Twin needling for comments...

WOW! Thanks to MaryNanna and debbie for your comments about twin needle stitching.

It totally makes sense that the skipped stitches are from not using a ball point or stretch needle. I used the twin needle that came with the machine, which I assume is not a ball point or stretch needle.

Answering debbie's comment...

Tension issues and breaking/jamming thread- completely pull apart the bobbin area and make sure you don't have a tiny piece of thread stuck in there.

Ok, I opened up the bobbin area and cleaned it out. There wasn't anything in the bobbin area itself. I removed some lint but none of it was in the bobbin compartment itself.

Next when you're threading the needles just above the needle is a thread guide. Only the left needle goes through that guide. That one being your regular spool of thread. The extra spool completely bypasses that guide.

The manual mentioned that and I did that.

If you don't get anywhere with that try changing the direction your thread is coming off the extra spool-clockwise to counter clockwise. Usually thread jamming w/twin needles is all in the threading.

Hrmmm....Honestly I don't remember how I had the thread exit the spool on the extra holder but maybe that's it or part of it?

The only other thing I can think of is are you leaving thread tails? I try to leave them a bit longer and pull them to the right of the needle. My machine has a thread cutter and I know if I've used that it leaves really short tails that will jam with a twin needle.

I left extra long thread tails but pulled them directly to the back, not to the right. Next time I will try moving them to the right.

I did some googling since my "Singer Compete Guide to Sewing" and Built by Wendy's "Sew U Home Stretch" didn't mention twin needles in the detail I require.

I found this tutorial on threads.com that talks about how to use twin needles. Pretty awesome. Even some of the comments were helpful, as the author elaborated that the one needle should be threaded first and then the second needle threaded next (which I was doing--I was wondering if I should thread both threads together but now I know I was doing it right) but goes on to say that one thread should be on one side of the tension disk and the other on the other side of the tension disk. I can't see my tension disk but will be sure to try to put the thread through the tension disk that way. I also read somewhere that slowly sewing with a twin needle helps--which I can already confirm--it seemed to go better when I was sewing slower.

I found this Twin Needle Reference chart and this sewing machine needles overview on threads.com as well, which clarified that ballpoint needles and stretch needles are two different things (which, an hour ago, I wasn't sure about!)

So I think I will be hitting up Jo-Ann's on Tuesday night after work, looking for a stretch twin needle and buying two spools of thread that are exactly alike! And then I will play around.

Also I've been having tension issues for almost 2 years now. I used to sew wovens at a 6 and knits at a 2 or 3. Now I sew wovens at a 2 and knits usually at a 1. I don't know what happened. I know there is a way to adjust the tension through something on the back of the machine but I haven't tried that. If trying the things above don't fix the problem, then I wonder if it goes back to my ol' tension issues.

I had to do that pesky thing called cleaning my house today so no sewing was accomplished.

Good night!

McCalls 4664 and 5504 done!

McCall's 5504: DONE!



I could have made a simple summer dress in the amount of time I spent on the cuffs. To recap, I had cut the sleeves waaaaay too short. I thought about piping but I didn't have any green piping. What I did have, though, was a remnant of green double fold bias tape. So I sewed that on and then added the cactus cuff. Sounds simple, but really it took a lot longer than I care to admit. However, I already can tell this will be one of my favorite shirts to sleep in!!



It counts for the SPR stash contest. I've had the fabric for at least 2 years, and it might actually be 3. The sleeveless Jalie scarf neck top also counts for the SPR stash contest. That fabric is probably 15 years old!!

Now I'm ready for some Mexican food.

I cut out and made McCall's 4664, gym pants. I made the ugly gray muslin on New Year's Eve. The intention then was to make plain brown gym pants.

they start out looking pretty basic:


But there's a surprise I added on the side: reverse applique astericks!!!


another view


Closeup of the astericks


I did that because the gym had a vendor bring in some clothing and there was a pair of black pants with cut out flowers on the side. The cut outs were edged with white double fold bias tape! They were $94. So I decided to do my own take on that.

So for my cowl neck shirt with twin needle stitching: I looked up zig zag presser foot, and it turns out that is what my machine has. The instructions say to use cotton thread or "polyester span thread". I'm guessing they mean "polyester spun thread" which is what I'm using. So maybe it's a tension issue? I tried the twin needle again with the hem on my gym pants and had to rip it out. It only works for a few inches and then it gets jammed up. I don't know how to fix that. So tmw I might hem the cowl neck shirt with my standard zig zag stitch. Hrm. It's too bad because I love the way the twin needle stitching looks.

Snow day! Burda! Twin needles!

Snow day today! Woo! 3 day weekend! I was thinking, maybe a delayed opening, and was shocked by SNOW DAY! I was grateful since I stayed up til 12:10am last night to watch the women's figure skating finals and medal ceremony.

I did a little bit of work from home, and rested the most of today, then sewed tonight.

Here's the sunset over the new fallen snow (it was already melting when I took these photos):



I like the shadows on the snow:


I finally cracked open Burda October 2005 to work on the cowl neck shirt. Holy roadmaps, Batman! This is my first Burda. Antoinette told me the pattern lines all run over each other but I hadn't envisioned this. The pattern paper is double sided so there's even more on the back.



It's chaos.

My pattern is in blue and is only 4 pieces. Phew.

I had some "I don't know what I'm doing" moments (no seam allowances? what size am I? wait, the size isn't printed on the pattern? how do I know what size is the dashed line with the dots? is this piece the shirt front or shirt back?) Also Burda doesn't have drawings for step by step instructions. I forgot to add seam allowances for the cowl neck (oops) but it seems ok.

The pattern called for twin needle stitching. I've never used a twin needle before. I still had the one that came with my sewing machine. I got out my machine instructions. It says to use a twin needle with a zigzag foot, which didn't come with the machine. Oh well. I forged ahead anyway.

It sort of worked. I didn't have two spools the same color thread. I have skipped stitches. Sometimes the thread would shred in the needle and I had to start again. That happened a lot on the hem for the cowl, but happened only once while hemming the sleeves. WHY?



The cowl neck can be arranged in a few different ways. I think I like the cowl neck the best here, with a drapey, flowy look.


Though it can be stretched out and look very sci-fi spacey:


It's still in progress. I need to fix the sleeve caps, curve in the sides more, decide on the length, and hem it.

Longer version:


Shorter version:


I also need to decide if I'm going to rip out the twin needle stitching on the collar and try again?
I'm probably the only person who would notice the crummy stitching, but I think it might annoy me.

Again, here's the Selfish Seamstress version of this shirt.