Slinky knits

Serge the seams if at all possible! If not, forget those fancy 'stretch' stitches on the sewing machine and use a small narrow zig-zag stitch, stretching the fabric slightly as you go. Remember NOT to stretch it when you turn hems up, or you'll get frilly hems!

Slinky knits look really good as cowl necks and things with a bit of drape to them.

Almost forgot to ask the next question.I have a couple of nice patterns for Tee's and Turtleneck would it be much of a problem to convert either of them to cowls. They both fit well and I hate to start from scratch if I can avoid it. I know these 2 patterns fit well. Juno

Experiment with some cheap & cheerful T shirt fabric! Here's how I did a self-faced cowl once, a long time ago! It worked then. No reason why it shouldn't work again now, 30 years later!

Make a full front copy of the pattern front: draw a line straight across the front neckline, from shoulder to shoulder... Slit the pattern down the centre to midriff level. Spread it apart as wide as you dare! Make little darts in the paper towards the side seams so that it lies flat. Cut a wedge of paper to fit the gap.

Now for the tricky bit - the facing! Pin the new doctored pattern to another bit of paper, and trace round it: trace round the new neckline and down as far as the triangular insert. Lift the front pattern off the facing pattern and turn it round so the new necklines are together. Tape the two patterns together along the neckline. you should end up with the front pattern and a partial mirror image taped together along the neckline. You CAN cut the two as separate pieces, but remember to add a seam allowance to the neckline. You just flip the facing to the inside, base the two layers together, and sew as if they are a single layer. remember that you only need to finish the back neckline as for the original pattern, and do that before sewing the shoulder seams! :)

Don't forget that you have a full front pattern piece and only need to cut it as a single layer! I ended up with two fronts on my first go... I had to try and cut a sleeve out of one of them!

Play time. I love play time. I'll print out your directions. Read them through about 10 times and then give it a try. I have yo develope a mnetal picture of thinngs before I can do anything. It should be fun. Thanks again. What are you doing up so late? you should be in bed, it's got to be close to midnight? Juno

12:15 am... early for me! I usually play around until 2 am or later. I like about 6 hours sleep a night, and I don't have to be up until 8! :) Nice thing about working at home is the commute being about 20 feet from the bed to the sewing machine!

Mind you, I'm off soon, as I have to be not just up but dressed by the time the builders arrive tomorrow to continue with the rebulding of the conservatory.

Thanks again, get a good sleep, have fun building. Knowing the little I know about you, you'll try to have Lily do some of the work. Juno

Dear Juno,

Here's another way to get a cowl, at the precise drape you want in the front. Measure down your front from the hollow in you CF neck to where you want the drape to go. Measure down the front of your pattern the same amount and place a dot there. Draw a line from the neck at the shoulder to the dot, and slash; lift the slashed piece up, perpendicular to the CF. Now, draw a line from the top of the protruding piece to the CF hemline. Add a piece about 2-1/2 inches wide across the top of the new pattern, and fold it to the back.. Cut along the shoulder line to get the correct shape for this piece, which is the attached facing for the front cowl.

Teri

I have limited my experience with cowl necks. In my view they look like

[SPEW ALERT! Put the coffee down and swallow before reading on!!!]

the inverse of a phallic symbol.

Try a collar band. Cut a bias (not that it matters!) strip, mess with it until it fits the neck minus a couple inches. Serge in place. If I'm doing slinky knits I'll band the sleeves too.

HTH

--Karen D.

ThanksTerri for the added instuctions; Karen D for your vision of how a cowl looks, sets me to thinking and Joy for your reminder about the growing shoulders.( Sounds like my yard, the only differrence is we grow rocks in stead of very long shoulders.) I have a lot of drapy, stretchy knit stuff in my stash so I can play around with the look. Before I do anything though, I have to take Millie, my serger, into the shop. She has an illness. It breaks the left needle, refuses to make stitches and has a funny little noise that comes and goes.I've cleanned it, oiled it, changed needles several times, rethreaded it about a zillion times, cleaned out the feed dogs and now I'm stuck. I think Millie needs some professional help. Juno

One little thing that might help is to use a ball-point needle as opposed to - um, whatever the other kind are! The ball-point helps the needle slip through the knit and not catch and snag.

Jen L.

One little thing that might help is to use a ball-point needle as opposed to - um, whatever the other kind are! The ball-point helps the needle slip through the knit and not catch and snag.

Jen L.

Dear Juno,

My serger was doing the same thing. Turned out to be a bent finger on the needle plate. I changed it myself, and now it's OK. You might look at yours to see if it's bent or broken. This is a weakness of the serger; I've had to replace many of them in my studio when I was teaching.

Teri

I brought it in to the dealer this afternoon. She spent and hour trying to figure out the problem. Offered to let me take the shop machine home. She was poking around here there and the other place. Took off the thread socks because she thought they were binding up the thread.Moved the needle from one side to the other 3 times. On the third try found that the needle wasn't inserted far enough and the darn thing started working. I asked her to try the needle on both the left and right side,lo and behold it worked. For some reason neither of us could get the needle in as far as it needed to go. I must have tried at least 10 times before I brought it in to be sure I had the needle seated properly. I have a hard time getting it in without a needle inserter, but I think I need one that has a longer handle so I can get better leverage on it. So I'm back in business for now. I have about 3 dozen napkins waiting to get rolled hems and I want to work on my tops. Thanks for your help. I'm making a little log of things to check when I have a problem and checking the stitch fingers will be added for future reference Juno

I have found with my 910 that I need to unscrew the needle clamp just a little more to insert a new needle than I do to take the old one out! And the needle holding gadget is great for putting new needles in!

Hmmm... ;)

The little needle holder thingy that came with the serger isn't a very stablle piece of plastic. I need to order a better one from someone like Nancy's Notions. I've been putting it off because I don't want to pay a fortune in shipping for 1 item and I don't buy much from there. I just have to get my act together and get one. I guess I should check at the little sewing machine place in town and see if they h ave one. I just hate taking the car out to buy 1 item. It offends my sense of frugality. Juno

I understand! I don't drive, so a trip into town means either dragging DH out or getting the bus and probably getting a taxi back, adding almost £10 to the cost of the trip. Postage for most things from UK sources is less than that, but I do tend to save up shopping until I have enough to make the trip or postage worth paying!

All together now, wheelwomen:

"RIDE YOUR BIKE!!!"

HTH

--Karen D. about to head to USPS and a trails meeting