Egghead Learns to Sew, Part V

September 7, 2012

Egghead Learns to Sew, Part V

Hooray! Today it all comes together and I sew a couple of pieces of fabric together!

I gleaned from the Instruction Manual how to do this based on its coverage of the topic "Changing Sewing Directions," rather than by following specific steps because this was the topic that immediately followed "Drawing Up the Bobbin Thread."
Doing so turns out to have been a good thing, as the section that I would have expected to follow "Drawing Up the Bobbin Thread," namely, "To Start Sewing," which I eventually found a few sections later, was inadequate and even nonsensical: When I later followed those instructions, the thread got all tangly and/or the machine simply did not respond. I found Step 2. to be particularly confounding.

In any case, I hope that the steps to start sewing that I gleaned from the "Changing Sewing Directions" aren't bad for the machine or otherwise ill-advised. (Please do tell me if they are!)

To Start Sewing

This is obvious, but since I haven't used them in awhile, it might be worth noting that before starting to sew I attached the foot control the sewing machine and then plugged it into a power source.

After threading the upper thread, drawing up the bobbin thread and pulling both threads toward the back of the machine, I positioned the fabric that I wanted to sew under the needle, which was raised to its highest position.

Turning the hand wheel clutch slowly toward me, I lowered the needle into the fabric. Then I lowered the presser foot.

I pressed down on the foot control and woohoo! I was sewing!

When I got nearly to the edge of the fabric I stopped. With the needle in the fabric, I lifted the presser foot and pivoted the fabric around the needle to sew down the next side of the fabric.

I had the idea that I'd make a pincushion or tiny pillow of some sort as my first sewing project so I left the last side of the fabric open (the remaining side of the fabric was folded over). Thus, when I got to the edge of the second side of the fabric I was sewing, I stopped and followed the directions in the Instruction Manual for finishing a seam.

Specifically, pushing down on the reverse lever, I sewed backwards for about two inches. Then, turning the hand wheel clutch slowly toward me, I raised the needle to its highest position, lifted the presser foot, and pulled the fabric out toward the rear of the machine. As instructed, I cut the threads using the thread cutter on the back of what I think is the needle bar, but this was awkward so next time I'll just use scissors.