Basting Stitch

Dear Jack,

The largest stitch on your machine is meant for machine basting. If it does not come out easily, you may need to loosen the tension, but mark it before you do this, so that you can return it to its original setting. My machine is pretty basic, and the largest setting is 4.0. I use it all the time. I've never had to change the tensions. (My machine is in the $500 range.)

Teri

In the early 1970's I had a Singer slant needle that had a basting stitch that would sew stitches about 1/2 inch. Barbara in FL & SC

I've got an old Touch and Sew and a Athena 2000 that does a great basting stitch...the stitches are over 1" long.

-Irene

-------------- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.=20

--Mae West=20

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If you can drop your feed-dog and drive slowly, then why do you need the basting stitch?

In article , Deb of

uttered>My janome machine has basting stitch and it allows to to move the >fabric through the machine (feed dog down I think) making the stitch >any length you would like. You determine the length of the stitch by>how you move the fabric. it is excellent.

She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild Mar 15,

5:28 am show options

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles.sewing From: She who would like to be obeyed once every Preston Guild - Find messages by this author Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:28:18 GMT Local: Tues, Mar 15 2005 5:28 am Subject: Re: Basting Stitch Reply | Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original | Report Abuse

If you can drop your feed-dog and drive slowly, then why do you need the basting stitch?

It doesn't change the need for a basting stitch but if you "drive slowly" the stitches will be close together and nothing new is accomplished. I suppose you could say drive slowly and push fast. It is however, a very interesting idea.

I tried using the spring action quilting foot and got the same effect without having to lower the dog which can not be done on my machine. It uses a "darning plate" as a cheap alternative. As a point of interest, it moved and the needle pierced it when futzing this morning. No damage done but that is probably one reasons it is made of plastic.

The problem that remains is getting it to stitch slowly enough for good control. I presume this is one of the compromises with a low end machine. It growls and grunts when starting slowly and usually takes a few stitches before I can slow it down. This is one feature of my wife's old touch and sew that is much nicer. It also has a long basting stituch using the programming disks but I never tried it.

I took the machine apart this yesterday and one of those bevel gears is stripped again. Still can't come up with enough reasons to get it fixed again.

js

-- PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Beer, Cheese, Fiber,Gems, Sausage,Silver

Dear Jack,

I taught fashion design for 25 years at three different universities. We always used the largest stitch on the machine for basting. There is little or no need for 1/2 or 1 -inch long basting stitches; this can be done by hand for pleats or other holding methods. But for basting together a garment, applying a zipper, and other areas where firm hold is required untile the finishing stitching is completed, even cheap machines can be used.

Teri

Dear Jack,

I got to preaching about basting, and forgot to tell you how great your pictures are. Your owls seem to be quite content in their house. How many chicks do they normally lay? Will all survive?

I'm a city girl who would love to live in the country.

Teri

If you need a longer stitch than even the 'cheap' machines have, then pin-baste the garment. A 4 mm stitch is plenty long enough for machine basting although the 6 or 7 mm that the 'fancy' machines have is even better. The main thing to do when machine basting is to loosen off one's needle tension to make stitch removal much faster. Even so, I find pulling out the machine basting quick and easy (even if I haven't loosened the tension!). I always baste in zippers, etc. first - saves a lot of time in the long run! Cynthia

Thanks for the kind words but they actually lay eggs :)

The most hatchlings we have seen was 3. Unless you see them lined up on a branch, it's hard to tell by counting heads that pop out of the hole. A few years ago, we did see the 3 on a branch just at dusk.

Back to basting... I just got a pattern for a coat which seems to require more basting than stitching. I am way over my head but going to charge ahead as soon as the boys are sheared.

My trophies to date are the wool shirt described on my Fiber page and 4 variations on this theme made from cheapo fabrics to get the patern right.

js

-- PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Beer, Cheese, Fiber,Gems, Sausage,Silver

My Wife's broken Touch and Sew has a slant needle and I am curious to know what the point of it is.

js

I recent did some machine basting for the first time on a PJ top I'm making for DS, had to rip out about half of it as the fabric was out of place and a little pleated/puckered. I re-did the bit I took out by hand. These days I find that I don't need to baste as much as the pattern instructions say, when I first started making clothes for myself I used to pin then hand baste before sewing on the machine - every seam!

The idea was to get the actual sewing area out in front so that the operator had a clearer view. Early on, it was also believed that you could leave the pins in the fabric and the slant of the needle would cause it to slide off the pin. That proved to be too optimistic.

The first "slant shank" machine was the Singer 301 which came out in October of 1952. The manual states: "Full view work area. Inclined needle bar places work in your direct line of vision."

-Irene =20

-------------- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.=20

--Mae West=20

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That is one of the many reasons I like my old slant needle, Irene, and I sew over pins all the time, too, as long as they are placed in the fabric correctly. I definitely would not want to hit the head of some of them. Emily