Help!

Magnetic seam guide. But be careful, if yours is a computer operated machine
those are a no no.

Ron Anderson wrote:


Oh! So that's what this thing is.

A

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:38:20 GMT, "Angrie.Woman"


Magnetic guides move, try putting a line of easy release painters tape
on the bed of the machine.  You can make it the full length and build
it up with several layers if need be.  I often use the sticky side of
post it notes as a guide when I need one.

Don't worry about it though, most of us cannot sew a straight line
without help either if we are willing to admit it.  I need a guide of
some description whether its the markings on the machine bed, or my
little pile of post its.

Actually there are screw on guides available for most machines.

Ron Anderson wrote:


I would think that if your feed dogs are adjusted correctly, your fabric
will feed straight. Is this right, Ron?

Other options include a needle plate with seam lines on it, a peice of tape
or a marker line. No need to buy a gadget.

Penny S

Yes Penny.. but. You need to be able to guide it straight. Many look at the
needle and then it is to late.

My youngest DD took Home Ec(name in the 70s for sewing one semester and
cooking the next) and was so disgusted when she came home  after the first
day of sewing class.  Her teacher had instructed the class to cut the pages
from the composition book that was required for  the class, and practice
sewing on the lines of 10 pages before next class.
Fast forward some 25 years: I was visiting them and guess what she had her
early teenage daughter sewing---yep, lines on paper.  I laughed and she
said, "Well, it taught me to look at the fabric, not the needle, right."
Emily

CypSew wrote:


I would be afraid that sewing on paper would muck up the works.

A

Angrie.Woman of SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com uttered

Just blunts your needle

She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild wrote:


Well, since everybody seems to concur, perhaps it is the best way for me
to teach #1 son. I always change needles after every project, so it
would not hurt to let him sew with an old one.

He will be estatic!

A

Angrie.Woman wrote:




I taught James and his classmates on fabric.  Sometimes they do just
like to whizz about, making random stitches all over the place!  They
love to use the patterns.  Once happy that they can control the machine,
we start on real items.

Kate Dicey wrote:


Thanks, Kate. I've been trying to teach him from a pattern, but this
might give him a nice break from me. :)

How old was your son when you started letting him toy with the machines?


An

My Children all sew. I let them "play" with two old singers that I have as
they are indestructible. When they first start to show an interest, I make
sure one is on a low table and unplugged. They pretend to pretend to sew and
play with all the knobs and levers ( this gets it out of their system and
they soon learn about the foot lever. I then thread it up (a million times!)
and turn the "motor wheel by hand as they "sew". We progress as they want to
until we use power. My 2 and a half year old is wanting to use the power but
she still needs to gain a bit more skill yet. Like looking were she's sewing
all the time instead of looking at me to see if I'm looking at her!
Thaddeus is 6 and sews a lot, not that he makes much and I still have to
thread the machine, again and again and again......Ambrose is 9 and will cut
out things by eye to sew, like cushion covers and simple bags.  Eleanor is
11 and makes her own pants etc.Last year Sylvia(12) won a prize for her
cushion covers and teddy bear dress. Broderick is 14 and has been winning
prizes for his patchwork for a few years. Laura-Anne 17 makes most of her
own clothes.I have never pushed them but let them go at their
pace.........Amelia

If I can answer as well...
I have a 4 year old niece and a 7 year old nephew that live in the
same house as me.  The 7-year old is hand-quilting his first quilt
right now, and has made clothes for his dinosaurs  on machines, as
well as other projects.  (I asked him if the reason he made clothes
for the dinosaurs was because he didn't have dolls like his sister,
and he looked at me like I was an idiot and informed me that they
became extinct because of the ice age, and thus were COLD.

The 4-year old is enamored of my serger.  We unplugged it and tried
like heck to get her fingers in around the needles...not possible.  We
showed her where the blade was, also pretty inaccessible.  She has
probably destroyed 5 yards of fabric by stitching/stripping it at full
speed...one of her favorite things to do.

They come by sewing naturally though.  My mom is past president of the
NQA, and a Master Certified Quilt Judge.  2 of my other nieces had
quilts in a travelling exhibition that was even exhibited at the
Smithsonian and Colonial Williamsburg.  They were 5 and 8 when they
completed their quilts...we're kind of born with needles in our hands
whether we want to be or not!

Jeanne

(I asked him if the reason he made clothes



OK...................TOO FUNNY!!!!!

Don't you just love kids?  Do you mind if send that one off to my mothers
and grandmothers?

LMAO!

Thanks,

Michelle Giordano

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:07:28 -0600, "Doug&Michelle"



Not at all!!

Jeanne
who thought she was done with kids till these 2 arrived...they keep me
busy!

Jeanne Burton wrote:



James says this is an excellent and perfectly rational explanation for
making clothes for dinosaurs.  He has plans to do lots of quilting this pm.

romanyroamer wrote:




Well, thanks so much for those suggestions. It seems so logical now to
let them play with it first...duh.

A

Angrie.Woman wrote:



I treat it like teaching kids to write: play with crayons and paper
first!  Here we just play with thread and sewing machines!  I do warn
them SEVERELY, DRAMATICALLY, AND WITH *GORY DETAILS* of the unpleasant
consequences of stitching a finger!  And also that my sewing scissors
are big enough and sharp enough to cut off fingers... But, I add, we
have plenty of sewing machines, and we can soon sew them on again - with
fancy patterns if they promise to keep still!  ;)  So far they have
heeded the warnings and my mending skills have yet to be put to the test!