when sewing two pieces of fabric together with a machine, where one fabric is heavier than the other, is there a rule of thumb for which fabric should be on top?
i am learning to sew and so far many of the problems i have had someone else has posted and i am going to try those fixes. it just occured to me that perhaps, how i ordered the material could also exasperate the problem.
I'm not an expert, but I'm going to venture a guess. If the lighter weight fabric is on the bottom, its going to have a higher likelihood of slipping rather than the obverse. I say that because a lightweight fabric is going to have less of a chance of pulling a heavier weight fabric along through the work area than the other way around.
But the slickness of each fabric is also a factor, and probably a greater factor than what I said above.
This is based on logic, rather than experience. I'll let the more experienced folks chime in and correct me if needed.
You could try a walking foot. They help wonderfully. They pull the top at the same time the feed dogs are pulling the bottom.
i can say that i am actually getting those moments where that logic falls into place :) that makes much sense...
pull the top
... i have even been looking for a walking foot but have failed to look in the right store so far. i am sure it does not help that i am using a very very cheap machine until the husky i inherited can be put in the shop for repair (which DH says will be soon).
i am reading books and looking at pictures and reading online and the best info has been what i have read here and in R.C.T.N. and R.C.T.Q.
What kind of machine is it? Try eBay or the maker of the machine, or call around to local stores and see if they have one that will fit. Mine is not a Janome foot, but it fits my Janome. I think it mostly depends on the type of shank, and I just stepped out of my depth.
just haven't found that kind of foot at the retail stores i have been too. haven't been to shops yet, that is next. the machine is a cheap brother, i am currently trying to get the tension reset because it went all out of wack, though i am going to try using the flat plastic type of bobbin it came with instead of the metal ones i have been using.
currently i am up past my bedtime, kiddo has a parent teacher conference then i shall finally have my sleepy time and i shall test these ideas when i wake, it is my weekend :)
That's a good question and I'll be interested in the answer. However, on her TV program I've heard Susan Kahlje say that you should should sew from wide into narrow, if that's of any help.
Sharon
And don't forget r.c.t.sewing, either.
I guess I'm not getting the link between thick and thin, and wide and narrow.
This is one of those things where you have to do a practice piece. Personally, I would first try with the thinner fabric on top and see how it went. This is one more of those cases where even we old sewists play with the scraps before we start sewing on the actual work.
Olwyn Mary in New orleans.
Experimenting is the best choice -- try it both ways and see what works. You may need to stabilize the stretchier fabric. Heavier fabric may be stretchier than lighter fabric. Having adjustable presser foot pressure on your machine and playing with that adjustment can help this sort of situation.
A challenge and an experiment for you:
If you take two 3.5" wide strips of muslin, 45" long, cut on the crossgrain (across the width of the fabric), and sew them together without pinning, what happens? (one will come out longer... is it the top or the bottom piece?)
If you take two 3.5" wide strips of fabric, 45" long, cut on the lengthwise grain (parallel to the selvage) and sew them together without pinning, what happens?
Are the finished lengths of the two strip pairs equal? (This is an important point to figure out if you're not going to cuss at quilt borders that want to sew on wonky.)
I'll somewhat spoil the exercise by telling you that there is a way to make the strips come out evenly -- you don't need a walking foot, but you do need some notches or match marks on the strips, and you need to hold the fabric differently than you probably "naturally" do, It's also not easy to learn from a description, which is why I'm not going to try it... but borrow one of Margaret Islander's instructional tapes and watch how she handles the fabric. Learning how to do that was one of the most "instantly productive" sewing lessons I've ever had... it's definitely cut down on the amount of unsewing I've had to do.
Folks can give you "recipes" on how to sew something, but what works best for you is also a function of the fabric, the fiber the fabric's made of, the construction of the fabric (woven, knit, stretchy, stable; balanced or unbalanced, twill or plain weave...). Also important is the thread (stretchy like polyester or not so stretchy, like cotton?), number of stitches per inch, and type and size of needle. So don't be afraid to experiment with these variables until you get your method figured out for a particular project.
That's what helps keep sewing interesting... there's always a twist to every project.
Kay
For what it is worth. When I did a little of this, the method that I was taught was lighter on top with lots of basting to stabilize (even basting in an X shape from the seams to help hold the bits together on larger segments to prevent stretching). I haven't tried it since all the new stabilzers have become available, but I think that I would experiment with them on scrap now. I've used them on a small layered embroidery piece that I have been working on irregularly and the sheer fabric has been very easy to handle.
today i used fabrics that were the same weave and weight. i switched to plastic bobbins similar to what the machine came with, did not fill the bobbin at top speed, purchased and used a magnetic seam guide and put my heal on the floor to give me better pedal control.
AND...
the machine behaved much much better. i need to practice more but the quilt block i cut, hand sewed the triangles and then the squares into long strips then machine sewed the strips together is here
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