top of our own and filled the bed with hot water bottles, and cooked on the Primus.
I now have a gas hob with pizo-electric ignition, so I can always light that, even if the central heating can't work. We also have two tillys and a gas lamp, and the primus, a couple or three of the 'single use' solid fuel things the army dish out with ratpacks (son is in the cadets), and a camping gas stove, so we are usually OK if the electrons fail.
you are frantically satin stitching a heraldic emblem on a horse caparison when the timing on the industrial machine goes wacky and starts missing stitches in a massive way. You end up having to stop, spend an hour retiming the machine and missing the UPS pickup.
You sew all your closures only to realize the left side is a quarter inch higher than the right side and you have to redo the entire side.
You neatly blind stitch and entire hem only to finish, pick up the piece and realize.....you stitched it to your pants!
You cut the main piece from the pattern; use the cut piece to cut out its lining.
When you try to sew the lining in, the lining will be three inches longer.
(How does that happen?)
Quote from: DonaCatalina on March 17, 2010, 04:33:12 PM
You cut the main piece from the pattern; use the cut piece to cut out its lining.
When you try to sew the lining in, the lining will be three inches longer.
(How does that happen?)
Mine does that too except it does it everywhere so the lining is always at least 2 inches larger all the way around :-[
Mine always ends up at different lengths all the way around. But still all of it bigger than the main fabric.
Another of Murphy's Laws of Sewing: If you have only one step left to sew and then you're finally completely all done ... you're gonna screw it up.
Last night I was getting a bit tired but I had only one cuff left to sew on, so I went for it. Only to then discover I had sewn it on completely backwards. So now I have some seam-ripping to do, and then one last thing to sew, when I'm not tired!
You run out of thread the day before Easter because you're machine decides to freak out and creates a rat's nest of thread on the underside of what you're trying to sew, therefore using what thread you have left... And when you go to get more thread from Walmart on Easter, they've cut their craft section in half and no longer carry thread, and everywhere else is closed because of Easter.
Ugh. But then I went to Sonic and got ice cream, so the world isn't all bad ;D
Cashe- I've had that happen before. It happens because the tension has gone wonky on the bobbin. My machine sometimes winds the bobbins too loosely and I end up with the crazy mess.
Quote from: DonaCatalina on March 17, 2010, 04:33:12 PM
You cut the main piece from the pattern; use the cut piece to cut out its lining.
When you try to sew the lining in, the lining will be three inches longer.
(How does that happen?)
In my sewing circle, that's called a 'blessing from the fabric fairy.' ::)
Quote from: GirlChris on April 04, 2010, 06:29:23 PM
My machine sometimes winds the bobbins too loosely and I end up with the crazy mess.
Just had to chime in: I bought a bobbin winder for just this purpose - never had a problem again!
Crazy mess can also be caused by using the wrong type of needle for the fabric you are sewing. Found that out when I was sewing a knit with a normal needle... black thread on black fabric, 10 pm. Let's just say that ripping that sucker out was awful...
I found out that the snarl mess on the bottom of the fabric could be from the itty bitty screw on the bobbin case gets loose hence mucking with the thread tension. SO a little bit of a snug up on the casing screw knocks out the annoying mess
Yup, thread tension; also I've gotten it from having too short of stitch length (when switching from zigzag back to straight stitching and not resetting the stitch length).
Quote from: Butch on April 13, 2010, 03:17:27 PM
Yup, thread tension; also I've gotten it from having too short of stitch length (when switching from zigzag back to straight stitching and not resetting the stitch length).
A big part of why I like my machine. Not real fancy, and a pain in the arse when I can't find the foot pedal and have to use a start/stop button on the front, but with the computer control stitches, if I change stitch, it resets length (and width) to default automatically. Which of course can be a pain if I wanted one of the settings to stay the same (especially as it resets them when turned off)
That brings up my big curse. I've had the blasted foot pedal for maybe one in five projects. Have time and energy to sew? Spend it finding the stupid pedal!!! I've even tucked the thing into the machine, and it vanishes..... Without the pedal it button start/stop, with three speed settings (very convientient) but no actual control over speed, just on & off.
You will think you are so clever, removing fabric in the back of the bodice so that the shoulders fit better and stay in place.
You will realize you're a moron when you forgot to add fabric to the front and the silly thing doesn't close up.
How about this corollary? ::)
I'm hip deep in sewing garb for TRF, so much so that I can't see how we would be able to take time to day trip to Magical & Medieval Fantasy Faire on November 6-7.
A new Faire will open near you the during the same time period you have to finish new faire garb for 3 family memebers in less than a month.
DonaCatalina, that's so disappointing! Is there any chance you can hand sew some things in the car on the way to and from the new faire? I did that on our big vacation this year, as I had to have my bodice done by the following weekend.
Here's one: For the first time in years, I needed to sew button holes with my machine. My machine has a nice auto-buttonhole option. Dumb thing won't working on the canvas for the coat I'm making... Won't even advance the fabric. >:(
On the up-side, I figured out how to make very nice button holes manually with my machine, so I probably won't ever use the auto-buttonhole function again. ;D
Quote from: Lady Rosalind on October 28, 2010, 10:40:40 AM
Here's one: For the first time in years, I needed to sew button holes with my machine. My machine has a nice auto-buttonhole option. Dumb thing won't working on the canvas for the coat I'm making... Won't even advance the fabric. >:(
Likewise, my machine seems to have decided it's not a big fan of doing machine eyelets in canvas and/or velvet. Luckily, I already had the corset done, but my waistband eyelets on my noble overskirt and my Queen of Hearts bustle still do look pretty sad...