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Mrs Bowden’s top tip – avoid snarling

Mrs Bowden’s top tip – avoid snarling

 

 

Mrs Bowden’s top tip – avoid snarling at the start of stitching.
Everybody has had a moment when they have started to sew and the machine has caused a spaghetti of threads at the start of the seam.  This week’s top tip deal with this common problem and gives a few solutions to avoid this annoying situation.
Correctly threading the machine is your greatest friend here so check and recheck the machine is threaded with the same thread top and bottom.  Also test the stitching on a piece of scrap fabric from which the garment is being made.
I am going to sugget 3 ways of avoiding ‘spaghetti’.

1.  If you are working with a fine fabric start the seam 1 cm from the edge of the fabric and reverse to start – to the edge – then move forwards.  This gives the presser foot and the feed dogs a chance to engage with the fabric.

2. Hold the threads from behind and gently pull as the machine starts to stitch – this helps the fabric progress through the machine and form stitches correctly.
3. Use a donkey.  This is a little scrap of fabric which you start to sew with.  Butt the fabric you are using to the donkey so the machine stitches onto the ‘real’ fabric and thus avoids a tangled start.  A donkey can also be used to save lots of threads when sewing continuous strips – e.g., patchwork.
I am running a number of Monday evening technical skills short courses during April and May.  Each session costs £30.00 starting at 7 pm and finishing at 9.30 pm including all resources and refreshments.  We are covering seams, bias, buttonholes and zips, working with rouleux amongst others.  If you fancy improving your technical skills with a short blast of professional teaching please check out the website.

https://www.felixstowesewingschool.co.uk/sewing-courses-2/

Hope you have found these little tips helpful.  Until next time!

Until then,

in stitches,

Mrs Bowden x

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