I've been trying to Get On With Things for the last few weeks, and I've had some success.
I've managed to draft and stitch a sleeveless top, with the bust dart moved into the neckline and gathered! I'm amazed! I managed to baste, then overlock, then put the neck band on, and finally to coverstitch the neckband, the hem and the arms without any of the machines eating the garment!
The whole gathering thing was as hit and miss as ever - despite me taking precautions. I sewed three rows of stitching, a great tip I learned from someone's blog. (I wish I could remember who, because I'd like to thank her.) . I sewed the gathering stitches at 2mm, 4mm and 6mm (my seam allowance was 5mm), and I managed to sew them fairly straight. I didn't cross the lines at all (which made me think of Ghostbusters!). I managed to pull the threads without incident, it was just the allocating of the gathers that took..forever.
The top wasn't actually meant to be sleeveless. I'd just had enough of it by the time I'd done the gathering. I tried it on before I did the hemming and the arms, and it was Okay. Not great, but Okay. I decided to make myself finish it, good practice with the coverstitch machine and all that. The machine behaved beautifully. I tried it on with the neckband and the hem done, and it looked a but more okay than before. Not quite right, but wearable. Not OK enough to be bothered to cut and sew sleeves though, so I decided to just coverstitch the armholes.
I really like it, despite its imperfections. I'm of an age and shape where sleeveless tops are inadvisable, but I don't care.
I wondered whether the ruffler of gathering foot n my machine would work. I tried the ruffler, and decided that it looked too...pleated... for what I wanted. I cut a front neckline shaped piece of fabric, and tried the gathering foot.... and it did a reasonable job in no time at all.
So, I made a second version. This time I used the gathering foot on the neckline, AND I made sleeves. The gathering is really neat. I suspect I would get an even beter result if I made myself learn how to gather manually better, but the results were acceptable.
I'm now planning another version, with a slightly wider necklne and more fluttery sleeves. I've just been a bit distracted by other things.
I also...shock, horror... did some machine embroidery! I made a Batman mask for a birthday card for DSS2 (I didn't think to take a photo) , and I embroidered Arya onto a tee shirt for The Tween (previously known as Small Person). I haven't seen her to give it to her. Hope she'll like it.
