Stitch and bitch thread #9. I have pressing concerns

[NutellaEllaElla]

Welcome welcome!

I've not made anything for ages after I screwed up the same thing twice. I'm gonna have another blimmin crack at it though! I've reconnected with another hobby and work is seriously getting in the way of everything I want to do, darn it.

@Daffyyellow
@rivercobbler
@bookbook
@FletchingStraight
@Tinuviel
@Karatema
@Brefugee
@kittykarate
@Greaterthanthesumoftheparts
@FriendsDrinkBook
@123ZYX
@SparkleHard
@FarEast
@Dellabob123
@Twobluechickens
@SBAM
@InMySpareTime
@Jins
@CrimsonAlligator
@MontyDonsBlueScarf
@Bouncydog
@Hoogieflip
@GonnaGetGoingReturns
@Subolooo
@SleepingisanArt
@GnomeDePlume
@Chewbecca
@Ingefae
@Rosenspants
@Cynderella
@PickAChew
@Wildernesstips
@Pastabest
@BlackAmericanoNoSugar
@Frumpyunicorn
@WickDittington
@Allthegoodnamestakken
@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
@SheWasASkaterGirl
@Isabelle70
@Twwodoorsaway
@FloofyBird

i love that! what a treasure trove!

The struggle is so real!

@InMySpareTime I love your sewing room!

That sewing room is so gorgeous.

I was right about sewing room envy!

I just keep the machines I'm currently using and equipment I use the most in the dining room with me. I also have the ironing board set up in there. It's a kitchen diner and we have no utility so I'm usually accompanied by the sound of various white goods.

My machines not currently in use live in the front room. All my books, patterns, threads and fabric I anticipate using soon live in the other front room, which has become DH's office. Can be annoying when he's in all day meetings. I wasn't mad about not having it as a work room for both of us, as was our original plan, though, as the dining area has much better light and is warmer in winter. DH did try to claim it entirely for himself before the pandemic and got told where to go.

Stash and ever growing bags of scraps live in various bedrooms, mostly under my bed.

I love both the sewing rooms! Another dining room table stitcher here. Best light from huge bay window and the only table big enough for cutting out. Having retired last year, I have been clearing a big double cupboard in our utility area and passing/selling on my former work equipment. This is gradually becoming my sewing stuff storage as I really don’t want to turn the dining room into a total mess.

Meanwhile, my red Jemima dress has only the hem to do but it’s too big. Ho hum. I’m going on holiday tomorrow but will think what to do about this.

My lottery win house will have a sewing room, either out of the way in the house (I dont like being disturbed too much while I am sewing) or in a garden room.

My actual sewing room has a great table which DH built for me. It has a huge fold down flap so that the table is only 40cm deep when folded away. When in use it is big enough for my A0 cutting mat. Despite being a gate leg table it is incredibly stable.

The guest bed gets folded up against the wall and I hang pattern pieces on the legs as I cut them out. DH did offer to make the bed legs fold out of the way but they are too useful.

I originally wanted a table that i could put up and down for cutting out on, in the end i found a table at IKEA big enough for my A0 cutting mat and got that (best thing: it was in the Rummage Sale part of the shop so i got it for less than half price). Later when i went to get a table for the machines same thing happened, found a long thin desk with drawers, and it was also greatly reduced.

I miss the days when i used to be able to crawl around on the floor, accidentally pinning patterns & fabric to the carpet and cutting out the pieces. Now i love my big table so i don't have to bend.

I also made a small ironing mat that fits on the part of the table the cutting mat doesn't cover. I love that thing.

These are all lovely sewing rooms, I do have a craft/sewing room that's supposed to be my home office but I usually work from the dining room table or sofa on the odd occasion I work from home. It is very little though (to small for even a single bed which is how it became my craft room rather than a spare bedroom) and currently has no storage. My cutting usually gets done on the floor and theirs piles of things everywhere.

I made a start on my dress yesterday, took me forever to figure out darts but I think they look ok in the end. I also managed to get all the pieces out of 2m of fabric instead of the 2.5 the pattern said by omitting the pockets. Wondering if I could perhaps do contrasting fabric pockets instead. Although darts and a zip might be enough complication for one project.

Lovely sewing rooms. I have half of our second room downstairs and a cobbled together mass of unwanted furniture. No cutting out table as I still crawl round on the floor.

I’m going to have to do some rearranging as I’ve just impulse bought a coverstitch machine 🤦‍♀️. I’ve told myself repeatedly that I don’t need one for years.

please come back and let us know how often you use it - i would like one but simply cannot justify the expense.

