And I really needed him today to finish the seams of my second Archer shirt, which I've slowly been working on over the last several days. Like a good girl, I did a sample; tension was off. I adjusted his knobs (double entrendre intended) and tried it again. And again. And again and again and again . . . for close to 45 minutes, until I had this:
Talk about frustrating! No matter what combination I tried, I got pretty much the same result, and the stitching wouldn't even stay consistent along one seam! I did learn something from all my experimenting though: I got better results with a three-thread overlock than with four.
My sewjo has been suffering lately (it seems like there's a lot of that going around, too) but things have been going mostly OK with this project. I hope I didn't just jinx it. Here's what I've got so far:
After I made the first Archer, I thought a LOT about the fit. I scoped out ladies on the street who were wearing buttoned shirts, to see how theirs fit. And then I decided to listen to those of you who said, "It's fine - leave it." The only thing I did differently this time was to change the spacing of the buttonholes, from 3.5" apart to 2.5" apart, in order to fix the gap-osis I had with the first one. This gave me an extra button or two down the front. I hope it works - making the buttonholes is one of the first things I do when I make a shirt. I might want to rethink that if this spacing is off.
Here's a better look at the fabric:
This is one of the fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line - I believe this one is Baby Bouquet in Berry. I love the red, orange and pink against the light blue background.
I'm not really sure where this week has disappeared to, but it hasn't really been to sewing or knitting - I seem to be spending very little time lately on either, hence the lack of posts! Thankfully, I have plenty of handmade garments to keep me going for quite a while :-)
Ha, ha I own Sergio's twin brother! We have issues sometimes too - must be a family trait. I love the fabric (I agree the color combination is so pretty and unexpected with the blue background). I just bought some voile to make Pattern Runway's PB blouse. Now I'm a bit concerned since you had issues. I have to finish Anna and Lady Skater dresses then it's next in the queue and we'll see how I make out.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention the pattern matching and top stitching look fabulous!
DeleteThank you! I guess our machines are brothers, hahahaha!
DeleteIt doesn't happen with every voile or lawn, but it's more likely to happen with those fabrics than others I use. I'm going to try the rethreading tip below, and also give him a nice drink of oil and some new needles and see if that helps.
Great job of matching the pattern! Very impressive.
ReplyDelete-- stashdragon
Thanks, Gretchen!
DeleteMy serger was recently quarreling with me and I had to show it who's boss. I retreaded it completely and then it started behaving. Maybe give that try too? The fabric is great!
ReplyDeleteGreat tip, thank you! I will definitely give that a try!
DeleteOh no. I hate it when sergers don't behave. On the plus side, your fabric is lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you! This was meant to be PJ bottoms, but I felt it would be much better as a shirt!
Deletebummer about the misbehaving sergio... i think mine desperately needs a new knife! the shirt is lovely though!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I thought mine did too, but I had a repair guy look him over this summer and he said not. Thank goodness - those are almost as expensive as the machine itself!
DeleteUgh, that sounds frustrating. But your shirt looks so fantastic! I love the fabric, and you did such a wonderful job matching patterns and edgestitching. I hope your serger starts behaving!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kelly! The serging is over for this project, so I don't need to worry about it again for a little bit!
DeleteHave you given Sergio a little loving lately (i.e. a thorough cleaning?) I find that sometimes helps my serger behave better. Awesome job with the fabric matching on the pocket, by the way.
ReplyDeleteI have - I clean out the debris every time I use him! I don't know why he's being so temperamental ;-)
DeleteThank you :-) Looking forward to the day when pattern-matching is second nature. Still takes me a fair bit of work and figuring!
Your sewjo will come back, I assure you! Give Sergio a good talking to and he'll be fine in a bit (after a period of sulking). The shirt looks good so far!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sabs! I love it that nobody questions how I'm anthropomorphizing my serger, LOL!
DeleteIt's funny how machines can be temperamental. How frustrating for you.
ReplyDeleteCrisis over now - shirt is satisfactorily completed!
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