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sewinggal1


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craft interests: crochet, embroidery, fashion, gifts, paper-crafts, quilting, restyle, sewing

Member Since: 09/07/2009

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Simplicity Bias Tape Maker Project One

This is my first project done on the Simplicity Bias Tape Maker! A receiving blanket  -- 1 down, 7 to go. Next is a throw for the baby's room, done in Minky, the beautiful rose swirl texture. I...


recent comments

Re: Mystery Foot Revealed

Mystery Sewing Machine Foot

I'm pretty sure that this foot is missing a piece. My buttonholder has a plate that screws OVER the throat plate of the machine, so that it can swing the fabric back and forth freely. The feed dogs on the older machines didn't go down, so they had to be covered.

I think your mystery foot IS a regular zigzagger, as some of us suggested, but I do believe its missing a piece which would make it work on regular weight fabrics.

If you read my second post on the original question, you see this...

There probably should be a plate that goes under it that has a wide opening for the zigzag stitch, but which also covers the feed dogs.

In any case, if you are trying it on another machine, you should drop your feed dogs, as I'm pretty sure this foot will push the fabric from side to side as it works and you shouldn't hold onto the fabric while its working.

If you can find a throat plate for a buttonholer, it will probably work the same with this foot.

Emmy

Re: And the Winners of the Simplicity Bias Tape Makers are...

I did my first project with the bias tape maker today. It took a little experimenting to get the right temperature for my fabric, once I had the heat set right it worked perfectly!

One receiving blanket down, and 7 more to go! LOL! The baby shower is on Saturday!

Re: How do you store your thread and other sewing notions?

Here's a tip on what to do with old spools of thread that are so old the thread can't be used for sewing.

Make yourself a Sewing Wreath for your sewing room door, or to hand over your machine:

Dust off your old spools of thread and unwind enough thread to get down to the brighter color underneath. Find a nice vine wreath that you like. I prefer the ones with light wood, which look a bit like wicker.

Choose old spools of thread in colors to complement your decor, and wire them on in bunches of 2 and 3. Weave in some ribbon, add a bow, maybe a bit of other trims you have on hand, wire on a few special buttons in groupings of 2, 3 or 4, next add wire to the back for hanging, and voila! Your own sewing room wreath to cheer up your workspace. :)

Re: How do you store your thread and other sewing notions?

That Thread Carousel is one COOL way to store thread! I love it!

I have and use all the other options you've shown, but my personal favorite is pencil boxes. I sort by color and also by thread purpose, label the end of the boxes and stack on the shelf, ready to go.

I use a divided cutlery tray for my most commonly used thread colors, (black, white, cream, grey, navy) which fits into my second desk drawer perfectly. Its very handy, everything is available at a glance.

I have about 4 bobbins holders for my many brands of bobbins - my trusty old Singer Featherweight, my mother's old Singer from the 1960's which I learned to sew on and had to buy my own bobbins for (with two people sewing on one machine, you can never have enough bobbins), my grandmother's Brother from the 1950's which she loaned me for a year - so I had to buy more bobbins of course, Brother bobbins for my daughter's machine because I sometimes have to borrow it, like when my White is in for a tuneup, and of course bobbins for my White, and since I have to replace the White, I'll probably have another brand to add soon.

I think I must have about 120 to 150 bobbins in all and I still run out because they aren't a universal fit. I wish sewing machine manufacturers would get together and agree on one size fits all!

Zip lock bags are handy for so many things. I use in practically every room of the house to keep things sorted,especially small stuff. I should buy stock in the company, they must be making a fortune!

Re: Giveaway: Simplicity Rotary Cutting Machine

Perfect to go with the bias tape machine, for quilting, making your own piping, and also for scrapbooking too. Definitely an interesting item.

Re: And the Winners of the Simplicity Bias Tape Makers are...

Wow! That is so COOL! Thank you so much. I can really use this tool, especially on the projects for our first grandchild :)

What a treat! This will really speed things up. Now I guess I'll have no excuses to avoid making my own bias tape! No more hauling out the ironing board and a heavy iron, and no more burning my fingers.

Congratulations to cindsmith too!

Emmy :D

Re: Dust Off your Sewing Machine

I've been sewing for about four decades. My mom sews, my grandmother sewed, and now my daughter sews, although not as often as I'd like to see. Now that she's expecting her first child, I think she'll probably sew more, since sewing for babies and kids is so fun and doesn't require a lot of fabric.

The main problem I have is finding good fabric for garments. We only have one fabric store here and they carry a lot of polyester junk, not much in cotton, linen, silk or rayon. Hardly any natural fibers at all, which are the only kind I can wear (allergies).

I wish we had a really good fabric store, a good book store and a proper art supply center.

Re: What's Your Favorite Non-standard Sewing Machine Foot?

Its a tie between my ruffler and my buttonhole maker. Both are for my old Singer Featherweight, which is the main reason I kept it even when I got a modern machine. Now nearly 25 years later, my "modern" machine needs replacing and my Featherweight is still growing strong.

I'll always keep my Featherweight! Gotta love ALL the feet that make sewing easier, faster and neater too! I use them all! When I buy a new machine I'll have to start collecting feet all over again, unless the ones from my old machine fit the new one too.

I love the snap on feet that modern machines have, such a time saver.

Re: Giveaway: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker

Wow! What a time saving tool! I'd love to have one someday!

I hope they'll make attachments available for different size bindings, like the old fashioned binding makers have. They come in three sizes. I hope this machine will eventually have the same options, it would be great!

Thanks for showing us how this works. :)

Re: Mystery Sewing Machine Foot

I forgot to add that you should try this on your Featherweight machine if you have one, or another older straight stitch machine. There probably should be a plate that goes under it that has a wide opening for the zigzag stitch, but which also covers the feed dogs.

In any case, if you are trying it on another machine, you should drop your feed dogs, as I'm pretty sure this foot will push the fabric from side to side as it works and you shouldn't hold onto the fabric while its working. Its not a pleater or buttonholer as I have both of those for my Featherweight. I really think it does zigzagging over braid, fairly thick braid at that.

Please put up a video of it when you have it working, I'd love to see it in action.

Emmy

Re: Mystery Sewing Machine Foot

I have never seen one like this before, however, it looks like it was made for a straight stitch machine, like the old Singer Featherweights.

That "can opener gear" probably provides the side to side movement necessary for these machines.

It probably created a zigzag stitch, and the big open space above the foot looks like you could run braid through it. I'd guess that its for attaching braid and other trims, with a zigzag stitch, on a NON-zigzagging machine.

Could you upload a video of it operating on your machine, using a straight stitch? That would certainly help.

Emmy