I use mine most days, it was DD's room but she now has her own flat.
I don't always use it for sewing, it's more of an art studio, but it's a lovely bright space and it's all mine.
I start seedlings off on the windowledge, make story props and puppets, make/repurpose/mend clothes, embroider, do jigsaws, and plan projects in there.

hello. this just popped up in active so hopping on the thread just because. Some lovely tidy sewing rooms there. Mine is a shit tip. I mean an organised shit tip but still. I really need to sort it out before it gets worse, but I just can't see that happening. Projects to do!

@Brefugee The plan is to use it on most projects. I’ve been watching videos of people using one on wovens and hemming in particular was the deciding factor. I’m getting the Bernette B42 and reviews look ok for an entry level machine.

I’ll Definitely report back

I have a teeny room that I use but no space for a large table so I cut out on the floor and have my machines on a desk. I do love being able to leave stuff half done as I can shut the door on it!

Oh I forgot photo of the shit tip (view from the doorway. My backside generally knocks something off somewhere when I try to enter the room...

that sounds lovely.

that looks like a room full of exciting stuff where magic happens though

I'm hyperventilating @thesugarbumfairy but is that a Janome MC 6700P I see lurking? That's the machine I've set my sights on and it seems to be very marmite in all the reviews I've seen.

I mean it is full of exciting stuff. I'm not sure about magic 😂but a lot of stuff. Mostly i sew bags. But there are my Sindy dolls hiding round the corner - I won the Sindy Sewing bee last year (or was it the year before? time flies). I betcha didn't know that was a thing right? 😁And there's a load of resin stuff on the shelves. And I made sandals the other week.

<snort> sorry. But yes it is indeed. Once I bought it, I stopped buying sewing machines. Up until that point I just kept upgrading as they weren't good enough for my bagmaking. That was in 2017 so this is a record for me!
The HD9 was released after this one and that is universally loved by bagmakers but it only does a straight stitch and I use fancy stitches once in a blue moon. The only thing I have found it cannot do, is shirring. It just won't accept a bobbin with elastic thread. Refuses to play ball. (I have another machine I can use for that - not that i do - but if I wanted to)

I was thinking about sewing machines the other day. I will be visiting my mum again next month, in my car this time, and i can picture myself rummaging around her attic for her ancient Pfaff to bring it back home to the land of its ancestors. Because while it doesn't do much outside of straight and zigzag and button holes (oh how happy she was when she finally got a machine that did button holes! up to then we'd had clothes with zips, no extra fastenings required or hammer in press-studs) - it is very very robust. Will be ideal for when my Brother might be in the shop, or just for regular straight seams on heavy fabric.

in the early 90s (maybe 1991) i bought a spiffy sewing machine by Singer. It did a LOT of fancy stitches, several (5?) types of button hole and 3 different types of writing. It had 5 needle positions too, which i loved. But what i really loved (and miss these days) was that it did straight or zigzag stitch in different directions, so you could put a patch on the narrow part of a jeans leg by doing a very short zig-zag forward, then to the right, then backwards then to the left. I really could have used that for patching small people's clothes.

@Brefugee I'm quite fond of Pfaffs. I have one that I take to class (I teach bagmaking) that I got from a local lady and I like the noise it makes. A sort of satisfying crunchy noise 😁I've had one in the past and I wish I hadn't sold it but needs must.
I like the sound of that zigzag. I think my Janome could probably do that. I haven't tried!

I'm a bit disappointed with my Pfaff. It is an entry level computerised one and never feels quite robust enough. Plus it has only one automatic buttonhole which seems to always be quite sparse in the density of stitching.

Yes, it's the beefiness that I'm after. I've thought about the HD9 but I think it's likely to be too much machine to not have a fixed home. The Brother equivalent is less heavy but lacks speed control and I really need speed control, particularly when I'm trying to do some lovely topstitching on heavy, lumpy fabrics. I'm quite dyspraxic and my brain and foot don't always communicate as well as I need them to 😅

The HD foot is particularly appealing for fiddly things like sleeve caps but it has the 9mm feet for when I need the stability.

I'm holding out for a better special offer than the £100 they had in the winter. I'd have liked to see one in person but the 3 Janome stockists I can reach within an hour don't have them.

Like all machines, the older Pfaffs are a completely different animal compared with modern ones. My quilt ambition makes some very nice stitches and can sew through a decent amount of denim so long as there is no interfacing, at which point it puts the brakes on and complains that it needs a rest but it's temperamental in other ways and I don't rate the build quality. Even tge bobbins I have for it are visibly inconsistent in size and shape.