sewing lace

i have a new Bernina non-computer machine that i haven't played with much yet. i just found some cheap Halloween lace with spiderwebs & spiders that i'd like to make simple rod pocket curtains out of. would i use a zig zag type stitch & is there an easy way to keep the lace from getting eaten by the feed dogs or hung up on the foot? i haven't done anything with any lace for years & i seem to remember having annoying problems with it on my mom's machine... all i want are flat panels with a narrow bottom hem & a rod pocket on top. lee

Reply to
enigma
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Lee, What about using a light, tear away stabilizer beneath and perhaps even on top? I haven't done much lace but usually use this when I am stitching certain flimsy fabric. Anothere thought that comes to mind would be some sort of black ribbon beneath, say an inch wide. HTH Sonya

Reply to
MSMenagerie

Try strips of basic wax paper on both sides of the fabric. You can see through the wax paper, not clearly, but OK. The needle perforations make removing the paper easy but still be careful not to pull on the thread. If the paper leaves a bit of white behind remove it with a damp cloth. Good luck!

Liz

Liz

Reply to
Ward

"Ward" wrote in news:9cf20$4336be44$d1cc7ba6$ snipped-for-privacy@snip.allthenewsgroups.com:

oh, i like this idea. i was afraid i'd need to buy tear-away stabilizer & that's a bit pricey for silly curtains :) i already have waxed paper on the shopping list (we still wrap sandwiches rather than use plastic sandwich bags) so i just grab an extra box for the sewing room. thanks, lee

Reply to
enigma

You're welcome! I use wax paper for everything. I tape too long sheets together and put it over pattern tissue to trace off the right size for me. Sharpie pens won't run but just in case, I put Scotch tape over any markings that I want to stop from smearing.

Lize

Reply to
Ward

You can mark on waxed paper with a knitting needle. (at least the almost-transparent kind available in the US)

I bought a roll-end of newsprint -- only a couple of bucks, and it isn't appreciably smaller after a year of use. I mark it with a #2 pencil -- or carbon paper and a roulette

-- a tiny tracing wheel I got from a embroiderer's supply house in the dim and distant past.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
joy beeson

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, before the invention of stabilizers and most machines where just straight stitch (as was my 1950 "sews like a bat out of Hell" Singer) when I was sewing lots of lacey wedding dresses and other garments of creepy crawly fabrics I used tissue paper in the same manner as the waxed paper method. It was cheap to buy and when I'd get tissue in gifts and such I'd just iron it smooth and cut it into 1" to 2" wide strips. It also tears out very easily at the 'perfed' stitch line.

For creeping, slippy fabrics I'd sandwich it between, for some things I'd put a piece on top and bottom and for really hard to sew laces that moved around AND caught easily on everything I'd use it top, bottom and middle.

Val......

...who doesn't long for the good old days but would love to still have the Bat Out of Hell Singer and the eye sight I had in the 50s *sigh*

Reply to
Valkyrie

Don't know a solution for the eyesight, but I and many others around these parts have a good assortment of those old Singers. They call out to us at yard sales and in thrift stores and second hand stores and even antique stores. It's nearly a disease. Some people have end tables and occasional tables - others of us have sewing machines in cabinets. Then there are the machines in portable cases, some of beautiful curved wood, others like little suitcases. I've got a few in metal cases, one that opens up to become a sewing table.

Now that you've said you want one, I would bet one (or more) will come to you soon.

Reply to
Pogonip

Someone was selling a Viking Lily this past week on CL for $300-yes-that's-right-$300, and I am totally sick that I don't have the money to get it.

Then again, there's a Singer 99 hand crank in excellent condition with a perfect-looking case *and* a key and they want $140 and I don't have the money for that right now, either.

And I found the W&W handcrank of my dreams, which I guess was an 8, nor a 9, on a British site for L85 and I'm shaking in my boots wondering if it is still for sale and wondering how I could come up with the money for that.

Oh, well, I still have my Fairy 401.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

If you ever get to Reno......... ;-)

Reply to
Pogonip

If I ever get to Reno, what? If it was going to be worth it, I could arrange my schedule to take a trip there easy.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

Oh *chuckling*, and if you remember, you were the one who didn't make it down to the TOGA that was in Lincoln or thereabouts the year I went up there ROTFL.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

What is CL?? I am so behind on these acronyms!

Reply to
MSMenagerie

So sorry. It's Craigslist,

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We already were discussing it here and I get tired of typing everything out longhand.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

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