sewing thick fluffy fringe on pillow (how) ?

so i have a sofa pillow with a tear i am trying to repair.

pillow has this fluffy fringe border (2 inch loops of small multi-colored yarns bundled together, sewn/knitted together at loops and clipped on other side to make the fluffy part) the base of the fringe base barely fits under presser feet ( ie. squeeze and push) and the feeding is difficult and the fluffy fringe on opposite side keeps getting in the way

can it be sewn on a home machine ? (e.g. singer T&S) so what is trick to sew this fringe ?

thanks for any help, robb

Reply to
robb
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Dear Robb,

You need to sew it with a zipper foot. This foot has small cutouts on one or both sides, depending on your machine style. This cutout allows you to get right up to the place where the fringe is to be sewn. Look in your machine parts box; all machines come with this attachment, although the configurations vary.

Teri

Reply to
gpjteri

And it doesn't hurt to put a strip of tissue paper over the fringe if you are working right next to it too. You just tear the tissue paper off when you are done. If you don't have tissue paper, printer paper works fine too.

If you are putting fringe in a new pillow, usually it's not an issue. You can sandwich it between the layers of fabric and then turn it all right side out. Viola! ;) I also usually tape the fringe down to the right side of the fabric so it stays where I want it. Blue painter's tape works great for that.

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

hi, thanks for help, i was using a snap-on zipper foot , the double wide one where you snap it on one side or other to get L/R side sewing becuase the machine i was using does not have a needle position option.

The foot was too wobbly and leaned a bit when i tried to jam all that fringe yarn under it and so was not feeding well.

but you did make me think about a box of cheapo presser feet i had, one was a low shank adjustable zipper foot a little bit high for machine because it does not drop all the way down to feed dogs.... but that one happened to work out for my need

thanks for help robb

Reply to
robb

thanks Sharon, my tissue kept ripping ? but printer paper did the trick (that is with the cheapo zipper foot i dug up)

i had to try out your sandwiching advice too, so... another worn out pillow i ripped the fringe out, sandwiched new material, pinned, then zip around seams and turned it out. as you said it was really a viola

of course with a few amateur mistakes.... i pinned the pins inline with seam marks. i probably should have thought about direction i would be sewing and pin opposite direction of the sewing so that i didn't have to worry about stopping ahead of pin head (to get the pin out), and the loose material between pins gathered at next pin etc....

oh well practice, practice.... practice

thanks again for your time and help, robb

Reply to
robb

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger, I'm forever setting pins in the wrong direction! Then I just grit my teeth and redo them, since I like to stitch as close to the pin as possible before pulling it out.

Sewing is a constant learning experience for all of us, I think.

Doreen in Alabama

Reply to
Doreen

It's usually possible to stick another pin at right angles to the mis-stuck pin to keep things in place while you pull it out and stick it back with the head on the correct end.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

not to add insult to injury but my singer sew book is very direct in stating that proper pinning to be sewn is done 90 degrees (right angle) to seam to be sewn with the pin just piercing enough to see the pin at the planned seam line

i have read it numerous times but still find my wanting to pin inline with seam preferably in opposite direction of sewing (for easy pull),

is there a reason that book would be so MOF regarding pinning ? are there any caveats to the inline pinning to sew on machine ? I find it more difficult to line up stripes using the preposed "proper" way

thanks, robb

Reply to
robb

thats funny i justed a comment about my singer book that states right angle pinning is the proper way to pin for sewing ? there is an intuitive desire to pin inline though i tend to want to do that but i suspect there is some reason not to do that but i will leave that to you "sewing philosophers" :)

robb

Reply to
robb

I'm gonna agree with the book. And I'll tell you why. ;) (you knew I would didn't you?? lol) I find that things slip out of alignment a whole lot easier if I am trying to pin in line with where the seam will be. However, pinning at a 90* angle, that doesn't happen. And....well this is the completely obvious reason....it's WAY easier to get the pins out as you come close to them if the head is sticking out to the side of your work. I keep a magnet pin holder just off the bed of the machine. Then I can sort of slow down, flick the head of the pin and it jumps to the pin holder. Cool huh? :) Also, if you happen to miss one while you are sewing, you will see it sticking out there when you finish the seam.

