sewlow
Bitchin' Stitchin'
Lol! Yea! Messy stuff!
Here's a trick to get nice even stitching when doing a 'French' (double) stitch.
Don't look at the needle! A common mistake. It has a hypnotizing effect.
The feet of the machine are different widths so that you can use them as a measurement device.
Set the foot next to the center stitch at the width where you want those outer stitches to be at.
Don't look at what the needle is doing. It does the same thing over & over again. Up & down, up & down, up & down.
Concentrate on keeping that foot against that center stitch. Slow, steady sewing works better than short bursts. Even if you have to slow down to where the machine is practically doing one stitch at a time. Just maintain that foot in the position where you initially set it.
Short bursts, then stopping, followed by another short burst will cause deviations in that set width. Nice steady stitching will prevent that. With practice & confidence, you can increase the speed of your sewing.
On patterning. This has to be perfect! No matter how good of a job I do stitching, if the pattern is poop, the finished job will be poop!
When doing seats, I allow a 3/8" seam allowance when patterning, but then sew a 1/2" seam. This makes for a nice snug fit.
For a dash cover, I pattern those out with NO seam allowances, then sew a 3/8" seam. You can achieve this by using the various widths of the machine's feet.
A 'no-seam' pattern, then the 3/8" seam on dashes means that on the install of the cover has to have the crap stretched out of it. Very important on a dash due to being directly in the sun ALL the time. If the cover isn't really stretched on, it will loosen up as soon as it gets hot. More important when using vinyl than leather.
Vinyl has a stretch one way, but not the other. Pattern the pieces for the dash with the stretch going from side to side.
Mark the centerline of the dash, front to back, top to bottom (whatever) on the back of the dash. Fold the cover in 1/2 & make some small notches to indicate the center. This is the starting point to begin gluing the cover on. Once you do that, let it sit for a while to ensure that the glue really sets up at those center points. Then, stretch the cover out to the sides until everything lines up, & glue it down as described in my previous post.
Slow & steady works best!
There's never time to do it once, but there's always time to do it over!
Here's a trick to get nice even stitching when doing a 'French' (double) stitch.
Don't look at the needle! A common mistake. It has a hypnotizing effect.
The feet of the machine are different widths so that you can use them as a measurement device.
Set the foot next to the center stitch at the width where you want those outer stitches to be at.
Don't look at what the needle is doing. It does the same thing over & over again. Up & down, up & down, up & down.
Concentrate on keeping that foot against that center stitch. Slow, steady sewing works better than short bursts. Even if you have to slow down to where the machine is practically doing one stitch at a time. Just maintain that foot in the position where you initially set it.
Short bursts, then stopping, followed by another short burst will cause deviations in that set width. Nice steady stitching will prevent that. With practice & confidence, you can increase the speed of your sewing.
On patterning. This has to be perfect! No matter how good of a job I do stitching, if the pattern is poop, the finished job will be poop!
When doing seats, I allow a 3/8" seam allowance when patterning, but then sew a 1/2" seam. This makes for a nice snug fit.
For a dash cover, I pattern those out with NO seam allowances, then sew a 3/8" seam. You can achieve this by using the various widths of the machine's feet.
A 'no-seam' pattern, then the 3/8" seam on dashes means that on the install of the cover has to have the crap stretched out of it. Very important on a dash due to being directly in the sun ALL the time. If the cover isn't really stretched on, it will loosen up as soon as it gets hot. More important when using vinyl than leather.
Vinyl has a stretch one way, but not the other. Pattern the pieces for the dash with the stretch going from side to side.
Mark the centerline of the dash, front to back, top to bottom (whatever) on the back of the dash. Fold the cover in 1/2 & make some small notches to indicate the center. This is the starting point to begin gluing the cover on. Once you do that, let it sit for a while to ensure that the glue really sets up at those center points. Then, stretch the cover out to the sides until everything lines up, & glue it down as described in my previous post.
Slow & steady works best!
There's never time to do it once, but there's always time to do it over!
