I'm In love (with my overlocker)!

 A few years ago hubby very thoughtfully gave me an overlocker (serger) for Valentines Day. A great gift, wonderful and much appreciated...but a little scary for the sewer I was at that time. 
I desperately wanted to use it but ALL those dials and BITS that you put thread through (or that stuff up when you don't put it through properly)- "loopers" and the like-  kinda scared me a bit. Soo each time I used there was this complicated scenario of pre-planning, research and checking/double checking my threading/ tension before any actual overlocking got done. 
Compared to my regular (Janome "My Excel") sewing machine this thing looked very alien, much more complicated and was way more expensive that anything else I'd sewn with...the whole time I used it there was this dread of "stuffing" it up. That I was going to break the darn thing. So I just used it as an "optional" extra for finishing off - something for the rare and considered occasion-  rather that making a workhorse out of it (see my few pre-kids overlocker garments here and here). 

Well my dear reader it seems that life - or the sewing gods- had something else in mind for me and this machine.

All I can say is: having kids makes you reevaluate how exactly you spend your time. No longer do I look at my overlocker and think "oh that could make a pretty rolled hem, IF I could be bothered figuring it out..." now it's " I wonder how much faster I can sew X or Y garment if I overlock it?". 

It's taken me a while to get back into the gist of using my overlocker (taking it to the sewing weekend away recently helped heaps - thanks Leanne!), but now I've started using it again I find I am more confident about threading/changing tension/changing thread colours. I have EVEN gone from 3-thread overlocking to 4-thread (yes I got the little screwdriver out)! Actually I find really the only painful parts to thread of mine are the loopers- the needles seem pretty straightforward.

Good light and a pair of bent nose tweezers have become my overlocking best buddies!

So far in the past few days I have sewn up two pair of pant's (pajama style- from a Patternmaker pattern) and have a Kwik Sew tee cut out ready to go that -according to instructions- is pretty much all overlocking (for construction)! 

Also - while I was in the mood for upping my sewing productivity- I've finally figured out how to do a blind stitch hem on my regular sewing machine. OMG so easy and so effective- truly one of those headslap "why didn't I do this sooner?" moments.

Since becoming reacquainted with my overlocker I've been lying in bed most nights dreaming of all the new and exciting stuff I can sew up soo much faster by using it. Ok maybe (like most of my sewing goals) a lot of it might not happen but a girl HAS to have plans right? Without plans not much happens...

Happy Sewing/Serging/Overlocking!

Kate :)

Altered Kwik Sew skirt

As promised here is the elastic waisted skirt I made recently:Basically I just used the main panel from my Kwik Sew 3240 pattern to make this, leaving off the flounce at the bottom. If I were to make it again I would add a few inches to the length, also it is a tad tighter than originally planned as I got a bit seam-happy with the serger and cut off more allowance than I meant to :P

A slightly closer look (not until I posted this did I notice the thread hanging out of the side seam!):

The fabric I used is a really nice stretchy cotton-feel-probably-synthetic-blend with a interesting herringbone pattern and variegated brown stripe woven in.

Unfortunately the rolled hem function did not like the raised brown stripes of the fabric, leaving a noticeable stub of thread behind:

While doing the rolled hem my lower looper thread kept breaking. I am guessing that this may be due to either the quality of the thread used or they way I have threaded it (thought I am pretty sure I did do it right!). I plan to go back to my Janome dealer Pam and ask her what she thinks.
Her is another view of the fabric, showing the variegated brown striping:

The results of my freebie overlocker lesson.

When DH brought me the Janome MyLock 744D he was told that it came with 1 hours free tuition for the user. I made sure to book in for this straight away as I was a bit in awe of the overlocker machine (having only ever worked with regular sewing machines before) - here is the result of my 1 on 1 tuition session:

As you can see I have a very handy "cheat sheet" for specific settings -relevant to my particular overlockers make and model- relating to the particular fabrics I will mostly be dealing with when using the machine. Next to it are several samples of various stitch settings and functions that I made during my tuition. I have to say that the rolled and lettuce hem functions are particularly exciting for me, but will obviously require alot more practise!

The great part about having the 1 hour tuition session is that I now feel a whole lot more confident about using my machine :)

Pam - from the Janome Sewing Centre in Winnellie - assures me that these machines work better the more they are used (or maybe that's the user?) so I am going to be working very hard to get mine "worn in ":) I am lucky that I have such a friendly and helpful person so close to home. Pam also runs sewing classes on Wednesday nights which I shall be looking into in the near future.

I fully encourage everyone who buys a new machine, and is offered tuition by the dealer, to make use of it as soon as they can after buying - I think it definitely shows you all the features that are available with your model and takes away some of the "scariness" that may come with buying a new machine.

Off now to find things to serge- cheerio!

Valentines Day Pressie!!!

Woo-hoo! Look what DH had waiting for me when I finished work on Valentines day!!!! Yep you're right it's the Janome MyLock 744D I have been drooling over these past few months!!! I can't believe he got the exact model I wanted :) How's that for active listening ?
It has 4 thread overlock, differential feed and a user-friendly rolled hem option- also good reviews on sewing.patternreview.com. All I need to do now is work out how to use it and the best way to use it for what I sew. After having only recently discovered that my Janome sewing machine has a topstitch foot (and I have owned it at least 4 years...*blush*) I am keen to make sure that I use the MyLock to its full capacity from the get-go.
To that end I am now booked in for my free 1 hour lesson on using this particular overlocker - I have been assured that I will receive a "cheat sheet" covering the functions but I plan to also make sample of different tensions so I have a visual aid when back at home.
Already I have had a little play serging some of the seams of my Burda pants- I have to say that yes overlocking is quicker, but there is also the temptation just to serge and forget all about fitting! Hopefully the Burda pants wont end up a total wadder....
On a final note apparently the store my DH brought the machine from was donating all the profits from sale to the Victorian bushfire appeal- how great is that?

Ta-daaaaah!!! It's finished!

Please excuse the rather awful shot - it was taken betwen finishing work and running out the door again- but here is the finished Kwik Sew 3240 skirt in pink:

All in all I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. Using the tip given to me by CrescetaLuna I have been able to resolve the twisting-skirt-around-the-elastic issue, which occured with the black version I made. You can read the review I did for the pink version here.
Of course I had to wear this the very next day after making (it was the only thing ironed in my wardrobe *blush*), and the fabric held up fantastically during the whole day. In fact after work I popped on a different top and headed out to the Janome Store in Stuart Park to drool over the sergers there (and dream!). Hopefully if our house sells (its under offer) I will be setting myself up with a MyLock 744d *fingers crossed*. Even though I have managed pretty well up until now with only a basic sewing machine I still think an overlocker would come in pretty handy, especially if it cuts down my sewing time on TNT patterns!

P.S according to my Janome lady its going on sale next month - yippeee!!!
P.P.S My DH has just asked him why I didn't get him to take the photo- so expect a better pic of the skirt soon....