Those are my reasons, I'm sure other people can offer more.

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

Sharon, I also pin-baste with the pins at 90° angle to the seam-line, and for much the same reason (easy removal). However, in many fabrics, and for most seams, I sew right on over the pins, leaving them in place, then remove them all at one time when the seam is done. Very rarely, I have broken a needle doing that, but the time needed to replace a needle every year-or-so is vastly shorter than the time that 'slow-down-remove-every-pin-as-you-go' takes.

If I'm pin-basting for a try-on, pins are laid parallel to the seam-line, but then changed to perpendicular before I sew.

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Robb,

Personally, I think this is a case where whatever works best for you is the right way.

I prefer to place my pins inline with the seam because I like to sew right up to the pin before pulling it out. If I set pins at right angles to the seamline and sew close to them, they go under the presser foot and get bent. I have an extreme prejudice against bent pins!

Doreen in Alabama

Reply to
Doreen

You mean like hitting that pin in the seam line when you're sewing along at a clip, and having your needle shatter and little bits of it going every which way (usually hitting your face near your eye), and the eye of the needle, with thread in it getting stuck down in the bobbin case with accompanying nasty noises?

Reply to
Pogonip

Oh yeah....that would be a good reason. :(

Sharon

Reply to
mamahays

hi,

i can barely get the needle to hit my widely chalked seam much less chance a pin ;D

just joking i always try to pull pins out...... when they go under the foot it always causes some kind of problem

robb

Reply to
robb

A long-dead reason.

The first sewing machines had rigid feet. I *think* that Singer introduced the hinged "walking" foot that is now the standard; at any rate, they were very, very hipped on having it, and wanted to make very, very sure that everyone noticed.

Note also that Singer was the biggest provider of instruction in using the new technology, so that their lessons tended to become fossilized into the culture.

The rigid feet were poor at riding over obstacles such as crossed seams, but the hinged foot could tilt up and walk over lumps -- you could even SEW RIGHT OVER A PIN.

LOOK HOW GOOD OUR MACHINE IS -- YOU CAN SEW RIGHT OVER PINS!

So they naturally insisted that their students put the pins in at right angles so that they could SEW RIGHT OVER THEM.

Never mind that some of the pins will be bent by the presser foot and some of them will be scratched by the needle, the needle sometimes gets blunted or bent as it slides off a pin, and if you manage to hit a pin so exactly square that the needle doesn't know which way to slide off, you'll break the needle and one of the shards might fly into your face.

The proper way to pin, most of the time, is in the seam line, with the point pointing toward the needle.

But there have been times when I put pins in at an acute angle to the seam line -- I don't recall what I was doing, but I *vividly* recall that it took a *lot* of pins to make whatever it was hold still for sewing. Probably hand sewing, if it was that difficult.

I put a pin in at right angles whenever I want to secure just one point along a line -- when matching notches, for example. But I usually take the right-angle pins out once the lines between the points have been secured by in-line pins.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

I'm surprised Teri has not jumped in here. She spent many years teaching sewing and fashion design at the college level, and did not permit pinning in her classroom. Her students all had to learn to sew without pins. I am not brave enough to do that, but after reading several years of her postings, I certainly use far fewer pins than heretofore.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Reply to
Olwyn Mary

Pinless sewing is for people who do it all day every day.

I do use fewer pins every year but some things -- sewing a sharp concave curve to a sharp convex curve, for example -- I won't *ever* be able to hold in position without a little help.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
Joy Beeson

I've sewn for over 65 years and still use pins or basting if it is something slippery or anything formal. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

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