Sewing and not sewing

I've been doing some sewing over the last few months, but nothing very exciting. I haven't even written any reviews but I did take a few pictures.

I made the Jalie 2566 cardigan and t-shirt. I did a FBA for the cardigan and added a dart as well as increasing two sizes from the underarm to the hip. I have small shoulders relative to my hips, but not small arms because I also needed to do a full-bicep increase on the sleeve. This pattern has slim sleeves and many reviewers note that it's not an ideal cardigan for wearing over other clothes.

I didn't make many changes to the t-shirt other than to increase from underarm to hip.

I've also made the Jalie t-shirt in a purple fabric to go with a Butterick top that is partially constructed. I had to stop work on it because my Pfaff 7570 is in the shop. It was very overdue for a cleaning and tune up but I kept putting it off, and then I had a problem. I've been using the bobbin winder on it for winding extra spools of thread for my serger - I buy one color cone and spin off 3 more onto empty spools using the EZ Winder adapter that fits in the bobbin winder. One day I was winding a spool and even though I'd put the hand wheel into the bobbin position for winding, the needle kept moving and worse, the speed increased very high on its own. When I took it into a local Pfaff dealer, the woman there seemed to know exactly what I was talking about, so hopefully it'll be easy to fix. It was a bit tricky taking it in for servicing because my German is still not very good but I think I communicated OK. I've had my 7570 for about 18 years and it's only been in the shop for servicing once. Fortunately the computer is working fine - knock wood that it will continue that way!

I've since ordered a Sidewinder  to use for winding spools so I don't overuse my sewing machine again. I'm also considering buying a hand-crank bobbin winder meant for loading weaving bobbins (which I would use it for that purpose too) and use that to hand wind spools for the serger with a crossed pattern. The reason is that I've since learned that you should pull thread from a spool differently depending on how it is wound.

• spools wound "stacked" (for example, Coats and Clark) should be pulled from the side
• spools wound "crossed" (for example, most serger thread, Gutermann and Metler) should be pulled from the top

If you pull stacked spools from the top the thread comes off twisted - like when you pull ribbon off a cardboard spool from the top instead of turning it. The bobbin winders load "stacked" and the serger pulls thread from the top of the spool, so this means I'm serging with twisted thread. Is it a problem? I don't really know. The twisting would make the thread thicker and perhaps could cause some tangling. 

By the way, for a sewing machine, you should use a horizontal spool holder for the crossed-thread spools and a vertical one for the stacked spools. 

While the Pfaff is in the shop, I still have my serger, I looked around for a quick project to make with white thread, since I have four cones of that and don't need to fill any spools. I made a night shirt using my old standby pattern: Kwik Sew 2821, but sometimes quick is never simple and that was the case with this night shirt (of course!). I used a knit that ended up having pretty bad recovery and the bound neckline I did was terribly stretched. I ended up taking it off and just turning under the raw edge and coverstitching it with the differential turned to the maximum setting. It's better. Yes, it's just a nightshirt, but I don't feel good wearing bad clothing even to bed.

After finishing the nightshirt I looked to future projects and traced off some patterns. Once I finish the Butterick top these are next on my plan. 

More pajamas! I'm going to make the top out of a lightweight cotton and I'm thinking of making shorts to go with these instead of the longer pants.

BurdaStyle 12/2014 #133

Probably going to leave off the pockets though because my cotton has a busy print.

More loungewear! I have an interesting piece of fabric I bought from IKEA that is sort of Japanese, in that it has Koi fish on it, so I thought of a kimono, but not a traditional one because I didn't want the big sleeves. 

BurdaStyle 2/2012 #116

In another post I'll show you what just came off my inkle loom, the yarns I recently purchased at a local wool festival, and what's on my knitting needles. I always have projects going on!

And travel pictures! We just got back from a weekend trip to Croatia.